Senate Joint Resolution No. 14–Senators Titus, Mathews, Amodei, Care, Carlton, Coffin, Jacobsen, James, McGinness, Neal, O’Connell, O’Donnell, Porter, Raggio, Rawson, Rhoads, Schneider, Shaffer, Townsend, Washington and Wiener

 

Joint Sponsors: Assemblymen Manendo, Anderson, Angle, Arberry, Bache, Beers, Berman, Brower, Brown, Buckley, Carpenter, Cegavske, Chowning, Claborn, Collins, de Braga, Dini, Freeman, Gibbons, Giunchigliani, Goldwater, Gustavson, Hettrick, Humke, Koivisto, Lee, Leslie, Marvel, McClain, Mortenson, Neighbors, Nolan, Oceguera, Ohrenschall, Parks, Parnell, Perkins, Price, Smith, Tiffany, Von Tobel and Williams

 

FILE NUMBER..........

 

Senate Joint RESOLUTION—Urging Congress to dedicate the Old Spanish Trail and the Antonio Armijo Route of the Old Spanish Trail as a National Historic Trail.

 

   Whereas, The Old Spanish Trail, which ran between Santa Fe, New

 Mexico, and Los Angeles, California, was the first non-Native American

 trail to cross Nevada and remains the least known trail; and

   Whereas, Traders, couriers and emigrants en route between Santa Fe

 and Los Angeles followed Indian trails in blazing the Spanish Trail

 through Clark County; and

   Whereas, The journey of Antonio Armijo, a trader from New Mexico,

 through Nevada in 1829 and 1830 linked the historic 1776 routes of the

 Dominguez-Escalante expedition through Utah and the Garces’

 exploration into Southern California and used a portion of the 1826 and

 1827 routes of Jedediah Smith to California; and

   Whereas, Antonio Armijo was the first to link the interior of the

 Southwest with the California coast successfully, thus opening a

 commercial trade route, approximately 1,121 miles long, that functioned

 between 1829 and 1848 as the main artery connecting the interior to the

 coast which later became known as the Old Spanish Trail and is so named

 in modern literature; and

   Whereas, Captain John C. Fremont of the United States Corps of

 Topographic Engineers was commissioned in 1843 by the War

 Department to find and map the Oregon Trail, an assignment which he

 completed successfully; and

   Whereas, After documenting the Oregon Trail, Captain Fremont, in an

 effort to expand his government’s knowledge about California, pushed

 south through Northern Nevada into California; and

   Whereas, In 1844, Fremont sought the Spanish Trail to guide his party

 eastward from California and followed the trail through California and

 Nevada to his point of departure from Utah Lake the previous year; and

   Whereas, The route of the trail Fremont followed from California,

 which he named the Spanish Trail in the report of his expedition that he

 filed with the War Department, led him across Southern Nevada from

 Stump Spring to the Virgin River via Mountain Springs Pass, Blue

 Diamond, Las Vegas Springs and the Muddy River; and

   Whereas, This route was previously pioneered by traders from New

Mexico who spoke Spanish, a fact used by Captain Fremont in designating

 the “Camino de California” or “Camino de Nuevo Mexico” as the Spanish

 Trail; and

   Whereas, Fremont’s report and map were so important to the plans of

 the United States for Western expansion that the United States Senate and

 House of Representatives each printed 10,000 copies of the report and

 map; and

   Whereas, Copies of the report and map were available to thousands of

 emigrants heading westward to California who came to know the route

 they followed as Fremont’s Spanish Trail; and

   Whereas, The pioneers who used Fremont’s route became familiar

 with the promising potential of Southern Nevada for settlement which led

 specifically to the founding of Las Vegas or “The Meadows,” whose name

 reflects its importance as a major camp site along the Spanish Trail; and

   Whereas, The Old Spanish Trail is the foundation of succeeding routes

 of transport and travel through Southern Nevada including the Mormon

 Road, portions of the routes of the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake

 Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad which succeeded it, and the

 Arrowhead Trail Highway and its successors U.S. Highway No. 91 and

 Interstate Highway No. 15; and

   Whereas, This historic route for travelers facilitated expansion of the

 boundaries of the United States to include New Mexico, Colorado, Utah,

 Arizona, Nevada and California; and

   Whereas, The Spanish Trail was preferred by Kit Carson when

 carrying military dispatches in 1848 to Washington, D.C., which first

 brought news of gold at Sutter’s Fort and resulted in the Gold Rush of

 1849; and

   Whereas, Information about this ancient route of trade and commerce

 is still limited, and much more can be learned about the Old Spanish Trail;

 now, therefore, be it

   Resolved by the Senate and Assembly of the State of Nevada,

 Jointly, That the members of the Nevada Legislature do hereby urge the

 Congress of the United States to adopt legislation that dedicates the Old

 Spanish Trail and the Antonio Armijo Route of the Old Spanish Trail as a

 National Historic Trail; and be it further

   Resolved, That such a designation would help ensure the protection

 and interpretation of the Old Spanish Trail in a more consistent and

 coordinated manner, would encourage tourists to visit the communities,

 landscape features and other resources along the trail, would help visitors

 gain a better understanding of how a journey along the trail might have

 been more than 100 years ago, and would enhance and promote

 knowledge concerning the early settlers and explorers who emigrated and

 led expeditions to the Western United States; and be it further

   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate prepare and transmit a copy

 of this resolution to the Vice President of the United States as the

 presiding officer of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of

 Representatives and each member of the Nevada Congressional

 Delegation; and be it further

   Resolved, That this resolution becomes effective upon passage.

 

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