Tough mining camps like Charleston, Gleeson, Contention City, Courtland, Dos Cabezas, Hilltop, Pearce, Paradise and the infamous Tombstone wrote a violent and bloody chapter to the last decades of the century. Echoes of the past remain in the land and in the cultural heritage. Council Rocks Little known but worth a visit. About an hour out of Sierra Vista, on the west side of the Dragoon Mountains north of Tombstone on Forest Service Road 687. Council Rocks is a prehistoric rock art site containing geometric and human figures.
Limited parking is available.
In March 1877, Captain Samuel M. Whiteside and two companies of the 6th United States Cavalry established a camp at the mouth of Huachuca Canyon. Soldiers constructed buildings of wood, stone and adobe. By 1886, Fort Huachuca became the advance headquarters for General Nelson A. Miles' campaign against Geronimo. Following Geronimo's surrender in August 1886, the threat of Apache depredations in the area subsided, and many of the frontier posts were closed. Yet, Fort Huachuca remained active because of its strategic location near the Mexican border and its low incidence of sickness.