Spanish Canyon, is a

canyon A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...

that has its head near the middle of the southwest slope of

Alvord Mountain Alvord Mountain is a mountain range in San Bernardino County, California. The mountain was named for Charles Alvord, who prospected in the area of the mountain between 1860 and 1862. It is located 17.5 miles northeast of Yermo, California. Histo ...

below

Impassable Pass Impassable Pass is a gap in Alvord Mountain, in San Bernardino County, California. It is located just south and outside of the boundary fence of Fort Irwin National Training Center.Edward Leo Lyman, Overland Journey from Utah to California: Wago ...

at and trends south to its mouth, 1.6 miles east northeast of Alvord Well at an elevation of . The canyon is named for the Old Spanish Trail which passed through the canyon.

History

Spanish Canyon was first traveled by the New Mexican caravans of the Old Spanish Trail between Bitter Spring and the

Mojave River The Mojave River is an intermittent river in the eastern San Bernardino Mountains and the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California, United States. Most of its flow is underground, while its surface channels remain dry most of the time, ...

part of one of the three routes that came to be called the Old Spanish Trail. It was later traveled by wagons of

Mormons Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

and Forty-niners who established the wagon road between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, called the

Mormon Road Mormon Road, also known to the 49ers as the Southern Route, of the California Trail in the Western United States, was a seasonal wagon road pioneered by a Mormon party from Salt Lake City, Utah led by Jefferson Hunt, that followed the route of S ...

between 1847 and 1849. By 1855 it became part of the route of the freight wagon road between

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

.Edward Leo Lyman, Overland Journey from Utah to California: Wagon Travel from the City of Saints to the City of Angels, University of Nevada Press, 2008.

References

Valleys of San Bernardino County, California History of San Bernardino County, California Old Spanish Trail (trade route) Mormon Road {{OldWest-stub