Cottonwood Spring is in Nevada’s Black Mountains between Pinto Valley and Callville Wash, near the Colorado River corridor. In this rugged terrain, it served historically as an important stop on the riverside trail along the north bank of the Colorado River between the Virgin River and Las Vegas Wash. Here the route bypassed the narrow chasm of Boulder Canyon by crossing the west side of a pass through the Black Mountains. That trail was part of the Old Spanish Trail, the trade route pioneered by New Mexican merchant and explorer Antonio Armijo in 1829–1830.