Edward F. Beale, Sailor, Adventurer, Explorer (Part 2)
Next Beale was involved in an experiment for using camels for military and trade purposes in the western desert areas. He was selected by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis. He would take a contingent of camels and blaze a wagon road from Texas to California. He picked up his 25 camels at Camp Verde, Texas. At first, the pack animals were afraid of the camels but soon calmed down. However, the men didn't particularly care for the odor or the spitting of the camels. It took a month to go the 500 miles to El Paso. But the camels did well as they allowed themselves to be packed without a fight. They also would eat bushes and other desert vegetation and did not need grass. They also could carry at least twice the weight.
He headed west through Albuquerque then on to the Zuni village near the modern-day Arizona-New Mexico border. From there the territory was virtually unknown. They did not know where they would be able to find water. They followed the Little Colorado River then west toward the San Francisco Mountains. The mules and horses suffered from lack of water but the camels were just fine. In fact, at times the camels carried kegs of waters for the others. They finally reached Fort Tejon, near his ranch, in November 1857. A month later, he started on the journey back east. He left the camels there, for it looked like the military might need them in a battle with the Utes. The road he blazed came into immediate use and they called it Beale's Road for years. Today's Interstate 40 closely parallels it.
Beale arrived back in the east in March 1858. He spent several months with his wife in Chester, Pennsylvania, her family home. In August he received another commission to improve the road from Fort Smith, Arkansas to Albuquerque to meet up with the rest of his road. The project was largely uneventful. But he knew the road could not be successful until the military built some forts along the way to protect travelers from Indians. He returned home for a short time and his second daughter Emily was born during that time. He returned to the wagon road later in the year to rebuild the bridges out of iron.
In May 1861, he was appointed U.S. Surveyor General for California. He moved his family temporarily to San Francisco. His job was
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