Fort Davis stood along the San Antonio - El Paso Road, one of the routes that developed after the discovery of gold in California in 1848 drew thousands westward, and with forts about every 100 miles along the road, it must have seemed like an oasis to weary travelers crossing the vast spaces between posts. Its quartermaster department supplied everything from uniforms and building materials to office supplies and oats, and at times the quartermaster corral sheltered over 100 mules and 60 wagons and carts while blacksmiths, wheelwrights, carpenters, plumbers, and packers worked there. Hay was first stacked in the quartermaster corral, but fear of fire led to its removal to a hay yard; in February 1881, Lieutenant Henry O. Flipper, the post quartermaster, recalled a fire in a hayrick during snow, when the fire bell sounded and troops turned out but could not save the stack because it had apparently burned within before the flames burst through. The cavalry corrals were the place where horse soldiers reported when the call of “Boots and Saddles” sounded to prepare for drill, and the stables housed more than 400 horses while saddlers, farriers, and the veterinarian tended them.