One stop I wanted make in Las Vegas was the Vegas Spring in North Las Vegas. Alonzo mentions it in his journal, “Drove 12 miles and reached the Vegas spring which was vegas to us indeed. The last five miles the road was very hard and our teams very weak. We left some 12 (animals) unable to travel forward without rest. The spring forms a large marsh and the frogs do squeak horrid.”
The Vegas spring was the most appreciated stopping place along the entire route. Simon Nunes Carvalho, another traveler of the Spanish Trail was more descriptive of the Vegas Spring than Alonzo, “The water bubbled up as if gas were escaping, acacias in full bloom almost entirely surrounded it—it was forty-five feet in diameter. . . . we found it to contain the clearest and purest water I ever tasted . . . the water was over fifteen feet in depth.” They laid over at the Vegas Spring for three days.
Today the spring, used by the water company, has been capped. Each cover is approximately one-hundred feet in diameter.
You can see a small spring in a man-made setting displayed for visitors. While you cannot camp there you can still have a meal at Wolfgang Pucks.
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From Mountain Spring Summit
About fifteen miles farther we turned west on the Old Spanish Trail, leaving Nevada behind and traveling through the Pahrump and California Valleys, and the Nopah and the Resting Spring Ranges. The riverbeds were empty, but would soon be filled with water from the approaching storm.
According to Alonzo’s journal he was at Resting Spring on January 18, “We left 22 oxen today on the road, . . .they were unable to travel farther.” They laid over on the 19th, and Alonzo mended his frying pan handle. We realized that we were in the same spot on the same day, but 160 years later.
A few miles west we came upon the small town of Tecopa, CA.
We could view the storm coming from the west, and experienced occasional light showers. After Tecopa we traveled west until we met Hwy 127 that goes north to Death Valley. We turned south through the desert passing the Armagosa Canyon, the Salt Spring Hills, and the Silurian Valley to the east. We were crossing areas of Death Valley.
On January 25th Alonzo noted, “This morning 13 of us started with our packs on our backs for the settlements. We traveled 2 miles the winds and sand were so high and dead ahead that we had to lay by. It is almost 150 miles to Williams Ranch (current day Chino CA) and thirty (more) to Pueblo (Los Angeles). It wants an iron man to travel this country . . .We started and traveled until 9OCK and lay our bones down in the desert to rest without water. It is mighty hard for a poor man.” By packing ahead they could travel faster, and would also benefit those left behind because the short supplies would go farther.
We could not follow the trail further west as the Fort Irwin Military Reservation occupies the land. As we neared I-15 at the town of Baker we passed the dry Silver Lake on the right, and the dry Soda Lake is on the left of I-15.
The Mojave River, which originates in the San Bernardino Mountains, flows east through the desert near Barstow and Victorville. The river can fill Silver and Soda Lakes during heavy flooding.
The storm had delivered the promised rain, and we continued on the Interstate until we reached Barstow where we had an excellent pizza and spent the night.
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