Page "Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail" Paragraph 12

The Trail commemorates the 1775 – 1776 land route that Spanish commander Juan Bautista de Anza took from the Sonora y Sinaloa Province of New Spain in Colonial Mexico through to the Las Californias Province.

The goal of the 1775-1776 trip was to establish a mission and presidio on the San Francisco Bay.

The trail was an attempt to ease the course of Spanish colonization of California by establishing a major land route north for many to follow.

It was used for about five years before being closed by the Quechan ( Yuma ) Indians in 1781 and kept closed for the next 40 years and longer.