Rediscovering the Old Spanish Trail - Now it's a Freeway
Traveling north on Interstate I-15, from Mesquite, Nevada, one must pass through the stark, but beautiful Virgin River Gorge.
Although a highway traveler would find it hard to believe, the river at
the bottom of that steep, narrow canyon is navigable some years by
kayak during April and May. Because of the remoteness and difficulty of
that transit, whitewater websites include stern warnings to enthusiasts
contemplating such an attempt. As the early Mormon pioneers discovered
downstream at Mesquite Flat, the large watershed that feeds the Virgin River can also create huge flash floods.
Although driving through the gorge feels quite seamless and sinuous, when it
opened in 1973, this section of I-15 was among the most technically
difficult to engineer and most expensive ever built. Because many
motorists expect to navigate our interstate highways at well above the
speed limit, I-15 through the Virgin River Gorge hosts many spectacular
speed-related crashes. As we traveled up-canyon in April 2009, I-15
crossed the river gorge on seven separate bridges before we lost count.
To us, it shall always be a “Seven Bridges Road”.
Forty miles north of Mesquite, beyond the head of the gorge, lays the City of St. George, Utah. St. George’s mesas and buttes contrast with the dunes and alluvial fans surrounding Mesquite.
In 1861,
St. George, Utah began as a Mormon outpost. Elders of the Mormon Church
feared that the Civil War might curtail their cotton trade with the
Southern States. Because of that perceived issue, the Mormon Cotton
Mission traveled south past the earlier Iron Mission at Cedar City, Utah
which had suffered greatly from lack of permanent shelter during their
first winter there. Known for their pluck, the pioneer founders of St.
George named the area "Utah's Dixie”, a name still
popular today. Although those early settlers managed to grow some
cotton, it never became a commercially viable crop.
St. George is the county seat of Washington County, Utah, and is the
principal city of Southeastern Utah. According to the U.S. Census
Bureau, St. George had a population of 67,000 in 2006, up from 49,000 in
2000. From 1990 to 2000, St. George beat Las Vegas, Nevada as the
fastest-growing metropolitan area in the U.S. This trend continued
until the mortgage crisis and financial meltdown of 2008 put at least a
temporary end to growth.
Most
observers of Mesquite, Nevada would say that the city has overbuilt its
housing supply in recent years. Unlike the near shutdown of development
at Mesquite, St. George, UT continues adding to its excess housing
stock. At both the south and the north ends of town, the dominant
feature is “for rent”, “for sale”, “for lease” or “auction soon” signs.
If there were enough jobs to go with this new housing, all would be
well. According to a resident that we met at the RV Park in Mesquite,
St. George has experienced recession and job losses similar to the rest
of the country.
As
we drove from one end of the city to the other, we were amazed to see
that building of new planned community infrastructure continues. It
seemed that the outskirts did not know that the core of the city was
struggling. In town, empty condominiums lined the freeway. At one off
ramp, several huge apartment buildings stood surrounded by weeds,
silent, empty and unfinished.
When I
stopped to take pictures north of town, we parked at one end of a large
highway overpass. Standing at the west end of that bridge was a new
community. To the east, construction workers were grading parkways into
gentle arcs across barren land. If one takes a long economic view,
this new infrastructure could make sense. When growth returns, St
George will be ready. In the near term, other than keeping construction
workers employed, these roads-to-nowhere were an economic mystery.
After
allowing our disbelief to fade, we continued north to the junction of
I-15 and I-70. At their western ends, both I-70 and I-40, farther
south, end
at I-15. In contrast, I-90, I-80 and I-10 each stretch from “coast to
coast”. Facing widely spaced services and desert terrain, continued
travel on the interstate highway system forces both I-70 and I-40
travelers south along what once was the Old Spanish Trail, towards Los
Angeles, California.
Prehistoric animals such as the Mastodon utilized that route at various times during the Pleistocene. Members of the early Clovis Culture
found the route and used it for transit in both directions. Scholars
tell us that some languages found in the contemporary Indian cultures of
the Four Corners region have their roots in the Ancient Maya Culture,
far to the south. In the past two hundred years, American trappers and
mountain men found the trail and used it. In the 1830s, the Old
Spanish Trail became a formal, if multi-route commercial road. Later,
the railroad and highways adopted a similar route.
During
the past two hundred years, a look at the seemingly endless desert was
enough to turn prudent travelers south toward Los Angeles. If early
travelers tempted their fate in a trek west, a Great Basin of desert valleys,
alternating with craggy mountain ranges greeted them along the way.
Not until they could wend their way up and over the high mountain passes
of California's Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains,
could travelers expect help from settlers in the foothills on the west
side. Two famous parties tried to take separate shortcuts west to
California. Each lost members of their party, creating a warning for
those who followed.
Not listening to the Wisdom of the Ancients
and traveling south, along the Old Spanish Trail, they split the
geographical difference between the northern and southern routes. Not
finding their hoped-for low pass across the Sierra Nevada, they “holed
up” for the winter in the high desert. The following spring, when a
rescue party arrived from Los Angeles, they finally departed their cold,
dry winter home. Although stories about its naming abound, one legend
has it, a woman from the party of Lost 49ers turned to look back at
their place of peril and said, “Goodbye, Death Valley”.
Regardless of who first named it, Death Valley is what we still call it
today. Ironically, the survivors traveled overland to Los Angeles; the
same city that they had earlier avoided as a waste of their precious
time.
Today, you can travel by land across that section of the Great Basin, but it will be on secondary highways such as US Highways 6 or 50.
In the 1950’s, when engineers began planning the interstate highway
system, they heeded both history and the spiritual message of the
Ancients. By the 1970’s, when the interstate highway system was
completed, it left untouched a wide swath that stretched from Salt Lake
City, Utah to Fresno, California. For reasons that would be apparent to
the historical 49ers or Donners, US-50 bills itself as “The Lonliest Highway in America”.
After pondering that remnant of what was once called the Great American Desert,
we headed east on I-70. For the next hundred and fifty miles, we
enjoyed varied terrain, starting with mountain passes and ending with
the barren flats past Green River, Utah.
It is a beautiful drive, with unique land forms at many points along
the way. If you travel that route, plan to stop often and take
pictures. With so many unique geological features, some appear for only
a few minutes at highway speeds. If you travel straight through, you
will miss unique features of the land too numerous to recall.
By James McGillis at 07:00 PM | Travel | Comments (0) | Link
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