America’s Historic Roads
Puzzle 03 · Routes Before the Motorcar · Page 15 in print
Mojave Road
The Mojave used river floods to grow crops, trading their surplus with coastal peoples for goods like shells.
Jump to a word
The words
Camels
Beale’s 1857 camel caravan across the Mojave.
Camp Cady
Army outpost at the road’s western reach.
Chemehuevi
Chemehuevi people for whom the area was a homeland and corridor.
Colorado River
Eastern end of the road at Beale’s Crossing / Fort Mohave.
Fort Piute
Ruined Army outpost at Piute Springs.
Park Service: Piute Springs - Mojave National (opens a new tab)
Garces
Francisco Garcés, the priest who traveled the route with Native guides in 1776.
Jedediah Smith
Trapper who followed Garcés’s path in 1826.
Lanfair Valley
Lanfair Valley crossed by the mapped historic road branch.
Marl Springs
Water source and outpost on the trail.
Mojave
Mojave (Mohave) people of the Colorado River whose trail became the road.
Park Service: Mojave Tribe - Mojave National (opens a new tab) · Park Service: The Mojave Road & The Old (opens a new tab)
Piute Creek
Perennial creek at Piute Springs (Whipple’s Pah-Ute Creek).
Park Service: Piute Springs - Mojave National (opens a new tab) · Park Service: The Mojave Road & The Old (opens a new tab)
Rock Spring
Spring and 1860s Camp Rock Spring outpost.
Park Service: Rock Spring Loop Trail - Mojave (opens a new tab)
San Gabriel
Mission San Gabriel, destination of Mojave traders.
Soda Lake
Dry lake on the trail described by Whipple; Soda Springs outpost.
Whipple
Amiel Whipple, railroad surveyor who named waterholes on the trail.
Sources
- The Mojave Road & The Old Spanish TrailNational Park Service
- Mojave National Preserve: Administrative History (Chapter 2)National Park Service (Mojave National Preserve administrative history, via NPS History)
- Piute Springs - Mojave National PreserveNational Park Service
- Mojave Tribe - Mojave National PreserveNational Park Service
- Rock Spring Loop Trail - Mojave National PreserveNational Park Service