History[edit]
Before the European exploration of North America, tribes of Native Americans, such as the Mohave (in the Mojave desert), the Chemehuevi (in the Great Basin desert), and the Quechan (in the Colorado desert) were hunter-gatherers living in the California deserts.[6]
European explorers started exploring the deserts beginning in the 18th century. Francisco Garcés, a Franciscan friar, was the first explorer of the Colorado and Mojave deserts in 1776.[7] Garcés recorded information about the original inhabitants of the deserts.
Later, as American interests expanded into California, American explorers started probing the California deserts. Jedediah Smith travelled through the Great Basin and Mojave deserts in 1826, finally reaching the San Gabriel Mission.[8][9] John C. Frémont explored the Great Basin, proving that water did not flow out of it to the ocean, and provided maps that the forty-niners used to get to California.[10]
The California Gold Rush jumpstarted economic activity in the California deserts. Mining for silver, gold, and lead became important in both the Mojave and the Great Basin deserts.[11] Mining stimulated the creation of transportation systems, such as the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad.[12]