TOMBSTONE TO PEARCE THROUGH THE DRAGOON MOUNTAINS

 

NEW YEAR’S EVE FULL MOON ………………from the ranch:))

No frost on anything this morning so I was outside at dawn running around in my pajamas taking some photos of the Moon setting in the west somewhere over in the direction of Tombstone.

 

THE MOON SETTING IN THE WEST THIS MORNING

Kelly had an exercise class at 9 so we loaded the computer in the car & off we went.  While Kelly was pumping iron I uploaded a bunch of updates that we had been getting behind on because of our Verizon megabyte limit.  What a big pain in the assparagus that Verizon 5 Gig cap is!!!!

From the Elfrida library we headed up the highway & turned west heading for the little old ghost town of Gleeson.  We had never traveled the dirt road from Gleeson to Tombstone before so figured to-day was a good day to do that.  Always so nice to see new scenery.  Rolled right through Tombstone & headed north a couple miles before turning east onto the rough & washboardy MIDDLEMARCH ROAD.  Our destination was another little ghost town on the other side of the DRAGOON MOUNTAINS.  Wanted to see the route Tombstone residents took over a hundred years ago to Pearce after gold was discovered there.

The Dragoon mountains ahead of us stood majestically in the high noon sun & I was reminded of our hike to the COCHISE STRONGHOLD this past March from the east side of the mountains.  (OUR COCHISE STRONGHOLD PHOTOS)  The Dragoons ahead marked the very spot where Cochise's many Apache lookouts took up posts on high rocks scanning the valley we were currently driving through.  Troops from Fort Huachuca on the west side of the San Pedro valley would set out across the desert floor in force to chase Cochise & his men down.  The Indians could see the troops coming for miles & miles & always had the advantage in any battles that took place & Cochise was never captured.  Thought about all that as we approached the natural rugged mountain fortress ahead.

 

Turned off the Middlemarch Road onto a smaller dirt road & headed north past a sign saying, Coronado Forest.  Road was a bit rough for a short distance then smoothed out reasonably well.  We had gained some altitude so Agave, Yucca, Prickly Pear began appearing along with a lot of trees that we couldn't identify.  These trees stand about 15 feet high with a spreading canopy but we just don't know what they are.  Alongside the road we saw campfire rings where people have pulled in & set up camp.  Saw a windmill slowly turning in the breeze amongst a cluster of trees.  A road led in that direction so we followed it stopping to take some windmill photos.  A cluster of tents marked the end of that road but we didn't see anyone around.  Could have been a group of rock climbers.  We backtracked to the main dirt road & headed a little further north before taking another road which led us a short distance right to the very foot of the beautiful Dragoon Mountains. 

    

CAN YOU SEE THE INDIAN HEAD PROFILE LOOKING TO THE LEFT IN THE LARGER PHOTO?

Parked the car & looked up at the large rounded rocks climbing into the sky.  It was so beautiful here that you just wanted to jump out of the car & run right up those huge boulders into the canyons beyond & the towering heights above.  It was a perfect place for rock scrambling because the rocks had a sandpapery surface & with good hiking boots the traction was phenomenal & I just felt like I could walk straight up the mountain.  Didn't take us long to scramble up a hundred feet or so just reveling in our great fortune to have found such a perfect camping spot for future days.  We could see the darkened Huachuca mountains probably 40 miles to the southwest & Bisbee's Mule mountains as many miles to the south.  Sunlight glinted off distant rooftops in Tombstone.  The towering Whetstone mountains led north to Benson which we could also see at the far end of the valley.  Beyond Benson the Rincon mountains spread across the horizon.  Just wanted to stay at this place forever.  It is days like these & places like this that remind me of how truly fortunate Kelly & I are.

We continued our journey back to Middlemarch Road & wended our way along the bumpy dirt trail winding it's way up & over the summit of Middlemarch Pass.  Patches of snow & cooler temperatures marked the highest point but overall it wasn't that high & it wasn't that cold.  Nice views of the Sulphur Springs Valley far below as we began our descent & I could see the town of Sunizona way out on the valley floor to the northeast.  Finally rolled through sleepy little Pearce east of the Dragoons around 3, picked up highway 191 & headed for home with a quick stop in Sunsites for a very late 2 o'clock coffee.   Awwwww, my kinda day:)))))))

(click on photos below for captions)

       

ALIEN DINOSAUR MOUNTAIN GOAT

Well, it's New Year's Eve & the thing I am most happiest about to-night is that I don't have to do all that silly New Year's Eve stuff anymore!!  I have now been over 30 years free from New Year's Eve's parties.........yaaaaaaay:)) 

JUST HAVING A LAZY AFTERNOON IN THE DRAGOONS

BELLE’S UPDATE

Emails have been rolling in again to-day with questions, suggestions, & offers.  We plan to go over to the Silverado Ranch in the morning & have us a sit down with Belle & talk about all the positive things that have been happening the past couple of days & her vision for the ranch.  Some decisions will have to be made & a direction forward found.  Emails have to be answered & work has to be started.  Again, Kelly & I thank everyone for their encouragement & support & I will post updates as they happen............................:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A man was telling his neighbor, "I just bought a new hearing aid. It cost me four thousand dollars, but it's state of the art. It's perfect." "Really," answered the neighbor. "What kind is it?" "Twelve thirty."

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS  http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

ALL THE BEST TO EVERYONE IN THE NEW YEAR FROM THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))

OLD PEARCE HERITAGE DAYS PART 2

 

REFLECTIONS IN THE RANCH POND

We are under stormy skies with heavy wind gusts.  A few spatters of rain a couple hours ago & that was about it.  Cold front bringing in rain & snow to the higher elevations over the next few days.  Might see some snow on the Swiss Helm mountains east of us.

AN OLD TIMER REMEMBERS DAYS GONE BY

Jeanie & Ray, the ranch owners made it home to-day after their 3 week cruise to Hawaii.  Had themselves a good time but they were looking pretty tired with lots of un-packing to do.  We didn't tie them up with a bunch of questions like, how big was the ship, was Hawaii green, did you swim in the ocean & if so was the water really wet!!

           

I sorted out all my Pearce Heritage Days photos to-day, assembled them into an album & am uploading that album right now as I'm typing this.  You can see those captioned pictures by clicking OLD PEARCE HERITAGE DAYS You can also see our previous visit to Pearce LAST MARCH.  If anyone reading this happens to live in this area maybe you could pass on the albums address to anyone living near here.  I'm sure some of the folks would get a kick out of maybe seeing some of their friends.  I did catch a few colorful characters' with my 200mm lens:))

THIS COLD WILD WEST STARE NEARLY FROZE UP MY CAMERA LENS

This is a brief history of Pearce:  The discovery of gold in the 1880's set off gold rush fever & resulted in prospector's flooding into the area from neighboring mining towns like Tombstone & Bisbee.  The frenzy was so great that it nearly emptied Tombstone of it's residence.  People dismantled their homes & business's & hauled them over the Dragoon Mountains by wagonloads to Pearce.  By 1896 100 homes had been built with 2 or 3 being added each week.  A stage & mail route was established to Tombstone & soon Pearce had 4 grocery & merchandise stores, many eating places including 2 Chinese restaurants, a butcher shop, 4 boarding houses, a blacksmith shop, livery stables as well as brothels & saloons.  A Doctor's office opened & by 1896 Pearce had it's own Post Office & jail.  A school opened in 1897 & was also used as a Church.  The population soon blossomed to 1500 residents with a large dance hall, movie theater, & a golf course.   Mining & Milling Companies had moved in establishing mines & by 1903 a rail line was in operation bring supplies & hauling out the ore.   The mine flourished until 1904 when flooding limited underground mining.  A fire at the mine in 1910 added further stress to the declining market but the town struggled on into the 1930's.  The mine finally closed & the railway was terminated.  People demolished their homes to avoid paying property taxes & by 1935 less than 50 people lived in Pearce.  To-day Pearce is a ghost town.  The mine is silent, streets are deserted, & only a few buildings remain including the old Pearce Store built in 1896.  Once a year the town comes to life for 2 days following the Thanksgiving week-end. 

TAKING THE ALPACAS FOR A WALK

Kelly & I consider ourselves very fortunate to have been a part of Pearce's Old Heritage Days for a few hours on Friday November 27th & I hope my photos somehow find their way onto area computers & into the hearts of the local folks in the area.   Thanks for the photo opportunities folks:))

 

To-morrow we are off to see a lady who lives just 6 miles from the Mexican border in a 14 sided house called a Polygon.  That should make for some interesting photos. 

Monday or Tuesday I'll post photos & some history of the ghost town we drove through Friday.........Courtland.

We received a couple of electronic internet cards from some Arizona friends lately but we haven't been able to open the cards yet because of our  Verizon megabytes problem so to Jerry & Suzy & Paws & Hooves we'll say thanks in advance until we can get over to the Elfrida Library to open them.  Thanks guys:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((   I went to a seafood disco last week...and pulled a mussel.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS  http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

MY SMUG MUG (I am finally working on updating this site)

http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/

OLD PEARCE HERITAGE DAYS

 

SUNDOWN AT THE RANCH TO-NIGHT

We ate ourselves up some dust this morning on the old Ghost town trail to Pearce.  We had heard there were a few old ruins left from an old mining town called Courtland along the dusty road east of another ghost town...Gleeson.  A few stone walls & old masonry is about all that is left amongst the prickly pear cactus & Mesquite trees.  One heavily constructed concrete building had iron bars on small high windows which made us wonder if it had once been a jail.  A long cement slab sidewalk fronted what must have been 6 or 7 stores at one time.  Only the low crumbling wall foundations are left showing through the low scrub brush.  I will post photos of Courtland in a later blog & will upload an album on to-day's short hike later this week.  Despite re-sizing my photos I am still reluctant to upload everything to our web album through our Verizon broadband because something is still chewing up our megabytes!!  I will wait until we get to the Elfrida LIbrary again.

OLD RUINS IN THE GHOST TOWN OF COURTLAND

We rolled into the tiny community of Pearce just before noon.  The road runs right through town so we just pulled off to the side where people were scattered about looking at some old farm machinery.  There isn't too much in Pearce but what is there is interesting.  We had been to Pearce this past March & on that day we were the only ones on the street.  But, things were livelier to-day with Pearce's annual Old Pearce Heritage Days in full swing.  Vendors, music, colorful characters, old machinery, & best of all.....the old general mercantile store was open for viewing.  The inside of this store is a treasure trove of old artifacts.  I was very surprised when I walked through the front door to see the excellent shape this store was in & how every nook & cranny was tastefully filled with everything imaginable.  I was immediately attracted to the colors & the way the store was cozily lit.  Old lamps, dated china, glassware, clothes, showcases & shelves filled with history.  We have been through old stores before & I would say this one in Pearce is one of the best.

THE PEARCE MERCANTILE STORE

An small red & obviously antique machine sat by the road whirring & chugging with a wide belt turning a barrel like thing with a bunch of ice cubes inside.  It was a home made ice cream machine:))  Kelly waited nearly half an hour at this spot for the next & last batch of home made ice cream to be made.  In the meantime I wondered off & corralled myself a big double Texas hamburger.  Just finished that up when Kelly walked over with a cup of ice cream.  First time I remember eating home made ice cream & it was really tasty.  Kelly tried on some unique palm frond hats & finally found one on a seconds table for $10.  Live music in a small alley beside the old store had the old timers taping their toes. 

ENTERTAINMENT IN THE ALLEY

My enjoyment at these types of events is photographing things.  I enjoy candid photography & it's fun watching for people doing just ordinary things that people do.  The colors & merchandise inside the Mercantile Store also made for some interesting pictures as well as the old farm machines outside.   By the time we got home I had 3 camera's with 261 photos to download.  Takes me awhile to edit each & every photo in my Picasa photo editing program at the end of the day but I enjoy that just as much as taking the pictures.  It's a fun hobby for me.   It will take me a few days to get all my Pearce photos from to-day into an album & up onto the web but maybe, just maybe somebody from Pearce may stumble across our site some day & maybe even find themselves on the internet:))

A FESTIVE ATMOSPHERE TO-DAY

We were back to the ranch by 3 & it didn't take me long to get my feet up & get some zzzzzzzz's rolling.  It was a good day because we got to see some new scenery, scramble around some ruins, take a few pictures & just generally enjoy another fine sunny Arizona day.  And, of course it was another in a series of great sunsets:))

I THINK SOMEBODY’S PRETTY PLEASED WITH HER NEW HAT

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A hangover is the wrath of grapes.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS  http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

MY SMUG MUG (I am finally working on updating this site)

http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/

SOME DAYS IT’S HOT & DUSTY & OTHER DAYS IT’S JUST……HOT & DUSTY:))

 

WINDOW REFLECTIONS IN BREWERY GULCH, BISBEE

Kelly was off to her Tuesday morning Yoga class while I stayed at the ranch & pulled some old dead tomato stocks out of the garden & did a bunch of watering around the property.  Needless to say it was another quiet day but things just might heat up a bit to-wards the end of the week.

HMMMMM, COULD THAT BE  BISBEE FOX KELLY WAY UP THERE:))

Rosanna at PAWS & HOOVES emailed us to-day saying there were a few events coming up in the area this coming week-end.  Bisbee is having their annual historical homes tour & the ghost town of PEARCE is having their yearly Old Pearce Days.  We'll probably head on up to Pearce on Friday with a stop on the way at another old ghost town in the area, Courtland.  Haven't decided on the Bisbee home tour yet.

OLD ERIE STREET IN BISBEE

It's always interesting how differently many things are done in the southwest.  It is a totally different mindset than we are accustomed to in Ontario.  It's a much easier going & laid back lifestyle here in this area.  The local Veterinary down in Douglas operates out the back of his pick-up truck.  Animals are tended to on the tailgate.  Kelly noticed in an area newsletter this morning that another service provided in the area is a traveling dental clinic which will come right out to where your at & give you a yank or two.  It's called the Molar Patroller, & nope, I ain't pullin yer leg this time.....or your teeth:))  Out here on the ranch It's not unusual to see a border patrol  vehicle racing by in a big thick cloud of Arizona dust & then look up into the sky & see a large 4 engine plane fueling 3 or 4 A-10 Marine Warthogs in mid flight.  Saw a small plane go over this morning & he was lower than the large flocks of Sand Hill Cranes heading in the opposite direction.  Now, that's got to be scary!! 

DEFINATELY ANOTHER COLD NIGHT

Every night the coyotes are close by & Kelly said she saw a couple of Javelinas just on the other side of the coyote proof fence one night.  We have night walkers (illegal aliens) here too but we haven't seen or heard any since arriving at the ranch this time.  Fully loaded back packs can be found along the roads sometimes.  Where else can you have your water freeze up at night & then laze away the afternoons in 80+ temps under endless sunny skies.  In Ontario we have emission controls & safety inspections for vehicles & here, if whatever your driving starts.....your good to go.  Cowboy hats are the norm, not baseball hats.  Gun racks in trucks & guns carried in holsters by some of the folks.  No large trees to speak of on the desert floor where we are but lot's of big darn mountains all around with beautiful forests, valleys, canyons, creeks, & wildlife to just make you want to stay here forever. 

MUST HAVE RAINED WHEN I WASN’T LOOKING……OUR CAR HAS A SPROUTED SOME FLOWERS

Big winds some days here in Sulphur Springs valley too.  And big winds mean big dirt.  Yep, lots of dust in the dry desert so if your a neat freak you had better plan your vacation in Florida somewhere where your not going to get all this darn old dirty dust on ya.    Some days we have so much desert dust on us we have to use a shovel in the shower. And, heaven forbid some folks might actually even get a little dust & dirt in their spotless RVs.  Oooooh, now that would never do!!  But, it's why we love the southwest with all it's laid back easy going folks & it's old wild west attitude.  Loved reading about it when I was a kid & love living it now that I'm a Senior.  Makes our lifestyle in Ontario look very stiff & stodgy.......very British!!  Very stiff upper lip & all that.  Oh ya, & some folks even got Cowboy Cookies in these here parts too:)) 

JUST HANGIN OUT AT THE RANCH THIS MORNING

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Dreaming in color is no big deal. It's just a pigment of your imagination.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS  http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

MY SMUG MUG (I am finally working on updating this site)

http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/