In 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 the New Mexico Territory to Fort Defiance. He then continued west over what is now northern Arizona to Beale Spring near modern Kingman and Sitgreaves Pass before crossing the Colorado River. The location where Beale crossed the river from Arizona to California, up river from present-day Needles, California, became known as Beale's Crossing.[2][3] Beale's route continued west through Southern California from where Beale's road crossed the Colorado River, through the Mojave Desert along the routes of the Mojave Trail, and Old Spanish Trail to the Mojave River where it crossed the Mormon Road that led to Los Angeles, then crossed the western Mojave Desert to Fort Tejon and the Stockton–Los Angeles Road, and the less-traveled El Camino Viejo, both of which led to the northern parts of California through the San Joaquin Valley.[4]
- ^ Thrapp 1991, p. 76.
- ^ Ricky 1999, p. 100.
- ^ Utley 1981, p. 164.
- ^ Hinckley 2012, p. 32.