In 1829, one hundred and eighty-one years ago, Raphael Rivera made his way into a valley in a region that would one day be known as the state of Nevada. He was the first person from Europe to arrive there; later that year, Antonio Armijo, an explorer and merchant made his way across this same valley. Artesian wells here allowed for large areas of grass to grow, and so Armijo named the valley The Meadows. In Spanish, this translates to Las Vegas.
Years later, another traveler entered Las Vegas Valley in 1844 while the valley was still under the control of Mexico. This man led a group of scientists and observers for the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers; his name was John C. Fremont. In 1905, Las Vegas became known as a railroad town, and eventually incorporated as a city in 1911, establishing itself in what is now North Las Vegas at the intersection of Fremont and Main Street.
It’s easy to come to Vegas, take up a great room , head out for gambling and shows, without ever thinking about the valley and its pristine past; however, there are places to go still in the Las Vegas Valley that will allow you to recapture some of that history.
Las Vegas Springs Preserve is one of those places, found at 333 S. Valley View Boulevard. You can learn about the historic nature of this valley in a spot where ancient Native American tribes and Spanish explorers once found a place to rest in their travels. The preserve, open from ten in the morning to six in the evening, has a series of trails and gardens available to the public. You can’t buy tickets on-line; instead, you need to go to the preserve at the time of your visit, allowing you to find admission tickets and annual passes, that grant access to the ORIGEN Experience and Desert Living Center, as well as a variety of gardens and trails.
One hundred and eighty acres is dedicated to this cultural preserve with the aim of commemorating the history of Las Vegas’s distant past as well as looking forward to a future which can sustain the plant and wildlife in the area. In the preserve, you’ll find a number of museums and galleries, as well as outdoor concerts, botanical gardens and a system of trails that winds its way through this beautiful wetland habitat.
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