Camp Beale Springs
Also known as Fort Beale

Beale Springs was used by Native Americans for centuries before Lt. Edward Beale traveled through the area in the 1850s and established a wagon road along the 35th parallel.

The area of Beale’s Springs, near Kingman, can trace its Euro-American history to 1859 when work parties of the Beale Wagon Road discovered and improved the site. Beale called it Bishop’s Springs in honor of his colleague who found the springs.

In 1865, Beale Springs became a stop on a toll road from Prescott to Fort Mojave and Hardyville.

By 1863, the site was commonly know as Beale’s Springs and became a way station on the Mohave and Prescott Toll Road in 1864. During the Hualapai Indian War (1866-70), the site was a temporary camp for the military in an attempt to protect the mails.

Between 1871-74 the area was officially designated Camp Beale’s Springs and was used as a temporary Indian Reservation. The water from beale’s Springs would play an important part in the establishment of a nearby railroad siding on the new Atlantic and Pacific Railroad.

The camp remained active until April 6, 1874, when the Hualapai Indians were forced to leave Camp Beale Springs for the Colorado River Indian Tribes reservation at La Paz, near modern-day Parker, Arizona. Most of the Hualapai "jumped" the reservation and moved back to their tribal homelands in and around present day Kingman.

The Beale Springs site became a water source for the rapidly developing city of Kingman. A water reservoir was built there and is still partially standing today. It is said that in addition to serving its intended purpose, the reservoir sometimes doubled as a swimming pool.

It is doubtful that Beale's Springs went so much as one day without a tenant for many years after the departure of the military. With its generous supply of water, it was a point of critical importance on a major wagon road through the desert.

After the Beale Springs site was no longer inhabited, local people held picnics there and enjoyed the water and shade provided by fruit trees that had been planted many years before. Today, you can still enjoy a picnic there in the quiet atmosphere or do some hiking.