Cholla Springs is a constituent region of New Mexico, named for the area's cholla cacti. By the turn of the 20th century, Cholla Springs was largely an arid desert with a few shrubs and cactus, and, as the land was too arid and dry for farming, cattle ranching was a more preferable occupation. The wide-open desert plains, low-lying hills, rocky canyons, and jagged cliffs provided a base for several outlaw gangs during the Wild West era, even into the 1890s-1910s. The largest settlement in the region, Armadillo, was deserted during the 1890s due to a cholera pandemic, but, by the 1910s, its population had returned, its business reopened, and the streets once more saw several gunfights and drunken brawls. Eventually, the lawlessness died down due to the efforts of the US Marshals and the Bureau of Investigation (BOI), who cleared Bill Williamson and his gang from Fort Mercer, battled against the Bollard Twins gang and Walton's Gang, and brought law and order to the frontier. A street in Sandy Shores, Blaine County, California was named in honor of Cholla Springs.