In search for Fort Mojave

[P-59A]

So, I had known about Fort Mojave for some time. Never thought much about it untill I saw  Steve from Sidetrack Adventure do a show on it last year. 

Normally in his shows he tells you how to find it. This is a link to that show. 

       

[P-59A]

Anyway I thought if Steve could find it I would not need to over think it. The first of my mistakes. My sister was heading that way to visit a friend and  asked if I wanted to tag along. I told her I would if we could visit the fort. I was very clear we would need to be in the area early in the morning to beat the heat. This was mistake number two. I did an on line search the night looking for solid information and found almost nothing on its location. This was mistake number three. Ifigured someone in town could point us in the right direction. This actually worked out...kind of.

My sister does not hike and does not understand the need to hike early in the morning when its still cool. We had a very late start. We got into town at noon yesterday. After some asking around I found an elderly woman who had visited the site many,many years before. She didn't know the names of roads so her directions started off with turn left at the maniquine and included the most basic stick figure map to find the site after we parked I have ever seen.

She was the one good thing that happened. Her visual turn left when you see this and right when you see that were spot on and her stck figure map on were to hike after we parked would have been spot on if had really followed them.

At a little past noon it was already in the mid 90's. I had lived in the Mojave and hiked it for decades looking for aircraft crash sites. I knew better than to hike in the heat and did it anyway. I told myself it would be a quick little hike to find its location and get a GPS on it then I would come back in the fall when the weather was cooler. This was mistake number four. The stick figure map had good basic directions, but no distance.

The lady told me it was on a large bluff over looking the Colorado. All of it is a large bluff overlooking the Colorado. I saw spots of old trash in shallow ravines to my left. When I got to the river I turned left and only saw an old broken bottle and GPS'ed that location.That was mistake number 5. I ran that number today. I was 100 yards short of the fort. By this time I knew I was half way through my hike time at those temps and headed back to were we parked. That was a good thing. All of it was up hill and the last 50 yards really sucked. My sister was sitting in the car with the AC running. I had a Monster with me when I left the car and I still had a quarter can when I came back. I was over heated and stopped for a bottle of water and a cup of ice on the way out. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[P-59A]

This is the bottle. It was in a ring of rocks in the middle of the desert. I have no idea what the ring of rocks are, but I do know that bottle dates back to the 1850's according to a BLM site that helps its employees date things they find.

[P-59A]

In places the old road runs next to the gravel road.

 

[P-59A]

Some of the dump sites.

[P-59A]

These black rocks struck me as odd. No other black rocks were seen anyother place,They came from some place else.  Maybe unworked obsidean or coal. I did not pick them up.

 

[P-59A]

I saw a number of these stacked stones. Some in circles, some in the shape of rectangles and others like this. They are all over the place. I know the Mojaves lived in the area for a very long time. I assume these were used for dwellings of one kind or another.

[P-59A]

At first I thought this was Beal's crossing. I did not hike down to read that sighn so I really do mot know for sure.

[P-59A]

So, when I really went down the rabbit hole today I found a government web site that showed the foot print of the fort and the roads around it in stick figure layout. It was a little better than what the lady drew for me because it was in scale. On that lay out it showed something not found on any other web site. It gave the footprint of the fort cemetery in relation to the fort footprint including the roads in the area.

I was able to go back to an older satellite photo on Google Earth with better resolution and GPS that location. The resolution on Google Earth on the current setting was so bad I could not see the fort when I was looking for it the night before last.

[P-59A]

Information on Fort Mojave cemetary

 

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=2cb24a8028a1d29ad30d845c0d8b8784d96aa880ed048c4baf78677b90386b1cJmltdHM9MTc3OTQ5NDQwMA&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=4&fclid=090314c8-1a7e-6b3a-0591-02761bec6a11&psq=fort+mojave+camp+cemetary&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly9nZW5lYWxvZ3l0cmFpbHMuY29tL2FyaXovbW9oYXZlL2Z0bW9oYXZlY2VtLmh0bWw

[P-59A]

On 5/22/2026 at 9:28 PM, P-59A said:

At first I thought this was Beal's crossing. I did not hike down to read that sighn so I really do mot know for sure.

I found a 1869 US Army survey map of Camp Mojave in a historical society collection. It took me forever to down load it. The map was very large and very detailed. The map calls this the ferry crossing, not Beal's crossing, I think they are one and the same, but the map also shows an unnamed path down to the Colorado in front of Camp. The map also shows a square footprint for the Camp. not a rectangle. It notes the few standing buildings and the sites for new buildings being planed. The Camp in 1869 looks nothing like the later photo's.

[P-59A]

I went down a rabbit hole looking for historic images to get a feel for the fort as it was. The photo's like all good photo's tell a story when you look.  This is what I found......

[P-59A]

[P-59A]

This photo shows the buildings below the bluff the is fort on. According to the survey map the building next to the bluff should be the blacksmiths shop. That beach should be were the Mojaves attacked the pioneers who cut down the Cottonwood trees to raft across the river. In other photos this location is below the water tower and is the site of Beales crossing. The ferry road I saw is located center right of the photo at that inlet.

[P-59A]

This photo of the parade ground is looking towards the river. The concrete piers you see in Steves video that supported the water tower are located on the bluff overlooking the beach in the first photo.

[Manky bandage]

I don't think anyone can really grasp how vast the area is unless you've been yourself, i'd love to explore the place with my metal detector to see what pops up. Looks like one could find many objects just sitting on the surface as you did.  

[P-59A]

This photo's location is hard to place. The 1860's survey map does not show those large buildings.Those are the Spirit Mountains in the back ground and the water tower is in the distance, so we are looking towards the river. The photo is looking in a N/W dirrection.The two low pitched roof buildings look like the old Officers Quarters.

[P-59A]

This drawing looks correct. The wagon is on the ferry road and that building in the foreground according to the survey map should be the saloon

[P-59A]

This photo was taken in front of one of the enlisted barracks. That vertical wood confirms that. Note those slats keep the sun off the building. You can see the walkway is behind the slats. The guy on the right grabbed my eye. He is native and he dressed for the photo. I looks like they all did.

[P-59A]

It's photos like these that make me wonder why they gathered for the group photos. In the second photo we see the same native dressed in uniform.

[P-59A]

This photo was taken after the fort was passed down to Indian Affairs. The photo was likley taken from the water tower.

[P-59A]

On the survey map it shows two roads leading you out of the Fort with the names of the places they take you to. This old topo map has the locations of those places, but they do not show under those names in modern maps.

[P-59A]

The old roads

[P-59A]

1 hour ago, Manky bandage said:

I don't think anyone can really grasp how vast the area is unless you've been yourself, i'd love to explore the place with my metal detector to see what pops up. Looks like one could find many objects just sitting on the surface as you did.  

The valley the fort sits in on the bluffs is vast and it is in situ. The town of Fort Mojave is actually a city in the desert and is only several miles east from the fort. When I came looking for the fort the younger people had no idea what I was asking about. The 1860's survey map shows the locations of the homes around the fort, the footprints of those sites still exist. The ranchero's south of the fort are gone. They are viewed on google earth as crop circles.

[P-59A]

These are native Mojave people and the dwellings they lived in. The stacked stones I saw in rectangle or circular shape gave me the impression of the footprint of these type dwellings.