Site of Fort Romualdo Pacheco

Forty-five years after the Quechan closed the road, Mexico tried to reopen it. Lieutenant Romualdo Pacheco put up an adobe fort on the New River in 1825, the only Mexican fort ever built in Alta California, and it lasted a few months. Kumeyaay fighters attacked on April 26, 1826, killed three soldiers and wounded three more, and Pacheco pulled the garrison back to San Diego. The overland route from Sonora stayed shut. The site is a bank of the New River west of Imperial.

What the plaque says

Site of Fort Romualdo Pacheco (1825 - 1826) In 1774, Spain opened an overland route from Sonora to California but it was closed by Yuma Indians in 1781. In 1822, Mexico attempted to reopen this route. Lt. Romualdo Pacheco and soldiers built an adobe fort at this site in 1825-26, the only Mexican fort in Alta California. On April 26, 1826, Kumeyaay Indians attacked the fort, killing three soldiers and wounding three others. Pacheco abandoned the fort, removing soldiers to San Diego. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 944 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Imperial Valley College Barker Museum, Imperial Valley Pioneers and Squibob Chapter, E Clampus Vitus. October 3, 1981

Where it stands

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