Beginning in 1857, former Navy Lt. Edward Beale opened a wagon road along the 35th parallel while also testing camels for desert transport, crossing the Colorado near Needles, California, and by 1858 the U.S. mail was running over this route. In August 1858, after a wagon train using Beale's road was attacked and turned back by the Mojaves near their villages, 500 soldiers under Maj. William Hoffman established Fort Mojave in April 1859 a few miles to the north on the Arizona side of the river. After a failed attempt to supply the fort by steamboat, a road was built from Los Angeles, largely following an ancient Mojave trail to the Pacific coast, becoming the Mojave, or Government, Road. Because of its length, military posts were required along the way, and the most important was Camp Cady, established in April 1860 about 20 miles east of Barstow and 9 miles east of Forks of the Road, where the Old Spanish Trail from Santa Fe to Los Angeles met the Mojave Road. Well situated to command both routes, the camp was founded by 80 troopers of Companies B and K, 1st Dragoon Regiment, under Maj. James H. Carleton, who named it for his friend Maj. Albemarle Cady. The soldiers built a stout adobe fortification 40 feet square, and after three months of campaigning the desert roads were again deemed safe for travel, leading Carleton to sign a treaty with local tribes on July 3, 1860, and immediately abandon the post. With the coming of war in 1861, regular troops left for the east and California volunteers patrolled the roads. In April 1865, men of the 4th California Cavalry re-garrisoned the post for almost a year and built 35 structures before departing. The camp was manned again in June 1866, upgraded and improved in 1868, and deserted permanently in 1871. During these years, under harsh desert conditions, troops served at this remote post as traffic continued along the Mojave Road.
