Fort Mohave is located eight miles north of Needles, CA near Bullhead City, AZ. The unincorporated town of Fort Mohave resides on Arizona Hwy 95, not to be confused with California 95 on the other side of the river. The Fort itself was built along the Colorado River to guard the ferry crossing and protect the supply line from Los Angeles to Fort Defiance.
The Fort was first established April 19, 1859 as Camp Colorado, it was renamed Fort Mohave nine days later. The fort was commanded for a couple of years by then Capt. L. Armistead who famously died leading Confederate troops over the wall at Gettysburg, his death is sometime referred to as the highpoint of the Confederacy. The fort was abandoned May 28, 1861 because of the Confederate capture of Tucson. The Union forces burned the buildings and retreated to Los Angeles. The fort was sited at the ferry crossing for the river and was supposed to remain occupied. The retreating troops ended up marching with the California Column back to Arizona and helped chase the Confederates out of Tucson.
Fort Mohave was reoccupied May 19, 1863 and rebuilt as part of a chain of forts established to protect travelers to California. Fort Mohave was responsible for the Mohave – Prescott road section.
A number of people in recent years have become interested in discovering and driving the old Ft. Mohave road which can still be tracked through the desert. Be careful about that, the Tribal Police are cracking down on illegal access.
The Old Fort Monument is on Hwy 66 in Joseph City.
You must get a pass to go on Tribal land. The cost is five dollars. So go here first. The office is out by itself on the bank of the river. To get there take AZ Hwy 95 to King Road, there is a light and the Willow Springs Golf Course is on the corner. Drive to the end of King Road and turn right on Dike Road. Dike Road did not show up on my GPS. Also, I got my permit on a Sunday, so called ahead, there might be somebody there.
It's a small office that doubles as an animal shelter. The ranger was very nice and friendly.
After you leave the Rangers Office backtrack to the highway and go north the Valencia Road. Turn left on Valencia, there is no light so you have to watch carefully for the turn. Drive to the end of Valencia and turn right onto Infantry Road. Infantry is a graded road so drive slow to keep down dust. The road to the site is at the end of Infantry. If you have a GPS put in 2500 Infantry Road and that will get you there.
I taked to both Tribal and Bullhead City police, DO NOT GO IN HERE WITHOUT A PERMIT.
It's only five bucks and they will bust you if you don't have one.
Also, the walk in is a little over a mile, I called the Tribal Police dispatch at 928-346-1521 and told them I was going in and that I had a permit. Two points to that, they didn't need to send an officer out invesigate and second, if I fell down and broke a leg or something someone knew where I was. I also called to let them know when I got out.
Take water. Follow the road straight to the site. Do not take any roads that angle off, just keep straight.
You'll know when you reach the end of the road, there is a big old river. The main part of the fort is to the left of the road, south.
The fort was occupied long enough that it was built and rebuilt several times. I think all of the ruins are of later construction.
An old well perhapse?
An old road down to the river. Unfortunatly, the Tribal Police did not use to control access to the site; consequently the site was trashed by garbage, motorcycles and 4-wheel drives making their own roads.
The old cemetery. It is in surprisingly good shape.
A shot taken from across the river.
A panorama view looking down on the fort. The ruins are mid level and center left in the picture
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