Mon 03-01-27 20:38:09

Today I roamed around Wilcox, AZ looking for a place that would let me do an FTP transfer to update my web pages. By about 11:30 AM I gave up and decided to explore a bit around Wilcox.

The area around here is very scrubby desert with some attempt to run cattle. Bottom line is that it is a very poor area for ranching. The elevation is around 4000 feet so while not likely to get much snow it does often freeze in the winter.

I drove south about 20 miles on State Route 186 then took a gravel road for about another 8 miles to get to a parking area where you can hike 1.5 miles to get to "Fort Bowie National Historic Site". This was a Fort built in 1862 and operated as "the nerve center for military campaigns against the Apache Indians." It was the homeland of the Apache, and had the Apache spring which was the only source of water for over 50 miles. The Fort was built to take over the spring and exterminate the indians, which was accomplished in 1872 when the Indians were moved to a 3000 square mile reservation. In 1876, "in an effort to impose more rigid control, the Government abolished the Reservation and ordered everyone be moved to the San Carlos Reservation in the hot, barren and disease-ridden Gila River Valley." "Faced with the reservations restraints and deplorable conditions, however, many would escape again, some more than once. The last outbreak occurred in May 1885 when 134 went back into Mexico. They were pursued by soldiers, and after their final surrender in September 1886 the chief and his remaining followers were brought to Fort Bowie. There they were assembled on the parade ground and taken by wagons to the railroad for the long journey to exile in Florida.

The details above are from the "Official Map and Guide" put out by the National Park Service. It is another sad example of how the US Military treated the Natives of this country.