Beale's Wagon Road
In October 1857, an expedition led by Edward Fitzgerald Beale was tasked with establishing a trade route along the 35th parallel from Fort Smith, Arkansas to Los Angeles, California.[1] The wagon trail began at Fort Smith and continued through Fort Defiance, Arizona before crossing the Colorado River near present-day Needles, California.[2] The Mojave Road stretches from where Beale's Wagon Road meets the Colorado River to southern California.[3] The location where Beale crossed the river, en route to California, became known as Beale's Crossing.[4]
Background
Beale described the route, "It is the shortest from our western frontier by 300 miles (480 km), being nearly directly west. It is the most level: our wagons only double-teaming once in the entire distance, and that at a short hill, and over a surface heretofore unbroken by wheels or trail on any kind. It is well-watered: our greatest distance without water at any time being 20 miles (32 km). It is well-timbered, and in many places the growth is far beyond that of any part of the world I have ever seen. It is temperate in climate, passing for the most part over an elevated region. It is salubrious: not one of our party requiring the slightest medical attendance from the time of our leaving to our arrival ... It crosses the great desert (which must be crossed by any road to California) at its narrowest point."[5] Beale's Wagon Road would eventually be supplanted by the railroad, then U.S. Route 66, and later, Interstate 40.[6]
Recommendations
After his initial survey of the road, E.F. Beale went in Washington, D.C. to make recommendations to members of Congress and the War Department:
I regard the establishment of a military post on the Colorado River as an indispensable necessity for the emigrant over this road; for although the Indians living in the rich meadow lands are agricultural, and consequently peaceable, they are very numerous, so much so that we counted 800 men around our camp on the second day after our arrival on the banks of the river. The temptation of scattered emigrant parties with their families, and the confusion of inexperienced teamsters, rafting so wide and rapid a river with their wagons and families, would offer too strong a temptation for the Indians to withstand.[7]
Beale suggested that, in addition to a military fort, the route was also in immediate need of bridges and dams to ensure safe travel and provide a reliable water supply; he requested $100,000 to fund the improvements.[8]
References
- ↑ Thrapp 1991, p. 76.
- ↑ Ricky 1999, p. 100.
- ↑ Hinckley 2012, p. 32.
- ↑ Utley 1981, p. 164.
- ↑ Bonsal 1912, p. 213.
- ↑ Lutzick 2013, p. 8.
- ↑ Beale 1858, p. 3.
- ↑ Beale 1858, pp. 1–3.
Bibliography
- Beale, Edward Fitzgerald (1858). Wagon Road from Fort Defiance to the Colorado River: Letter from the Secretary of War, Transmitting the Report of the Superintendent of the Wagon Road from Fort Defiance to the Colorado River: Issue 124 of [U.S.] 35th Cong., 1st sess. House. Ex. doc. Harvard University.
- Bonsal, Stephen (1912) [1901]. Edward Fitzgerald Beale, a pioneer in the path of empire, 1822-1903. G. P. Putnam's sons. OCLC 706481.
- Hinckley, Jim (2012). The Route 66 Encyclopedia. MBI Publishing Company. ISBN 9781610586887.
- Lutzick, Ann-Mary J. (2013). Winslow: Images of America. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780738596525.
- Ricky, Donald B. (1999). Indians of Arizona: Past and Present. North American Book Distributors. ISBN 9780403098637.
- Thrapp, Dan L. (1991). Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography: A-F. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9780803294189.
- Utley, Robert Marshall (1981). Frontiersmen in Blue: The United States Army and the Indian, 1848-1865. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9780803295506.