ALONG THE WAY

backroad Meandering PATAGONIA-toSONOITA Drive Offers Diverse History, Movie Sites, Wine Country

FOR SUCH A SMALL RANGE, THE PATAGONIA Mountains hold many surprises. They're rich in mining history and ghost towns, and the characters who put down roots there are as colorful as they come. With the Canelo Hills to the east, the mountain range also shelters the San Rafael Valley, a prairielike paradise of astonishing beauty. Known for its vistas, the valley has served as a filming location for a number of Hollywood movies, including the 1955 classic, Oklahoma. And if that isn't surprise enough, prepare for the unlikely sight of a Louisiana-style mansion in the heart of southeast Arizona's ranch country.Begin this 60-mile drive in the little town of Patagonia, 70 miles southeast of Tucson if you take Interstate 19, the most direct route. From the door of the Stage Stop Inn, drive south past the post office onto Harshaw Road, also Forest Service Road 58. It follows a lazy path into the mountains, intersecting with Forest Service Road 49 about 5 miles along. Turn right onto FR 49, which leads to the old Harshaw townsite, named for David Tecumseh Harshaw. He opened the Hermosa Mine in 1877, and the settlement that grew around it eventually numbered 2,000 people. The townsite's most interesting remnant is the old Mexican cemetery at the right side of the road, complete with stone crypts, statues of the Virgin Mary and simple rock mounds marked by weathered wooden crosses. Some plots include printed information sheets, laminated and set into picture frames, describing the lives of those buried there. Angel Soto met a violent death on December 23, 1899, when he went to the nearby Morning Glory Mine to sell a cow. Angry that his animal was already being butchered, an argument flared and Soto was killed. The unnamed killers fled to Mexico, but it is not known whether they were ever arrested. Three months later, when Soto was found, his body was covered in snow, which preserved the corpse and allowed the family to give him a Christian burial. The Soto plot, like the others in the Harshaw Cemetery, has beautifully tended flowers, a sign of the reverence local descendants have for their pioneer history. Continuing south, 49 heads toward the U.S. -Mexico border, passing oak trees still decorated with the reds and oranges of late fall, as well as the old townsites of Mowry, Washington Camp and Duquesne. The name Sylvester Mowry still echoes in these mountains. An 1852 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, he ran the Patagonia Mine, employing 300 men, at least 50 of whom were on constant guard