Desert Gazette

Timelines

List

Tag: California highways

  • Timeline of Road Building in the Mojave Desert,

    Highlighting key developments and innovations from the mid-1800s to the early 20th century:

    1850s – Mojave Road formalized
    Originally a Native American trade route, the U.S. Army used it to move supplies between Fort Mojave and San Bernardino. It became one of the earliest overland military roads in the desert.

    1860s–1870s – Freight roads and mining routes expand
    Remi Nadeau’s mule teams haul silver from Cerro Gordo to Los Angeles via the Bullion Trail. Roads are little more than widened trails, cleared by hand.

    1870s–1880s – Slip scrapers and manual grading dominate
    Roadwork relies on muscle, picks, shovels, and rudimentary scrapers. Washouts and deep sand are constant problems.

    1883 – Fresno Scraper invented
    It revolutionizes earthmoving in the desert. It enables efficient grading, crowning, and ditching, which are critical for reliable desert roadbeds.

    1880s–1890s – Railroads reach the Mojave
    Atlantic & Pacific, Southern Pacific, and later Tonopah & Tidewater spur the need for feeder roads between mines and depots. Many desert trails are upgraded to accommodate wagon traffic.

    1890s – Good Roads Movement reaches the West
    Bicyclists and farmers are pushing for better rural roads, and awareness is growing about the need for stable year-round access in the Mojave.

    1901 – Early auto travel begins in the desert
    Motorists begin venturing into the Mojave. Sand, rocks, and dry washes make travel difficult without well-maintained roads.

    1910s – Arrowhead Trail promoted
    This early auto route connects Salt Lake City to Los Angeles through the Mojave. Auto clubs mark routes and sponsor improvements.

    1916 – Federal Aid Road Act passed
    The U.S. government begins funding rural road construction. California starts formalizing and grading desert highways.

    1921 – Federal Highway Act expands funding
    More structured planning brings state oversight. Roads like US 66 and US 395 begin taking shape across the Mojave.

    1925–1926 – Eichbaum Toll Road built
    A privately funded road across the Panamint Range to Death Valley is constructed to support tourism. Later incorporated into CA State Route 190.

    Late 1920s – Oil and bitumen used for surfacing
    Desert roads begin receiving treatments to reduce dust and erosion, improving durability for growing auto traffic.

  • The Eichbaum Toll Road:

    Opening Death Valley to the Motor Age

    In the mid-1920s, a man named H.W. Eichbaum looked out at the harsh desert landscape of Death Valley and saw something else entirely—a chance to bring travelers into one of the most remote and misunderstood places in California. Eichbaum, an engineer with a background in mining and tourism, had already run successful ventures on Catalina Island and in Venice, California. But the desert kept calling him back.

    At the time, Death Valley had no real roads for cars. Miners knew the place, but tourists stayed away. Eichbaum dreamed of building the valley’s first resort at Stovepipe Wells, but first, he needed a road. He made multiple proposals to the Inyo County Board of Supervisors before securing approval in October 1925. The deal allowed him to build and operate a toll road down into Death Valley from Darwin Wash across Panamint Valley and Towne Pass.

    The road was built by hand and Caterpillar tractor, winding around boulders rather than blasting through them. It was rough, narrow, and at times treacherous, but by spring 1926, the road reached the edge of the Mesquite Flat Dunes—just shy of his goal. Still, Eichbaum opened his Stovepipe Wells Hotel later that year, and tourists soon followed. His promotional savvy, regular ads in Los Angeles papers, and a sightseeing bus company helped make Death Valley a winter destination.

    Eichbaum’s road and resort kicked off auto-tourism in the valley, but he didn’t live to see its full impact. He died in 1932, just before Death Valley became a national monument. As traffic grew and tolls became unpopular, the state eventually took over the route, paving it into what’s now part of California Highway 190. Some rough segments still exist as backcountry routes. But thanks to Eichbaum’s vision and grit, Death Valley was no longer just a miner’s haunt—it became a destination.