DRAGOON MOUNTAINS INFORMATION

COCHISE STRONGHOLD

Cochise, the leader of the Chiricahua Apaches died 8 June 1874 and was buried in the Dragoon Mountains.  Thomas Jonathan Jeffords, a tall, lanky red-bearded army scout from New York state was a close friend of Cochise (some say a blood brother) and was the only white man present at Cochise’s funeral in the Stronghold.  The exact location of Cochise’s grave is unknown to this day.  Of Cochise, Jeffords said:  “I found him to be a man of great natural ability, a splendid specimen of physical manhood, standing about six feet tall with the eye of an eagle.  He respected me, and I respected him.   He was a man who scorned a liar, was always truthful in all things.  His religion was truth and loyalty.”  In 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant sent the one-armed Civil War hero General Oliver Otis Howard to make peace with the Chiricahua.  Jeffords agreed to take Howard to Cochise if he would go without escort and unarmed.  The initial meetings took place somewhere on the western slope of the Dragoon Mountains, either in Slavin Gulch or at the Council Rocks area  near the western approach to the Stronghold. The most likely location was in Slavin Gulch. The final meeting took place at Dragoon Springs. Cochise agreed to settle with his followers on a reservation but stipulated that Jeffords had to be appointed agent.  The reservation included portions of the Dragoon and Chiricahua Mountains, the intervening Sulphur Springs Valley and the San Simon Valley on the East side of the Chiricahua Mountains (over 3000 square miles). Jeffords oversaw the reservation with an iron hand. “He was to be absolute boss upon the reservation, admitting no one on [it] unless with his consent, and taking absolute control over the Indians. Thereafter no soldier or civilian, or official of any kind, came upon the reservation without Jeffords’ consent, and for the four years that he was Indian agent, there was never any trouble with the Chiricahua Apaches”.   The Apaches confined their raiding to South of the Mexican border.  In April 1876, some renegade Apaches killed a stagecoach attendant over a disagreement. At the direction of Washington, John Clum replaced Jeffords as Indian Agent with instructions to close the reservation and move the Chiricahua to the San Carlos Reservation.  He was able to relocate about 325 Apache.  The rest escaped either to New Mexico or to Sonora Mexico.  The Stronghold Reservation was closed.

Summarized from the following sources:
1.)  The Conquest of Apacheria by Dan L. Thrapp.  University of Oklahoma Press
2.)  Account of General Howard’s Mission to the Apaches and Navajos as reprinted from the Washington Daily Morning Chronicle of November 10, 1872
3.)  Discussions wiith the Amerind Foundation

NATIVE AMERICAN PICTOGRAPHS
To get to the site, turn onto spur road FR-687K and follow it to the end of the road.  Parking is sufficient for several vehicles.  Proceed through the gate in the fence and follow the trail a couple of hundred yards to the site.
   The site served as a shelter for the Mogollon People a thousand years ago and more recently by the Apache.  The pictographs, which are located on a wall in the main shelter area, are reminiscent of designs by the prehistoric Mogollon peoples and some may have been added more recently by Apache visitors.  The site consists of several areas (“rooms”) which served as shelter areas.  There are also several matates (grinding mortars) located within the large shelter and also on the large rock to the left of the main shelter.    A Forest Service Information Board is located at the site. (Data extracted from US Forest Service Information Board)
(A pictograph is a picture or painting on a surface whereas a petroglyph is a carving or etching on a surface).

WHITE HOUSE ADOBE RUINS
The access road to the ruins of a 19th century adobe structure is located 0.4 miles south of the entry gate to the Dragoon Mountain Ranch on FR-687.  Turn left onto the unmarked dirt road and the ruins are about 1/4 mile up the road.

The 19th century adobe ruins are referred to as the “White House” but there is no documentation as to how it received this name.  It was probably built around the 1870s and was later abandoned because of pressure from the Chiricahua Apaches.  The structure was recognized in surveys of the area conducted by a surveyor named John Rockefeller in the 1880s.  Rockefeller Dome in the Dragoon Mountains was named for John Rockefeller.   The US Army used the structure in 1876 during the relocation of the Apaches from the Dragoon Mountain Reservation to the San Carlos Reservation.  An 1890 Cochise County map indicates that the property was owned by the K C Company.  Various early 20th century maps identify the structure as Tweed’s Ranch and as the Horse Ranch.  The designation of Tweed’s Ranch probably led to the rumor that Boss Tweed, the New York political Kingpin, once owned the ranch.  There is no documentation, however, that Tweed ever set foot in Arizona.  The Horse Ranch designation is carried over to this day in that the road formerly used by the Hiking Club to gain access to the West Stronghold from St. David is still called the Horse Ranch Road on current maps of the area.  The current (1999) owners of the site are Jerry and Marjorie Dixon who own the Dragoon Mountain Ranch.  (Data provided by Mary Farrell, Archaeologist for the US Forest service, Tucson Office)

Additional Material: GVHC Library File 28