On Jan. 19, 1847, members of the Mormon Battalion still found themselves on the California-Sonora Trail of the Mexican Era. They were in a narrow canyon in which there was not enough room for a wagon to pass. The solid rock walls were about a foot too narrow.
Rather than reroute, members of the battalion used crowbars, picks and axes to hew a passage through the rock. Still, according to Norma Ricketts, “The wagons were emptied. One wagon was taken apart and carried through. Other wagon bodies were lifted and carried through sideways. Several wagons were pulled through without unloading them.”
Box Canyon, thereby, became the first wagon road into southern California. Decades later, better routes were established to replace the one in Box Canyon. For the purposes of historical research, marks where the rock was hewn still serve to identify this site on the Mormon Battalion Trail with exactness. Often the route of the trail can only be approximated because of the effects of the passage of time.