Historic towns are found all throughout the United States. Las Vegas New Mexico is certainly one of them. When the
Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad reached
Las Vegas New Mexico in 1880, everything changed. During the late 1800's, the railroads to some degree built towns. What was a small settlement would become a booming town almost overnight. In some respect, the railroad laying it's tracks through a town had the same effect as a gold rush. The railroad in many ways was the catalyst for historic towns. Most of the old buildings you see today in Las Vegas went up shortly after the railroad arrived. Today, Las Vegas New Mexico is a treasure trove of nineteenth century structures, the town now has more than nine hundred buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. Las Vegas also found it's place in early Hollywood film making. The legendary Hollywood cowboy Tom Mix shot some of his movies in Las Vegas New Mexico.
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| Historic Plaza Hotel, Las Vegas, NM |
Even prior to the arrival of the railroad, Las Vegas New Mexico was a significant settlement. It was directly on the
Santa Fe Trail and was the largest town between it and Dodge City Kansas. Quite a lot of trading went on there during the Santa Fe Trail days. The railroad of course was the start of and reason for the trail's decline but not for the decline of Las Vegas. In fact, the railroad had the opposite effect.In addition to the building construction, the railroad helped make Las Vegas a cattle rail head. Between the railroad cattle trade, the geographic location on the
Santa Fe Trail and the colorful characters attracted to this new booming town, it's probably an understatement to say that Las Vegas New Mexico was one of the New Mexico towns that changed dramatically during the 1880's.
Many historians contend that Las Vegas New Mexico was one of the wilder of the historic towns of the west. This was quite true when it came to outlaws. Quite a lot actually happened there. More than many people might realize. One such incident was when sheriff
Pat Garrett was transporting the arrested
Billy the Kid to the Santa Fe jail from the Fort Sumner area. Supposedly one of the prisoners Garret was transporting along with the Kid had a lot of enemies in Las Vegas. Garrett, his deputies and the prisoners boarded the train in Las Vegas for the 55 mile trip to Santa Fe. To get out of the Las Vegas train station in one piece, the party had to hole up in one of the train cars with shotguns at the ready. The Las Vegas mob intent in not letting the train depart. There were plenty of threats and violence looked imminent but the train car wasn't rushed. Eventually Garrett made his way to Santa Fe where Billy the Kid and the others were jailed.
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| View of old town Las Vegas, NM |
There's another tale in this historical town about the well known
Doc Holliday and Las Vegas New Mexico. It seems that Doc Holliday relocated to Las Vegas in 1879 and opened up a saloon in the middle of town with a partner. He wasn't there but a few months when an argument erupted between Holliday and a well know and locally liked gunman. Holliday apparently invited the gunman to begin shooting whenever he was ready. The gunman did and so did Holliday and the gunman was killed. needless to say, Doc Holliday left Las Vegas shortly thereafter.
Another noted outlaw from Las Vegas was
Vicente Silva. In this case, Silva was a local saloon owner who gathered together a group of Hispanics into what was referred to as the Silva Gang. The gang also had other names such as Society of Bandits, Forty Bandits and Silva's White Caps. Their dubious credits included rustling, murder and theft in general. The distinction of the Silva gang was that it's leader ran a prosperous business in Las Vegas during the day and then at night turned into one of the most feared outlaws in the area. The saloon obviously served as a good front. It also came to be known that Silva had connections with a few local lawmen that aided the gang's survival. Vicente Silva died in 1893 and that pretty much spelled the end of his gang.
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| Amtrak's Southwest Chief at Las Vegas, NM |
When you have a chance to visit this historic New Mexico town, you'll notice that the railroad built its infrastructure a short distance away from the plaza area.
The Plaza Hotel shown at the top of this article was built directly on the Las Vagas plaza. The plaza represents the historic old town.The train station and the old
Harvey House Hotel,
La Castenada, was located one mile west. What this did was create two busy hubs in one town. The tourist visiting Las Vegas New Mexico today should make certain to tour both of these areas. The La Castenada Harvey House still stands but is vacant and the property is privately owned. Adjacent to it is the Las Vegas train station which is now served by
Amtraks' Southwest Chief which runs between Chicago and Los Angeles. There's one train per day from each direction. Some travelers today get off in Las Vegas for a day or two and after touring the town get back on the train to continue their journey. There is convenient van transportation from the train station to the plaza making this an easy side trip.When you set out to tour old historic towns, if possible, give Las Vegas New Mexico a place on your trip planner. It's one of the most interesting historical towns of the southwest.
You will also want to read two related short articles, the
La Castenada Harvey House and a visit to the Santa Fe Trail
wagon ruts at Fort Union New Mexico. Three excellent books regarding Las Vegas New Mexico are
Outlaw Tales of New Mexico: True Stories of New Mexico's Most Famous Robbers, Rustlers and Bandits by author Barbara Marriott. Also the Google eBook,
Outlaws and Desperados by authors Ann Lacy and Anne Valley-Fox and the book
Fred Harvey Houses of the Southwest by author Richard Melzer.
(Photos from author's private collection)
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