IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF LT. BEALE
BEFORE ROUTE 66 THERE WAS …
by Jim Hinckley
First, there was a trade route between the Zuni pueblos in western New Mexico, the Hopi villages in northern Arizona, and the tribes along the California coast. Then there was the Beale Wagon Road that followed much of the same route and utilized many of the same water holes.
The railroad followed, then the National Old Trails Highway and in 1926, Route 66. Now we have I40.
This view of the Hualapai Mountains from a hill above Fort Beale at Beale Springs is as it was more than one hundred and fifty years ago.