Cochise County has a wild past!
Cochise County had numerous conflicts in the American Old West, between white settlers and Apache Indians, differing political and economic parties, and outlaw gangs and law enforcement.
The County was cut from Pima County in 1881 – during a period of the American Southwest branded by boomtowns, large-scale farming and ranching, lucrative mining operations, and new railroad technology.
County County is filled with history, particularly the “Wild West” era. You can see remnants of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s all throughout Cochise County.
Photo Credit: Amanda Baillie
Photo Credit: Amanda Baillie
GHOST TOWNS
Ghost towns collapse time between the “once was” and the “now is.” They have a way of immersing you in history, but on the side of it where the doors all have creaked their last creak and mostly fallen off.
Fairbank (outside Sierra Vista), Gleeson (outside Tombstone), Pearce (south of Willcox), and Charleston and Millville (outside Tombstone) are just a few of Arizona’s some 200 ghost towns, and the County’s own 45+ ghost towns, many left over from the great mining boom of the West.
Many of these ghost towns might now just be deserted inns and rest stops, trading posts with nobody left wanting to trade, or mining communities that ran out of copper or silver. Still, they offer a sneak peek into what once was…that many can’t help but peek.
RESOURCES
Looking for more Wild West information? Check out the resources below.
1 | Tucked in the southeast corner of Arizona, the region known as Cochise County is home to multiple small towns with legendary history—like Tombstone (“the town too tough to die”), the artsy community of Bisbee, and Willcox, one of Arizona’s three wine-growing regions. And, since many are less than an hour’s distance from one another, it’s possible to start your morning in one, continue on in another and finish your evening in yet one more. | Visit |
2 | American Cowboy offers an excellent Western road trip itinerary through Arizona’s cowboy country. | Visit |