Old Spanish Trail

Here the Old Spanish Trail crossed into Nevada. Coming down out of Utah and the corner of Arizona, the route followed the Virgin River into the far northeastern edge of the state, dropping toward the Colorado and the long desert beyond. From 1829 it carried Nevada's first commerce—pack trains between Santa Fe and Los Angeles when both were still Mexican towns—and later the wagons of forty-niners and Mormon pioneers. The state set concrete posts along it in 1965. This stretch saw the trail at its beginning, where the river offered water and the meadows ahead were only a rumor.

What the plaque says

Stretching for 130 miles across Clark County, this historic horse trail became Nevada’s first route of commerce in 1829 when trade was initiated between Santa Fe and Los Angeles. The trail was later used by the wagons of the “49ers” and by Mormon pioneers. Concrete posts marking the trail were erected in 1965.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lost City Museum — 28 mi
  The Ancestral Puebloan metropolis Lake Mead drowned — and the museum that saved what it could
• St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm — 32 mi
  Real dinosaur footprints preserved in ancient sandstone

More markers nearby

• Virgin Valley — steps away
• Moapa Valley — 26 mi
• Pueblo Grande De Nevada — 28 mi
• Swiss Colony — 32 mi