It is believed that pre-historic Paleo-Indians crossed this land as far back as 20,000 years ago. Anasazi tribes created cliff villages roughly 10,000 years ago. Although the ancient Anasazi communities disappeared by about 1300 A.D., leaving only traces of their civilization behind, they have sparked curiosity ever since. The earliest evidence of a civilization in the area has been dated to about 8,000 B.C. Archeological findings in the Mesilla Valley have been traced to about 200 B.C. Spanish explorers, including the famed Coronado, appeared on the scene by the early 1500s. At that time, the Spanish referred to the native inhabitants as Pueblos because of the villages or "pueblos" they built. In 1598, a trailblazer named Don Juan de Onate led Spanish colonists through Las Cruces on a route that became known as El Camino Real, or the Royal Highway. Onate and his group were the first to travel a desolate, 90-mile stretch of desert that became known as Jornado del Muerto, or Journey of Death. This route provided a shorter path than the one that curved along the Rio Grande, but the hot and arid conditions claimed the lives of many of its travelers. In addition, Apaches attacked the wagon trains and killed the settlers who dared to cross their territory. It was an Apache ambush on settlers that gave Las Cruces its name. When travelers from Taos were killed along the El Camino Real in 1830, the grieving survivors marked the graves with crosses. Thus, La Placita de Las Cruces, or the Place of the Crosses, became the frontier settlement of Las Cruces in 1849, when the first streets were marked with rawhide rope. However, during the two centuries preceding the 1850s, the Rio Grande Valley changed hands several times. Resisting the termination of their tribal customs, the Pueblos overthrew their Spanish oppressors in 1680, and maintained their autonomy until defeated in 1692. More than 100 years later, Mexican revolutionaries overthrew the Spanish rulers and established the Republic of Mexico in 1821. Within 25 years, America's resolute westward expansion prompted a war against Mexico. The 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the Gadsden Purchase of 1854 claimed much of Mexico's northern land as U.S. domain. The area became Confederate soil briefly in 1862, when 3,000 Texas troops marched into the Mesilla Valley en route to Sante Fe. Union soldiers later defeated the Confederates north of Sante Fe. After the Civil War ended in 1865, the U.S. Army built Fort Selden to guard against the Apache. The Buffalo Soldiers of the 125th (African-American) Infantry were among the first troops to defend the fort. Later, a young captain named MacArthur commanded the post, while his son Douglas, played among the adobe, flat-roofed buildings. The expanding railroad and the increasing influx of new immigrants abated the Apache threat, and the fort was officially abandoned in 1891. In 1973, Fort Selden became a state monument, and it is now the summertime site of weekend portrayals of the life of a frontier soldier. An interpretive trail also winds through the historical ruins, which are located about 15 miles north of Las Cruces. During the late 1800s, Las Cruces began supplying goods to adventurous miners who came into the mountains seeking wealth. Fort Selden soldiers also came into town for supplies. Mesilla had become a major stop along the Butterfield Overland Stage route, which carried passengers through much of the western U.S. Also, innovative irrigation techniques spurred agricultural growth along the Rio Grande. A colorful local character of this Wild West timeframe was Henry McCarty, a.k.a. William Bonney, a.k.a. Billy the Kid. During the Lincoln County cattle range wars in 1878, Billy the Kid killed a county sheriff, for which he was captured and sentenced to hang. Remarkably, he escaped from the Mesilla courthouse. Within a couple of years, however, he was tracked and killed by the Dona Ana County Sheriff, Pat Garrett. Ironically, the well-known sheriff was later shot outside Las Cruces by an unknown gunslinger; Garrett's body was buried in the local cemetery.    More?