Masonic Picnic Area
Progress of Bowie, February 9, 1882
Bowie Residents Satisfied with Present Name, April 14, 1923
Bowie in 1886, October 29, 1926
Bowie Dedicates Church Building, September 12, 1941
Power Lines for Bowie Prepared, June 18, 1941
Bowie to Mark Natural Gas Service Start, May 18, 1950
Arizona Stoned, April 20, 2006
Masonic Picnic Area
During the 1930s, about the time the Goat Ranch was getting a foot hold in the drainage, the Bowie Masons scratched out what passed for a road to the big boulder by the oak trees. Bowie began to enjoy picnics and hikes at this idyllic site. By 1953, the Bowie Lions Club replaced the Masons as site caretaker; however, they retained the Masonic name. The Lions Club constructed in the oak's shade cement picnic tables and, nearby, a rest room, while enjoying their own monthly cook-outs at the site. The Bureau of Land Management owns the land; however they have permitted its recreational use for Bowie. BLM named the massive formation of granite outcroppings surrounding it "Indian Bread Rocks."
TopProgress of Bowie
February 9, 1882
Arizona Daily Star, Tucson, Arizona
The Daily Star is sold on all passenger trains going East and West from Tucson.
This rapidly growing place is the dinner station for passenger trains on the Southern Pacific Railroad, between Tucson and Deming, and is also the end of the freight division. The railroad company has made an immense outlay here in erecting a hotel similar to our Porter's Hotel and laying out beautiful parks on each side of it. They have constructed a fine club house, coal bin, cattle yards, etc., and the round house for engines, when completed will equal the one in Tucson. The company also furnished facilities for watering stock and freight teams, which later will take supplies from this point to the different towns in the vicinity and to the following Government posts: Fort Grant, Fort Bowie, San Carlos, and Camp Thomas. It is the natural center for this business, the grades being easier than from Willcox and the distances much shorter.
Since the Post Office has been established at Bowie the mail route to Globe will be transferred there from Willcox, also the Fort Bowie and Dos Cabezas routes.
The Chester Mining and Smelting Company is rapidly developing their mines which are yielding rich ore and in large quantities. Their smelter is already constructed and when ready for work will no doubt have plenty to do. In addition to their own ores those from the rich Dos Cabezas mines will be hauled there to be worked. This company also has a large water well of their own, independent of that belonging to the railroad company, which produces an abundance of water which they consider is equal to the best water on the road. To the effect the officers, engineers, and residents of Bowie will readily testify, notwithstanding the reports to the contrary, supposed to have been circulated by residents of Willcox and Lordsburg, who fear that Bowie will draw the most of their trade away, which we think is inevitable.
Our former townsman, Frank McCandres, is one of the enterprising merchants at Bowie and is doing a successful business which is daily increasing.
The climate is delightful and no more desirable location for a town of considerable importance could be found in the Territory, and it is believed that at no distant day it will be the most important place between Tucson and Deming; it having everything in its favor.
TopBowie Residents Satisfied with Present Name
April 14, 1923
Tombstone Prospector
The residents of Bowie are reported not overly enthused over the proposition of changing the name of the town to Tevistown, as suggested at the recent gathering of pioneers in Phoenix. The Bowie Chamber of Commerce has distributed considerable literature on the town and surrounding valley and there is a general feeling that a change at the present time would serve to confuse inquirers. The name of the town was changed from Tevistown to Bowie about 20 years ago.
TopBowie in 1886
Personal Reminiscences of Dan R. Williamson, Belt, October 29, 1926
In 1886 Bowie Station was the forwarding point as far as possible for troops and live stock in the field. At that point was stationed a captain of the quartermaster's department, as well as a captain of the subsistence department. Between them they kept a large number of freighters constantly on the go to keep the five thousand or more soldiers and Indian scouts that were in the field, as well as the thousands of cavalry horses and pack and team mules they were using fed, foraged, medicine and shod.
Chas. M. Renaud, now an honored citizen of Pierce, was actively in the charge of the forwarding of supplies at Bowie Station in 1885 and '86.
A.W. Sydnor, now of Globe, was a freight conductor on the railroad running between Tucson and El Paso. Jake Sollars, now of Copper Hill, was driving stage between Bowie Station and Ft. Thomas. He made the 70 mile trip one way each day except Sundays. Sollars made the trip every day of the year no matter how thick the Indians were. Often people would get off the train at Bowie, intending to go to Globe or intermediate points, but on learning how serious the situation was, would take the next train back home.
Charlie Wilcox had just been promoted to an engine and was running one of the helpers (engines coupled into the middle or to the rear of trains to help push the train up a pass. On the way down, they add additional braking power to a long train.) at Bowie then. Now he is the oldest passenger engineer on the El Paso-Tucson run.
Post Trader, De Long of Ft. Bowie, received a five thousand dollar shipment of gold coin by express through Bowie Station each week. But so discreetly was it handled that it was never suspected nor molested.
The Southern Pacific was doing a big business then; the company maintained three engines with their crews at Bowie helping the west bound traffic.
All passenger trains stopped at Bowie 20 minutes for meals. The railroad employees derived quite a bit of amusement at the expense of the curious travelers. We had a little museum of curios, such as an old rifle and a skull, found together in the nearby hills. Then we had Gila monsters, tarantulas, centipedes, rattle snakes, horned toads and numerous other members of the reptile family. The railroad men far and near got to sending me anything they considered might be of interest that they came across. S.W. Pomeroy, who was the proprietor of the Bowie-Globe stage line, sent me an Indian scalp from Clifton. The scalp was taken by an old scout and trapper, Charlie Montgomery by name, from an Indian he had shot and killed near Eagle Creek in the Clifton country. Taking it into Clifton, the residents there raised $250 which they gave to Montgomery. At that particular time President Cleveland was rather in disfavor with the people of this territory. There was strong talk of expressing this scalp back to him. Pomeroy, a good conservative citizen, in order to prevent this being done, paid $10 for the scalp and sent it to me. I, in return, expressed it to a Miss Halstead of San Francisco who had written me asking for a scalp. This Indian victim, by the way, was a White Mountain Apache, an Uncle of Billy Stevens, who is now our court interpreter.
We also kept a kind of a mineral cabinet, in sight, for the passengers' benefit. The nearby Chiricahua Mountains had a lot of quartz with an iron content which was the very picture of gold. While out gathering some of this one day with Captain Tevis, we picked up a rock, and under it were a dozen 45-70 rifle cartridges. This startled us, for it told us very plainly that hostile Indians were either there or were expected there and these cartridges were planted there for them. So we beat it.
We also had a thermometer out on the station wall in plain sight. During the summer months just as the trains were pulling in, some of us would go up to it and either with a match or a cigar would run this thermometer up to around 125 or 130 degrees. Then it was amusing to watch the debonair passengers wilt on reading it and thinking it read correctly.
TopBowie Dedicates Church Building
September 12, 1941
Arizona Daily Star
Bowie, Ariz., Sept 11 - The corner stone on the new Methodist church building here will be laid during the impressive services Sunday afternoon at three o'clock. The services are being held at this time to enable pastors and laymen of other towns to attend.
L.A. Enloe, superintendent of the Bowie schools, will be in charge of the music. Addresses will be made by Rev. Frank Williams and Dr. Robert F. Dickenson of Tucson Methodist churches and Dr. Paul Heibner, district superintendent of Phoenix.
The church is being built with the aid of missionary help of the Phoenix and Tucson churches as well as other churches and people in the surrounding country.
The old church was destroyed by fire one year ago last spring and Rev. L. R. Seymour and his building committee have been working toward this new building for the past several months. The committee members are A.R. Spikes, chairman, Morris Cawood, clerk, V.M. Boll, L.O. Scott, and Dr. F.W. Parrish, members.
The building is of native adobe with tile roof and will have cement floors. The walls are almost completed so people attending the services will see the general contour of the structure. The building will measure 67 feet at its widest point and 60 feet in depth.
TopPower Lines for Bowie Prepared
June 18, 1941
Arizona Daily Star
Willcox, June 17 - (Special) - With the arrival of power poles, the Vancott Construction Company of Los Angeles this week will put three crews to work installing them for the REA power line from Willcox to Bowie, it was announced today. Holes already have been dug.
Mike M. Bennett, superintendent in charge of the Sulpher Springs Valley project, said approximately 80 pumps in the valley are now operating on REA power and the possibility exists the system will be extended to Ft. Huachuca, if a large cantonment (living quarters for personnel on a military post) is build there.
TopBowie to Mark Natural Gas Service Start
May 18, 1950
(Special to the Republic)
Bowie, May 17 - (Special) - Bowie residents will celebrate the arrival of natural gas service Friday night with a program at the high school gymnasium.
Sponsoring the festivities are the Bowie Chamber of Commerce and the Arizona Edison Company, the utility which is bringing natural gas to the area.
A large torch outside the building, fed by the first gas line in the community, will serve as a beacon for arriving guests. Several representatives of Arizona Edison will be present, among them H.H. Idle, vice-president and southern district supervisor of the company.
Reid Gardner, president of Arizona Edison, has extended his congratulations to Bowie and predicted natural gas will have a far reaching effect on the community.
Guy W. Clerc, resident of Bowie the past two years, will be in charge of natural gas service. He was in the general contracting business before joining Arizona Edison last March.
TopArizona Stoned
April 20, 2006
Arizona Tribune, "Get Out" section, by Bill Norman
Marble quarry yields no rock, but plenty of adventure.
From the air, the place looks like a gigantic shoebox cut precisely out of solid white stone in the middle of nowhere in the Dos Cabezas Mountains of southeastern Arizona.
Up close, it's not a whole lot different except it's much more impressive and intimidating.
Not widely known except to geologists and rockhounds, Arizona at one time was among the top five producers of architectural marble in the U.S. In the early 1900s, the beautiful stone, typically marbled with green, black, blue and rose-colored veins, was quarried from deep deposits, polished and shipped for use in construction of buildings sometimes more than a thousand miles away.
Marble is still being quarried in the Dos Cabezas range, but one of the most fascinating examples of the industry lies in remnants of an operation that shut down nearly a century ago. Getting there takes some backcountry driving and hiking (and permission to enter private land), but arrival at the site can leave visitors spellbound.
Early promising investigations ("… up the steep hillside, a fine ledge of marble may be observed") by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1908 may well have been what prompted the Arizona Marble Company, a Colorado corporation, to head south and start cutting stone.
It wasn't a nickel-and-dine operation. The company had to build roads that began on flat ground at a railroad siding near present-day Interstate 10, then climbed deep into mountainous terrain and one precipitous gorge.
They bridged canyons with massive Oregon pine timbers supported on trestles and concrete pilings, all of which had to be stout. The wagons that eventually carried out blocks of marble - averaging 60 tons per load - were towed by steam engines and rode on massive steel wheels that undoubtedly made for a kidney-slamming journey.
The bridges have washed out, but several of those rusting wheels still lie scattered at the quarry site, as do decaying remains of buildings, boilers, brick walls and machinery. Marble miners couldn't blast the stone loose because explosives would have damaged it. They excavated and removed marble with steam-powered drills, saws and cable hoists.
Hikers approaching the quarry may get a sensation of Stonehenge. Dozens of dazzling white marble blocks easily five feet or more on a side lie stacked and tumbled alongside the edge of the quarry.
For those who love Arizona history and the outdoors, this trip is one of the best. It's great for a day hike (four to six miles round-trip, depending where you leave vehicles) and picnic lunch.
Visitors tips: The quarry lies on private land. Get approval to enter from owner Matt Klump (P.O. Box 448, Bowie, AZ 85605). The quarry pit is not signed or fenced, and an unplanned descent into its depths (about 70 feet) would be terminal in more ways than one. Cell phones won't work at the quarry.
Getting there: From Bowie (I10 exits 362 and 366), take Apache Pass Road south to the left turnoff to Emigrant Canyon and Ft. Bowie disabled person access. Go 1.5 miles and turn left onto Emigrant Canyon and Mulkins Ranch Road. Continue for 4.1 miles. Take Emigrant Canyon Road to left. Enter Forest Service boundary 0.1 miles later; reach unmarked junction of Emigrant and Marble canyons after another 0.4 mile. Turn right onto rutted Marble Canyon road. Last good campsite is 0.5 mile ahead. The road continues, but narrows, gets rougher and then is blocked by a rock slide. High-clearance vehicles are required after the Forest Service boundary.
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