Las Vegas, baby!
Originally just a stop along the Santa Fe Trail, an early 19th-century north-south pioneer route, it wasn’t until the railroad arrived in Las Vegas that things got dark. A magnet for murders, thieves, and gamblers, historian Ralph Emerson Twitchell once said, “Without exception, there was no town which harbored a more disreputable gang of desperadoes and outlaws than did Las Vegas.” Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp, and others made up the rotating cast of notorious characters that frequented the town. While modern Las Vegas has cleaned up its act, it remains very much rooted in those early days, with over 900 buildings in town listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. Ranching heritage is widely celebrated here too, with a series of annual events that include a
rodeo,
Heritage Week (seven days of historical tours and buffalo stew dinners), and
Fiestas, a New Mexican celebration dating back to the 1880s.