Camels in Arizona!
From 1857-1858, Lieutenant Edward Beale opened a wagon road between Fort Defiance to the Colorado River. Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, provided Beale with a herd of camels to help!
The Arizona portion of Beale’s Wagon road went from Fort Defiance to the Colorado River (near needles, California).
Beale was enthusiastic with the camels, claiming that their gait and feet “enables them to travel continuously where no other barefoot beast would last a week.”
The mules and horses were not as keen on the camels. The animal unrest, the disruption of the Civil War, and the general distrust of western settlers of things foreign, put a stop to Operation Camel.
Further reading: The Last Camel Charge: the Untold Story of America’s Desert Military Experiment by Forrest Bryant Johnson
The last wild camel sighting in Arizona was 1942!
Beale’s Wagon Road eventually became one of the most famous roads in the United States. It’s a place where you might get your kicks!
Did you know? Former Slusser librarian Lisa Hodgkins wrote a children’s book about the camel experiment, Camille Carries the Mail.
