BEALE WAGON ROAD, 150th ANNIVERSARY ~ June 9, 2007

Coincidentally, the same year that I discovered the historic Beale Wagon Road also happens to be the Beale Wagon Road’s 150^th Anniversary! I was excited to see that historian Jerry Snow, a docent at the Museum of Northern Arizona, was going to be presenting a free lecture and slide show about the Beale Wagon Road at 7:00 pm on June 9, at Riordan Mansion State Historic Park. The park grounds closed at 5:00 pm, but the gates re-opened at 6:30 for guests to attend the presentation.

I was surprised at how many visitors turned out for this topic – the audience contained at least 40 people. However, most of them were older retirees. Don’t young people care about history? There was only one other child there besides our three, and she appeared to be the park ranger’s daughter. We ended up way in the back which made it a little difficult to hear the speaker (no microphone) and see the slides (especially those with words), but that was okay because we were right next to a side door where Jon, Josh, and the little girl could go out into a courtyard and walk around when they got bored.

There were two previous federal expeditions through this area (Sitgreaves in 1851 and Whipple in 1853-54). Nevertheless, the story of Beale and his unique expedition is a most fascinating one, with long-lasting historical significance. Here is a brief overview:

In 1857, the War Department decided to look for an alternative route to California. This was partly because of the mounting pressure to subdue the Mormons in Utah, and also because the lengthy Gila Trail to the south ran through the middle of dangerous Apache country. Congress commissioned Edward Fitzgerald Beale, a retired Navy Lieutenant, to survey a wagon road along the 35th parallel from Fort Defiance, New Mexico Territory, to the Colorado River crossing on the California-Arizona border.

A secondary objective of Beale’s mission was to test the feasibility of using camels in the American Southwest as pack animals. Camels were well suited to the arid desert, they were capable of traveling for days without water, carried much heavier loads than mules, and could thrive on coarse forage that other animals wouldn’t touch. Beale’s camel driver Hadji Ali (Hi Jolly) later lived in western Arizona and is buried at Quartzite. Camels might have become a success in the Old West except that horses were afraid of them and mules didn’t like them. When the Civil War broke out, the camel experiment was dropped and the camels were auctioned off or abandoned. Wild camels could be seen roaming around the desert through the early 1900’s. (See: Camels for Uncle Sam, by Diane Yancey, Hendrick-Long Publishing Co., Dallas TX, 1995.)

As for the Beale survey party, in September of 1857 they passed through what is now Flagstaff with 50 men, 100 mules, 10 wagons, 22 Egyptian camels, over 300 sheep, plus lots of supplies and equipment. Each morning, Beale would have everyone get up and travel ten miles before breakfast. The front page of The Weekly Arizonian newspaper reported: “[Beale] intends to make a good road and construct bridges wherever they are needed. He has a strong force of men and animals and being an officer of great skill and energy will doubtless make a fine route to California.”

Beale’s Wagon Road was the first federally funded interstate highway to traverse the rugged southwest desert, canyons, and rocky terrain obtained at the end of the Mexican-American War. This road was to save an estimated 200 miles and thirteen days of travel. However, an unfortunate tragedy befell the first group of pioneers who attempted to follow the Beale Wagon Road in 1858. The Rose-Baley wagon train, comprised of a group of Missouri and Iowa emigrants that met in Albuquerque, encountered a deadly reception at the Colorado River crossing, instigated by Mojave Indians who turned out to be more hostile than anyone expected. The disaster was so notorious that as a consequence, the Beale Wagon Road was avoided by most emigrant parties. (See Disaster at the Colorado: Beale's Wagon Road and the First Emigrant Party, by Charles W. Baley, Utah State University Press, June 2002.)

Some homesteaders did come to the Flagstaff area from California on Beale Wagon Road in the 1870’s. However, it wasn’t until the opening of a railroad along the route, followed by the development of the automobile, that this historic road finally became widely used. In fact, Beale’s Wagon Road was the route that was later to become the famous Route 66 across the Southwest (generally followed now by Interstate 40).

If you can afford $265 per person, you can join Jerry Snow for a series of three day-long guided field trips to visit remaining sections of the original Beale Wagon Road that are still visible between Leupp and Seligman, AZ. (The next trip is scheduled for October 2007; see www.mnaventures.org/day-trips_beale-wagon.html.) Otherwise, you can do a little research and exploring on your own to discover Beale’s trail, some portions of which are travelable by car and others which are only accessible by foot. The following references will provide a good start:

A Guide to the Beale Wagon Road Through Flagstaff, Arizona by Jack Beale Smith. (Flagstaff: Tales of the Beale Road Publishing Company, 1984.)

www.fs.fed.us/r3/kai/recreation/trails/wil_beale.shtml (Beale Wagon Road Historic Trail #31, printable handout and trail guide from the Williams Ranger District of the Kaibab National Forest.)

P.S. Another clue as to the whereabouts of the old Beale Trail is the El Paso Natural Gas pipeline. Mr. Snow mentioned that whenever he’s out searching for the Beal Trail, he often comes across a natural gas line. We noticed that, too, on our scouting expeditions!

EL MORRO, NM ~ May 27, 2007

Just west of El Malpais National Monument on Highway 53, is El Morro National Monument. Between these two parks, simply marked with a little sign, is the Continental Divide. This is the natural geologic and hydrologic north-south boundary that runs through North America, separating the Atlantic Ocean watershed from the Pacific Ocean watershed.

When we were driving to El Morro I didn’t know what to expect so after a while I was wondering if we had passed it. But I found out that it’s impossible to miss this landmark from the highway! El Morro – “the headland” or “the fortress” – was quite impressive even from a distance. About 15 miles west of the Continental Divide, in the middle of a high desert plain you suddenly come upon a huge rock formation looming 200 feet above the surrounding landscape. It reminded me of El Capitan at Yosemite, CA.

So it’s a large rock, what’s the big deal you say? Well, there is much more to it than that! El Morro’s prominence actually has more to do with history than geology. This sandstone monolith sheltered an oasis that attracted Anasazi, Spanish, and American travelers throughout a 700-year period. Just go to the Visitor Center and find out all about it. The building is set up like a museum with exhibits and a video to watch, which provide an overview of El Morro’s significance at the “Crossroads of the Southwest.”

To begin with, an ancient Indian route between the Acoma and Zuni pueblos led directly past El Morro. Then sometime in the late 13th century, Anasazi Indians built an 875-room pueblo on top of the bluff. It was an easily defensible spot, inaccessible to outsiders, with a shaded pool at the base of the cliff for a dependable year-round water source. The pool also attracted coyotes, deer and other wild creatures. Rain and snow melt kept the pool filled to the brim, with cattails growing at the water’s edge. However, after a couple of generations the Anasazis abandoned that site for unknown reasons as they did others in the Southwest. Their petroglyphs of bear tracks, human hands, and other symbols can still be seen on the sandstone wall.

Following the Indians came the Europeans. El Morro became as much of a landmark and water source for the Spanish conquistadors as it was for the natives. Not everyone left a message, but the first known historical mention of El Morro is found in the journal of Diego Pérez de Luxán. He traveled with the Espejo Expedition, which stopped there for water on March 11, 1583. Don Juan de Oñate, the first Spanish Governor of Northern New Spain, carved his name with the words “pasó por aqui” (“passed by here”) on April 16, 1605.

In 1680, the Pueblo Indian revolt drove the Spaniards from New Mexico. Twelve years later, Don Diego de Vargas, the most famous governor of New Mexico, restored order and left this message at El Morro: “Here was the General Don Diego de Vargas, who conquered for our Holy Faith and for the Royal Crown all of New Mexico at his own expense, year of 1692.” (At that time, the province of New Mexico extended roughly from the border of Louisiana to the border of California.)

Many more explorers, soldiers, Indian agents, surveyors, pioneers, and settlers stopped at El Morro. These include: Dominguez-Escalante (1776), De Zuñiga (1795), Young (1829), Sitgreaves (1851), Whipple (1853), Doniphan (1846), J.H. Simpson and R.H. Kern (1849), sheep drives to and from California (1830-1880), and military wagons (1840-1880). It was on August 23, 1859, when an Army expedition led by Lieutenant Edward Beale passed by El Morro as they sought to survey a wagon road from Texas to California. Beale’s entourage included 25 Egyptian camels being tested as pack animals. Their wrangler, P. Gilmer Breckinridge, also left his signature on the rock.

After the Beale wagon road was established, so many visitors passed by this site as they headed westward toward California, that the Inscription Rock at El Morro was almost as popular as Register Cliff (Guernsey, WY) along the Oregon Trail. The Prescott to Santa Fe stagecoach line also ran by El Morro from 1863-1882. This road continued to be the major route west until a railroad line was built about 20 miles to the north and travelers no longer depended on the water supply at El Morro.

The inscriptions at El Morro range from ancient petroglyphs, to simple scratchings, to elaborate scripts, to etchings by professional tombstone carvers. Some of the older carvings were even overlapped by newer ones. While at one time it was desirous to carve your name in the inscription rock, today you’re not allowed to touch any of the carvings or add your own. Since 1906 when the site was proclaimed to be a National Monument, it’s been closed to all new rock writings due to the historical significance of this stone document. But just outside the visitor center they provide a large chunk of soft sandstone for those who can’t resist the urge to see their name written in stone.

There is a $6.00 per person admission charge at El Morro to go out on the trail. (They will give you a detailed booklet that translates the Spanish engravings and explains each person named.) It’s an easy, half-mile, one-hour or less self-guided walk to see the pool and inscriptions. A more strenuous two-mile hike leads to the Indian pueblos on top of the bluff. But even if you don’t venture any further, you can learn a lot at the Visitor’s Center museum for free. It was getting late in the day when we were there and none of us felt like walking any more after our long hike at El Malpais, so we just stayed in the museum and watched the movie about it. But next time I definitely want to go back there and take the trail!

VALENTINE, AZ ~ May 13, 2007

The old town of Valentine is located about four miles beyond Hackberry, in scenic Truxton Canyon where Route 66 and the Santa Fe railroad tracks run side by side. The town was named in 1910 in honor of Robert G. Valentine, Commissioner of Indian Affairs from 1908-1910. The large brick Indian School that had been established there for the Hualapai children in 1900 is now closed but the site is still the headquarters for the Truxton Canyon Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

A couple of miles down the road, there is a little red one-room schoolhouse that was used by the town’s white children. The corner entrance looks like it had been remodeled at one time. If you walk up the steps and peek in the front door, you can see that most of the wooden floor boards have rotted away leaving wide gaps where you can peer down into the basement. At the rear entrance there is a set of steps that leads downstairs, and what looks like a coat closet. Most of the old tin ceiling tiles remain intact. Two outhouses (perhaps boys and girls?) stand on one side of the schoolyard, still with their wooden seat. However, nothing remains of the Valentine post office, grocery store, or gas station.

A few more miles down the road from Truxton Canyon is the actual town of Truxton. Edward Beale’s famous camel expedition stopped at the spring here in 1857. Lieutenant Beale (1822-1893) must have named the town for his one-year-old son Truxton (1856-1936), his older brother Truxton (1820-1870), and/or his mother, Emily Truxton Beale (1832-1880). In the 1950’s, Truxton was the site of a busy Route 66 gas station and café.

BEALE WAGON ROAD ~ February 11, 2007

We were driving down Route 66 from Kingman to Seligman, through the little towns of Hackberry and Valentine. Just before Truxton, we got off on a side cattle road to have a picnic lunch. It was a grassy area with rolling hills, and we didn’t see any cattle although a herd of pronghorn was grazing nearby. The railroad runs parallel to Route 66, and we stopped just before we got to the track. While we were there, several freight trains passed by. After lunch we walked down to the tracks and waited for another train to come by. We waved at the engineer, and he blew his whistle and put his hand out the window to wave back at us.

The dirt road that we were on ran alongside the railroad tracks, and we decided to drive that way for a while because we thought it might lead us to Truxton. It didn’t, but we made an exciting discovery. Along the dirt road there were BLM markers that said “Historic Beale Wagon Road 1857-1883 BLM AZ Heritage Project 1993.” Suddenly it all made sense! The modern-day roads and development followed these historic trails, of course, over which people had traveled through the centuries and built up towns along the way. So if you go all the way back to its original beginnings, Route 66 was even more historical than we thought. It was so cool to think we were traveling on the same path that wagons had traveled on in the 1800’s.

After we got back home, I did a little research on the Beale Wagon Road. In the late 1850’s, Lieutenant Edward Fitzgerald Beale and his party of men set out on a route along the 35^th parallel to construct a wagon road from Fort Smith, Arkansas to the Colorado River. Beale’s road roughly followed Lieutenant Amiel Whipple’s trail west across Arizona. They took a detour around Canyon Diablo, continued on through the Flagstaff area, headed northwest through Peach Springs and Truxton Wash (named for Beale’s son), then through Kingman and on to the Colorado River. Portions of this historic trail are still visible near the Navajo community of Leupp, at Laws Spring northeast of Williams, and between Valentine and Peach Springs.

This wagon road was once the major “interstate highway” across the northern Arizona Territory during the 1860’s - 1870’s. It traversed deserts, forests, and prairies. Deer, elk, and pronghorn antelope were commonly seen along the way – and they’re still there, as we observed. Modern roads, most notably Route 66, indeed followed the Beale Road alignment. Two of the best preserved original stretches of the Beale Wagon Road are northeast of Williams - the open grasslands of Government Prairie and dense pinon-juniper woodlands near Laws Spring. From Laws Spring, hike about 1/4 mile south and east along the marked trail to discover a segment of the original road that appears as two rows of rocks about a wagon-width apart.

http://www.southwestexplorations.com/bealemap.htm - Beale Wagon Road Navigation Map. (See also: http://www.tomjonas.com/swex/beale.htm)

http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/kai/recreation/trails/wil_beale.shtml - Printable map of Beale Wagon Road Historic Trail #31, from the U.S. Forest Service.

http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~rse/riordanrt66.htm - Route 66 and Northern Arizona: Presented at the Riordan Mansion Brown Bag Lunch Sessions on June 13, 2000.

Did You Know…? Beale is most remembered for using camels in his road-building expeditions. Camels can travel for days without water, they eat more types of forage than mules do, and they can also carry heavier loads than mules. Beale’s camel driver, Hadji Ali (Hi Jolly), later lived in western Arizona. Ali's grave in Quartzite is marked by a stone pyramid topped by a copper camel.