You've all heard of Las Vegas, Nevada, but very few of you know of Las Vegas, New Mexico.

I learned about it when I was a kid.

From my dad, who had been raised on a ranch, not far from there, a ranch which later became

a part of Filmont Boy Scout Ranch.

Dad liked to tell me stories, and I was a good listener, and that part of the country

was full of stories of the Old West.

Of Kit Carson, who's abandoned Adobe House, my dad played in next door when he was a kid.

Of Lucian Maxwell, who inherited a huge tract of land that included most of New Mexico

when he married Lucinda Bobian, the Belle of Tauce, and of the gunfighters, the lawmen,

and other characters that once frequented the untamed streets of East Las Vegas, New Mexico.

The Galinas River separates the town into East and West, and not too many years ago,

the East side was home to a wild and tough crowd of people.

According to a story in Ralph, Emerson, Twitchell, without exception there was no town which

harbored a more disreputable gang of desparados and outlaws than did Las Vegas.

The town was laid out in the traditional Spanish colonial style with a central plaza surrounded

by buildings which could serve as fortifications in case of Indian attack.

Las Vegas founded in 1835, prospered as a stop on the Santa Fe Trail.

The arrival of the railroad on July 4, 1879 brought with it businesses development and

new residents, murderers, robbers, thieves, gamblers, gunmen, swindlers, vagrants, and tramps

poured in, transforming the eastern side of the settlement into a virtually lawless brawl.

Among the notorious characters were such legends of the Old West as Dentist Doc Holliday and

his girlfriend, Big Nose Kate, Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp, Mysterious Dave

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