The town of Douglas, located on the Mexican border a few miles southeast of Bisbee, is the largest border crossing in Cochise County. Douglas has seen a lot of history since its founding in 1901. The town was named for the president of the Phelps Dodge corporation. Indeed, Douglas owes its existence to Bisbee’s mines. It was at Douglas that Phelps Dodge erected a large smelter to process the Bisbee mines’ copper ore. Not surprisingly, given its isolated location, Douglas at first attracted more than just industry. Douglas, at its outset, was the last of the rip-roaring western towns where the six-shooter reigned and saloons, gambling, and other sordid activities prevailed. Things got so out of hand that in 1902 the Arizona Rangers were called in to clean the town up. In the words of one Ranger, “Douglas was tougher than Tombstone ever hoped to be.” Even after the Rangers departed, things would occasionally get out of control. In 1911 the famed Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa fought more than one battle with the Federales in and around Agua Prieta, just across the border. Bullets fired during the battles occasionally struck buildings in Douglas. Lest the violence spread across the border, the 1st Arizona Infantry Regiment of the Arizona National Guard was dispatched to Douglas to protect its citizens. In 1913, General “Black Jack” Pershing recruited a local flier to drop crude bombs made of dynamite, scrap metal and concrete on railroad tracks south of Agua Prieta in order to cut off supplies to Villa’s troops. Interestingly, in 1909 Douglas had become the home of the first airplane in the state of Arizona; it was constructed by a group of local enthusiasts and it was this craft that was used in the bombing missions. More information is available at Douglas’s Border Air Museum.

Today, Douglas is a pleasant community of some 17,000 citizens, recently voted one of the top 100 places to live in America by BizJournals. Douglas’s close proximity to Mexico lends it a conspicuously Hispanic air. The wealth generated by the smelters has endowed the town with an extraordinary legacy of more than 335 historically significant buildings, earning Douglas and a number of its buildings a prominent location on the National Register of Historic Places. Church Square, reportedly the only intersection America with a church on each corner, is well- known, as is the Grand Theatre, built in 1919 and at one time considered to be the largest and most beautiful theatre between Los Angles and san Antonio. Ginger Rogers, Anna Pavlova and John Phillip Sousa are just a few of the famous personages to have graced the Grand’s stage. Funds are earnestly being sought for the Grand’s restoration: See .

The crown jewel of Douglas’s architectural heritage, however, is the Gadsden Hotel, opened in 1907 as a lodging for cattlemen, miners and ranchers. The Gadsden’s architect was Henry Trost, a protege of the great Chicago architect Louis Sullivan. Although the exterior of the five-story, 160-room hotel is rather plain, its lobby, reconstructed in 1929 after a disastrous fire, is utterly magnificent, with a solid white Italian marble staircase (whose seventh stair is chipped, allegedly stemming from a semi-legendary incident in which Pancho Villa himself rode a horse up the staircase), four large marble columns decorated in 14K gold leaf, and, on the mezzanine of the grand staircase, a 42-foot-wide, authentic Tiffany & Co. stained-glass mural depicting a desert scene. An impressive oil painting by Audley Jean Nichols is just below the Tiffany window. Vaulted stained glass skylights run the full length of the lobby. The hotel’s rooms, while comfortable, do not share the lobby’s opulence, but it remains a pleasant place to spend the night should you wish to extend your visit to Douglas. See www.hotelgadsden.com for further information.

Those who are old enough may recall a Walt Disney TV show many years ago called “Texas John Slaughter”. Its eponymous hero was very much a real person — in fact, a legend in Cochise County — and the Slaughter Ranch, located 14 miles east of Douglas along the Mexican border, was his home. John Slaughter (1841-1922), sheriff, rancher, Texas Ranger, was a fabulous, larger-than-life figure. He was descended from a famous family of pioneer ranchers in Texas. As a a boy, he ranched with his father and brothers. He learned Spanish and the art of cowboying from Mexican vaqueros, and many lessons from the Native Americans who in those days still roamed freely along the Texas frontier. After the Civil War, he and his brothers formed a cattle company and Slaughter became one of the first to drive cattle up the famous Chisolm Trail. When Texas became too crowded for him, Slaughter moved west to Arizona Territory around 1880, and in 1884 he bought the great San Bernardino ranch near Douglas, once a Spanish land grant. At its peak the ranch encompassed some 115,000 acres, sprawling across both sides of the border.

At the time John Slaughter and his family settled in the San Bernardino Valley, much of Cochise County was a lawless area, with bandits and badmen both American and Mexican carrying on all manner of nefarious activities in the region. That changed with the election of John Slaughter as Cochise County Sherriff in 1886. Slaughter, as tough a character as ever lived in the Old West, took his new duties very seriously indeed, acting, as some said, as “judge, jury and executioner” in dealing with the lawless element. Some were persuaded to vacate the area forthwith. Some were not, and became “permanent residents”, so to speak. Slaughter also participated in the wars against Geronimo and the Apache. In a few short years the rule of law was firmly established in Cochise County and the Old West could truly be said to have come to an end. After the end of his second term as County Sheriff, Slaughter returned to the life of a gentleman rancher in 1893, becoming one of the founders of the town of Douglas along the way.

John Slaughter prospered greatly, as did his ranch and his cattle empire. By the time of his death in 1921 he had become a legend; a legend that persists to this day.

Today the Slaughter Ranch is a National Historic Landmark, the last remaining example of Arizona?s great 19th century cattle ranches. Much reduced from its once enormous size, it has been restored to the appearance it had more than a century ago and remains a working ranch.Visitors are welcome to tour the historic ranch buildings, grounds and museum Wednesday through Sunday from 10 AM to 3 PM. Surrounding the ranch buildings are wide lawns and a large pond created by John Slaughter in the 1890s. These amenities attract a large variety of birds, making the Slaughter Ranch one of Arizona’s best winter birding spots. More information is available at www.slaughterranch.com.

Ramsey Canyon Preserve, located ten miles southwest of Sierra Vista, is world-famous among birding enthusiasts as perhaps the finest location on the planet to view hummingbirds in their natural habitat. 14 species of hummingbirds call the Canyon home. The Preserve, administered by the Nature Conservancy and located in a wooded canyon in the Huachuca Mountains, covers only 380 acres. However, because Ramsey Creek is a year-round stream flowing through a deep canyon, creating an unusually moist and cool environment, the canyon attracts a wide variety of wildlife, including bobcats, bears, and nearly 200 species of birds besides the “hummers”. The Huachuca Mountains, the largest of southeast Arizona’s “Sky Islands” (small mountain ranges constituting self-contained ecosystems), host more types of breeding birds than any other region of comparable size in the United States.

Ramsey Canyon itself is located at an ecological crossroads, the convergence of two mountain and desert systems; the immediate area marks both the southernmost limit of the Rocky Mountains and the northernmost limit of Mexico’s Sierra Madre, as well as marking the dividing line between the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts.

Even for non-birders, Ramsey Canyon has its attractions; the stream-fed riparian corridor hosts rare stands of water-loving sycamore and maple, creating a lush contrast to the arid grasslands below. A short nature trail winds through the lower Canyon while a longer, more challenging trail climbs more than 500 feet to the upper reaches of the canyon and beyond into the Huachucas. The Canyon is also home to more than 400 species of plants.

The best time of year for bird lovers to visit Ramsey Canyon Preserve is from April through September. The Nature Conservancy operates a visitor center and well-stocked bookstore. Guided hikes are offered three days a week from March through October. A rare opportunity exists for interested individuals who live in the area and can commit on a regular basis: The Conservancy has an active volunteer program, and accepts applications for volunteer positions in various capacities at the Preserve. More information and an application form may be accessed at: http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/arizona/volunteer/art6341.html, or call (520)378-2785. General information on the Preserve itself may be found at: http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/arizona/preserves/art1973.html. Several bed & breakfast operations provide seasonal accommodations near the Canyon or in the immediate area, and these establishments offer extensive activities for birders. The Ramsey Canyon Inn), located in Ramsey Canyon itself, is perhaps the best-known. Ramsey Canyon Preserve is reached by driving south from Sierra Vista on AZ 92 for six miles, then turning right on Ramsey Canyon Road and driving four miles to the Preserve entrance.

The southern end of the San Pedro Conservation Area is located 8 miles east of Sierra Vista, near Hereford, and extends for many miles North along the banks of the San Pedro River, encompassing 56,000 acres. The San Pedro River was at one time a more impressive stream but a major earthquake in 1887 caused much of its flow to be rerouted underground. What remains would likely be called a “creek” anywhere but in Arizona. The Conservation Area, however, is one of Arizona’s rare examples of a natural riverside habitat. Over the past 100 years, 90 per cent of the region’s free-flowing year-round rivers and streams have disappeared due to human use of the precious waters. This fragile creek-side ecosystem was made a protected riparian area in 1988. More than 350 species of birds are found in the Conservation Area, making it a mecca for birdwatchers, along with 82 mammal species and 45 different reptiles and amphibians.

Indeed, the San Pedro valley has been the home of abundant wildlife for many millennia. According to fossil records, people were living along this river 11,000 years ago, and just north of AZ 90, about 5 miles east of Sierra Vista, is the Murray Springs Clovis Site, where 16 prehistoric spear points and the remains of a 10,000-year-old mammoth kill were unearthed in the 1960s. Forty thousand years ago, mastodons and woolly mammoths roamed widely over this region, and many of the skeletons of these massive animals that are on display in New York’s Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Institution were found in fossil pits in this area. The Murray Springs site has a short interpretive trail.

Migratory native tribes also found this valley hospitable, in part because of its many useful plants, and historians believe that the first European explorer in the area, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, passed up the San Pedro valley sometime between 1540 and 1542, leading a column of 700 weary men and women in a fruitless search for the legendary Seven Cities of Cibola. The Coronado National Memorial, located on the Mexican border 20 miles south of Sierra Vista, memorializes this feat.

The San Pedro House, located on a 1930s ranch at 9800 AZ 90 (520-508-4445; www.az.blm.gov/nca/spnca/spnca-info.htm), is operated by volunteer staff as a visitor center for the Conservation Area. It is open daily from 9:30-4:30 and has information on the many opportunities for guided walks, hikes, birding walks, and bird-banding sessions, as well as special events that take place throughout the year.

Little remains today of Fort Bowie, but from its founding in 1862 until its abandonment in 1894, Fort Bowie played a crucial role in Southwest history. After an attack by the forces of the Apache chief Cochise on US Cavalry troops in 1862, Fort Bowie was established near 5,100-foot Apache Pass to ensure the safety of not only the troops, but also the famed Butterfield Stage line as its stages slowly traversed this difficult and often dangerous region. Native peoples had used this route since time immemorial, as did the wagon trains of settlers headed west. Apache Pass was in the heart of the Dos Cabezas Mountains, deep in territory claimed by the Apache tribe, and Fort Bowie was the staging point for troops sent to battle the great Apache chief and warrior Geronimo in a protracted guerrilla war that ended only with Geronimo?s surrender in 1886. In addition, during the Civil War, the Fort was also used to protect water sources for Union troops traveling east to fight the Confederate Army in New Mexico.

Getting to Fort Bowie is a bit of an undertaking. The site is best reached by driving 20 miles south of Willcox on AZ 186 to unpaved Apache Pass Road. Turn left, following the signs, and continue 8 miles to the trailhead. It?s a 1 1/2-mile hike along the old Butterfield Stage route to the ruins of the Fort, where there is a small ranger-staffed visitor center, equipped with public washrooms, that displays historic photos and memorabilia, has books for sale, and has an interactive computer display giving information on the area’s natural history. The visitor center is open 8-4:30 every day except Christmas. See www.nps.gov/fobo for more information.

10,720-foot Mount Graham is located roughly 50 miles north of Willcox, Arizona, off U.S. 191 in a unit of the Coronado National Forest. Arizona’s dry climate and its large areas of relatively sparse population have made it an attractive location to site astronomical observatories. Of the three major astronomical facilities in the state, the Mount Graham International Observatory is the newest. Mount Graham is actually the site of two observatories: one, jointly sponsored by the Vatican Observatory and the University of Arizona, incorporates a 1.8 meter Lennon optical telescope, while the neighboring Heinrich Hertz Submillimeter Telescope, operated by the Max Planck Institute For Radio Astronomy, is the most accurate radio telescope ever built. Visitors may only access the joint Mount Graham facilities by joining an organized tour. These tours are restricted to 15 participants, cost $40 per person, and take place most Saturdays from mid-March to mid-November. They last approximately 7 hours and include a lunch, but they do not include a look through the observatory’s telescopes. Telescopes for public viewing are available on Friday and Saturday nights at Safford’s Gov Aker Park at Discovery Park; see www.discoverypark.com. Arrangements for the Mount Graham tours must be made at least two weeks in advance. Call 520-428-6260 for further information.

In a state containing innumerable wild canyons, Aravaipa is sometimes called the “Connoisseur’s Canyon”. The Preserve encompasses the Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness and Aravaipa Creek. Its lush river habitat protects Arizona’s healthiest population of native desert fishes, as well as cougars, desert bighorn sheep, bobcats, reptiles, and more than 200 species of birds. The remote preserve is located northwest of Mount Graham, at the end of a 45-mile gravel road which is subject to closure in wet weather. Permits are required for hiking in the canyon, with a maximum of 50 hikers per day allowed.

Known as “Queen of the Copper Camps” and “most fascinating small town in Arizona”, Bisbee began as a mining boomtown. Today, a number of serious artists and craftspeople call Bisbee home and their work can be found in the numerous galleries and crafts shops that share the streets with antique stores and fine restaurants. There are no traffic lights in Bisbee, and the winding streets are lined with a wonderful collection of early 20th-century architecture. The colors of the buildings and surrounding hills are extraordinary and Bisbee is a photographer’s dream. A mile south is the awe-inspiring Lavender Pit mine. It’s a stunning sight and the vivid coppery colors of the nearby hillsides reflect the wealth
hidden in the earth below.

A unique, non-profit cultural & performing arts center, the Arizona Folklore Preserve is operated in partnership with the University of Arizona. It was founded by Artist-in-Residence Dolan Ellis, Arizona’s official State Balladeer and one-time member of The New Christy Minstrels. Over the past four decades he has composed more than 300 songs about Arizona and performed them at every conceivable type of official occasion. The Mission Statement of the Folklore Preserve is, “to (ensure) the future of Arizona folklore through music, legends, stories, western poetry, myths, and realities.” Shows are presented throughout the year, featuring Arizona’s best folksingers, songwriters, cowboy poets, and storytellers.

“The Town Too Tough to Die”, looms large in the history of the American West. Prospector Ed Schieffelin headed out from Fort Huachuca in 1877 despite the warning: “All you’ll find in that country will be your own tombstone”. When he discovered the silver lode that would make him rich, the name stuck. In its 1880s heyday, Tombstone was home to fabulous characters like Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and, of course, the outlaws, known as the “cowboys”: The Clantons, the McLowrys, Curly Bill, John Ringo, and a host of others. The 1881 gunfight at the OK Corral has taken its place in American popular folklore as the crowning event in Wild West history. Tombstone is visited by thousands of history buffs each year.

Last of the great Old West army forts, Fort Huachuca is headquarters of the U.S. Army’s Global Information Systems Command. The Fort is especially remembered as home base of the famous African-American units, named “Buffalo Soldiers”, by the Chiricahua Apache, out of respect for their fighting abilities. The Fort museum celebrates the Buffalo Soldiers’ proud history.

The Fort is also home to the Army Intelligence Museum, reflecting not only the Fort’s current purpose (the museum follows developments in military intelligence right up to the present) but also its role in training the famed Navajo Code Talkers. Old code machines, code books, decoding devices, and other intelligence-gathering tools are on display.

The Mission of San Jose de Tumacacori was built by Franciscan Monks between 1799 & 1803. The Mission flourished, but a combination of adversities led to its abandonment in 1848. Persistent rumors of wealth left behind by both the Jesuits and Franciscans led treasure seekers to repeatedly pillage the buildings and the scars of that thievery are still apparent. The site was finally declared a National Monument in 1908. Now, craftspeople give demonstrations of indigenous arts, tours are available and costumed historical High Masses are held in spring and fall. In December, the annual Fiesta de Tumacacori is held, celebrating the three cultures of the area.

Tubac is a small town laden with history. In the late 1940s well-known artist Dale Nichols founded an art school there. Today, Tubac is a renowned art colony, for its extraordinary number of resident artists, shops, boutiques, galleries, and astonishing variety of arts and crafts. The annual Festival of the Arts has taken place each February, for more than 30 years.

Portions of the 1752 Presidio can still be seen in the Presidio State Historic Park & Museum, where historic artifacts are on display. “Living History” presentations are given each Sunday afternoon from October through March, with actors portraying Spanish soldiers, friars, and settlers.

The spectacular Kartchner Caverns are what is known as a “live cave”, with rock formations still growing. They are considered so fragile and vulnerable that extensive precautions had to be put in place before the public could be granted access. Twenty-two environmental monitoring stations have been set up to protect the caverns, primarily from light and dryness. And Kartchner’s rock formations are indeed spectacular, including the world’s most extensive formations of brushite moonmilk and many, many other fabulous formations. The park itself encompasses 550 acres and incorporates campsites and several miles of hiking trails.

The Amerind Museum houses the nation’s finest private collection of Native American artifacts. Rotating displays of archaeological materials, crafts, and photographs give a comprehensive overview of the area’s Native American cultures. Permanent exhibits include the work of Tohono O’odham potters and basketmakers, an extraordinary collection of Hopi Katchina dolls, Pueblo pottery, Navajo weaving, Zuni fetishes, beadwork of the Plains tribes, and much more. The adjacent Fulton-Hayden Memorial Art Gallery displays a collection including works on Western themes by such significant artists as Remington, Begay, and Borg. The Museum’s gift store offers a superb selection of art, crafts, and jewelry, and books on Native culture.

Nearly 50,000 acres of desert river land in the foothills of the Galiuro Mountains, the Muleshoe Ranch offers extraordinary scenery, hiking, and wildlife. The varied terrain of mesquite bosques, desert grasslands, and rocky canyons contain a tremendous variety of wildlife, much of it endangered, including a variety of aquatic life. There are desert tortoise, mule deer, javelina and even bands of roaming coatimundi. Montezuma quail, great horned owl and many other bird species can also be found. Overnight accommodations are available and backcountry or mountain-biking trips can be arranged, as well as guided nature hikes from September through May.

A welcome place of refuge for those hot desert days, Roper Lake State Park is six miles south of Safford, near the turnoff for Mount Graham. The park has a hot spring, a campground and a lake with a swimming beach. In the cooler months, anglers can fish for rainbow trout and largemouth bass, while catfish can be caught during the summer. There are excellent opportunities for bird-watching at Roper Lake, and at Dankworth Pond, three miles south. Dankworth Pond has a nature trail and an interesting outdoor exhibit on the various Native American cultures that used this site in centuries past.

9,157-foot Mount Lemmon has long been a year-round recreational refuge for Tucsonians, who travel to its cool, forested slopes for alpine hiking in the hot summer months and, in the winter, make the trek to the summit’s Ski Valley. Mount Lemmon offers up to 21 runs when conditions are right. The area is accessed by a winding 28-mile road, with spectacular views. It is said that every 1,000-foot change in elevation is equivalent to travelling 300 miles north; you’ll move from typical Sonoran Desert plants in the foothills to vegetation similar to that found in southern Canada at the top. Watch for the extraordinary rock formations along the way.

A cross between studio backlot and theme park, Old Tucson Studios was originally constructed in 1939 for the classic Western “Arizona”. Since then, more than 300 films and innumerable TV episodes have been filmed there. Among the better-known are “Rio Lobo”, “El Dorado” “Gunfight at the OK Corral”, “The Outlaw Josey Wales”, and, more recently, “Tombstone”, “Geronimo”, and “The Quick and the Dead”. This is a favorite attraction for families with children, who thrill at interacting with actors in Old West costume, strolling the streets. There are plenty of other attractions, such as staged shootouts, stunt demonstrations, Native American storytelling, train rides, horseback & stagecoach rides, restaurants, kiddie rides and even a petting farm.