Camels, Legends, and the First Federal Highway in the Southwest

Camels, legends, and the first federal highway in the Southwest are an interesting chapter in the story of the Colorado River Valley. It is a cause for the River 250 celebration.

Edward Fitzgerald Beale is the namesake for a number of regional landmarks including hte historic Hotel beale in Kingman, Arizona. It was his wagon road that helped transform the southwest. And it was this road, rooted in antiquity, that would serve as the foundation for a legendary American highway in Arizona.

Long before chrome bedecked Cadillacs with towering tailfins cruised old Route 66, and decades before tourists filled the casinos of Bullhead City and Laughlin, the Colorado River Valley echoed with the sound of wagon wheels on stone, and the curses of mule skinners. For a brief time to this cacophony was added the snorting of camels.

It sounds like a story spurred by too much time in the desert sun. But the tale of the Beale Wagon Road and the U.S. Camel Corps is one of the most fascinating and overlooked chapters in American Southwest history. It is a tale of innovation, grit, and government ambition filled enough folklore to keep storytellers busy for generations.

And for travelers tracing the historic Route 66 corridor into the Colorado River Valley today, it is also the story of the first federally funded road in the Southwest. This was a transportation route that helped pave the way for settlement, commerce, railroads, and ultimately the modern American road trip.

Edward Fitzgerald Beale

Edward Fitzgerald Beale was not a man comfortable with a quiet desk job. He was a former naval officer, a Mexican American War veteran, an explorer, and a frontier adventurer.

Before setting out to map the namesake road he had already earned a reputation as one of the toughest and most capable men in the West. President James Buchanan appointed him in 1857 to survey and construct a wagon road along the 35th parallel stretching from Fort Defiance in present-day Arizona to the Mohave villages on the Colorado River.

At the time, America’s newly acquired territory in present day Arizona was still largely a wilderness to most eastern politicians. California was booming after the Gold Rush. But reaching it overland remained slow, dangerous, and expensive. Congress understood that if the nation intended to truly unite east and west, dependable transportation routes were essential.

Beale’s assignment became one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in the nation at the time. His wagon road would eventually influence the routes of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, Atchison & Topeka Railroad, National Old Trails Road, Route 66, and Interstate 40.

Camels, Legends, and the First Federal Highway in the Southwest

This ambitious endeavor had a second objective. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, the future Confederate president, believed camels might be perfectly suited for the deserts of the American Southwest. So, in 1855 Congress approved funding for what became known as the United States Camel Corps. Camels were imported from the Middle East and North Africa and shipped to Texas for military testing.

Several Syrians were hired to train mule skinners in the use and care of the animals. But mules and mule skinners wanted absolutely no part of the arrangement. Still, the camels performed remarkably well.

They carried massive loads and they could travel long distances without water. They also ate vegetation that other pack animals ignored. Before the expedition ended Beale himself became a strong supporter of the experiment and praised the camels repeatedly in his reports.

Hi Jolly and the Camel Drivers

Counted among the colorful figures associated with the expedition was Hi Jolly, born Hadji Ali. A skilled camel handler from the Ottoman Empire, he became one of the best-known camel drivers in the country.

Hi Jolly later settled in Arizona, and his legend became woven into frontier folklore. Today his grave in Quartzsite, a landmark for history buffs, is marked with a pyramid topped by a metal camel.

The Urban Legends Begin

As you might imagine, once you introduce camels into the story of the western frontier, the tall tales begin.  One enduring legend tells of a giant red camel roaming the deserts of Arizona and Nevada long after the Camel Corps experiment ended. Supposedly this enormous beast terrified prospectors, raided camps, and appeared ghostlike in the moonlight.

Another tale insists abandoned camels wandered the desert for decades after the Civil War. But unlike many frontier legends, this one contains a grain of truth.

When the Civil War erupted, federal attention shifted elsewhere, and the camel experiment was largely abandoned. Many camels were auctioned off and used for freight hauling. Though growndless, claimed sightings of feral camels persisted well into the early 20th century across Arizona, Nevada, Texas, and California.

The Road That Changed the Southwest

Though the Camel Corps experiment eventually faded into history, the Beale Wagon Road became enormously important.

The route opened commerce and migration across northern Arizona and into the Colorado River Valley. It became the foundation for establishment of practical transportation corridors through a territory many eastern officials once considered impassable. Portions of the road later evolved into railroad alignments and eventually became part of Route 66, America’s most famous highway.

In many ways, Beale’s project marked the beginning of the modern transportation era in the Southwest. And today, travelers crossing the Colorado River near Bullhead City and Laughlin are following Native American pathways first surveyed by explorers, wagon crews, soldiers, Native guides, and followed by camels.

Echoes Along the Colorado River

For visitors in the Colorado River Valley the story of Edward Fitzgerald Beale and the Camel Corps offers a fascinating reminder that the Colorado River Valley has always been a crossroads of innovation, adventure, and cultural exchange.

This region was crossed by Indigenous trade routes long before American expansion. It saw Spanish explorers, mountain men, miners, railroad builders, steamboat captains, Route 66 travelers, and dreamers chasing opportunity westward. The Beale Wagon Road became one of the critical threads stitching those stories together.

And somewhere out there beyond the glow of modern highways and casino lights, perhaps the old legends still linger. After all, a mysterious camel silhouette disappearing into the desert at sunset is a delightful start for a good story.

Written by Jim Hinckley’s America