Wildest of the Wild West

by Howard Bryan

The "Wild West" stories of Dodge City, Deadwood, and Tombstone pale in comparison to the incredible story of Las Vegas, New Mexico, for decades considered the most violent community on America's Western frontier. Due largely to is strategic location on the historic Santa Fe Trail, and laster as an end-of-track town on the westward pushing Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, the Hispanic farm and ranch community reeled under the impact of Indian warfare, conquering armies, insurrectionists, outlaws and gunfighters, and an ever increasing tide of immigrants from Eastern states. Wildest of the Wild West is not a community history as such, but rather a compilation of violent, dramatic, and melodramatic events that shook the New Mexico town over a 60-year period from 1835 to 1915.^ Most of these tales, many published here for the first time in books form, were drawn from the pages of early newspapers, and the text includes generous samples of the informal style, wit , and humor of front