by Diane Walsh

Created on: June 26, 2010

There were not many kicks on route 66 for the early trail blazers, or the first horseless carriages.  The terrain was rough, sometimes impassable and long. Then the California Gold Rush of 1849 started a westward movement. This movement led to many wagon roads. Adventurous people were eager to start a fresh new, prosperous life in a new land. The trails were not mapped for them.  Pioneers would follow the Santa Fe Trail and Jedediah Smith’s route across the Mojave Desert.   Then they followed the railroad tracks. The original railroad tracks went past water sources.  This water was needed to keep the steam engines running.  Communities started forming along these trails.  Businesses that provide food and water flourished. These early trails and the route along railroad tracks helped plan what would later become the famous Route 66. 

The second stage of the beginning of route 66 started with the ‘camel corps’ in 1857.  Lt. Edward Fitzgerald Beale, a naval officer in the U. S. Army Topographical Corps., was ordered to build a wagon road.  President James Buchanan appointed Beale to make this road using camels.  Camels were able to carry heavier loads than mules and were able to go days without water.  Beale took twenty-five camels and set off in the desert.  The camels scared the horses and mules, so the army decided to discontinue the use of camels, but the road went through from Fort Defiance, New Mexico to the Colorado River. He surveyed and built a 1,000 mile wagon road that settlers used to move west. This road later became part of route 66.

The invention of the horseless carriage started many changes to the old trails.  The trails were too steep, too narrow, not paved and dangerous. The use of cars changed the original trails forever.  The new business strategy was to plan a town where the automobiles would need fuel and the people need food and rest.  Many small communities successfully grew along the trails.  Local groups started organizing these areas.  They would name the trails after the town and promote the area with, ‘the best food,’ ‘the last fuel stop’ and ‘best repair service.’  The maps of these areas were individually completed.  No two maps were alike.  The American public was confused.  They wanted a unified system of roads.  In 1921 an amendment was passed to establish the

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