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

Route of Cooke's Wagon Road between the Rio Grande and Gila Rivers, 1846 - 1847
Distances between stops from Camp opposite San Diego, Nuevo Mexico.^[1]^[2]^{: 104–109}
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} ^[6]	24 mi (39 km)
December 19, 1846	2nd Camp beyond Tucson, Sonora^[1]^: 46–47^[2]^{: 154–156} ^[7]	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

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

Major Graham's Road 1848

Tucson Cutoff 1849

Tucson Cutoff

^[16]

References

^ ^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 / 31.35111; -109.41278
^ 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

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]]

[CookeReport-1] ^ ^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

[Cooke-2] ^ ^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).

[3] 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]

[4] 31°21′04″N 109°24′46″W / 31.35111°N 109.41278°W / 31.35111; -109.41278

[5] Camp at Tucson was 1/2 mile north of town.

[6] Water on Santa Cruz River, 7 miles north of camp, 11 hour march to waterless camp.

[7] March from sunrise to 7 pm to camp with a small pool of water for men only, 6hrs rest then march again.

[8] March to water pools.

[9] 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.

[10] 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.

[11] 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.

[12] 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

[13] Harlan Hague, The Search for a Southern Overland Route to California, California Historical Quarterly, Summer 1976, (pp. 150-161)

[14] 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.

[15] 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

[Eccleston-16] Robert Eccleston, Overland to California on the Southwestern Trail 1849, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1950, pp. 174-193

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