Edward Fitzgerald “Ned” Beale was a significant figure in 19th century America whose long career included service as a naval officer, military general, explorer, diplomat, rancher, and frontiersman. He fought in the U.S.-Mexico War and emerged as a hero of the Battle of San Pasqual in 1846, and he also carried the first gold sample from California to the east, contributing to the gold rush. Under President Franklin Pierce, Secretary of War Jefferson Davis began the Pacific Railroad surveys to determine possible routes for a proposed railroad, and under President James Buchanan, Lieutenant Beale was appointed under Jefferson Davis to survey a southern route to Los Angeles, California. The Beale Wagon Road was documented and marked from Los Angeles through Arizona, New Mexico, and the Indian territory of Oklahoma, with the upper counties of the Texas panhandle serving as the connecting link that helped connect the east with the west and made migration easier and safer through an established road. Two earlier roads had passed through Hutchinson County, the Fort Smith-Santa Fe Trail blazed by Josiah Gregg in 1840 and the Marcy Trail established by Captain Randolph B. Marcy in 1849, and Beale logically used trails that had already been established. During the 20th century these established trails became Route 66 and later developed into Interstate 40, and parts of the Beale Wagon Road are still visible as reminders of the thousands of pioneers who traveled it in its early days.
