This book tells the story of Barstow, a town born along the enigmatic Mojave River in the middle of the formidable Mojave Desert, nurtured by countless (and mostly nameless) fortune seekers and adventurers and settled by plain folks looking for something they could not quite name. Their footprints became the foundation for a trail, a road, a railroad, and, over time, part of the most legendary highway in the country: Route 66. The early arrival of...