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Old Spanish Trail

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The Great Basin ( Spanish : Gran Cuenca ) is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds , those with no outlets to the ocean, in North America . It spans nearly all of Nevada , much of Utah , and portions of California , Idaho , Oregon , Wyoming , and Baja California . It is noted for both its arid climate and the basin and range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin in Death Valley to the highest point of the contiguous United States , less than 100 miles (160 km) away at the summit of Mount Whitney . The region spans several physiographic divisions, biomes , ecoregions , and deserts .

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73-437: Old Spanish Trail may refer to: Old Spanish Trail (trade route) , connecting Santa Fe, New Mexico, with Los Angeles, California, in the 19th century Old Spanish Trail (auto trail) , connecting St. Augustine, Florida, with San Diego, California, in the early 20th century Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with

146-708: A cut off developed on the Old Spanish Trail that cut the distance traveled along the upper Mojave River, by cutting across what is now Victor Valley , from the Cajon Pass to a crossing just below the Lower Narrows of the river. On April 20, 1844, following the advice of his guide, John C. Frémont intercepted this route to the river, riding east southeast from Lake Elizabeth , north of the San Gabriel Mountains . Another cutoff to

219-772: A language in the Numic language group. To close a 1951 Indian Claims Commission case, the Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act of 2004 established the United States payment of $ 117 million to the Great Basin tribe for the acquisition of 39,000 square miles (100,000 km ). European exploration of the Great Basin occurred during the 18th century Spanish colonization of the Americas . The first immigrant American to cross

292-476: A mule, which were considered hardier. California had almost no wool-processing industry and few weavers, so woven products were a welcome commodity. The trading party usually left New Mexico in early November to take advantage of winter rains to cross the deserts on the trail and would arrive in California in early February. The return party would usually leave California for New Mexico in early April to get over

365-699: A report to the governor, and this was published by the Mexican government in June 1830. After this date, traders generally used the trail for a single, annual round trip. Word spread about Armijo's successful trade expedition, and some commerce began between Santa Fe and Los Angeles. However, in 1830, due to resumed hostilities with the Navajo , the Armijo route west to the Colorado River Crossing of

438-462: A route he called "Cañon de San Bernardino" from the upper Mojave River west through Cajon Pass and down Crowder and Cajon canyons to the mouth of Cajon Pass, where the trail reached the coastal plain of San Bernardino Valley . This route was undoubtedly known to the vaqueros of San Bernardino Estancia. Once through the pass, they turned west along the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains for two days to San Jose Creek ; they followed it, crossing

511-828: A section of the trail in Arches National Park was placed on the National Register of Historic Places . In 2001, the section of the Trail that runs across Nevada from the Arizona border to California was placed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Old Spanish Trail/Mormon Road Historic District. Mojave National Preserve and Mojave Trails National Monument preserve sections of

584-728: A short cut route southwest to the mouth of the Mojave River. From Las Vegas Wash on the Colorado River, Armijo's expedition passed southwestward to Eldorado Dry Lake in Eldorado Valley and the spring at Goodsprings Valley , then through Wilson Pass , across Mesquite Valley and California Valley , through what became known as Emigrant Pass to Resting Springs , then along the Amargosa River from near Tecopa to Salt Spring . From Salt Spring they crossed

657-638: A two-day-long waterless stretch up Salt Creek to Laguna del Milagro ("Lake of the Miracle") (probably Silver Lake ), then to Ojito del Malpais ("little spring of the badlands") on Soda Lake . They had another waterless day beyond Soda Lake, where they reached the Mojave River , only intermittently dependable for potable water, and the Mohave Trail leading up river. By then short of food, Armijo sent some of his scouts ahead to get more food in

730-511: Is a combination of a network of trails first established by indigenous people and later used by Spanish explorers, trappers, and traders with the Ute and other indigenous tribes. The eastern parts of what became called the Old Spanish Trail, including southwest Colorado and southeast Utah , were explored by Juan Maria de Rivera in 1765. Franciscan missionaries Francisco Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante unsuccessfully attempted

803-525: Is a geographic division of the Basin and Range Province defined by Nevin Fenneman in 1931. The United States Geological Survey adapted Fenneman's scheme in their Physiographic division of the United States . The "section" is somewhat larger than the hydrographic definition. The Great Basin culture area , or indigenous peoples of the Great Basin , is a cultural classification of indigenous peoples of

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876-464: Is a historical trade route that connected the northern New Mexico settlements of (or near) Santa Fe, New Mexico with those of Los Angeles , California and southern California. Approximately 700 mi (1,100 km) long, the trail ran through areas of high mountains, arid deserts, and deep canyons. It is considered one of the most arduous of all trade routes ever established in the United States. Explored, in part, by Spanish explorers as early as

949-551: Is nicknamed "The Loneliest Road in America", and Nevada State Route 375 is designated the "Extraterrestrial Highway". The Great Basin is traversed by several rail lines including the Union Pacific Railroad 's Overland Route (Union Pacific Railroad) through Reno and Ogden , Feather River Route , Central Corridor and Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad . There has been a succession of indigenous peoples of

1022-471: Is part of the Great Basin's central Lahontan subregion. The hydrographic Great Basin contains multiple deserts and ecoregions , each with its own distinctive set of flora and fauna. The ecological boundaries and divisions in the Great Basin are unclear. The Great Basin overlaps four different deserts: portions of the hot Mojave and Colorado (a region within the Sonoran Desert ) Deserts to

1095-592: Is slightly misleading; the region comprises many small basins. The Great Salt Lake , Pyramid Lake , and the Humboldt Sink are a few of the "drains" in the Great Basin. The Salton Sink is another closed basin within the Great Basin. The Great Basin Divide separates the Great Basin from the watersheds draining to the Pacific Ocean. The southernmost portion of the Great Basin is the watershed area of

1168-522: Is the result of extension and thinning of the lithosphere , which is composed of crust and upper mantle . Extensional environments like the Basin and Range are characterized by listric normal faulting , or faults that level out with depth. Opposing normal faults link at depth producing a horst and graben geometry, where horst refers to the upthrown fault block and graben to the down dropped fault block. Sediment build-up over thousands of years filled

1241-599: The Cui-ui sucker fish (endangered 1967) and the Lahontan cutthroat trout (threatened 1970). Large invertebrates include tarantulas (genus Aphonopelma ) and Mormon crickets . Exotic species, including chukar , grey partridge , and Himalayan snowcock , have been successfully introduced to the Great Basin, although the latter has only thrived in the Ruby Mountains . Cheatgrass , an invasive species which

1314-855: The Four Corners area, and passed north of the Carrizo Mountains to Church Rock , east of present-day Kayenta . The trail ran to Marsh Pass and north through Tsegi Canyon into canyon country. At the Colorado River (then called the Rio Grande), the travelers forded at the Crossing of the Fathers above present-day Glen Canyon Dam . Continuing west to Pipe Spring and on to Virgin River above present-day St. George, Utah ,

1387-702: The Great Basin fence lizard , longnose leopard lizard and horned lizard are common, especially in lower elevations. Rattlesnakes and gopher snakes are also present. The Inyo Mountains salamander is endangered. Shorebirds such as phalaropes and curlews can be found in wet areas. American white pelicans are common at Pyramid Lake . Golden eagles are also very common in the Great Basin. Mourning dove , western meadowlark , black-billed magpie , and common raven are other common bird species. Two endangered species of fish are found in Pyramid Lake:

1460-745: The Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific Ocean . The region is bounded by the Wasatch Mountains to the east, the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Ranges to the west, and the Snake River Basin to the north. The south rim is less distinct. The Great Basin includes most of Nevada , half of Utah , substantial portions of Oregon and California , and small areas of Idaho , Wyoming , and Baja California, Mexico . The term "Great Basin"

1533-698: The Laguna Salada . The Great Basin's longest and largest river is the Bear River of 350 mi (560 km), and the largest single watershed is the Humboldt River drainage of roughly 17,000 sq mi (44,000 km ). Most Great Basin precipitation is snow, and the precipitation that neither evaporates nor is extracted for human use will sink into groundwater aquifers , while evaporation of collected water occurs from geographic sinks . Lake Tahoe , North America's largest alpine lake ,

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1606-560: The Mexican–American War of 1846–1848. After 1848 numerous Mormon immigrants began settling in Utah , Nevada , and California all along the trail, affecting both trade interests and tolerance for the slavery of American Natives. Place names used in this article refer to present-day states and communities. Few (if any) settlements existed along the trail, except in the coastal plains of Alta California, before 1850, although many of

1679-873: The Mohave villages (below modern Laughlin ) and followed the route between the springs along the Mojave Trail to Soda Lake and the Mojave River. Later caravans could alternatively follow the Armijo Route diverting southwestward from the Colorado at Las Vegas Wash, to Resting Springs and to the Mojave River where it joined the Wolfskill/Yount Route, following that river upward to and over the San Bernardino Mountains through Cajon Pass, Crowder Canyon and lower Cajon Canyon and across

1752-834: The National Park Service , its boundaries approximate the hydrographic Great Basin but exclude the southern " panhandle ". The Great Basin Province was defined by botanist Armen Takhtajan to extend well beyond the boundaries of the hydrographically defined Great Basin: it includes the Snake River Plain , the Colorado Plateau , the Uinta Basin , and parts of Arizona north of the Mogollon Rim . The Great Basin physiographic section

1825-546: The San Gabriel River at the Rancho La Puente , and reaching Mission San Gabriel Arcángel on January 30, 1830. Armijo used the same route to return to his original town, traveling from March 1 to April 25, 1830. He submitted a brief journal of his journey (itemizing the days with names of places where camps were made but not quantifying distances) to the government of New Mexico, and it was published by

1898-497: The San Juan Mountains , Mancos , and Dove Creek , entering Utah near present-day Monticello . The trail proceeded north through difficult terrain to Spanish Valley near today's Moab, Utah , where a ferry crossed the deep and wide Colorado River and then turned northwest to a ferry crossing on the similarly sized and dangerous Green River near present-day Green River, Utah . The route then passed through (or around)

1971-623: The San Rafael Swell , the northernmost reach of the Trail. Entering the Great Basin in Utah via Salina Creek Canyon , the trail turned southwest following the Sevier , Santa Clara , Virgin Rivers to the north bank of the Colorado River. There they could follow the Colorado River to Las Vegas Wash, then south through the Eldorado Valley and Piute Valley to join the Mojave Trail, west of

2044-662: The Uncompahgre Valley . The trail then followed the Gunnison River to today's Grand Junction , where the Colorado River was forded, and then on west to join the Main Northern Route just east of the Green River. The North Branch later became an interest of explorers seeking viable routes for a transcontinental railroad along the 38th parallel. In 1853 alone, three separate expeditions explored

2117-661: The Americas and a cultural region located between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. The culture area covers approximately 400,000 sq mi (1,000,000 km ), or just less than twice the area of the hydrographic Great Basin. The hydrographic Great Basin is a 209,162-square-mile (541,730 km ) area that once drained internally. All precipitation in the region evaporated, sank underground or flowed into lakes (mostly saline). As observed by Fremont, creeks, streams, or rivers find no outlet to either

2190-466: The Armijo route of the Old Spanish Trail had developed before 1844, where the trail forked northeastward from the Mojave River and Mohave Trail, east of what is now Yermo, California , running up Spanish Canyon over Alvord Mountain , to Bitter Spring , then through Red Pass to join the Armijo route near Salt Spring in the Silurian Valley . Frémont also used this route in 1844. The fork of

2263-472: The Basin and Range Province contains the Great Basin, but extends into eastern Oregon , southern Idaho , and the Colorado River watershed and the northwest corner of Arizona ). The Basin and Range region is the product of geological forces stretching the Earth's crust, creating many north–south trending mountain ranges. These ranges are separated by flat valleys or basins. These hundreds of ranges make Nevada

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2336-1092: The Fathers was not practical. A new route north of the river had to be found, which used the trails of the fur traders and trappers of New Mexico through the lands of the Ute. This route ran northwest to the Colorado and Green rivers, then crossed over to the Sevier River , which it followed until crossing westward over mountains to the vicinity of Parowan, Utah . It passed southward to the Santa Clara River, linking up with Armijo's route to California. This commerce usually consisted of one mule pack train from Santa Fe with 20 to 200 members, with roughly twice as many mules, bringing New Mexican goods hand-woven by Indians, such as serapes and blankets, to California. California had many horses and mules, many growing wild, with no local market, which were readily traded for hand-woven Indian products. Usually two blankets were traded for one horse; more blankets were usually required for

2409-516: The Fremont built small villages and grew crops like corn and squash. Seven hundred years ago, the Shoshone inhabited the area after the Fremont. They were hunter-gathers and lived in temporary homes to be able to follow animal herds and collect plants. Now, Shoshone descendants live in nearby areas. Other tribes in the area included the Ute , Mono , and Northern Paiute . All of the tribes speak

2482-466: The Great Basin . Paleo-Indian habitation by the Great Basin tribes began as early as 10,000 B.C. . Archaeological evidence of habitation sites along the shore of Lake Lahontan date from the end of the ice age when its shoreline was approximately 500 feet (150 m) higher along the sides of the surrounding mountains. The Paleo-Indians were mainly hunters and hunted bison, the extinct mammoth, and extinct ground sloth. For housing, since they followed

2555-649: The Great Basin from the Sierra Nevada was Jedediah Strong Smith in 1827. Peter Skene Ogden of the British Hudson's Bay Company explored the Great Salt Lake and Humboldt River regions in the late 1820s, following the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada to the Gulf of California. Benjamin Bonneville explored the northeast portion during an 1832 expedition . The United States had acquired claims to

2628-745: The Great Basin into three ecoregions roughly according to latitude: the Northern Basin and Range ecoregion , the Central Basin and Range ecoregion , and the Mojave Basin and Range ecoregion . Great Basin wildlife includes pronghorn , mule deer , mountain lion , and lagomorphs such as black-tailed jackrabbit and desert cottontail and the coyotes that prey on them. Packrats , kangaroo rats and other small rodents are also common, and are predominantly nocturnal. Elk and bighorn sheep are present but uncommon. Small lizards such as

2701-677: The Mexican government in June 1830. The Main Route (also referred to as the Central Route or the Northern Route) of the Old Spanish Trail avoided territory of the Navajo , (who had returned to a state of hostilities after Armijo's trip), and the more difficult canyon country traversed by the Armijo Route around the Colorado River. First traveled in 1830 by a party led by William Wolfskill and George Yount , this route ran northwest from Santa Fe through southwestern Colorado , past

2774-489: The North Branch over Cochetopa Pass. These groups were led, in order, by Lieutenant Edward Fitzgerald Beale , Captain John Williams Gunnison , and John C. Frémont. Use of the Old Spanish Trail between 1829 and 1848 resulted in numerous variations as travelers adopted or blazed easier paths. But regardless of the route taken, the Old Spanish Trail crossed several mountain ranges, passed through dry sections with limited grass and sometimes limited water, crossed two deserts, and

2847-421: The Old Spanish Trail, with the exception of some of the paths through the Mojave Desert . The Mohave Trail was first traveled by Garcés from the Mohave villages on the Colorado River westward across the Mojave Desert, between desert springs, until he turned northwestward to the Old Tejon Pass into the San Joaquin Valley , looking for a route to Monterey. Garcés returned to the Colorado River by following

2920-418: The animals they were hunting, they had no permanent villages. The next group to live in the area was the Great Basin Desert Archaic, from approximately 9,000 to 1,500 years ago. They hunted animals like mule deer and antelope and gathered onions, wild rye, and pinyon pine nuts. Then, from 1,500 to 700 years ago, the Fremont lived in the area. Unlike the Paleo-Indians, who moved around to follow bison herds,

2993-447: The coastal valleys to Mission San Gabriel and Los Angeles. The North Branch of the Old Spanish Trail was established by traders and trappers using Indian and Spanish colonial routes. It ran from Santa Fe north to Taos and on north into the San Luis Valley of Colorado. Caravans then headed west to today's Saguache , crossing over the Continental Divide at Cochetopa Pass , and then through present day Gunnison and Montrose to

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3066-448: The deep narrow gorge of Boulder Canyon , to the riverside oases of Callville Wash and Las Vegas Wash . Armijo waited there for his scouts to return, especially Rivera who had visited the Mohave villages downriver before. Rivera returned, having recognized the Mohave Trail that led westward to Southern California. Perhaps because the Mohave had been antagonistic to parties of mountain men in recent years, or to save time, Armijo attempted

3139-557: The down-faulted basins between ranges and created relatively flat lacustrine plains from Pleistocene lake beds of the Great Basin. For example, after forming about 32,000 years ago , Lake Bonneville overflowed about 14,500 years ago in the Bonneville Flood through Red Rock Pass and lowered to the "Provo Lake" level (the Great Salt Lake , Utah Lake , Sevier Lake , Rush Lake , and Little Salt Lake remain). Lake Lahontan , Lake Manly , and Lake Mojave were similar Pleistocene lakes. The Great Basin physiographic section of

3212-432: The dry 50 miles to the Muddy River before rejoining the Main Route on the Virgin River at Halfway Wash after crossing what later became known as Mormon Mesa . This route saved the large distances caused by the diversion of the Armijo and Main routes to follow the Colorado River, and would later become the route of the Mormon Road , the wagon road through southern Nevada between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. In 1988,

3285-442: The eastern regions of the 1848 California Gold Rush , with its immigrants crossing the Great Basin on the California Trail along Nevada's Humboldt River to Carson Pass in the Sierras. The Oregon Territory was established in 1848 and the Utah Territory in 1850. In 1869 the First transcontinental railroad was completed at Promontory Summit in the Great Basin. Around 1902, the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad

3358-402: The elevation increases, the temperature decreases and precipitation increases. Because of this, forests can occur at higher elevations. Utah juniper / single-leaf pinyon (southern regions) and mountain mahogany (northern regions) form open pinyon-juniper woodland on the slopes of most ranges. Stands of limber pine and Great Basin bristlecone pine ( Pinus longaeva ) can be found in some of

3431-413: The expedition followed the Virgin to the mouth of the Santa Clara River , which they followed up to the vicinity of the Shivwits Reservation . They crossed southward over the Beaver Dam Mountains , at Utah Hill Summit to the Virgin River again, which they followed for three days down to the Colorado River. They traveled west parallel to the river, over difficult terrain in the Black Mountains , to avoid

3504-419: The geologic features along the Trail retain their Spanish designations. The Armijo Route of the Old Spanish Trail was established by an expedition led by Antonio Armijo in 1829–1830. Leaving Abiquiu on November 7, 1829 Armijo's expedition traveled a route northwest and west of Santa Fe, following the Chama River and the Puerco River . He crossed to the San Juan River basin. From the San Juan, they entered

3577-447: The higher ranges. In riparian areas with dependable water cottonwoods ( Populus fremontii ) and quaking aspen ( Populus tremuloides ) groves exist. Because the forest ecosystem is distinct from a typical desert, some authorities, such as the World Wildlife Fund , separate the mountains of the Great Basin desert into their own ecoregion: the Great Basin montane forests . Many rare and endemic species occur in this ecoregion, because

3650-427: The hydrographic nature of the landform as "having no connection to the ocean". The hydrographic definition is the most commonly used, and is the only one with a definitive border. The other definitions yield not only different geographical boundaries of "Great Basin" regions but regional borders that vary from source to source. The Great Basin Desert is defined by plant and animal communities, and, according to

3723-473: The individual mountain ranges are isolated from each other. During the Last Glacial Period , the Great Basin was wetter. As it dried during the Holocene epoch, some species retreated to the higher isolated mountains and have high genetic diversity. Other authorities divide the Great Basin into different ecoregions, depending on their own criteria. Armen Takhtajan defined the "Great Basin floristic province". The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency divides

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3796-496: The late 16th century, the trail was extensively used by traders with pack trains from about 1830 until the mid-1850s. The area was part of Mexico from Mexican independence in 1821 to the Mexican Cession to the United States in 1848. The name of the trail comes from the publication of John C. Frémont ’s Report of his 1844 journey (which crossed into Mexico) for the U.S. Topographical Corps , guided by Kit Carson , from California to New Mexico. The name acknowledges that parts of

3869-415: The most mountainous state in the country. The Great Basin's two most populous metropolitan areas are the Reno-Sparks metropolitan area to the west and the Wasatch Front to the east (with the latter being significantly more populous than the former). The region between these two areas is sparsely populated, but includes the smaller cities of Elko , Ely , Wendover , West Wendover , and Winnemucca . To

3942-642: The north are; in California Susanville , in Oregon Burns and Hines , in Idaho Malad and in Wyoming Evanston . To the south are Cedar City , Tonopah , and Bishop and the very southern area of the basin has the communities of Pahrump , Palmdale , Victorville , and Palm Springs . Interstate Highways traversing the Great Basin are Interstate 80 (I-80) and I-15 , and I-70 and I-84 have their respective endpoints within its boundaries. Other major roadways are U.S. Route 6 (US 6), US 50 , US 93 , US 95 and US 395 . The section of US 50 between Delta, Utah , and Fallon, Nevada ,

4015-432: The settlement at San Bernardino de Sena Estancia . They followed the river for six days (110 miles to its head from the mouth), having to kill a mule or horse each day to eat. Probably at Summit Valley at the top of the river east of Cajon Pass , they met vaqueros of the San Bernardino de Sena Estancia who had extra food. Armijo did not cross over the mountains by the Mohave Trail route over Monument Peak , but followed

4088-429: The south, and the cold Great Basin and Oregon High Deserts in the north. The deserts can be distinguished by their plants: the Joshua tree and creosote bush occur in the hot deserts, while the cold deserts have neither. The cold deserts are generally higher than the hot and have more even spread of precipitation throughout the year. The climate and flora of the Great Basin are strongly dependent on elevation; as

4161-439: The states that it crossed. Portions of US 160 in Colorado and US 191 in Utah are similarly designated. Great Basin The term "Great Basin" is applied to hydrographic , biological , floristic , physiographic, topographic , and ethnographic geographic areas. The name was originally coined by John C. Frémont , who, based on information gleaned from Joseph R. Walker as well as his own travels, recognized

4234-488: The territory north of the 42nd parallel via the 1819 Adams–Onís Treaty with Spain and 1846 Oregon Treaty with Britain. The US gained claims to most of the rest of the Great Basin via the 1848 Mexican Cession . The first non-indigenous settlement was in 1847 in the Great Salt Lake Valley, leading to the first American religious settlement effort of the Mormon provisional State of Deseret in 1849 in present-day Utah and northern Nevada. Later settlements were connected with

4307-546: The title Old Spanish Trail . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Old_Spanish_Trail&oldid=516946420 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Old Spanish Trail (trade route) The Old Spanish Trail ( Spanish : Viejo Sendero Español )

4380-422: The trail before the water holes dried up and the melting snow raised the rivers too high. The return party often drove several hundred to a few thousand horses and mules. Low-scale emigration from New Mexico to California used parts of the trail in the late 1830s when the trapping trade began to die. New Mexicans migrated to settle in Alta California by this route: some first settled in Politana then established

4453-421: The trail had been known and used by the Spanish since the 16th century. Frémont's report identified a trail that had already been used for about 15 years. The trail is important to New Mexico history because it established an arduous but usable trade route with California. In 2002 this trail was designated by Congress as part of the National Trails System as Old Spanish National Historic Trail . The trail

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4526-512: The trail often resulted from such slave raids by unscrupulous traders and raiding Indians. John C. Frémont , "The Great Pathfinder", took the route, guided by Kit Carson , in 1844 and named it in his report published in 1845. The New Mexico-California trade continued until the mid-1850s, when a shift to the use of freight wagons and the development of wagon trails made the old pack trail route obsolete. By 1846 both New Mexico and California had been annexed as U.S. territories following its victory in

4599-407: The trail traveling through the Mojave Desert in California. The Old Spanish Trail became the fifteenth national historic trail after Congress adopted Senate Bill 1946 and President George W. Bush signed the legislation in December 2002. Although few traces of the early traders' trail remain, the Trail is now commemorated in many local street and road names, and numerous historical markers in

4672-489: The trails there on the Mojave River, later became known as Fork of the Road . One last modification to this route was that followed by John C. Frémont eastward in 1844. His expedition left the Armijo Route at Resting Spring and turned northeastward after crossing the Nopah Range through Emigrant Pass, through California Valley and across Pahrump Valley to Stump Spring and into the mountains to Mountain Springs , to Cottonwood Spring , to Las Vegas Springs . He then crossed

4745-505: The trip to California , which was just being settled, leaving Santa Fe in 1776 and making it to the Great Basin near Utah Lake before returning via the Arizona Strip . Other expeditions, under another Franciscan missionary, Francisco Garcés , and Captain Juan Bautista de Anza , explored and traded in the southern part of the region. They found shorter and less arduous routes through the mountains and deserts that connected Sonora to New Mexico and California, but these did not become part of

4818-620: The twin settlements of Agua Mansa and La Placita on the Santa Ana River the first towns in what became San Bernardino and Riverside counties. The family of Antonio Armijo moved to Alta California, where his father acquired the Rancho Tolenas . A number of Americans, most naturalized Mexican citizens in New Mexico, and formerly in the California trade over the Old Spanish Trail or in the fur trade, settled in Alta California. Several became influential residents in later years, such as Louis Rubidoux , John A. Rowland , William Workman , Benjamin Davis Wilson , and William Wolfskill . The trail

4891-508: The whole length of the Mohave Trail from the San Bernardino Valley , over the San Bernardino Mountains at Monument Peak , down the Mojave River and eastward to the Colorado River. This same trail was used by the first Americans to reach California by land, via the expedition led by Jedediah Smith in November 1826. The Mojave desert section of the Mohave Trail is now a 4WD trail called the Mojave Road . A route linking New Mexico to California , combining information from many explorers,

4964-416: The women and children of the Paiute , who were sold as domestic servants to Mexican ranchers and other settlers in both California and New Mexico. Mexican traders and Indian raiding parties both participated in this slave trade. The consequences of this human trafficking had a long-standing effect for those who lived along the trail, even after the trail was no longer in use. Intermittent Indian warfare along

5037-424: Was also used for illicit purposes. Some raiders attacked the California ranchos for horses and captives to sell in the extensive Indian slave trade. Mexicans, ex-trappers and Indian tribes, primarily the Utes , all participated in the horse raiding. With allies, Walkara was known to steal hundreds to thousands of horses in a single raid. Native Americans along the route were at risk of being taken captive, especially

5110-402: Was constructed in the lower basin and Mojave Desert for California-Nevada rail service to Las Vegas, Nevada. The climate varies throughout the Great Basin by elevation, latitude, and other factors. Higher elevations tend to be cooler and receive more precipitation. The western areas of the basin tend to be drier than the eastern areas because of the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada . Most of

5183-533: Was often littered with the bones of horses that had died of thirst. The western portions of the Old Spanish Trail could only be used semi-reliably in winter when rains or snows deposited water in the desert. In summer, there was often no water and the oppressive heat could kill. A single round trip per year was about all that was feasible. After 1848, the western parts of the trail were used for winter access between Utah and California when other trails were closed by snow. Sometime before 1844, perhaps as early as 1830,

5256-535: Was opened in 1829-30 when Santa Fe merchant Antonio Armijo led a trade party of 60 men and a caravan of mules to Alta California. Armijo’s group blazed a trade route using a network of indigenous routes, incorporating parts of Jedediah Smith’s routes of 1826 and 1827, and Rafael Rivera’s route of 1828 to the San Gabriel Mission through the Mojave along the Mojave River . Armijo documented his route in

5329-422: Was unintentionally introduced, forms a critical portion of their diets. Feral horses ( mustangs ) and feral burros are highly reproductive, and ecosystem-controversial, alien species. Most of the Great Basin is open range and domestic cattle and sheep are widespread. The Great Basin includes valleys, basins, lakes and mountain ranges of the Basin and Range Province . The basin and range topography

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