| ____Date____ | ____Location____ (CA unless specified) | Event |
| ~200,000 BC | Calico Early Man Site | possibly the oldest evidence of human occupation in the Americas was left |
| ~10,000 BC | Black Mountain Rock Art District, between Superior and Water Valleys, northwest of Barstow | Native Americans carved petroglyphs and painted pictographs, leaving us "rock art" |
| 1776 | Barstow site | according to his journal, Spanish Franciscan priest Francisco Garces, traveling in search of a practical immigration route from Southern Arizona to the northern Spanish mission in California, and for a trading route between missions in New Mexico, passed the future site of Barstow |
| 1821 | Cordoba, Mexico | the Treaty of Cordoba established Mexico's indepndence from Spain |
| 1829 | between Santa Fe, New Mexico and Los Angeles | the Old Spanish Trail blazed by Antonio Armijo, passing through the Mojave Desert; the route of the trail crossed the southeastern edge of present-day Fort Irwin, exited the Fort on the east through Red Pass and continued north along the base of the eastern edge of the Avawatz Range to Salt Springs; within the Fort the trail passed through Bitter Springs before turning south through Spanish Canyon in the Alvord Mountains |
| 1844 | Mojave Desert | John C. Fremont explored the Old Spanish Trail through the Mojave |
| 1846 | Washington, D.C. | President James K. Polk instructed the Secretary of War, William L. March to authorize Col. Stephen W. Kearney, Commander of the Army of the West, to enlist a battalion of 500 Mormons to assist the U. S. Army in the Mexican war |
| 1846 Jul. 6 | Council Bluffs, IA | after President Brigham Young and the governing Council of the L.D.S. Church urged men to enlist, five companies totaling over 500 men were mustered in to the Mormon Batallion and began the longest march in military history over 2,000 miles from Council Bluffs, IA to San Diego |
| 1848 Jan. 24 | Colma, 40 miles east of Sacramento | James Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's mill |
| 1848 Feb. 2 | Guadalupe Hidalgo, near Mexico City | a peace treaty was signed by representatives of the United States and Mexico, bringing to an end the Mexican War, and bringing California into the territory of the United States |
| 1848 | Mojave Desert | 25 members of the Mormon Battalion returned to Utah via the Spanish Trail through the Mojave Desert |
| 1849 Dec. 1 | Salt Springs | two Mormon missionaries, James Brown and Addison, enroute to Tahiti, discovered gold in the Salt Spring Hills, just to the northeast of present Fort Irwin where the Amargosa starts its "U turn" into Death Valley |
| 1850 | Salt Springs | mining began in the Mojave region |
| 1851 | San Bernardino | under the direction of Charles C. Rich, 437 colonists from Utah were sent to found a settlement near the Cajon Pass; the result was San Bernardino, the principal LDS settlement in California along the "Mormon Corridor" connecting Utah settlements and the West Coast |
| 1853 | Washington, D.C. | Congress authorized exploration and surveys "to ascertain the most practical and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean" |
| 1857 | Salt Lake City, UT | the Utah War of 1857-1858 pitted the Mormon militia (called the Nauvoo Legion) against the U.S. Army in a bloodless but costly confrontation that began with the badly handled attempt by President James Buchanan to replace Brigham Young as governor of Utah Territory; as the U.S. Army approached Utah, Brigham Young instructed the Mormon settlers in San Bernardino, along with other outlying settlers, to return to Utah; most traveled by the Mormon Trail through the Mojave Desert |
| 1858 | Lane's Crossing | Aaron Lane bought land near Oro Grande on the Mojave River |
| 1859 | Lane's Crossing | Captain Winfield Scott Hancock, assigned to supply the newly created Fort Mojave on the Colorado River, decided to try using camels for an express between Los Angeles and the fort; the camel expired near Lane's Crossing |
| 1860s | Daggett | town founded, originally named Calico Junction |
| 1869 May 10 | Promontory Summit, UT | the first of five
transcontinental railroads was completed |
| 1875 | site of Calico | miner George Lee discovered silver ore, thought it was mercury ore |
| 1875? | Daggett | Stone Hotel built |
| 1881 March 8 | Deming, NM | the second transcontinental railroad was completed, linking the Southern Pacific Railroad with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad |
| 1881 | Calico | Silver King Mine began; town of Calico established |
| 1882 | Mojave to Daggett | the Southern Pacific Railroad completed the line from Mojave to Daggett |
| 1883 | Calico | the borax rush hit Calico |
| 1883 | Mojave to Needles | the Southern Pacific Railroad completed the line from Mojave to Needles |
| 1885 | Cajon Pass | the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad built the three percent grade "south" track over the summit |
| 1886 | Barsrtow | town of Barstow (formerly Waterman Junction) founded; named for William Barstow Strong, 10th president of Santa Fe railroad |
| 1887 | Calico | town destroyed by fire |
| 1888 | Calico to Daggett | the Calico Railroad (later called the Daggett-Calico Railroad) started to haul ore from Calico to the Oro Grande Milling Company, located across the river from Daggett |
| 1895 | Sacramento | California Bureau of Highways created |
| 1896 | Calico | price of silver dropped to 63 cents an ounce, dooming Calico silver mines |
| 1900 | Los Angeles | Automobile Club of Southern California founded |
| 1902 | San Bernardino County | the production of borax in San Bernardino County was at its peak, with a total annual value of just over two million dollars |
| 1904 | Redlands to Victorville over Cajon Summit | E.C. Sterling, a wealthy former brick manufacturer from St. Louis and owner of Victorville's Verde Ranch, drove his car up the pass on several occasions, claiming to have made the round trip from his Redlands home in three and a quarter hours |
| 1904 | Nipton | Nipton (originally Nippeno) founded, with the coming of the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad |
| 1907 Jan. 7 | Washington, D.C. | in Wilson v. Shaw, a case involving Federal authority to construct the Panama Canal, the Supreme Court concluded, "these authorities recognize the power of Congress to construct interstate highways" |
| 1910 | Calico | borax mining ceased due to larger discovery at Boron closer to Los Angeles |
| 1911 Feb. | Barstow | the Casa del Desierto (House of the Desert), or "Harvey House" as it is more commonly known, was completed after a series of ownership changes left it in the hands of the Fred Harvey Company |
| 1912 | Kansas City, MO | first annual convention of the National Old Trails Highway (later Route 66) |
| 1913 | Death Valley | record 134 degree F. temperature recorded (this is why the World's Tallest Thermometer in Baker is 134 feet tall) |
| 1913 | Cajon Summit to Needles | San Bernardino County Supervisor Butler graded a road some claimed could be traveled at an average speed of thirteen miles per hour even with occasional patches of sand and gullies |
| 1914 | Los Angeles to Needles | the Automobile Club of Southern California magazine, Touring Topics, reported that most of the National Old Trails Road in California had been signed |
| 1914 | Cajon Pass | work commenced on a new grade up Cajon Pass, sufficiently wide for three vehicles abreast |
| 1914 | Ibis to Las Vegas, NV | "desert pilot" J.H. Gould made one of the initial investigatory trips from the Old National Trails Highway at Ibis, CA through Searchlight, NV and on to Las Vegas |
| 1915 | Calico | Walter Knott worked as a carpenter at Calico |
| 1916 | Cajon Pass | toll road over the pass replaced by first paved highway |
| 1916 | Redlands | urged on by Edmund W. Griffith, Charles K. Bigelow organized the Arrowhead Trails Association, to promote a highway from San Bernardino County to Salt Lake City, UT |
| 1916 | San Bernardino to St. George, UT | three cars made the journey from San Bernardino to St. George, UT through Victorville, Daggett, Amboy, Cima, Jean, NV, Las Vegas, NV and Mesquite, NV in three days |
| 1917 | Victorville to Barstow through Helendale | section of highway built |
| 1917 | Los Angeles to Salt Lake City, UT | "During the spring of 1917, as the nation was adjusting to involvement in World War I, some opponents of the Arrowhead Highway, perhaps from the San Francisco Bay area, informed the United States War Department that the infant Los Angeles to Salt Lake City road was simply an unproved paper project. The military was just then designating a highway system to serve as an alternative if the railroads were disabled during wartime. Arrowhead Trails officials heard the allegation and in cooperation with the United States Army immediately organized a timed one-car road race, which although it was staged during a period of considerable rain and mud, would demonstrate how fast the new route could be traveled... The trip took but thirty-six and a quarter hours, including time out for meals and some remarkably quick tire changes by the sergeants. This was the fastest time ever recorded between the two cities, despite driving in a blinding storm for 150 miles. The drivers asserted that the trip could be made easily in about twenty-four hours under anything like normal weather and road conditions. The War Department changed its policies because of the demonstration, although they designated the Cima cut-off blazed by [the race] rather than the common and marked route still through Searchlight. The eminent practicality of the new highway was again fully demonstrated by the well-publicized road rally." — article: "The Arrowhead Trails Highway: California's Predecessor to Interstate 15" by Edward Leo Lyman (see link below under " Interstate-15 history") |
| 1920 | Zion, UT | Zion dedicated as a national park, increasing demand for better roads from Southern California to Utah |
| 1926 Nov. 11 | Washinton, D.C. | Route 66 founded |
| 1926 | Daggett | southern terminus of US 91 at Daggett |
| 1926 | Baker | Bun Boy Restaurant built |
| 1929 | Calico | Calico became a ghost town |
| 1931 | Cajon Pass | more modern alignment of road over the pass |
| 1931 | Barstow | Mojave River bridge completed |
| 1933 Feb. 11 | Death Valley | Death Valley became a National Monument |
| 1936 | Cajon Pass | old alignment of Route 66 became US 395 through Cajon Pass |
| 1938 | Oldham County, TX | paving of Route 66 complete |
| 1938 | Barstow | southern terminus of US 91 moved to current intersection of 1st St. and Main St. |
| 1940 | Fort Irwin | Camp Irwin established by FDR |
| 1942 | Calico Early Man Site | amateur archaeologists discovered what they believed to be primitive stone tools in this area |
| 1942 Apr. | Eastern Mojave Desert | in an area selected by General George patton, the California/Arizona Maneuver Area (Desert Training Center) was established, covering some 18,000 square miles stretching from the outskirts of Pomona, California eastward to within 50 miles of Phoenix, Arizona, southward to the suburbs of Yuma, Arizona and northward into the southern tip of Nevada; used existed primarily to train U.S. forces in desert warfare for the North African campaign |
| 1945 Feb. 28 | Fort Irwin | Executive Order No 9526 decreed that six months after the end of World War II, jurisdiction over Camp Irwin would be transferred back the Department of Interior |
| 1946 | Washington, D.C. | the Bureau of Land Mangement (BLM) formed during a government reorganization, combining the General Land Office and the U.S. Grazing Service |
| 1947 Sep. 30 | Barstow | Barstow incorpotated as a city |
| 1947 | Long Beach to Barstow | US 91 extended to connect Long Beach to Barstow starting at the Long Beach traffic circle on what is now Pacific Coast Highway, going north on Lakewood Blvd., east on Carson which changes to Lincoln Blvd., north on Orange-Olive Ave., east on Santa Ana Canyon, joining with what is now Cal. SR-91, and continuing to Riverside and via Magnolia and 6th to what is now Interstate-215, then via La Cadena Dr. to Mt. Vernon Ave., then north on Cajon Blvd. over the Cajon Pass, from there following the alignment of Route 66 to Barstow |
| 1951 | Calico | Walter Knott bought Calico Ghost Town |
| 1952 | Orange to Barstow | US 91 became an expressway |
| 1953 | Cajon Pass | US 66/91/395 through Cajon Pass widened |
| 1954 | Yermo | Peggy Sue's Diner built |
| 1954 Nov. 16 | Fort Irwin | Fort Irwin transferred to U.S. Army |
| 1955 | Cajon Summit | US 66/91/395 over Cajon Summit widened |
| 1956 | Washington, D.C. | Interstate Highway Act created master plan for interstate freeways, including replacing US 91 in the Mojave with Interstate-15 and replacing Route 66 in the Mojave with Interstate-40 |
| 1958 Mar. | Goldstone Dry Lake | the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), then under contract to the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps, chose this site on government-owned land at Fort Irwin for an initial ground-based deep-space communication station located in an environment as free of radio noise as possible |
| 1961 | Baker to Mountain Pass/Cima Rd. | first section of US highway 91/466 — long called the "Bloody Baker Grade" — converted to Interstate-15 |
| 1963 | Calico Early Man Site | Dr. Louis S.B. Leakey first visited the area |
| 1966 | Calico | Walter Knott donated Calico Ghost Town to the county of San Bernardino |
| 1967 | Apple Valley | Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum opened (moved to Victorville in 1976) |
| 1969 | Cajon Pass | Interstate-15 over Cajon Pass completed |
| 1970 | Mojave Desert | team from Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) selected Mojave Desert as resembling the surface of the moon for rover tests |
| 1973 | Barstow to Wilmington, NC | Interstate-40 completed |
| 1975 May 31 6:39 PM | Galway Lake, near Barstow | 5.0 mag. earthquake |
| 1980 | Calico Peak and Mountain Pass (transmitters) | the Highway Stations began broadcasting on FM 98 & 99 |
| 1981 Dec. | Goldstone Dry Lake | Pioneer (DS-11) Station with 26-meter antenna closed after 23 years (initially used to track Pioneer 3 spacecraft) |
| 1985 | Williams, AZ | last town on Route 66 bypassed by interstate |
| 1988? | Baker | Bun Boy burned down |
| 1988 | Las Vegas | California-Nevada Super Speed Train Commission (CNSSTC) formed to promote the development of a 300 mph "bullet train" connecting Las Vegas with Southern California |
| 1989 | Baker | Baker Community Correctional Facility opened |
| 1989 | Washington, D.C. | desert tortoise was listed as endangered under the Federal Endangered Species Act |
| 1991? | Baker | Bun Boy rebuilt |
| 1991 | Baker | World's Tallest Thermometer erected |
| 1992 Jun. 28 4:57:31 AM PDT | Landers, 6 mi. north of Yucca Valley | Landers earthquake 7.3 magnitude |
| 1994 | Primm, NV | the Desperado roller coaster, tallest in the world at the time (209 feet) was built at Buffalo Bill's by Arrow Dynamics of Clearfield, Utah, with its first drop of 225 feet and a second drop of 155 feet; it has been clocked at 90 miles an hour and measures G-forces approaching 4 Gs |
| 1994 | Mojave Preserve | 1994 California Desert Protection Act changed the Mojave from Scenic Preserve managed by Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to National Preserve managed by National Park Service (NPS) |
| 1996 | Barstow | Casa del Desierto (House of the Desert)/Harvey House restored |
| 1997 Mar. 18 7:24 AM | near Calico | 5.3 mag. earthquake |
| 1998 Jul. 6 | Apple Valley? | Roy Rogers died at the age of 86 |
| 1998 Aug. | Eastern Mojave Desert | at the Meeting of the Ecological Society of America Baltimore, MD, J. Belnap reported that the desert damaged by tank treads from Patton's training exercises in the 1940s has recovered surprisingly slowly |
| 2001 Feb. 7 | Apple Valley | Dale Evans died at ther age of 88, sealing the fate of the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum |
| 2001 Jul. 24 | Calico | town damaged by fire |
| 2001 | Mojave Desert | team from Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) selected Mojave Desert as resembling the surface of Mars for rover tests |
| 2002 | Washington, D.C. | Congress allocated funding for planning the "first forty miles" of "maglev" (magnetic levitation) train from Las Vegas to Primm, NV — designed to cover the distance in 11 minutes |
| 2002 Sep. 1 | Cajon Pass | "Blue Cut" fire |
| 2002 Dec. 4 | Washington, D.C. | Pres. Bush signed S.R. 1946 "the Old Spanish Trail Recognition Act of 2002" into law, recognizing the Old Spanish Trail as a nationally historic trail worthy of federal designation |
| 2003 Jan. 2 | Arlington, VA | the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced the Grand Challenge for Robotic Ground Vehicles: a race of driverless vehicles from Los Angeles to Las Vegas March 13, 2004 |
| 2003 Mar. 30 | Victorville | the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum closed; moving to Branson, MO |
