Scenes from Vegas....Las Vegas is a relatively young town but its history can be traced all the way back to 1829, when Antonio Armijo lead a party of 60 on the Old Spanish Trail to Los Angeles. While the caravan camped about 100 miles northeast of the present site of Las Vegas, a scouting party set out to look for water. Rafael Rivera, a young Mexican scout who left the main party and headed due west over the unexplored desert, discovered an oasis. The abundance of artesian spring water he found here shortened the Spanish trail to Los Angeles by allowing travelers to cut directly through rather than around, the vast desert. Spanish traders who used this route were thankful for the shortened trip and they named this convenient desert oasis Las Vegas Spanish for "the Meadows".