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The Mojave Road or Mojave Trail is a historic route and present day dirt road across what is now the Mojave National Preserve in the Mojave Desert in the United States. This rough road stretches from the site of the old Fort Mohave (on the west bank of the Colorado River, roughly 10 miles southwest of Bullhead City, Arizona) to the site of the old Camp Cady (on the west bank of the Mojave River, roughly 12 miles northeast of Newberry Springs, California). A four-wheel drive vehicle is required for all but a few short stretches of this road, which is unmaintained. Under optimal conditions, its full length can be travelled in 2 to 3 days. ==History== A traditional thoroughfare of desert-dwelling Native Americans, the road much later served Spanish missionaries, explorers, and foreign colonizers and settlers from the 18th to 19th centuries, and ran between watering holes across the Mojave Desert between the Colorado River and Mojave River then following it to the Cajon Pass, the gap between the San Bernardino Mountains and San Gabriel Mountains, into Southern California. The watering holes recur at intervals of about 60 to 70 miles. Francisco Garcés, the Spanish Franciscan missionary, traveled the trail with the expedition of Juan Bautista de Anza in 1776. José María de Zalvidea, the zealous Franciscan administrator of Mission San Gabriel also crossed the trail in 1806, reportedly converting five indigenous Mojaves near present-day Hesperia. In 1826, Jedediah Smith became the first north American to travel the Mojave Road. From 1829-30, Mexican traders from New Mexico established the routes that came to be called the Old Spanish Trail trade route to California. The first of these, Armijo's route intercepted the Mojave's trail at a point just east of Yermo. This place was later called "Forks of the Road" where the Old Spanish Trail divided from what came to be the Mojave Road to the Colorado River. Subsequenty in 1830, the Mohave's trail became part of what became the Main Route or Central Route of the Old Spanish Trail, linking up with it from the north a dozen miles west of the Colorado River in Piute Valley and following it westward to the link up with Armijo's route at the Forks of the Road. Now consolidated the Old Spanish Trail then followed the Mohave's trail along the Mojave River and over the mountains into San Bernardino Valley. The land passed into American hands in 1848 and in early 1858 the Mojave Road was connected to the newly pioneered Beale's Wagon Road across northern New Mexico Territory from Fort Defiance to Beale's Crossing on the Colorado River where it linked up with the Mojave Road. Wagon trains of settlers coming west on the Santa Fe Trail, soon followed Beale's Wagon Road and the Mojave Road into Southern California. Beale's road was shorter than the route via the more southern Southern Emigrant Trail and it was cooler in summer and snow free in winter, had better forage and was better watered. Soon hostiities began between the Mohave's and the settlers, triggering the Mohave War. From the time of the Mohave War the trail came under the purview of the U.S. government. Army posts were established at Fort Mojave, at Beale's Crossing in 1859 and at Camp Cady, 10.9 miles east of Forks in the Road, in 1860. Later in the 1860s, smaller outposts were established east of Camp Cady along the trail and regular patrols instituted. The army protected the settlers and travelers from the attacks of the resident Paiute, Mojave and Chemehuevi Native Americans. This also opened the way for large mining development in the Mojave Desert region of San Bernardino County and agricultural development in the Victor Valley area. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mojave Road」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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