+ Route of the Mormon Road 1849–1851From the Mormon Waybill, Distances between stops from Temple block, Salt Lake CityLeRoy Reuben Hafen, Ann Woodbury Hafen, Journals of Forty-niners: Salt Lake to Los Angeles: with Diaries and Contemporary Records of Sheldon Young, James S. Brown, Jacob Y. Stover, Charles C. Rich, Addison Pratt, Howard Egan, Henry W. Bigler, and Others, U of Nebraska Press, 1954, pp. 321–24 Mormon Waybill, Joseph Cain and A. C. Brower, Salt Lake City, 1851. Road distances from readings of roadometer attached to the wagon of Addison Pratt of the 1849 Jefferson Hunt Wagon Train.Randolph Barnes Marcy, The Prairie Traveler. A Hand-Book for Overland Expeditions. With Maps, Illustrations, and Itineraries of the Principal Routes Between the Mississippi and the Pacific. Published by Authority of the ard Department, 1859; Itinerary VI. From Great Salt Lake City to Los Angeles and San Francisco, California. from the Kansas Collection website accessed 05/22/2015Settlements established after 1851 in italics.LocationDistanceWillow Creek, Utah TerritorySivogah, South Willow Creek (1849–1854)Draperville(1854– )Summit of Ridge between Utah and Salt Lake Valleys, Utah Territory, at an elevation of , location: American Creek, Utah TerritoryLake City (1852–1860)American Fork (1860– )Provo River, Utah TerritoryFort Utah (1849–1850)Provo City(1850– )Hobble Creek, Utah Territory Hobble Creek (1850–1853)Springville(1853– )Spanish Fork (river), Utah Territory Spanish Fork (1851– )Peteetneet Creek, Utah Territory Peteetneet (1850–1853)Payson (1853– )Salt Creek, Utah TerritorySalt Creek (1851–1882)Nephi (1882– )Toola Creek, Utah Territory Chicken Creek (1864–1876)Sevier River Crossing, Utah TerritorySevier RiverCedar Creek, Utah TerritoryCedar Springs(1855–1864)Holden (1864– )3rd Creek south of Sevier River, Utah TerritoryThe third stream crossed south of the Sevier River, is now called Chalk Creek.Fillmore (1851– )Leroy R. Hafen and Ann W. Hafen, eds., Journals of Forty-Niners: Salt Lake to Los Angeles (Glendale, CA: Arthur H. Clark Co., 1954), p. 64, note 254th Creek south of Sevier River, Utah TerritoryThis is the fourth stream south of the Sevier River. Road crosses two streams. Prairie TravelerMeadow Creek (1857–1864)Meadow (1864– )18.0 miles from Cedar Creek, 8 miles from Chalk Creek. Hafen, Journals of Forty-Niners, p. 64 note 27Willow Flats, Utah Territory Corn Creek Indian Farm (1854–1867)Petersburg (1859–1868)Petersburgh (1870–1877)Hatton (1877–1940)4 miles from Meadow Creek. Hafen, Journals of Forty-Niners, p. 64 note 27Emigrant Spring, Utah TerritoryMormon Waybill – Spring – Good grass and water.Willden Fort (1860–1865)Cove Fort (1867– )Hafen, Journals of Forty-niners: Salt Lake to Los Angeles. Distances quoted for October 16th by several members of the 1849 Hunt Wagon Train, between Willow Flat and Emigrant Spring, (later site of Cove Fort) in Cove Creek Valley: given by Sheldon Young Journal, October 16th, p. 65, 21 miles. Distance given by Addison Pratt Diary, October 16th, p. 73, 23 miles. Distance given by Charles Rich Journal, October 16th, p. 182, 22 miles. 1851 Mormon Waybill, 25 miles. However Pratt towed the roadometer and recorded all measurements, so presumably the Waybill figure based on Pratt's measurements, is a typographical error by the printer.Sage Creek, Utah TerritoryMormon Waybill – Wood, food poor. Later renamed Indian Creek, from the original Sage Creek. Beaver Creek, Utah TerritoryGreenville (1861– )Greenville was built on the site of the original crossing of the road before 1855 when the road was realigned to cross upriver at the location of modern Beaver, Utah.North Canyon Creek, Utah TerritoryMarcy, Prairie Traveler, 1859. "In Little Salt Lake Valley. Good grass; no wood. The road is rough and steep for six miles. Camp located near Wheatgrass, Utah.2nd Creek, Utah TerritoryMormon Waybill – Good wood, water, and grass.Paragonah (1851– )3rd Creek, Utah TerritoryMormon Waybill – "Good wood, water, and grass."Parowan (1851– )6.75 miles Hafen, Journals, p. 322Cottonwood Creek, Utah TerritoryMormon Waybill – "... good feed and water."Johnson Springs (1851– )Cedar Springs, Utah TerritoryMormon Waybill – "Coal Creek, bad to cross, wood plenty food short, Good camp". The road crossed Coal Creek midway across the valley between Johnson Springs and Cedar Springs. Marshy and wooded it was difficult to cross with wagons at that point. When Cedar City was established on the upper reach of Coal Creek in 1851, the road was diverted to the easy crossing there and then proceeded across the valley to Iron springs, a longer route but less arduous.Pynte Creek, Utah TerritoryMormon Waybill – "Good grass one mile up the canyon." Pynte Creek, now Pinto Creek, was originally called Pyute Creek for the natives that lived along it. The name changed in the Mormon Waybill, and may be the result of a dyslexic typesetter turning the "u" upside down. Subsequently the name was copied and popularized by Marcy's Prairie Traveler.Road Springs, Utah TerritoryMormon Waybill – "Road is rough; good camp."Meadow Canyon, Mountain MeadowSanta Clara River, Utah TerritoryMormon Waybill – "Road descending and rough; poor grass." Gunlock (1857– )Camp Springs, Utah TerritoryMormon Waybill – "Two miles before reaching the springs the road leaves the Santa Clara. Good grass."Rio Virgin, New Mexico TerritoryMormon Waybill – "Road crosses over the summit of a mountain. Good road; grass poor." This section of the road reached the Virgin River at Beaver Dam Wash, just where Littlefield, Arizona is today.at Beaver Dam WashLittlefield (1865– )Rio Virgin, New Mexico TerritoryMormon Waybill – "Road runs down the Rio Virgin, crossing it ten times. Grass good down the river." Camp at the river crossing just below Virgin Hill, where the trail up to the top of Mormon Mesa begins.at Virgin HillEast end of Mormon Mesa CutoffMuddy Creek, New Mexico TerritoryMormon Waybill – "Road for half a mile is very steep and sandy. Good camp."at California WashWest end of Mormon Mesa Cutoff, California CrossingLas Vegas Wash, New Mexico TerritoryMormon Waybill – "Good camp – Water is sometimes found 2 1/2 miles west of the road in holes 23 miles from the Muddy, and some grass about a mile from the road."Las Vegas Springs, New Mexico TerritoryMormon Waybill – On Vagas Wash – "Road runs up the river. Good grass."Fort Las Vegas (1855–1857)Las Vegas Rancho (1865–1902)Las Vegas (1902– )Cottonwood Spring, New Mexico TerritoryMormon Waybill – "Poor grass."Cottonwood Grove, New Mexico TerritoryMormon Waybill – "No grass. Water and grass can be found four miles west by following the old Spanish trail to a ravine, and thence to the left in the ravine one mile."Resting Springs, CaliforniaMormon Waybill – "Good grass and water. Animals should be rested here before entering the desert."Willow Spring, CaliforniaMormon Waybill – "The spring is on the left of the road, and flows into Saleratus Creek. Animals must not be allowed to drink the Saleratus water."on the Amargosa RiverSalt Spring, CaliforniaMormon Waybill – "Poor grass and no fresh water."Bitter Spring, CaliforniaMormon Waybill – "Good road; poor grass."Mojave River, CaliforniaMormon Waybill – "Good road and good grass."Fork of the Road, (junction with Mohave Trail)Alcorn Ranch (1864–1866)Hawley’s Station (1866–1882)This measurement was wrong, it is about 12 miles to Impassable Pass from Bitter Spring, and 18 miles from the pass to Fork of the Road.Last Ford on the Mojave, CaliforniaMormon Waybill – "Last ford. Good grass all the way up the Mojave."Lane's (1859–1865)Oro Grande (1881– )Cahoon Pass, CaliforniaMormon Waybill – "At the summit."Coyote Canyon (1848–1850)Hogback Cutoff (1851–1855) Sanford Cutoff (1855–1861)Cajon Pass Toll Road (1861– )? Camp, CaliforniaMormon Waybill – "Road bad down the canon." The bad road was down Crowder Canyon. Once only the route of pack horse trains in single file, the first wagons had difficulty passing down the old horse trail, rocks had to be moved, trail widened or the wagons taken apart and carried over intractable obstructions. Soon an alternate and marginally less difficult route was found on a steep hogback to the west and a passable road built nearby to the west of the hogback in 1855 called the Sanford Cutoff between Baldy Mesa and upper Cajon Canyon. Later, in 1861, as a result of the Holcomb Valley gold rush, the difficult but shorter, Crowder Canyon route was made into a good road and a toll charged.Coco Mongo Ranch, CaliforniaDel Chino Ranch, CaliforniaMormon Waybill – "Williams".San Gabriel River, CaliforniaSan Gabriel Mission, California San Gabriel (1852– )Pueblo de Los Ángeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles (1850– )San Pedro, CaliforniaDistance between Los Angeles and the anchorage at San Pedro is from Itinerary XX. Captain Whipple's Route from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to San Pedro, California, in Marcy, Randolph Barnes, The Prairie Traveler. A hand-book for overland expedition, Harper & Brothers, New York, 1861. p. 331 from archive.org accessed October 31, 2015
Mormon Road, also known to the 49ers as the Southern Route, of the California Trail in the Western United States, was a seasonal wagon road pioneered by a Mormon party from Salt Lake City, Utah led by Jefferson Hunt, that followed the route of Spanish explorers and the Old Spanish Trail across southwestern Utah, northwestern Arizona, southern Nevada and the Mojave Desert of California to Los Angeles in 1847. From 1855, it became a military and commercial wagon route between California and Utah, called the Los Angeles – Salt Lake Road. In later decades this route was variously called the "Old Mormon Road", the "Old Southern Road", or the "Immigrant Road" in California. In Utah, Arizona and Nevada it was known as the "California Road".
Mormon Road 1847–1855
Jefferson Hunt and Mormon Veterans Expeditions 1847–1848
The wagon road later called the "Mormon Road" was pioneered by a Mormon party with pack horses, led by Jefferson Hunt, intent on obtaining supplies for the struggling, newly founded Salt Lake City, traveling to and from Southern California in the fall and winter of 1847–1848. Following Hunt's route back to Utah in 1848 were discharged veterans of the Mormon Battalion, taking the first wagons over the old pack trail. This route created by the returning veterans confirmed that a wagon route could be made from Salt Lake City southwest through southwestern Utah to link to the Old Spanish Trail at Parowan, that then followed the old pack trail, southwest to the Virgin River. Then using John Fremont's cutoff from the Virgin River at Halfway Wash, crossed southern Nevada, passing over the arid country between the Muddy River and Las Vegas Springs, then over the Spring Mountains at Mountain Springs and Nopah Range beyond through Emigrant Pass to Resting Springs in Southern California. Then, again following the Old Spanish Trail, southwest along the Amargosa River to Salt Spring then a long dry haul across the Mojave Desert to Bitter Spring and on to the Mojave River at Fork of the Road with the Mohave Trail. From there the route followed the river upstream to the crossing at its lower narrows. There they left the river, crossing the remaining desert to Cajon Summit on Baldy Mesa, then descended past Cajon Pass, through Crowder Canyon and the lower Cajon Canyon to the San Bernardino Valley. The road crossed the valley to the Rancho Santa Ana del Chino and then followed the Sonora Road from there west to the pueblo of Los Angeles.Edward Leo Lyman, Overland Journey from Utah to California: Wagon Travel from the City of Saints to the City of Angels, University of Nevada Press, 2008.
Southern Route of the California Trail