User:Asiaticus/sandbox/Armijo Route (Old Spanish Trail)

Armijo Route, was the first route used but the last explored of several that became the Old Spanish Trail. It was explored and used by the expedition of Antonio Armijo who first established the trade between Nuevo Mexico and Alta California in 1829-1830. Unlike the other routes, Armijo's route was documented by him and published by the Mexican government in 1830. This route of the Old Spanish Trail was not used very much in the 19th century because of hostilities between the Navajo and Mexico, but many parts of the western part of the Armijo route were later followed closely by the Main Route. Later roads in the territories and later the states of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and California would follow parts of this route.

History
A route linking the Mexican territory Nuevo Mexico to that of Alta California, combining information from many explorers, was opened in 1829-30 when Santa Fe merchant Antonio Armijo led a trade party of 60 men and 100 mules to California. Using a short cut discovered by one of Armijo's scouts, Rafael Rivera the previous year, the Armijo party was able to stitch together a route that connected the routes of the Rivera and Dominguez–Escalante Expeditions through southwestern Utah and northern Arizona and north western New Mexico with those of the Jedediah Smith explorations along the Virgin River and Colorado River and those of Smith and those of other fur trappers that had reached California, with the approach to San Gabriel Mission along to the Mohave Trail that crossed the Mojave Desert from the Colorado River and followed the course of the Mojave River up river to the San Bernardino Mountains and into the coastal plains of Southern California.

Upon the return of Antonio Armijo, Manuel Armijo, the governor of New Mexico, immediately announced the success to his superiors in Mexico City. As a reward, the governor officially named Armijo “Commander for the Discovery of the Route to California.” Armijo's route was documented by him in a report to the governor and published by the Mexican government in June 1830.