I drive through Barstow at 70 miles-per-hour on Interstate-15 quite often, but seldom get off of the freeway to visit the old downtown section. Since I had a little extra time, I pulled off of the Interstate at the "Old Highway 58" exit and followed it a short distance to "Historic Route 66," also known as "The Main Street of America," or "The Mother Road," or just "Main Street" as it runs through Barstow.
Okay, this is a short quiz. Along Main Street there are pictures of some of the most iconic vehicles of the 50s and 60s that traveled The Mother Road. How many vehicles can you name?
The person that did the '57 chevy should be fired because the picture is the wrong body style. The iconic '57 Chevy was a Bel Air 2-door hardtop (not a 2-door post) with a 283 cubic-inch engine and four-barrel carburetor that was part of the power-pack option. The engine had the shortest stroke of any production V-8 engine at the time and with the air cleaner design and dual exhaust system it produced a unique sound that could be recognized all over town without ever seeing the vehicle. And, the vehicle pictured does not even have production wheels or white-wall tires!
There were no signs to describe the vehicles, but I think they are: 1969 Pontiac GTO, 1965 Ford Mustang, 1955 Ford F100, 1957 Ford Thunderbird, 1969 Oldsmobile 442, 1958 Chevrolet Corvette, and 1957 Chevrolet 2-door post. So, how did you do on the quiz?
A number of businesses have also added Route 66 related statues on their property, but I'm not certain what the monkey ridding a pink elephant represents!
Barstow (population 22,639) was founded by prospectors in the 1840s along what became known as the "Mormon Trail." (The "Old Spanish Trail" was not just a single trail, but was actually a series of different trails that ran from Santa Fe (New Mexico) to Los Angeles (California), and it was the northern trail that ran through Salt Lake City that became known as the "Mormon Trail," or "Mormon Road." To add to the name confusion, the '49ers called the route the "California Trail.") In 1848, the Daniel Davis family that was traveling in a covered wagon with the Mormon Battalion was the first American family to travel the route. Then, in 1851, an entire wagon train of Mormon pioneers settled in the San Bernardino Valley.
Because of Indian attacks along the trial, in 1860 Camp Cady was established east of Barstow and was an active Army post until 1871. (I actually found the old fort site, which will be included in a future RonnieAdventure.) During this same time period, gold and silver were discovered in the area and there was a large influx of miners into Camp Sugarloaf (now Barstow), Calico (now a commercial tourist attraction) and Daggett (now a near ghost town).
Camp Sugarloaf, also know as "Grapevine," became Waterman Junction in 1885; named after Governor Waterman, who also owned the nearby Waterman Mine and mill. The "Junction" refereed to the junction of the California Southern Railroad and the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad lines. (Today Barstow is the "junction" of Interstate-15 and Interstate-40.) However, the Waterman Junction name was short-lived. On May 15, 1886, a post office was established and the town's name was changed to Barstow, honoring William Barstow Strong, the Executor of the Atchinson, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad.
Barstow is also the site of an interesting experiment. When General Beal was surveying a wagon road from New Mexico to California, the government imported camels to see if it would be feasible to use camels, rather than horses and mules, in the southwest desert regions of the United States. Not being familiar with the camel culture, and not wanting to be embarrassed as a person seen riding a camel, the government could not find camel drivers; so they had to import drivers along with the camels. The camels turned out to be a great success. They could carry 700 pounds of cargo and could go for three days without water. The camel's feet adapted to the rocky-sandy desert soils and they performed well both in the summer heat and the chilly winter nights. However, when the civil war started, the project was cancelled and never restarted. The camels were turned loose to wander the desert and did not reproduce, so they eventually all died off. There are still unconfirmed tales of people seeing camels in the desert and there are many ghost stories involving desert camels.
With the arrival of the railroads, passengers needed places to eat and sleep; so Fred Harvey is credited with establishing the first restaurant/hotel chain in the United States, which became known as "Harvey Houses." Casa del Desierto (House of the Desert) was constructed in 1911 in Barstow and was considered to be one of the finest establishments in the entire chain of properties. The young ladies that worked in the restaurants became known as "Harvey Girls."
The old downtown section of Barstow contains numerous murals depicting local history painted on the outside of local business establishments. Most of the murals also contain a narrative of the local history depicted.
One of the longest murals is on the wall outside of the Route 66 Motel. Also around the motel's property are various old cars (1950s Studebaker, 1930s Dodge touring car, 1957 Dodge, and Nash Metropolitan) and other historic items.
Also located around town is a nice memorial for the 343 fire fighters that were killed in the 9/11 World Trade Center attack, the oldest operating Del Taco in the World, and McDonald's Station that is a conglomerate of restaurants and retail tourist facilities. (Note: The first Del Taco was in Yermo; but it closed, making the Barstow Del Taco the oldest operating Del Taco in the World. Corporate headquarters refers to the Barstow Del Taco as Del Taco #1.)
And, not to be missed, on the way out of town on Old Highway 58 is the collection of unusual vehicles and an iron framed dinosaur located just west of the drive-in movie theater.
On the way home I stopped by EddieWorld in Yermo to get something to eat, only to discover that they did not have a fast-food restaurant; so I had to continue on to Baker. (The EddieWorld water tank is designed and painted like a large ice cream desert.) Baker is a major tourist stop along Interstate-15 and has all of the major fast-food restaurants, plus some unknown ones. They have also repaired the "World's Tallest Thermometer" and it now looks like it did historically.
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