Barstow is a city in San Bernardino County, California, located in the Mojave Desert and part of the Inland Empire. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 25,415. It serves as an important crossroads in the region and is home to the Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow.
The area has a long history, with Native American tribes inhabiting it for up to 3,000 years. They hunted, fished, and traded turquoise along faint desert pathways. Written history begins in the 1700s with Spanish Franciscan friar Francisco Garcés, who traveled through the Mojave River Valley on his way to missions in California. Barstow’s settlement began in the late 1840s along the Mormon Corridor, with travelers moving goods and livestock along the Old Spanish Trail and later the Mormon Road. Key travel routes followed the Mojave River, including stopping points like Fish Ponds and Grapevines, which later became North Barstow, and linked to the Beale Wagon Road to Santa Fe.









