White Cliffs Wagon Trail
”The wagon wheel tracks at White Cliffs are a remnant of the past. They are a mute testimony to the passing of hundreds of wagons. Twelve inches deep, winding around the base of sandstone cliffs, the ruts are visited by the whispering wind. Parched and barren they endure in the desolate desert, forever held captive by hard rock and eternal times”. - Dennis Fuller (1981).
The road was believed to the built by William (Cap) Hardy in the 1870’s or 1880’s and may have initially been a toll road to pay for construction. The road was used to carry wagons of ore from the booming mining company of Stockton Hill. This road was also used by wagons carrying Tufa stone from a quarry in the adjoining canyon. The stone was used in the construction of numerous early buildings in Kingman. Among those were the county courthouse, the Catholic, and the Methodist churches downtown. It also may have carried the Tufa stone to construct the Hotel Brunswick and Beale Hotel.
The road was called “Old Johnson Road” (from Johnson’s Ranch) and lost considerable use after a new road was made over hilltop between 1910 and 1912. The Stockton Hill mining also slowed around this time. The White Cliffs Canyon was said to have flooded in 1925 and the road was abandoned.
Speculation about the holes in the sides of the ruts is that they were used to slow the wagons with long poles as the moved downhill. There was also reference to the Board of Supervisors being petitioned to blast the road to make it usable for automobiles. The ruts were said to be two feet deep prior to that time.
The site was purchased shortly after World War II by Jim Glancy and Nelle Clark. In 1968 they donated the land to the Historical Society. A newspaper article from April 17, 1969, in The Mohave County Miner, showcased the activation of the Kingman Civilian Conservation Center on December 20, 1965. This group is also known as the Job Corps. The article highlighted the work they did up to that point, including the construction of a historic center, stone picnic tables, parking area, and extensive foot trails. The article also said that the Job Corps camp was closed and White Cliffs work was almost completed with a dedication and opening to the public scheduled in May or 1969 by the Mohave Museum of History and Arts.
Over the years the area has been thoroughly vandalized, until its restoration on August 28 & 29, 1981. The area was picked for restoration by two brothers, Dennis K. Fuller, 15 years old and John K. Fuller, 13 years old, as the Eagle project for Boy Scouts of America. Dennis’ project included reconstruction of a 50’ foot bridge over the wash, clearing the parking lot of trash, glass, and weeds, and making a new entrance to the parking lot. John’s project was to restore the Ramada (historic center), clear the trail of weeds, glass, trash, and debris, repair and paint the flagpole, and reroute run-off from the cliffs.
In June of 1998, the City of Kingman accepted the donation of the 8.1 acre historic site. The site was donated by the Mohave Museum of History and Arts.
Information Retrieved from the Mohave Museum of History and Arts
Time and weather took its toll on the bridge and was finally retired. After a period of time the trails being inaccessible by bridge, the City of Kingman Parks Department started an in-house project of the construction of an ADA accessible bridge in early 2020, with plans of expanding the accessibility in the future. The City Parks Department is also in an ongoing grant project with the Colorado River Area Trail Alliance to expand the upper trail.