Historical Marker · No. 476
Desert Spring
Cantil, Kern County · California
Erected by the California Centennials Commission in cooperation with the Kern County Historical Society and the Kern County Museum, 1950
The bronze calls it the old Indian horsethief trail and means it literally. Through the 1830s and 1840s raiding parties drove horses taken from the coastal ranchos east across this desert toward New Mexico, and springs like this one were what made the route possible at all. Walker used the same water in 1834, the famished Death Valley parties were revived at it in 1850, and Remi Nadeau's borax freighters later kept a station here. Everyone who came was following a line drawn by thieves and thirst.
What the plaque says
DESERT SPRING THIS SPRING WAS ON THE OLD INDIAN HORSETHIEF TRAIL AND LATER (1834) JOE WALKER TRAIL. THE FAMISHED MANLY - JAYHAWK DEATH VALLEY PARTIES (1849-'50) WERE REVIVED HERE AFTER COMING FROM INDIAN WELLS THROUGH LAST CHANCE CANYON. THIS WAS ALSO A STATION ON THE NADEAU BORAX FREIGHT ROAD. STATE REGISTERED LANDMARK NO. 476 MARKER PLACED BY CALIFORNIA CENTENNIALS COMMISSION IN COOPERATION WITH KERN COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND KERN COUNTY MUSEUM. DEDICATED DECEMBER 2, 1950
Where it stands
35.30178, -117.95425 · Directions
More markers nearby
- Garlock — 12 mi
- Rand Mining District — 17 mi
- Freeman Junction — 21 mi
- Mojave 20-Mule-Team Borax Terminus — 21 mi