Apache Pass
| Apache Pass | |
|---|---|
 Apache Pass viewed from Fort Bowie, facing north. | |
| Elevation | 5,110 ft (1,558 m) |
| Traversed by | Apache Pass Road |
| Location | Cochise County, Arizona, United States |
| Coordinates | 32°09′06″N 109°28′54″W / 32.15167°N 109.48167°W |
Apache Pass, also known by its earlier Spanish name Puerto del Dado ("Pass of the Die"), is an historic mountain pass in the U.S. state of Arizona between the Dos Cabezas Mountains and Chiricahua Mountains at an elevation of 5,110 feet (1,560 m). It is approximately 20 miles (32 km) east-southeast of Willcox, Arizona, in Cochise County.
Apache Spring
A natural freshwater spring, Apache Spring, emerges from a geological fault line running through the pass. The history of Apache Pass begins with this spring - as the only reliable water source for many miles, the spring served as a critical resupply point for early travelers.[1] Indigenous peoples and westward migrants alike were dependent on the spring. For local Apache peoples, the spring at Apache Pass became a sort of crossroads, with many trails from different directions converging on the site. The great Chiricahua Apache leader Cochise, along with many of his followers, favored the area around the spring as a camping spot in winter and spring. There were often hundreds of Chiricahuas living in the area.[2] A little higher than the surrounding desert terrain, the pass was cooler on hot days; the area around the spring also provided abundant game and firewood.
Puerto del Dado
After Spanish and Mexican settlers began traveling through the area, the spring at Apache Pass quickly became a flash point for conflict with the resident Apache tribes, leading to its original Spanish name Puerto del Dado, the "Door (or Pass) of the Die", meaning "pass of chance", which compared the risky nature of crossing the pass to a game of chance, like one played by soldiers with dice.
In the 1830s, some American fur trappers are believed to have traveled through Apache Pass. In 1846, Philip St. George Cooke, leading the Mormon Battalion that was surveying and constructing what became Cooke's Wagon Road, bypassed the area, despite Cooke's awareness of its existence from his guides, because details of the route through the pass, including its extent and the availability of other nearby water sources, were unknown, in contrast to the longer route to the south that was eventually chosen. It subsequently fell to a party of Forty-Niners led by John Coffee Hays to pioneer a shorter route between Mesilla and Tucson, called the Tucson Cutoff, that took advantage of the pass. Hays followed the guidance of Mexican soldiers he encountered at Ojo Ynez on the Burro Cienega in New Mexico. The cutoff emerged as part of the Southern Emigrant Trail, which became the major southern east-west route of travel for wagons and stagecoaches until the coming of the railroads.[3]
Apache Pass Station
In 1858, the Butterfield Overland Mail Company began stagecoach service between Saint Louis, Missouri and San Francisco, California using a bow-shaped route down through Texas and the New Mexico Territory and on into southern California. They built a way station out of stone on the eastern side of Apache Pass, where they could rest their horses and utilize the water from the spring. It was perhaps the only station on the entire route that was made from such durable material, a possible acknowledgement of the danger they felt from the local Apaches. Apache Pass Station, 32°8′56″N 109°26′58″W / 32.14889°N 109.44944°W, was originally 35 miles west of Stein's Peak Station in Doubtful Canyon (in what is now New Mexico), and 49 miles east of Dragoon Springs Station, with no water along the route except at these three stations.[4] In late 1858, two new stations were built between these older stations, so that the Apache Pass Station was located 19 miles west of San Simon Station on the San Simon River and 15 miles from Ewell Station at Ewell Spring, which shortened the route by nine miles between Apache Pass and Dragoon Springs, and provided water midway on both sections.[5] It is likely that Cochise's band provided the stage travelers with firewood when he was in the area.[6]
Bascom Affair
This set the stage for an incident often considered the predominant factor in starting Cochise’s eleven-year war against the United States, and which was a formative element in the long and hard-fought struggle between Apache peoples and American settlers even after Cochise made his own peace. In February 1861, a detachment of federal troops under Lt. George N. Bascom made camp in Apache Pass, near the spring and the stage station, hoping to negotiate with Cochise and his Chiricahua Apaches for the return of a kidnapped child. When Cochise agreed to meet near the camp, Bascom attempted to arrest him and several other Apaches; the resulting stand-off, lasting several days, ended with the deaths of hostages on both sides. The affront sparked a war between Cochise and the Americans that only ended eleven years later with a treaty facilitated by a white teamster and friend of Cochise's named Tom Jeffords and Gen. Oliver O. Howard. The treaty created a reservation for the Chiricahua Apaches centered around Apache Pass. Still, the residual anger of other Apache tribes continued for many years in the Apache Wars, a direct result of Bascom's rash actions.[7]
Fort Bowie
The treaty between Cochise and General Howard provided for a reservation to be set aside at Apache Pass, adjacent to Fort Bowie.[8] The Army post was constructed there after the Battle of Apache Pass in 1862 to protect the spring; at first, a rudimentary post was constructed near the spring, then later, a more permanent post was constructed a little higher on nearby table-land. Ultimately, Fort Bowie became the headquarters for the fight against the Chiricahua Apaches.[9] The Chiricahua reservation lasted about 4 years, but after Cochise’s death in 1874 and the dearth of leadership that followed, tensions (and possibly depredations) increased and the Chiricahuas were moved to San Carlos and consolidated there under Agent John Clum, so they could be better managed.[10]
Apache Pass continued to play a major role in frontier American history until after the final surrender of Geronimo and his band of renegades in September, 1886. Then, in the early 1890s with the close of the Apache wars, the fort there was decommissioned and abandoned. Travelers now bypassed the area on the railroad, built a few miles to the north. The only thing left behind at Apache Pass after the local ranchers scavenged the ruins for building materials were a few adobe walls, bleaching white in the sun and slowly washing away in the infrequent rains, and the memories of those who had lived through their experiences there.
Apache Pass is now located within the Fort Bowie National Historic Site and along with the surrounding peaks, stands like a mute guard over its unique history. The few remaining building walls in the area have been “stabilized” for preservation purposes, but will not be restored. The area is managed and interpreted by National Park Service rangers. Visitors who hike along the trails and drive along Apache Pass Road can see the remains of the Butterfield station (consisting of the stone foundation), the ruins of the Chiricahua Reservation’s agency building, a cemetery and the remnants of the two forts that were constructed there. The route of the stage trail can still be seen, as well as the sites near the top of the pass where Lt. Bascom executed his Apache hostages, and Cochise's followers burned his. The spring still flows, although it has become a mere trickle. Today's calm and quiet there belies the bustle and excitement that was characteristic of the spot more than 125 years ago.
See also
References
- ^ Trimble, Marshall. (2004) Roadside History of Arizona, Second Edition. Missoula: Mountain Press Publishing Company. ISBN 0-87842-471-7. p.64.
- ^ Trimble p.65
- ^ Leland J. Hanchett, Editor, Crossing Arizona, Pine Rim Publishing LLC, Jan 1, 2002 , p.193-203, Chapter 14, The Tucson Cutoff
- ^ List of Stations from New York Times, October 14 1858, Itinerary of the Route
- ^ The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Vol. L, United States. War Dept, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1897, p.121-122
- ^ Roberts, David. (1993). Once They Moved Like the Wind New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-70221-1 p.22.
- ^ Thrapp, Dan L. (1988). The Conquest of Apacheria. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-1286-7 p.17-8.
- ^ Thrapp p.168.
- ^ Roberts p.39.
- ^ Roberts p.155-7.