 |
| Landmark #472 | San Diego County | Visited: March 30, 2013 | Plaque? YES! 🙂 |
| What is it? | The box canyon and its corresponding plaque are still there! |
| What makes it historical? | THE GUIDE SAYS: The old road, known as the Sonora, Colorado River, or Southern Emigrant Trail and later as the Butterfield Overland Mail Route, traversed Box Canyon just east of here. On January 19, 1847, the Mormon Battalion under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Philip St. G. Cooke, using hand tools, hewed a passage through the rocky walls of the narrow gorge for their wagons and opened the first road into Southern California.
OTHER TIDBITS: It’s pretty impressive that they were able to cut out this road using axes, not even chisels or hammers, but even after they were done, it was not an easy road to travel. It was so narrow that wagons and stagecoaches could barely scrape through with inches of clearance on either side! |
| How can I Help the Helpers? | HERE’S HOW:
|
| Where is this place? | LISTED DIRECTIONS: On County Rd S2 (P.M. 25.7) 8.6 mi S of State Hwy 78 Anza-Borrego Desert State Park ANNOTATIONS: From Los Angeles: ~153mi (247km) — 2.6hrs |
| When should I go? | Whenever the mood strikes you! |
Any low level military jets flying through here?
Not when I was visiting! Do they normally?