What we now call the "Old Spanish Trail" actually began use under Mexican rule, as a pack mule trade route from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Los Angeles, CA. Following some of Garces' route, an early version of the trail was blazed by Antonio Armijo in 1829. Explorations by fur trapper Jedediah Smith in 1825-1827, and the exploratory and trading trip of the Wolfskill-Mount party of 1830-1831 filled in the last gaps in the trail. In a sense this trail was a continuation of the Santa Fe trail from St. Louis, MO to Santa Fe, NM. The route went north out of Santa Fe, avoiding both the impassable Grand Canyon of the Colorado and the hostile Yumas, Hopis and Apaches of Arizona. From the natural spring and meadow of Las Vegas ("the meadows"), the trail followed one of two paths that joined near Barstow, at "Forks In the Road," the northern route through present-day Blue Diamond went from spring to spring, and the southern route through Needles followed the underground Mojave River upstream. Apparently the northern route was favored even though the water was inferior because it avoided the sometimes-hostile Mojave tribe.

The main cargo of westbound trade was blankets from New Mexico, made by pueblo-dwelling weavers with superior skill, using wool from superior sheep raised in the hardy climate; the main cargo returning east was horses and mules, larger and stronger than New Mexico's from growing up with more plentiful grass in the coastal California climate.

In my opinion the best way to appreciate this era is to read Old Spanish Trail, Santa Fe to Los Angeles (1954) by Leroy and Ann Hafen [see bibliography] — especially the journal of Orville C. Pratt, 1848, reprinted as an appendix — and then take a trail ride at Bonnie Springs Old Nevada [link-10].

Last update 12:57 PM Fri. 27-Feb-2004 by ABS.