The Mojave River Road followed the Mojave River, an “upside-down” and “backwards” river whose water generally flows below ground and inland from Silverwood Lake near Cajon Pass to Soda Dry Lake. Ancient desert Indians used the river as a trade route to and from the Pacific coast, and this route later became known as the Mojave Road. In 1776, Fr. Francisco Garces became the first European to use it to reach the Southern California missions from the Mojave Desert, and in 1826 Jedediah Smith passed this way as the first American to reach the California coast by an overland trail. In the 1860s, the U.S. Army established Camp Cady along the route in an effort to make it safe for travelers, and later Kit Carson and John Fremont were among those who traversed it. The road soon became a primary route from Los Angeles to the Arizona Territory and points east, near a region that includes Calico Ghost Town, Newberry Springs, Yermo, Daggett, and the old trails converging there.
