Yuha Well

The bronze stands at a freeway rest area. The well is about twenty kilometres west-southwest in the Yuha Basin, reached on foot or by four-wheel drive. Kamia people, the desert Kumeyaay, showed it to Anza's scouts on March 8, 1774. When the colonists came through in December 1775, Anza sent them across the desert in three divisions, spaced so the flat-rock wells could refill between one party and the next. Beyond the Colorado it was the first water good enough to be worth the wait. The plaque names only the Spaniards who used it.

What the plaque says

Yuha Well Known as Santa Rosa de las Lajas (Flat Rocks), this site was used on March 8, 1774 by the Anza exploring expedition, opening the land route from Sonora, Mexico, to Alta California. On December 11 to 15, 1775 the three divisions of Anza's colonizing expedition used this first good watering spot beyond the Colorado River on the way from Sonora to San Francisco. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 1008 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the U.S. Department of the Interior and Squibob Chapter, E Clampus Vitus, April 24, 1993.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Site of Fort Romualdo Pacheco — 5.1 mi
• Camp Salvation — 13 mi
• Tecolote Rancho Site — 15 mi
• Mountain Springs Station — 26 mi