Monuments
Stepping Stones To the Past
Monuments commemorating historically significant people and events have been placed throughout the Death Valley region with the help of the Death Valley ’49ers. Monuments are stepping-stones to the past, and to the future – they link the generations.
SRL = State Registered Landmark
SRL N0. 441 Burned Wagons Point:
Near this monument, the Jayhawker group of Death Valley Forty-Niners, gold seekers from Middle West, who entered Death Valley in 1849 seeking short route to the mines of central California, burned their wagons, dried the meat of some oxen and, with surviving animals, struggled westward on foot.
State Registered Landmark No.441
Marker placed by California Centennials Commission. Base furnished by Death Valley ’49ers, Inc.
Dedicated December 3rd, 1949
Location: 100 ft South of State Hwy 190, Stovepipe Wells.
SRL N0. 442 Death Valley Gateway:
Through this natural gateway the Death Valley Forty-Niners, more than 100 emigrants from the Middle West, seeking a shortcut to gold fields of central California, entered Death Valley, December, 1849. All suffered from thirst and starvation. Two contingents passed southward here, the others proceeded northward seeking to escape from region.
State Registered Landmark No.442
Marker placed by California Centennials Commission. Base furnished by Death Valley ’49ers, Inc.
Dedicated December 3rd, 1949
Location: On State Hwy 190, 1.3 miles southeast of Furnace Creek.
SRL No. 443 Valley Wells:
In this area, several groups of midwestern emigrants who had escaped from hazards and privations in Death Valley in 1849, sought to secure water from Searles Lake. When they discovered its salty nature, they turned northward and westward in despair, and with travail crossed the Argus and other mountains to reach settlements of Central and Southern California.
Marker placed by California Centennials Commission. Base furnished by Death Valley ’49ers, Inc.
Dedicated December 3rd, 1949
Location: Trona Wildrose Rd at Valley Wells Rd, 5.5 mi NE of Trona.
SRL No. 444 Bennett – Arcane Long Camp:
Near this spot the Bennett-Arcane contingent of [the] Death Valley Forty -Niners, emigrants from [the] Middle West seeking [a] shortcut to California gold fields, were stranded for [a] month and almost perished from starvation. Two young companions, William Lewis Manley and John Rogers made [a] heroic journey on foot to San Fernando, returning with supplies, and led [the] party to the safety of San Francisquito Rancho near Newhall.
State Registered Landmark No.444
Marker placed by California Centennials Commission. Base furnished by Death Valley ’49ers, Inc.
Dedicated December 3rd, 1949
Location: Take Westside Road approx. 16 miles south of intersection of Badwater Road.
SRL No. 622 Harry Wade Exit Route:
Some 100 wagons found themselves in Salt Lake City too late to cross the Sierra Nevada. They banded together under the name of Sand Walking Co. and started for the gold fields in California over the Old Spanish Trail. After being in Death Valley with the ill-fated 1849 caravan, Harry Wade found this exit route for his ox-drawn wagon, thereby saving his life and those of his wife and children. At this point the Wade party came upon the known Spanish Trail to Cajon Pass.
Historical Landmark No. 622
Originally registered October 9, 1957. Plaque provided by the descendants of Harry Wade. Dedicated by Death Valley ’49ers in cooperation with San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors and California State Park Commission, November 8, 1957. New plaque provided and dedicated by the Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus, November 13, 1999.
This plaque was replaced by Sam Brannan, Julia C. Bulette, Lost Dutchman, Billy Holcomb, Platrix, John P. Squibob, and Chief Truckee Chapters of the Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus.
Location: Highway 127 (Milepost 29.8), Four Miles South of Death Valley National Monument.
SRL No. 773 Old Harmony Borax Works:
On the marsh near this point borax was discovered in 1881 by Aaron Winters who later sold his holdings to W. T. Coleman of San Francisco. In 1882 Coleman built the Harmony Borax Works and commissioned his superintendent J. W. S. Perry to design wagons and locate a suitable route to Mojave. The work of gathering the ore (called ‘cottonball’) was done by Chinese workmen. From this point processed borax was transported 165 miles by twenty mule teams to the railroad until 1889.
California Registered Historical Landmark No. 773
Plaque Placed by the California State Park Commission in Cooperation with the Death Valley ’49ers, Inc. and the National Park Service, November 10, 1962.
Location: State Hwy 190, 1.4 mi north of Furnace Creek.
SRL No. 826 Old Stovepipe Wells:
This waterhole, only one in the sand dune area of Death Valley, was at the junction of two Indian trails. During the bonanza days of Rhyolite and Skidoo it was the only known water source on the cross-valley road. When sand obscured the spot, a length of stovepipe was inserted as a marker, hence its unique name.
State Registered Landmark No. 726 [sic].
Plaque Place by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the National Park Service and the Death Valley 49ers Inc.
November 10, 1968
According to the book, California Historical Landmarks, published by the California Office of Historic Preservation (OHP) in 1966, and according to the OHP website, Old Stovepipe Wells is California Historic Landmark 826, not 726. Landmark 726 is the Sebastian Store in San Luis Obispo County.
Location: From State Hwy 190 go north 2.8 mi on (unpaved) Sand Dunes Access Road, 6.1 mi E of Stovepipe Wells.
SRL No. 848 Eichbaum Toll Road:
In 1926 H.W. Eichbaum obtained a franchise for a toll road from Darwin Falls to Stovepipe Wells, the first maintained road into the valley from the west. It changed the area from mining to tourism and brought about the creation of Death Valley National Monument seven years later.
State Registered Historical Landmark No. 848
Plaque Place by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Death Valley ’49ers, Inc., November 12, 1971
Location: 100 ft South of State Hwy 190, Stovepipe Wells.
John Rogers Headstone Monument
CALIFORNIA’S UNSUNG HERO
John Haney Rogers
1822 – 1906
John Rogers was a member of the Death Valley Wagon Train. Rather than spending a winter near Salt Lake City, a wagon train was formed to go a southern route to Los Angeles. Many chose to take a supposed short cut across the desert. Among them were John Rogers, his friend William Manly, and the Arcan and Bennett Families. Water sources became scarce, and food supplies ran low. In December of 1849 they decended into a deep valley, now known as Death Valley/ The Arcan and Bennett families had children with them and when they camped at the base of the Panamint Mountains they could go no further because of lack of supplies. Rogers and Manly were given the task of finding civilization and brining back supplies to save the two families. They walked over 250 miles to Rancho San Francisquito, and came back with the needed provisions. Then with the Arcan and Bennett families they walked back to civilization. This fet is still considered one of the most heroic deeds in the history of California.
Dedicated April 28, 2007
Death Valley ’49ers, Inc.|
Dedicated in conjunction with Merced Historical Society and Merced Cemetery District.
Location: Merced Cemetery District, 1300 B Street, Merced, California