A visit to historic Mesilla, New Mexico

Basilica of San Albino

Mesilla, New Mexico, is a small town, seemingly quiet today, quite unlike how it was a century or so ago when it played an important part in the history of the West.

 

Located just a few miles from Las Cruces, Mesilla had an important part in the Civil War, serving as capital of the capital of the Confederate Territory of Arizona.

 

A block or so off the main drag is the plaza, which is a National Historic Landmark. Signs on some of the buildings gave their history. Anchoring one end of the plaza is the Basilica of San Albino that was originally built in 1852 when Mesilla was part of Mexico. Mesilla became part of the United States as a result of the 1854 Gadsden Purchase. The current church was built in 1906.

 

Mesilla was the most important city in the region for nearly 30 years, especially since two stage lines crossed through here, Butterfield Stage and Santa Fe Trail. It would have retained its importance as a transportation hub had the residents not demanded so much money for the Santa Fe Railway to pass through; the railway instead routed its rails through Las Cruces.

 

.Billy the Kid was convicted of
murder in this building in Mesilla

Today, Mesilla is probably better known as the place where the gunslinger William H. Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid, The gunman, captured by Pat Garrett in December 1880, went on trial in Mesilla for the murder of another sheriff. He was convicted and sentenced to hang. Before the hanging, he was transferred to Lincoln, but shot his two guards and escaped. He was killed a few months later, while still on the loose, by Garrett at Fort Sumner where he was buried.

 

Another legendary gunman to pass through Mesilla was PanchoVilla, a man famous for being the Robin Hood of Mexico. In 1916, he invaded New Mexico at Columbus to get more military equipment and supplies to continue a fight back in Mexico. Eighteen Americans were killed, turning him into a villain in the southwestern United States.

Fort Bowie, Arizona: defending the West

 

Remains of Fort Bowie

Fort Bowie may be a little bit out of the way for some tourists, but for travelers interested in learning more about the Frontier West it is well worth the effort to get there.

Located in southeast Arizona, Fort Bowie is the first tourist attraction visitors driving Interstate 10 from New Mexico will come to. Conversely, it is the last attraction motorists headed from Tucson to Las Cruces, New Mexico, will find.

Getting to the fort

 

The remains of the first and second Fort Bowie are located about 14 miles from Bowie, a small community that appears to be turning into a ghost town, with many main street buildings boarded up. After exiting the freeway, follow the signs, turning on Apache Pass Road.

 

A few miles down this paved road, the road to the Fort Bowie National Historic Site spikes to the left, while Apache Pass Road leads to the trailhead. There visitors can walk 1.5 miles through the hills to the fort’s remains. The trailhead has ample parking and clean restrooms, but no potable water, so be sure to bring plenty, especially on hot days.

 

Remains of Fort Bowie

Where the road spikes, the sign to the visitor center specifies this entrance is for handicapped visitors only. There are only two disabled parking spaces at the small visitor center, and motorists need to call ahead for the gate to be opened. There is parking for a few more cars below the visitor center, but this involves walking up an uneven stone and dirt path. Since the site only gets about 8,000 visitors a year, chances are good, parking will be available.  

Before taking this route, however, motorists need to decide how comfortable they feel driving on a narrow, one-lane gravel road with no shoulders or pull-offs. If you meet a car coming the other way, one of you is going to have to do a lot of backing up. If we had left the visitor center a few minutes later, that’s what would have happened to us since we encountered a delivery truck coming up the hill just past where the road widened.

A remote hillside fort

Plaque of Fort Bowie in 1894



Fort Bowie has a nice informational visitor center that is operated by the National Park Service, which administers the site. There are photographs of what the fort looked like in its heyday. The Army abandoned the fort in 1894; local farmers tore down buildings and fences for wood to build at their sites. What remains are fragments of adobe buildings that have survived the elements since that time. Troops also defended the area when Confederate soldiers invaded during the Civil War, hoping to secure the Southwest for the Confederacy.

The fort is named from Col. George Washington Bowie, leader of the California Volunteers who staffed the fort. It’s probable that he shared common ancestors with Jim Bowie of the Bowie knife and Alamo fame. The fort later became a stop for the Butterfield Overland Mail route.

 

Apache wars

Fort Bowie was an important fort during the  years of war with the Chiricahua Apaches. These wars started in approximately 1861, with the first Fort Bowie being established the following year. The war started when Cochise and  Lt. George Bascom failed to agree on how to rescue the stepson of a local farmer who claimed Apaches had kidnapped him and killed 20 cattle. During the coming days, each side would execute hostages, with a full-fledged battle ensuing. Cochise would visit the fort three times after he signed  a peace treaty ending the wars in 1872.

Visiting Tucson's frontier Army post, Fort Lowell

Remains of Fort Lowell hospital

The adobe remnants of an old 19^th century Army post can still be seen today in Tucson.

The adobe has deteriorated since Fort Lowell was abandoned by the Army in 1891. Remains are covered by open sheds to protect them from the elements.

The fort is located where Tanque Verde and Pantano creeks join to form the Rillito River. The Hohokam tribe had lived there centuries earlier. Fort Lowell replaces an earlier Army installation, Camp Lowell that was located elsewhere in Tucson. The post is named after General Charles R. Lowell who died from wounds suffered at the Battle of Cedar Creek.

Fort Lowell was in active use between 1873 and 1891, and was key in protecting the Tucson area from Apache attacks. The post was a large complex, serving approximately 250 soldiers and officers. It had an extensive hospital, parts of which are standing today.

The Army decommissioned the post in 1891, with Mexican families moving in after that.

The remains today can be seen from behind chain link fences. It’s free to view them, but a museum nearby charges admission. The museum is administered by the Arizona Historical Society. The museum is open only on Fridays and Saturdays, though the grounds are open during the week.

The museum is located at 2900 N. Craycroft Road.

 

 

Tucson toy train museum delights kids of all ages

Gadsden-Pacific Toy Train Museum

Kids of all ages will enjoy a visit to Tucson’s Gadsden-Pacific Division Toy Train Operating Museum. The best way to describe it is “cool.”

 

Seven huge tables are full of miniature towns, factories, oil refineries and mountains, with various types of trains running through them. Each table is devoted to a specific type of miniature train, ranging from N scale (the smallest) to large scale. Outside, there’s a real caboose to see and board.

 

The detail in each table’s contents is incredible. There are tiny people and cars, in period settings designed to complement the era of the train running down the tracks.  Each table has two or more trains running on their own tracks. Overhead, a larger train runs on tracks suspended from the ceiling.

 

Gadsden-Pacific Toy Train Museum

This model railroad museum is very kid-friendly. Plastic stepstools are provided so children can see the displays. Some displays are interactive. Push a red button, and a trolley comes out of a tunnel and moves around the track. Push another button and a dump truck operates in a rock quarry. Outside, a small train carries kids and adults on a ride around the property.

 

The museum is usually open the second and fourth Sundays of the month, but does close during June, July and August. You can call (520) 888-2222 to get their schedule. Admission is free, but donations are accepted, as this is a non-profit museum operated by volunteers.

 

No pun intended, but this fascinating little museum is located off the beaten track in Tucson.  It can be found at 3975 N, Miller Avenue. Take the Prince Road exit off Interstate 10, and then go left on Romero Street. Immediately past the stoplight at Roger Street, make a left turn onto Price Street, which dead ends at Miller. Turn left onto Miller.

Chiricahua National Monument: a wonderland of rocks

Chiricahua National Monument

The National Park Service calls Chiricahua National Monument in southeastern Arizona a “wonderland of rocks.” As you drive through the park, looking at fantastic rock formations, it is hard to dispute that moniker. The Apaches who roamed the area called it, “The land of standing-up rocks,” another nickname that is hard to argue with.

The monument is in the Chiricahua Mountains, an inactive volcano field that is 20 miles wide and 40 miles long. The monument itself is almost 12,000 acres.

Road to Massai Point

Noteworthy about this spot is that it’s where the Chiricahua, Rockies and Sierra Madre mountains meet the Sonoran and Chiricahuan deserts. This makes for great biodiversity, as trees from the different ecosystems live side by side.

 
There’s a small visitor center with exhibits that shows an eight-minute video about the monument. It’s narrated by the late Rex Allen, a local boy who hit the big time in Hollywood. Next up is the scenic drive to Massai Point. Some of the road lies under a canopy of trees, but the volcanic rock formations are still in the limelight.



View from Massai Point

Massai Point has a circular turnaround, an interpretive center and restrooms. Trails start here but some visitors found them too steep to walk. More trails can be found at Echo Canyon; in all, the monument has 17 miles of trails.

Motorists should note that RVs and trailers longer than 29 feet are long are not allowed beyond the visitor center.

Chiricahua National Monument is located 37 miles south of Willcox. Exit Interstate 10 at Willcox and head south on Highway 186. Turn left on Highway 181. The drive from Willcox takes about 45 minutes.

History comes to life at Tucson Presidio Museum

Mural at Tucson Presidio Museum

History travels back to the days when the Spanish ruled Tucson when as soldados fire muskets and a cannon, and then walk through downtown Tucson, Arizona.

This happens the second Saturday of every month from October through April when the Tucson Presidio Museum hosts its “living history” days. Volunteers become Spanish soldiers, dressed in blue and white uniforms; other volunteers don costumes as they portray other residents of the Presidio San Agustin del Tucson.

The presidio was founded in Tucson on August 20, 1775, when soldiers stationed at the Tubac Presidio south of Tucson left only a handful of soldiers there and moved the troops north.  These same troops would later travel overland to California and up the Pacific Coast where they founded San Francisco.

Foundation remains

The current “presidio” is a recreation of the original presidio, or fort, that sat on 11 acres of what today is downtown Tucson. The Spanish abandoned it when Tucson came under American rule in 1856. The presidio site was eventually turned into a parking lot and high-rise office buildings. About 10 years ago, a group acquired the parking lot and built an interpretive center on the site; this presidio is owned by the City of Tucson.  A bit of foundation of the original presidio was found under the asphalt.

The presidio museum is open for self-guided tours Wednesday through Sunday. Visitors can see soldiers’’ quarters, the foundry and food storage areas. A small museum is inside the entrance building.

Spanish "soldados" fire muskets

The presidio, however, really shines on living history days. Some volunteers explain what foods the soldiers brought with them from Spain and what foods were available in the New World. Other volunteers bake bread in a domed adobe over, churn butter and make fresh tortillas and pozole, a chili-like stew made from hominy corn instead of beans. All these dishes are available for visitors to sample.

Volunteers at other tables explain items used by the soldiers on a daily basis, such as cards and tobacco tins. Nearby a woman sits at a loom, weaving cloth, while two men sweat away at a foundry, one making nails by hand and the other fashioning a fork. These items can be purchased by visitors.

The piece de resistance is, however, the gun show. Following instructions given in Spanish, the soldiers take aim and fire, with white smoke billowing out of the muskets. A little later, they’ll demonstrate the firing of a brass cannon. The noise is deafening, though an announcer explains the charge was only about a third of what the Spanish really used. The charge used by the volunteers was spiced up, with the addition or oatmeal and powdered coffee creamer to make the blast flash.

Tucson Presidio Museum is located at 133 W. Washington Street, though the address is sometimes given as 197 N. Church Street, perhaps because the presidio is located at the intersection of Church and Washington. Parking is limited in the immediate area and is metered on weekdays. There’s a parking garage across Church Street.

 

 

 

Bisbee, Arizona: historic copper mining town

Old mining equipment

Bisbee is a quaint town with narrow streets and Victorian homes perched on hillsides in southeastern Arizona. It was founded in 1880 at a time when mining was king, or, perhaps the term “ queen” should be used since the Copper Queen was the city’s pre-eminent mine. Gold and silver also were mined here.


Remnants of past mining operations are abundant in Bisbee. The Copper Queen mine was originally an underground mine, but switched to open pit mining when this method of extraction became popular in the 20^th century. The huge open pit stretches for a couple of miles on the west side of Highway 80; Bisbee is on the other side. In the early 20^th century, the Copper Queen was the most productive copper mine in Arizona, producing an extremely high grade of copper. The copper ore removed from it also contained gold and silver.

 

Remains of Bisbee's open pit copper mine

Mining equipment decorates the lawn at the Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum, a National Landmark that once served as offices for Phelps Dodge, the company that operated the Copper Queen mine.

Today, Old Bisbee is a tourist attraction, as visitors flock to shop at art galleries, boutiques, book and antique shops, and view the quaint houses that fill the hillsides in the historic section of town. The houses have so many steps leading to them, the city sponsors a stair climb, in which runners go up and down more than 1,000 steps in a 5k run.

 

Downtown Old Bisbee

Bisbee: an historic town

Be forewarned, parking in Old Bisbee can be difficult to come by, especially on event weekends and one local said Bisbee has events almost every weekend. Streets are narrow, with sometimes not enough room for two vehicles to pass by each other, let alone allow for parking, even on one side.  On event weekends, visitors park on the shoulders of Highway 80 and then walk up or down the hill into town.

Bisbee is a popular locale used in movies and fiction books. J.A. Jance sets her Joanna Brady murder mystery novels in Bisbee and surrounding Cochise County. Parts of the movie 3:10 to Yuma (the original and the remake) were filmed in Bisbee.

Bisbee is just over 90 miles from Tucson. Take the Benson exit off Interstate 10 and follow the signs. Motorists will pass through Tombstone on the way.