The only fortification known to have existed in the Vegas Valley was the so-called "Mormon Fort," which still stands at the southeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Washington Avenue, just north of Downtown. The part of the valley was also pretty far from any other vestiges of Western civilization (until relatively recently) and much, much too far from water to have been a viable outpost. Like so many other fanciful street names in the area, "Fort Apache" would appear to have sprung from some developer’s fertile imagination, possibly after having watched one John Ford cavalry movie too many. As a local historian put it, there was "none that I know of. Not even a decent snow fort!"
