User:Asiaticus/sandbox/Cooke's Wagon Road
Cooke's Wagon Road was the first wagon road between the Rio Grande and the Colorado River to San Diego, through the Mexican provinces of Nuevo México, Sonora and Alta California, established by Philip St. George Cooke and the Mormon Battalion, from October 19, 1846 to January 29, 1847 during the Mexican American War. It became the first of the wagon routes between New Mexico and California that with subsequent modifications before and during the California Gold Rush eventually became known as the Southern Emigrant Trail.
Cooke's Wagon Road Route[edit]
| Date | Location | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| November 13, 1846 | Fosters Hole, Nuevo Mexico [1]: 16–17 [2]: 109, 125 [3]: 177–186 | 16 mi (26 km) |
| November 14-15, 1846 | Mountain Streamlet, Nuevo Mexico[1]: 17–18 [2]: 125–126 | 12 mi (19 km) |
| November 16, 1846 | Cooke's Spring, Chihuahua[1]: 18 [2]: 126 | 13 mi (21 km) |
| November 17, 1846 | Fryingpan Canyon, Chihuahua[1]: 18–19 [2]: 126–127 | 3 mi (4.8 km) |
| November 18, 1846 | Mimbres River Crossing, Chihuahua[1]: 19 [2]: 128 | 18 mi (29 km) |
| November 19-20, 1846 | Ojo de Vaca, Chihuahua[1]: 19–21 [2]: 128–129 | 18 mi (29 km) |
| November 21, 1846 | Burro Cienega, Chihuahua[1]: 21 [2]: 129–130 | 12 mi (19 km) |
| November 22, 1846 | Waterless Camp, Sonora[1]: 21–22 [2]: 131 | 15 mi (24 km) |
| November 23-24, 1846 | Whitmire Spring, Chihuahua[1]: 22–25 [2]: 131–132 on the west shore of Las Playas |
25 mi (40 km) |
| November 25, 1846 | Through Whitmire Pass to Double Adobe Creek, Sonora[1]: 24–25 [2]: 134–135 | 17 mi (27 km) |
| November 26, 1846 | Bercham Draw, Sonora [1]: 25–26 [2]: 134–135 | 12 mi (19 km) |
| November 27, 1846 | Cloverdale Creek, Sonora[1]: 26 [2]: 134–135 | 12 mi (19 km) |
| November 28-29, 1846 | Guadalupe Pass, Sonora [1]: 26–28 [2]: 134–135 Yanos - Fronteras Road |
5 mi (8.0 km) |
| November 30, 1846 | Guadalupe Canyon, Sonora[1]: 29–30 [2]: 136–137 | 7 mi (11 km) |
| December 1, 1846 | Guadalupe Canyon, Sonora[1]: 30–31 [2]: 138–9 | 7 mi (11 km) |
| December 2-3, 1846 | San Bernardino Ranch, Sonora[1]: 30–32 [2]: 139–141 | 9 mi (14 km) |
| December 4, 1846 | Rocky Basin of water, Sonora[1]: 32–33 [2]: 141 [4] | 8 mi (13 km) |
| December 5, 1846 | Large Spring, Blackwater Creek, Sonora[1]: 33 [2]: 142 | 14 mi (23 km) |
| December 6-7, 1846 | Waterhole Grove, Sonora[1]: 34–35 [2]: 142 | 12 mi (19 km) |
| December 8, 1846 | Waterless Camp, Sonora[1]: 35 [2]: 142–143 | 17 mi (27 km) |
| December 9, 1846 | 1st Camp, San Pedro River, Sonora[1]: 35–37 [2]: 144–145 | 16 mi (26 km) |
| December 10, 1846 | 2nd Camp, San Pedro River, Sonora[1]: 37 [2]: 143–144 | 15 mi (24 km) |
| December 11, 1846 | 3rd Camp, San Pedro River, Sonora[1]: 37–38 [2]: 144–146 "Battle of the Bulls" |
11 mi (18 km) |
| December 12, 1846 | 4th Camp, San Pedro River, Sonora[1]: 38–39 [2]: 146–147 | 15 mi (24 km) |
| December 13, 1846 | 5th Camp, San Pedro River, Sonora[1]: 39 [2]: 146–147 | 7 mi (11 km) |
| December 14, 1846 | Mescal Still-house, Sonora[1]: 39–40 [2]: 147–148 | 20 mi (32 km) |
| December 15, 1846 | Waterless Camp, Sonora[1]: 40–41 [2]: 148–149 | 12 mi (19 km) |
| December 16-17, 1846 | Camp at Tucson, Sonora[1]: 41–45 [2]: 149–153 [5] | 16 mi (26 km) |
| December 18, 1846 | 1st Camp beyond Tucson, Sonora[1]: 45–46 [2]: 153–154 | 24 mi (39 km) |
| December 19, 1846 | 2nd Camp beyond Tucson, Sonora[1]: 46–47 [2]: 154–156 | 30 mi (48 km) |
| December 20, 1846 | 3rd Camp beyond Tucson, Sonora[1]: 47–48 [2]: 156–157 [8] | 10 mi (16 km) |
| December 21, 1846 | Cooke's 1st Camp on the Gila River, Sonora[1]: 49–50 [2]: 157–158 [9] | 9 mi (14 km) |
Cooke and the Mormon Battalion Establish The Route[edit]
Philip St. George Cooke wrote a book "The Conquest of New Mexico and California" that recorded his experience in command of the Mormon Battalion and its expedition to establish the wagon route that soon became known as Cooke's Wagon Road or Cooke's Road.[2]
Cooke's Road began from his last camp on the west bank the Rio Grande across the river from the San Diego Mountain, 258 miles southwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico and 29 miles down the river from the camp where Colonel Stephen W. Kearny's Expedition left the river for California. Cooke's road extended westward 444 miles, southwestward through Guadalupe Pass in the Guadalupe Mountains, westward to the San Pedro River, following it northward until turning westward near modern Benson, Arizona to Tucson. From Tucson it cross the arid desert to the Gila River, 9 miles east of the Pima Villages, where his route rejoined that of Colonel Kearny. From there it then followed Kearny's route along the Gila River to the Yuma Crossing of the Colorado River. Following the crossing were 89 miles from waterhole to waterhole across the Colorado Desert to Vallecito, then after building a wagon road over difficult terrain 47 miles up and over Warner Pass in the Laguna Mountains, the battalion marched 58 miles north and west through Aguanga, Temecula, then south over the Vallecitos Pass to the San Luis River, and west again, past Mission San Luis Rey to the Pacific Ocean. The last march was south to Mission San Diego.[10]
Later Modifications[edit]
Major Graham's Road 1848[edit]
Tucson Cutoff 1849[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag Report from the Secretary of War, Communicating a Copy of the Official Journal of Lieutenant Colonel Philip St. George Cooke, PUBLIC DOCUMENTS PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, DURING A SPECIAL SESSION BEGUN AND HELD AT THE CITY OF WASHINGTON, MARCH 5, 1849, Congressional Edition, Volume 547, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1849. pp.1-85
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah Philip St. George Cooke, The Conquest of New Mexico and California, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1878 pp.91-109, 125-196 Cite error: The named reference "Cooke" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Utah Historical Quarterly Volume 57, Number 3, (Summer 1989).pdf Carmen Smith and Omer Smith, "The Lost Well of the Mormon Battalion Rediscovered," Utah Historical Quarterly 57. No.3 (Summer 1989): 177-186]
- ^ 31°21′04″N 109°24′46″W / 31.35111°N 109.41278°W
- ^ Camp at Tucson was 1/2 mile north of town.
- ^ Water on Santa Cruz River, 7 miles north of camp, 11 hour march to waterless camp.
- ^ March from sunrise to 7 pm to camp with a small pool of water for men only, 6hrs rest then march again.
- ^ March to water pools.
- ^ Cooke's 1st Camp on Gila River was 9 miles east of the Pima Villages where Cooke's Road met Kerney's route. It was probably midway between Sacaton and Blackwater which is about 9 miles above the uppermost Pima Village at that time called Buen Llano.
- ^ Distances from Sketch of part of the march & wagon road of Lt. Colonel Cooke, Map, ca. 1847; (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth41368/: accessed January 19, 2016), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting University of Texas at Arlington Library, Arlington, Texas.
- ^ Hadley, Diana; Sheridan, Thomas E. 1995. Land use history of the San Rafael Valley, Arizona (1540-1960). Gen. Tech. Rep. RM-GTR-269. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station.
- ^ Larry D. Christiansen, Major Graham’s Road, Cochise Quarterly VOL. 20, No 4 Winter 1990 (Printed in error as Vol. 19, No. 4, Winter, 1990), Cochise County Historical Society, Douglas, AZ, 1990
- ^ Harlan Hague, The Search for a Southern Overland Route to California, California Historical Quarterly, Summer 1976, (pp. 150-161)
- ^ Couts, Cave Johnson, Edited by Henry F. Dobyns, Hepah, California! The journal of Cave Johnson Couts from Monterey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico to Los Angeles, California, during the years 1848-1849. Arizona Pioneers' Historical Society, Tucson, 1961.
- ^ Couts, Cave Johnson, Edited by Henry F. Dobyns, Hepah, California! The journal of Cave Johnson Couts from Monterey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico to Los Angeles, California, during the years 1848-1849. Arizona Pioneers' Historical Society, Tucson, 1961, pp.49-77
- ^ Robert Eccleston, Overland to California on the Southwestern Trail 1849, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1950, pp. 174-193
External Links[edit]
- Sketch of part of the march & wagon road of Lt. Colonel Cooke, Map, ca. 1847 accessed December 17, 2015), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting University of Texas at Arlington Library, Arlington, Texas.
Category:Southern Emigrant Trail]] Category:Cooke's Wagon Road]]
Category:Trails and roads in the American Old West]] Category:Arizona Territory]] Category:Historic trails and roads in Arizona]] Category:History of Baja California]] Category:Historic trails and roads in Baja California]] Category:History of California]] Category:Historic trails and roads in California]] Category:New Mexico Territory]] Category:Historic trails and roads in New Mexico]]