"(#141) In the short amount of time I've driven around Las Vegas Valley the more I am reminded of LA. I'll be honest: it's been years since I've visited Las Vegas, but I wasn't expecting such a tremendous splash of sprawl - cookie-cutters, rancherias, golf courses, and more often than not a shopping center for every ten people! If I needed any more proof that southern Nevada is its own doing the proof is in the manicured lawns, consistent traffic, and the overwhelming urbanization. Unfortunately, markers like these suddenly seem out of place." -- March 2009

Along E. Lake Mead Parkway (SR 564), 6 miles northeast of Boulder Hwy. -- Henderson

Las Vegas & Clark County
36.097585, -114.904869

Original Date Visited: 3/15/09
Last Revisited: 3/22/22
Signed: No

Street View

Here's what you'll see!

Marker 141 in between Henderson and Lake Mead NRA. Marker 141 viewed from the road. In recent years, the National Park Service has expanded to here to include an interpretive kiosk. Marker 141 sees a fair amount of traffic today

Exact Description:
On January 8, 1830, the first pack train to pass from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Los Angeles crossed Las Vegas Valley. Antonio Armijo, a Santa Fe merchant, commanded the train and its 30 drovers. The successful completion of the journey opened a trade route between the two Mexican provinces of New Mexico and California.

Described as the "longest, crookedest, most arduous pack mule route in the history of America," Armijo's party brought manufactured goods to Los Angeles and returned driving herds of mules and horses. Later termed the Old Spanish Trail, this route was a principal means of reaching the Pacific Coast until the termination of the war with Mexico in 1848.