Event of the Month

You had to be certifiably nuts, or at least driven by an altogether irrational desire to go to California, to make the trip west across Arizona in 1858. This was the year the Butterfield Overland Mail began making its semiweekly stagecoach runs from St. Louis to San Francisco. The entire 25-day, 2,800mile trip was hell on wheels, but the Arizona leg was arguably the worst.

IN PIONEER TIMES, IT TOOK TRUE GRIT TO RIDE THE BUTTERFIELD STAGE

Apache were a chronic threat, although they generally tried to sabotage the trail with rocks and fire traps instead of launching outright attacks on the coaches. The summer heat was stifling, and there was always the danger of flash flooding where the trail approached the Gila River. Drinking water, which came from the San Pedro or Gila, was saline or outright brackish. The pounding the passengers took from the rugged, rutted trail must have been unbelievable.

"The fatigue of uninterrupted traveling by day and by night, in crowded and at times ill-smelling coaches, affected many of the passengers not only physically but also psychologically," wrote sociologist Raymond A. Mulligan in Arizona and the West. "Cases have been cited where passengers not only lost contact with reality, but actually became raving maniacs."

A slice of history for a small town to celebrate with a weekend festival? Well, why not? The fact that the Butterfield stage got through at all it failed only once in its 2 1/2 years of clattering through Arizona is testament to the grit and determination of its drivers and passengers.

The little town of Benson (population now about 4,000) started out as a Butterfield depot, and it must have inherited some of that grit. Benson's population fell 10 percent during the 1980s, but, for each of the last six years, it has staged an outdoor festival called Butterfield Days to celebrate its history and pride. And this last year, Benson had plenty to be proud of: that stunning flaxen-haired young woman waving from the seat of a replica Butterfield stage was Chrissy Ahmann-Leighton, who brought two Olympic gold medals in swimming back to Benson her hometown.

There were no reenactments of raving maniacs piling out of the stage, but there were a parade, a constant string of volleyball games in the park, the inevitable dunking booth, a reenactment of the Pony Express mail run to nearby Dragoon, music by the 36th U.S. Army Band, and a classic car show. A twilight dinner and auction raised about $17,000 to go toward still another historic re-creation: a replica of Benson's train depot, which was moved away and then burned some years ago.

The town needs $350,000 for the depot, which will serve as home base for a planned excursion train to Tombstone and Douglas. Cochise County bristles with history as well as scenery, so the train could become a major attraction.

You need a practiced eye to find traces of the 437-mile Butterfield trail through Arizona these days; there isn't much in the way of physical remnants to build a celebration around. So what Benson is doing is recalling the spirit of those pioneer days, when practically no hazard, no malevolent landscape, was formidable enough to stop the stage.

Residents of tiny Benson may be nuts to believe that they can raise $350,000 to build their town a tourist attraction. But one shouldn't bet that they won't succeed.

WHEN YOU GO

This year's Butterfield Days will take place the weekend of October 9 and 10. Most activities are free. Benson is 45 miles east of Tucson on Interstate 10. Nearby attractions include the historic towns of Tombstone and Bisbee and the Huachuca Mountains.

For more information, contact the Benson Chamber of Commerce, P.O. Box 2255, Benson, AZ 85602; (602) 586-2842.