Antonio Armijo, who pioneered the Old Spanish Trail, did not cross over the San Bernardino Mountains by the Mojave Trail route over Monument Peak but followed a route he called "Cañon de San Bernardino" from the upper Mojave River west through Cajon Pass and down Crowder Canyon and then Cajon Canyon.
It was known to the vaqueros of the San Bernardino de Sena Estancia who had come to the aid of Armijo's party with food.
Soon an alternate and marginally less difficult but longer route on a narrow ridge was found some miles to the west in the upper Cajon Canyon.
In 1855 the state of California funded a passable road a mile or so farther west called the Sanford Cutoff.
In 1861, as a result of the Holcomb Valley gold rush, the difficult but shorter, Crowder Canyon route was made into a good road and a toll charged.