People
Charles C. Rich
Amasa Lyman
Jefferson Hunt
 Andrew Lytle
An apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.Sent with Lyman to lead the San Bernardino Colony. Second Mayor of San Bernardino. (BYU Religious Education Archive Image Collection)
Undated picture perhaps near present day Harvard, near the State Fruit Inspection Station on Interstate 15. (BYU Religious Education Archive Image Collection)
Soldier, explorer, legislator, father of San Bernardino County. (Utah State Historical Society)
Mojave Forks near present day dam on Deep Creek. 1863 during supply trip to Fort Mojave. (Bancroft Library)
Dunes at Death Valley Auguerberry Point Joshua Tree Martins Station
Desert dunes in Death Valley National Monument. Original Mormon settlers did not travel through Death Valley but passed similar dunes at Kelso and other sites.
Augueberry Point ovever looks Death Valley. Jefferson Hunt led a group of gold seekers prior to the San Bernardino settlement. The group insisted on taking an uncharted short cut towards the Sierras. They inadvertently found what later became known as Death Valley.
Mormon settlers began to encounter joshua trees a little north of present day St. George. The strange looking tree reminded the settlers of the Old Testament prophet Joshua outside the walls of Jericho because the tree limbs often appeared to be arms outstreached in prayer. They began calling the tree Joshua.
Named Inconstant River by early American explorers, the Mojave River does not run completely dry but often runs through underground channels. Afton Canyon is one of the few places the Mojave runs above ground year round.