This historical marker commemorates the valor and service of pioneer scout Rafael Rivera, the first Caucasian of record to view and traverse Las Vegas Valley. Scouting for Antonia Armijo's sixty-man trading party from Abiquiu, N.M. in January 1830, young Rivera ascended Vegas W ash twenty miles east of this marker and blazed a route to the Mojave River in California by way of the Amargosa River.

Rivera's pioneering route became a vital link in the Old Spanish Trail, with Las Vegas Springs a most essential stop on this popular route to Southern California. John C. Fremont mapped the trail in 1844. Three years later, following an extension of the course to Salt Lake Valley, the route became known in this area as the Mormon Trail. Today the Old Spanish Trail closely parallels Inter-State Route No. 15.