Bradshaw Trail

The Bradshaw Trail, nicknamed the "Gold Road" at one time, [cite web |url=http://www.desertusa.com/web_cart/db/pages/5096.html?gclid=CKTQ17iZs5ECFSosagodLjmefA |title=The Gold Road to La Paz |publisher=desertusa.com |accessdate=2008-02-07] is an historic overland stage route in Southern California which originally connected San Bernardino, California to gold fields in La Paz, Arizona, known today as Ehrenberg. It was the first road connecting Riverside County to the Colorado River.

Its remainder, a graded dirt road, traverses southeastern Riverside County and a part of Imperial County, beginning roughly 12 miles/19km east of North Shore and terminating about 14 miles/23km southwest of Blythe for a total of 70 miles/113km.

History

The trail is named for trailblazer William David Bradshaw who first crossed the area in 1862. A former forty-niner, Bradshaw knew that the northern gold mines were rapidly becoming exhausted and that the flood of refugees from the area would need a more direct trail from the south across the desert to the new strike at La Paz. Without a direct trail, it would be necessary to travel a great distance southeast to Yuma, then north up the river to La Paz. Bradshaw was also aware of the financial possibilities which could be found in a gold boomtown.

Originally 180 miles/290km long, the western trailhead began east of San Bernardino in the San Gorgonio Pass. Bradshaw and his party travelled southeast to the northern tip of the Salton Sink, turning due east to the foothills of the Orocopia Mountains and an existing stage stop called "Dos Palmas."

Leaving Dos Palmas, the men continued eastward between the Orocopia and Chocolate mountain ranges, briefly skirting the southern end of the Chuckwalla range and ending at the Palo Verde Valley. Once they crossed the Colorado River, the party rode upstream for approximately four miles to the gold fields. Despite the fact that the trail crossed mostly barren desert, water was reasonably plentiful with water holes found at roughly thirty-mile/48km intervals.

Between 1862 and 1877, the Bradshaw Trail was the main route between Southern California and the La Paz gold fields.

The trail today

The remaining fragment mostly crosses public land save for the extreme eastern end of the trail at Ripley. Use of a four wheel drive vehicle is recommended to traverse the trail and no amenities may be found on the trail itself.

Another consideration is the Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range which borders a part of the Bradshaw Trail to the south. This is a live bombing range and is clearly posted as such.

"See also: Wiley's Well"

References

External links

* [http://www.blm.gov/ca/palmsprings/bradshaw.html BLM page on the Bradshaw Trail outlining recreational activities and access information]
* [http://www.desertusa.com/mag03/trails/trails11.html Bradshaw Trail history at desertusa.com]