Old Spanish Trail: Mountain Springs Pass
Clark County, Clark County, Nevada
Marker Inscription
Old Spanish Trail (Mountain Springs Pass). This portion of the Old Spanish Trail was discovered in January 1830, by Antonio Armijo during his first trip from Santa Fe to Los Angeles. The springs just north of this marker provided excellent water and fed meadows of luxuriant grass for draft animals. Two days were required to travel between Las Vegas and Mountain Springs Pass. The trip was broken at Cottonwood Springs, the site of Blue Diamond, where an early start was usually made in order to climb the pass by nightfall. Early travellers often referred to the area as Piute Springs, but the present title has been used for over a century. The altitude made Mountain Springs one of the favorite camping spots on the trail.
Erected by Northern Nevada Historical Society
The Story
When Antonio Armijo pioneered the Old Spanish Trail in January 1830, the springs and lush meadows at Mountain Springs Pass offered rare relief for men and draft animals. Travelers needed two full days to reach the pass from Las Vegas, often breaking the journey at Cottonwood Springs and setting out early to climb over the summit by nightfall. The high country's water and grass made this one of the trail's most prized camping spots for generations of packers.
Why it matters
Way stations like Mountain Springs were the lifeline of Southwestern commerce, showing how the geography of water dictated the pace and survival of overland trade.
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Related people
- · Antonio Armijo
Related events
- · Old Spanish Trail
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
The Old Spanish Trail 1829 1850
Clark County, NV
Beginning in 1829, a horse-and-mule trail carried goods between Santa Fe and Los Angeles, crossing 130 miles of what became Clark County and serving as Nevada's first commercial route. As California beckoned, gold-rush wagons and Mormon emigrants followed the same desert path. It was among the hardest overland journeys in the West, sustained by scarce springs. Markers placed in 1965 trace its course.
The Old Spanish Trail 1829 1850
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In 1829 a pack-trail opened between Santa Fe and Los Angeles, and its 130-mile passage across present Clark County became Nevada's earliest route of commerce. Traders drove mules and horses along it, and within two decades the same track served gold-rush '49ers and Mormon pioneers pressing toward California. It was a lifeline of movement through an unforgiving desert. Concrete posts erected in 1965 mark where it ran.
The Last Spike
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On January 30, 1905, workers near this spot drove the last spike completing the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, linking Salt Lake City to Los Angeles. It was one of the last transcontinental-style lines built to the Pacific Coast, finished with little ceremony. The railroad platted a townsite in the well-watered Las Vegas Valley and made it a division point—giving the future city its start.
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Artesian springs once rose from this desert floor, sending streams across the valley to water lush meadows — the vegas, or "meadows," that gave Las Vegas its name. For generations the oasis was the winter home of Southern Paiutes, and it became a vital resting stop on the Old Spanish Trail after Antonio Armijo's trading party passed nearby in 1829–30. John C. Fremont camped here in 1844 and mapped the site; Mormons founded a mission and fort in 1855; and in 1905 a railroad company acquired the water rights and platted the City of Las Vegas.