Fort Pah-Ute

As many as eighteen enlisted men of Company "D," 9th U.S. Infantry served here within the now crumbling walls of Fort Pah-Ute. Although it was never established as an official fort, Pah-Ute Creek, as it was commonly called, housed a small number of army troops from November 17, 1867 to May 3, 1868. During the 1860s, a chain of five military redoubts, including Fort Pah-Ute, was established approximately a day's ride apart across the Mohave Desert, spanning from Camp Cady near Barstow, California, to Fort Mohave on the Colorado River. The road that linked Los Angeles, California, with Prescott, Arizona, became obsolete after completion of the Southern Pacific Railroad's Needles to Mohave line in 1883. As the railroad grew and the Mojave Road was abandoned as a major transportation route, Fort Pah-Ute slowly deteriorated into ruin. The low rock walls running from the fort down the rocky slope in the foreground were part of a large corral of unknown origin, probably built after the fort was abandoned. Archaeological resources are protected by the 1906 Antiquities Act and the 1979 Archaeological Resources Protection Act.

California · United States