Henry Wade Exit Route

The Harry Wade Exit Route was discovered and made by Henry Wade from Illinois in 1849. Henry Wade, his wife and children were in the Bennett-Arcan party caravan emigrating west. At the direction of guide Jefferson Hunt the caravan took a poorly planned turn and descended into Death Valley, California while looking for a shortcut off the Old Spanish Trail. The caravan of a 100 wagons were looking for the shortcut to get to the California Gold Rush sooner. Some of the party died in the valley and the name stuck. Henry Wade found a path out of the Valley, the trail he made is today called the Henry Wade Road, a dirt road. After departing Death Valley Wade found the Old Spanish Trail and came to Southern California though the Cajon Pass. Many in the party also suffered but nonetheless made it out of Death Valley. Harry Wade Exit Route was designated a California Historic Landmark (No.622) on October 9, 1957. A marker was placed about 30 miles north of Baker, California, on the Harry Wade Exit Route, to designate where his family escaped. The marker is at the southern end of Death Valley National Park.[1]

Harry Wade Exit Route
Harry Wade Exit Marker
LocationBaker, California
Coordinates35°37′59″N 116°17′27″W
Built1849
DesignatedOctober 9, 1957
Reference no.622
Location of Harry Wade Exit Route in California

Harry Wade was born on March 16, 1800, in Rochester, England. He married Mary Reynolds Leach, who was born on June 17, 1813, in London, England. In 1836, he migrated to the United States and settled in Tioga County, Pennsylvania. After surviving the move to California they moved to Northern California and ran an inn called The American House in Alviso, California. He died on October 13, 1883, in Alviso. Mary died on May 3, 1889, in Alviso.[2]

Death Valley '49ers
Main article: Death Valley '49ers

Henry Wade was part of what would become known as the Death Valley '49ers. This was a group of pioneers from the Eastern United States that endured a long and difficult journey during the late-1840s California Gold Rush to prospect in the Sutter's Fort area of the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada in California. Their route from Utah went through the Great Basin Desert in Nevada, and Death Valley and the Mojave Desert in Southern California, in attempting to reach the Gold Country.[3]

Marker

The marker at the site (about 30 miles north of Baker) reads:[4]

NO. 622 HARRY WADE EXIT ROUTE – After getting to Death Valley with the ill-fated 1849 caravan, Harry Wade found this exit route for his ox-drawn wagon and thereby saved his life and the lives of his wife and children. At this point the Wade party came upon the known Spanish Trail to Cajón Pass.

Telescope and Wildrose Peaks from Emigrant Canyon Road

See also

References
  1. Digital-Desert : Mojave Desert
  2. cvhistory.com THE Bennett-Arcan party
  3. "The Lost '49ers". National Park Service. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
  4. californiahistoricallandmarks.com CHL No. 622 Harry Wade Exit Route – San Bernadino [sic]
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