Lt. Edward Fitzgerald Beale (The Beale Wagon Road)
Posted by: 
leadhiker
N 35° 11.399 W 114° 03.629
11S E 767654 N 3898070
In 1857, Lieutenant Edward Fitzgerald Beale was assigned the job of building a wagon road across the New Mexico and Arizona Territories near the 35th parallel.
Waymark Code: WM8WGJ
Location: Arizona, United States
Date Posted: 05/21/2010
Views: 12
Inscription:
Lt. Edward Fitzgerald Beale
1822 - 1893
Pioneer in the path of empire.
Hero of the war with Mexico.
Lieutenant in United States
Navy. Appointed General by
the Governor of California.
Commanded exploration of wagon
route to the Colorado River,
with the only camel train in
American history 1857-1858.
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In 1857, President James Buchanan appointed Lieutenant Edward Fitzgerald Beale to survey a wagon road from Fort Defiance, New Mexico to the Colorado River, on the border between Arizona and California,along the 35th parallel. The survey also incorporated an experiment first proposed by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis four years earlier. To satisfy part of his transportation needs, Beale took 25 camels. Beale had had many years’ experience in the west, first with the U.S. Navy in California, then with Kit Carson and John C. Fremont, and later, on government business and explorations in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, and California
The Wagon Route surveyed by Lt. Edward F. Beale 1857 - 1858. Followed by railroad survey, 1858 – 1859. Route of Atlantic and Pacific Railroad built across Arizona 1882 – 1883. Tracks reached Kingman, spring, 1883. U. S. Highway 66 closely follows Beale's survey.
Road of Trail Name: The Beale Wagon Road
State: Arizona
County: Mohave
Historical Significance:
The Beale Wagon Road is still visible in many places today and has been well documented in north central Arizona by Jack Beale Smith in a series of booklets called Tales of the Beale Road. Lewis Burt Lesley published one of Beale’s reports in 1929 in the book Uncle Sam’s Camels.
How you discovered it:
Was searching for historical markers in Kingman, Arizona when I came across a monument with three markers on it. All the markers have to do with Beale. One on Beale, one one the wagon road, and one on Camp Beale Springs.
Book on Wagon Road or Trial:
The Beale Wagon Road is still visible in many places today and has been well documented in north central Arizona by Jack Beale Smith in a series of booklets called Tales of the Beale Road. Lewis Burt Lesley published one of Beale’s reports in 1929 in the book Uncle Sam’s Camels.
Why?:
The Beale Wagon Road, a route that would be followed almost 70 years later by Route 66. The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad (now Santa Fe RR) laid its tracks along Beale's Camel Road in the 1880's. These are the same tracks that ran parallel to Route 66 throughout the Southwest, and still run parallel to Interstate 40 today.
Directions:
Marker is located in Locomotive Park south of West Beale Street (State Hwy 95) near Grandview Avenue.
Years in use: Not listed
Website Explination: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
To post a log for this Waymark the poster must have a picture of either themselves, GPSr, or mascot. People in the picture with information about the waymark are preferred. If the waymarker can not be in the picture a picture of their GPSr or mascot will qualify. There are no exceptions to this rule.