Apache Pass

Apache Pass was a difficult and historic travel route whose history survives in fragmentary accounts from its people, including Chiricahua Apaches and other Americans who recorded their experiences there. In 1849, emigrant Robert Eccleston wrote of following the bed of a dry arroyo where there was scarcely room for wagon wheels, along a road overshadowed by handsome trees including pecans, ash, oak, and willow. In 1851, John R. Bartlett recorded a search for water that led to Apache Spring, discovered a half mile up a ravine with a fine pool of crystal water. In 1854, Lt. John Parke wrote of crossing valleys and cañadas near their sources with much difficulty for wagons on steep descents and ascents, while a few Apaches appeared at the end of the train and greeted approaching men with cries of “muchos amigos.” In 1868, Ruth Shackleford recalled traveling through Apache Pass over awful roads, uphill and down, with wagon wheels tied by ropes and men standing on the wheels to keep them from turning over, while every man able to leave the wagon carried a gun and stood guard through the pass. In 1872, Cochise told General Oliver Howard, “Why not give me Apache Pass? Give me that and I will protect all the roads. I will see that nobody's property is taken by Indians.”

Arizona · United States