GILA COUNTY HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS

In Southeastern Arizona there is a highway to Romance, History and Adventure, that is scenically beautiful and not yet a heavily beaten trail. It is that section of State Route 77 which begins at Oracle Junction twenty-five miles north of Tucson and leads through desert and mountain scenery to U.S. Highway 70 at Globe. This trail has been used since man first appeared in the area, leading from the desert into the mountains. Indians were using it in 1846 when General Stephen Kearny and his staff with the Topographical Survey party had to follow it through El Capitan pass because the Gila Canyon was flooding from cliff wall to wall, making passage there impossible. It was through this pass that Kit Carson traveled east with dispatches for the president and was commandeered by General K. Kearny to return with him as his guide to California.

By Clara T. Woody "Descending over twelve hundred feet in an hour we plunged into an Indian garden where were melons, maize and beans, and to our surprise, a field of cotton. This fertile spot is on an inclined plain, evidently formed by deposit from a mineral spring which gushes from the mountain, irrigating the fields and then down a ravine leaping from cliff to cliff in beautiful cascade, until it joins the Gila which appears in view a thousand feet below the gardens."

Oracle was an early mining center, then a guest ranch mecca and there are summer homes there too. The square red frame two story building by the highway was once the town's first and best known hotel. Built and operated by William Neal, and after his death by his wife, it became the favorite stopping place of the famous and near famous. It was at one time a regular rest home for Buffalo Bill Cody who spent much time there after he retired. It has quite an interesting history. Now it belongs to a Baptist society who have added a church to the group of buildings. When the price of silver dropped in the 1890s and the mines were producing little silver at any depth, Mammoth almost vanished. A few old adobe buildings, commercial and dwellings, drowsed in the sun for several decades. The opening of a lead mine and the Tiger copper mine brought life to the old town and it made some growth. New Once across the pass too few Indians met them with too few mules, when so many were needed. Lieutenant Emory marked the dry stream on his map as "Disappointment Creek." It bore this name for some years until the reason for its naming was forgotten, then it became "Dripping Springs" wash, the name it bears today. Five years after the passing of the Kearny-Emory party Lieutenant Amiel W. Whipple was making the first border survey along the Gila River then our U.S.-Mexico border. He too had to make the detour, although after surveying down stream as far as he dared, he turned back for the detour. Had he made one more ridge he might have seen the Disappointment Creek and spared himself the sixty miles of detour. Arriving again at the river his party surveyed upstream. Here in the Lieutenant's report to Commissioner John Bartlett, is a bit of what he found, as printed in Bartlett's Personal Narrative.

"Passing beneath the first waterfall one enters a charming stalactite room or cave, consisting of two apartments, richly decorated. At the foot of the precipice grew flowered shrubs and matted vines whose red flowers gaily contrasted with the surrounding verdure. Many petrifactions were seen here also. Those who have explored the area in later years say the waterfalls are not there but the place can be reached via jeep or a three mile hike from Highway 77. Our tour begins at Oracle Junction and for ten miles the road lies between fenced cattle ranges, now fast being built up. Here in spring are blooming yuccas and in mid summer numbers of the barrel cactus brighten the scene with their vivid colors.

mercantile buildings were erected and the road improved a little but what really brought great growth to both Mammoth and Oracle, was the development of the great San Manual Copper mine. Now the old town of Mammoth is almost lost in the new growth, and the highway passes above the town. Beyond Mammoth the road crosses the San Pedro River. This stream though often dry, is unique in that it is the only such stream rising in Mexico and entering the United States. The Santa Cruz River rises in Arizona, loops into Mexico and returns to the U.S.A.

A few miles beyond the river bridge over the San Pedro is the unmarked site of one of our early U.S. Forts. It bore several names in the dozen years of its existence there. Established in May of 1860 it was called Camp Aravappa

Pine, Arizona. NORMAN W. MEAD

(sic) but by August the name was changed to Fort Breckenridge in honor of the Vice-president. As with other army posts in Arizona, when war broke out in 1861, the Union officials decided in July to abandon the posts and destroy or carry away the supplies and the buildings to prevent their falling into confederate hands. The bridge across Aravapai Creek is marked with its name. From here the road follows the edge of the mesa giving the traveler a wide view of the ranches along both sides of the San Pedro River valley. The new road swings back from the edge of the mesa to cross the Gila River on a new bridge which will take the traveler through the lower edge of the town of Winkelman. This was a pioneer ranch homesteaded by Pete Winkelman. There is little recorded information about this settlement. Probably a store serving the ranches across the Gila began it and the miners along the Gila no doubt helped it grow.

Kinishba Ruins. NORMAN W. MEAD

State Route 77 is joined here by State Route 177 which leads to Hayden, Kearny and past the open pit of the Kennecott mine, where formerly stood the town of Ray. This too is an interesting road and joins Highway 70 at Superior. The first State Route 77 lay near the San Pedro River and was subjected at times to devastating floods. From Winkelman on toward Globe, the road is far above the river. This was once the line of the railroad leading to the Christman mine. When the railroad was removed, the highway was moved to this higher position. At the Christmas mine turn off there is still visible the old trail leading over the mountain a nightmare of a high and narrow road over which trucks and cars must pass and meet at the highest point. The turn off to the left leads to the Christmas mine, once a 19% grade, this leads to the Christmas townsite. A new road beyond the old hilltop, leads to the new shaft on which the company has spent huge sums.This mine was located very early on a Christmas morning, hence the name. Twenty years earlier this claim was located here in the Dripping Springs mountains by Bill Tweed and Dennis O'Brien. Dr. James Douglas located some claims nearby but all were found to be within the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation and were disallowed. Years later pressure was exerted to change the Reservation boundaries and on Christmas eve a telegram reached two interested prospectors George Crittenden and N. R. Mellor and at daylight on Christmas morning they forded the river and located their claims, Dr. Douglas' watchman was spending Christmas in town. As a mine Christmas has been worked, closed, leased and reopened with little real development made over the years. Not until the Inspiration Consolidated Copper Company purchased it some years ago was real development made. The company has spent large sums, opening a new shaft, and a new road to the shaft are part of the work visible. Today's road passes below the once famous "Christmas Hill" only a bit of it still clinging to the cliff.

Beyond the new road to the mine the traveler crosses the Dripping Springs wash on a low bridge and begins the climb toward the Mescal Mountains and El Capitan Pass. The western slope of the Mescals is dotted with the stalks of the mescal plant topped in July and August with huge golden blossoms. These in turn become the mescal fruit, a delicacy the Indians used to enjoy. They wrapped the fruit in leaves, dug a pit, placed hot stones in the bottom, with a layer of dirt over them, then the fruit and more dirt. This was left for twenty-four hours to cook slowly. When opened the sticky sweet ripe fruit was a treat. From here also the saddle mountain is plainly visible and easily recognizable from its form.

Beyond the foothills, the road follows the edge of a deep gorge and beyond it a narrow valley in which there is a lone ranch house. A Mexican goat raiser lived there many years and the children drove themselves to school over the narrow winding road, many miles longer than this easy, and direct paved road. Even in winter when snow lay deep through the pass they managed to get to school.

Once through the Capitan Pass, the road slopes toward the Gila River drainage, passing through ridge after ridge of hills. As it emerges from the ridges there is Mt. Turnbull to the right with its pointed peak, at the entrance to the Gila Canyon, now blocked by Coolidge Dam. Beyond that the Triplets, three peaks with a single base. To the left the Sierra Apache. At night the lights of cars coming through the Sierra Apache pass are visible along Route 60 which joins Route 70 within the city limits of Globe.

Besh-ba-gowah is the name given to the ruin of a prehistoric pueblo village located near the city of Globe, Arizona. The word "Besh-ba-gowah" is an Apache word or phrase meaning "metal camp" and is used by the present day Apache Indians to designate the city of Globe. This ruin is situated on a mesa overlooking the junction of two streams which become Pinal Creek, a tributary of Salt River. To the southwest of the site are the Pinal Mountains which rise to an elevation of 8,000 feet and have a dense growth of pine. To the north are the Apache Mountains. Vegetation near the site consists of mesquite, cat-claw, cottonwood, and the species of the cactus family known as prickly pear. The many ruins found in the same area prove that it was thickly populated during the 13th and 14th centuries. One such ruin may be seen from Besh-bagowah looking south across Pinal Creek. Gila Pueblo, another site, is located only a little over a mile south. One may trace for its entire length villages on both sides of Pinal Creek.