WASHINGTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Washington County, Utah)

ANTONIO ARMIJO TRAIL

(1829-1830 Expedition)

Miscellaneous

Histories

Antonio Armijo was a Spanish Mexican explorer and merchant who in 1829 and 1830 led an expedition to find a trade route between New Mexico and Los Angeles. This was the first trading expedition between New Mexico and Los Angeles. It was so successful that annual expeditions were made thereafter until 1848.

ROUTE

Abiquiu New Mexico (November 7, 1829)
West down Largo Canyon
San Juan River (November 15)
Left the main branch of the Old Spanish Trail (November 19)
Junction of the San Juan and Mancos Rivers (November 21)
Chinle Creek (November 25)
Church Rock (November 27)
Boiling Springs - Navajo National Monument (November 29)
Upper Crossing Spring - Paiute Canyon (November 30)
Junction of the Navajo and Kaibito Creeks (December 2)
Crossing of the Fathers - Colorado River (December 6)
Wahweap Creek (December 9)
Crossed Cockcomb and the north end of Kaibab Mountain (December 12)
Reached Ram Creek, now Kanab Creek (December 14)
"Water of the Old Woman" - Pipe Spring National Monument (December 15)
Hurricane Cliffs (December 17)
Junction of the Pearce Wash and Virgin River (December 20)
Followed the Virgin River to the Santa Clara River
Headed up the Santa Clara River
Crossed over Utah Hill
Joined the Virgin River at Littlefield
Followed the Virgin River to the Colorado River
Junction of the Virgin and Colorado Rivers (January 1, 1830)
San Gabriel Mission (January 31)

HISTORY

The party of 60 men and a pack string of 100 mules left Abiquiu New Mexico on November 7, 1829.

Expedition members included:
Antonio Armijo
Salvador Maes
???

They passed through Washington County during the later half of December, 1829.

They arrived at the San Gabriel Mission near Los Angeles on January 1, 1830.

Armijo and his men traded wool to the Californios for horses and mules.

The Armijo party left Los Angeles to return to New Mexico on March 1, 1830.

They arrived back at Abiquiu on April 25, 1830.

The horses a mules they acquired in California were sold for a substantional profit.

PHOTOS

TBD

REFERENCES

Wikipedia article about Antonio Armijo

From the San Juan to the Virgin - Armijo's 1829 Journey along the 37th Parallel
by Steve Heath
Spanish Traces, Volume 10, Number 3, Fall 2004, pp. 16-19.

The Armijo journal was published in
Old Spanish Trail - Santa Fe to Los Angeles
by Leroy & Ann Hafen (1954)
pp. 155-170

Armijo's Trace Revisited: A new Interpretation of the Impact of
Antonio Armijo Route of 1829-1830 on the Development of the Old Spanish Trail
by Elizabeth von Till Warren
Master's Thesis, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
May 1974