Trails and Rails Through the Mojave Desert

Trails and Rails Through the Mojave Desert. . America has always been a nation in motion: west to the Mississippi after the Revolution, west to the Continental Divide Following the Louisiana Purchase, West again to the Pacific Coast after the War with Mexico. Like many of today's railroads, the rail route though this part of the Mojave Desert has its roots in the nation's old pack and wagon roads. The first trails followed paths used for centuries by Native Americans. In 1857 Lieutenant Edward Fitzgerald Beale followed one such path, now known as the Mojave Road. Beale was commissioned by Congress to survey a route along the 35th parallel from Fort Smith Arkansas to Los Angeles. Known as Beale’s Wagon Road, this route established an important communications and transportation link between east and west. The Mojave Road is located about thirty miles north of here. , The last third of the nineteenth century brought the railroad into Southern California. The Atlantic and Pacific built west through Arizona to Needles, while at the same time the Southern Pacific built east through the California Desert to the Colorado River. The Southern Pacific, working east from the town of Mojave through Waterman (now Barstow), in this region followed a route south of the Mojave Road, thereby avoiding the rough terrain through which that trail passed. The railroad skirted the Providence, Old Dad, and Bristol Mountains to the north of here, reaching Needles (about 155 miles east of Barstow) in 1883. In 1884 the Santa Fe Railroad purchased desert right-of-way from the Southern Pacific, and operated it as the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, Western Division. Small towns were established along this route to provide water for the thirsty steam locomotives. Starting here in Amboy the towns were named in alphabetical order from wast to east: Amboy, Bristol, Cadiz, Danby, Edison, Fenner, Goffs, Homer, Ibis, Java. Later, Edison became Essex and Bristol became Bengal. During the golden age of rail travel, the Santa Fe Railroad ran some of its most famous passenger trains over this route, including the Grand Canyon Limited, The Chief, and the Super Chief. Today, Amtrak continues this tradition with its Southwest Chief, which makes the run between Los Angeles and Chicago in just over two days.