The name "Las Vegas" was given to the city in 1829 by Rafael Rivera, a member of the Spanish explorer Antonio Armijo trading party that was traveling to Los Angeles, and stopped for water there on the Old Spanish Trail from New Mexico. At that time, several parts of the valley contained artesian wells surrounded by extensive green areas; "Las Vegas" means "the meadows" in Spanish. The flows from the wells fed the Las Vegas Wash, which runs to the Colorado River.