While offering a significant new insight into the settlement of the 19th century West, this colourful account of the pioneer era shows how the Southern Route played a major role in the settlement and development of this region. It became the foundation for the later railroads and highways and was also a locus where several cultures - Native American, Spanish, Anglo-American and Mormon - confronted each other, sometimes violently and how one of its springs, the Artesian springs at Las Vegas, grew into a major urban centre.