TheSouthern Emigrant Trail, also known as theGila Trail, theKearny Trail, theSouthern Trail and theButterfield Stage Trail, was a major land route for immigration intoCalifornia from the eastern United States that followed theSanta Fe Trail toNew Mexico during theCalifornia Gold Rush. Unlike the more northern routes, pioneer wagons could travel year round, mountain passes not being blocked by snows; however, it had the disadvantage of summer heat and lack of water in the desert regions through which it passed inNew Mexico Territory and theColorado Desert of California. Subsequently, it was a route of travel and commerce between the eastern United States and California. Many herds of cattle and sheep were driven along this route and it was followed by theSan Antonio-San Diego Mail Line in 1857–1858 and then theButterfield Overland Mail from 1858 to 1861.
In October 1846, GeneralStephen Watts Kearny and his dragoons with their scoutKit Carson found the route over the mountains from theEl Camino Real de Tierra Adentro on theRio Grande, via theSanta Rita mines to theGila River which he then followed to the Colorado River, at theYuma Crossing where he crossed the river and then the Colorado Desert toSouthern California. This was known as theGila Trail.
One month later, ColonelPhilip St. George Cooke and theMormon Battalion with wagons Kearny could not take across the mountains of New Mexico, followed a route south along the west bank of the Rio Grande from where Kearny had left the river, to a point just north of what later became the site ofFort Thorn. There Cooke left the Rio Grande, establishing a wagon road that reached far southwest through theGuadalupe Pass and then west just south of the current border with Mexico then west to and beyond modernAgua Prieta, before turning northward via theSan Pedro River, then west toTucson. Linking there with theSonora Road to California established byJuan Bautista de Anza in 1774, they marched on a three-day journey north over the desert before linking up with Kearny’s route on the Gila River just east of thePima Villages. Cooke followed the Anza–Kearny route westward along the Gila toYuma Crossing where it had its junction with theEl Camino del Diablo an old Spanish route reestablished by Mexico from 1828. This established the first southern wagon road from New Mexico to California.[1] This new wagon route became known asCooke's Road, orSonora Road, as much of the central part of the route passed through what was then the northern frontier of the state ofSonora, Mexico.
In 1848, a U.S. Army expedition of1st Dragoons under MajorLawrence P. Graham marched fromChihuahua to California, throughJanos, then westward to strike Cooke's road atGuadalupe Pass. He then followed Cooke's wagon route along the Mexican border region but went farther west beyond the San Pedro River along an older Spanish trail to the headwaters of theSanta Cruz River which he followed to the Sonoran town ofSanta Cruz then turned north on the old Spanish road to Tucson along the Santa Cruz River. Graham's detour, known asMajor Graham's Road, would be taken by most of theForty-niners following Cooke's route the next year, despite its greater distance.[2]
From Yuma Crossing the Southern Emigrant Trail crossed theColorado Desert, dipping south along the Colorado River, intoBaja California,Mexico, (avoiding the vastAlgodones Dunes to the west and northwest), to follow the waterholes along theAlamo andNew Rivers, then northwest into California again across the desert to Carrizo Creek and the oasis atVallecito.
From Vallecito the trail then ran northwest into thePeninsular Ranges crossingWarners Pass toWarner's Ranch. From Warner's the road then ran either northwest to Los Angeles, (viaTemecula,La Laguna,Temescal,Chino,La Puente andSan Gabriel) or west southwest to San Diego viaSanta Ysabel,San Pasqual andRancho Peñasquitos.[3][4][5] From either of these towns the traveler could continue north by land to the gold fields on the coast via theEl Camino Real or over theold Tejon Pass into theSan Joaquin Valley and then north by what would later become theStockton–Los Angeles Road or via theEl Camino Viejo. Alternatively they could take ships toSan Francisco from San Diego orSan Pedro.
Subsequently, the distance of the Cooke–Graham route was drastically shortened by theTucson Cutoff pioneered byJohn Coffee Hays with a party of forty-niners in late 1849. This route avoided the long distance traveled to the south by passing throughStein's Pass,Apache Pass andNugent’s Pass, then downTres Alamos Wash to theLower Crossing of the San Pedro River belowTres Alamos. From there it linked up with Cooke's Wagon Road at a waterhole, near modernMescal.[6][7]
In 1856, a Railroad Survey Expedition modified the Tucson Cutoff route, passing south of Nugent's Pass usingDragoon Pass and theMiddle Crossing or San Pedro Crossing of the river instead of the Lower Crossing below Los Alamos.[8]
In 1857 following theGadsden Purchase, as part of thePacific Wagon Road, a military road being built between El Paso and Fort Yuma, a wagon road was built fromMesilla westward toCooke's Spring, saving the longer route via the San Diego Crossing. The Pacific Wagon Road then followed Cooke's Wagon Road and the Tucson Cutoff as far as the west side of the Apache Pass. There it made another shortcut acrossSulphur Springs Valley toDragoon Pass, and then downDragoon Wash to the San Pedro River. The route then descended northward on the right bank of the river to theMiddle Crossing of the San Pedro River. From this crossing the Pacific Wagon Road ran due west to link up again with Cooke's Wagon Road at Mescal Springs to continue on toTucson, Arizona, then turned northward to thePima Villages andMaricopa Wells where it turned westward along theGila River following it to the ferries on theColorado River across fromFort Yuma. The Pacific Wagon Road shortened the route still further for travelers.
From 1859 to 1861, during the time of theButterfield Overland Mail, the stages and other traffic ran over a shortcut betweenOjo de Vaca and Apache Pass, over thePeloncillo Mountains throughDoubtful Canyon. However following the destruction of stage stations and coaches and the killing of their keepers and drivers at the outbreak of war with theApache in 1861, this route was abandoned. Favored ambush country, the shortcut was unwise to use unless the travelers were a strong detachment of soldiers or under military escort by one. Even so, in May 1864,California Volunteers fought aSkirmish in Doubtful Canyon with Apache that tried to ambush them there. Traffic returned to the Pacific Wagon Road route which then remained a primary east–west route in the southwest until the advent of the railroads in the 1880s.