Beale Wagon Road

United States Arizona  Beale Wagon Road



History
The Beale Wagon Road is named after the surveyor and superintendent of construction Edward Fitzgerald "Ned" Beale, (4 February 1822 - 22 April 1893) who was commissioned to build a wagon road from Fort Smith, Arkansas to Los Angeles, California. The wagon road was completed in 1858 and 1859. The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, U.S. Highway 66 and Interstate 40 all generally follow the route, although the Beale Wagon Road is usually slightly north and closer to the mountains and hills. If you look at the area of the road on Google Maps Satellite View you can still see the the old wagon road across Arizona.

The complete report of the construction of the road is contained in: Beale, Edward Fitzgerald. Wagon Road, Fort Smith to Colorado River. Washington, D.C.: s.n, 1860. eBook available from the Hathi Trust

The Beale expedition is notable in that it used camels to carry supplies. As part of the expedition's transportation needs, Beale acquired 25 camels, imported from Tunis, as pack animals. The Army hired a camel driver named Hi Jolly to work with the camels. Hi Jolly is buried in Quartzite, Arizona. See Hi Jolly

The Beale Wagon Road is also significant as the route of early immigration to Arizona from Utah, prior to the establishment of Lee's Ferry in 1870, by the pioneers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These pioneers settled throughout the state during subsequent migrations. Once Lee's Ferry was established, most of the settlers traveled through that route which came to be known as the Honeymoon Trail. See also Little Colorado River.