Bisbee daily review., 1903-06-14
NATURAL WONDERS
 IN THIS COUNTY

tN ITIiO CUONI INTERESTING DESCRIPTION OF < THE STRONGHOLD OF cocHIsE. This Mountain Pass Was Used as Refuge During the Raid of Apache iss indians in the Days of the Early sos lsssss-s
 Cochise Stronghold. June ', 1903.
 Special Correspondence.
 From Pearce the great limestone cliffs bounding the west side of Co- .chise- Stronghold. tower clearly in sight although some eight miles dis tant.3 < The stronghold is a historic place, and formerly one of the most beautiful spots in Arizona. The northern entrance to the stronghold is broad canyon. almost valley. which gradually narrows as you pen citrate the Dragons, until it becomes a winding tortuous pass, through which men or burros can only go in single file, and wheeled vehicles not at all. To the right and left other canyons. steep. narrow and often al. most impossible, occasionally open out. with towering crags and hanging battlements of rock jutting over the narrow defile through which one must pass in going through the stronghold. The main canyon and some of the con tiguous arroyos contain living springs of, water, while the bottoms of the canyons and mountain sides were for merly heavily timbered. and are yet covered with a good growth of grass and thorny underbrush.
 It was an ideal retreat for the say. ages under the willy old Apache chief, and any one who now traverses this region wonders how the intrepid blue coats of Uncle Sam ever dislodged their murderous and merciless foes.
 At the northern entrance to the stronghold, where the canyon broadens out to some half-mile in width, and which was formerly densely wooded are situated the large perennial springs named after the old Apache leader and yet called Cochise Springs. The trees in this beautiful natural park have been cut down and fed to the hungry furnaces and stoves of civil ization, or used to timber the shafts sunk by the white man in his search for ore. and open the now deepened and walled aperture of Cochise Springs stands the windmill of the Chiricahua Cattle company, while from the tanks and troughs fed by the windmill some 2.500 head of cattle and horses now secure the water which brings them through the long drouths common to this section. MT. J. D. Layton. who has been eamped at the windmill for nearly two years. informs yorr core spondent that during that time the water has never failed. nor has there ever been a lack of sufficient breeze 10 keep the windmill in motion for enough time each day to keep the reservoirs and troughs supplied
 SOulH Ol lnS Ol lliS NAAt hua Cattle company, and between the windmill and the narrow part of the stronghold. Messrs. Rockefeller. United States mineral surveyor for this dis trict. and John Warren, have found level and fertile land enough for two homesteads. and have pre-emepted and settled on same. Both have obtained good wells by sinking less than twenty feet and their littles homes. nestling under the towering mountains and shaded by great trees, present a pleas ing picture to the traveller weary of the amending stretches of desert and the long and treeless undulations Of Sulphur Springs valley.
 Some three miles up the stronghold from the windmill. in rugged canyon opening out to the west. are two caves. difficult of access and with almost hid den entrances, which evidently for merly served as refuges and dwellings for the hostile Apaches. In these caves have been found beads, mocca- sins. arrow heads, an old musket and great quantity of broken pottery. such as was used by the Indians. The old musket. broken and scared, is now in the possession of MT. c. B. Grant of Douglas. and was found in the larger of the two caves by his son. Your correspondent dug from the loose dirt on the floor of the cave several pieces of broken pottery.
 But perhaps the most interesting features of Cochise Stronghold are not its topography or past history, but it's present and future mineral prospects and possibilities. It is in well de fined and proved mineral belt. To the south and east are the Black Diamond and Dragoon mines. to the east the great Commonwealth lodes. and to the north the Golden Rule, Johnson and Dunlap camps. Immediately in the stronghold there are as yet no pro- during mines, but there are numer- ous prospects. all opened within the 1aef fuo wears and some Of them