Arizona republican., 1910-08-23
OLD FORT BOWIE
 ALMOST FORGOTTEN
Brought to Mind by Approaching Auc-
 ton Sale of Lands.

The recent announcement through the local land office that the lands of the Fort Bowie military reservation will be sold in October at auction has called attention to that almost forgot ten army post Many of the late com CTS to the territory, that is, those who have come within the last fifteen years, have never heard of it, for it ls almost twenty years ago that it was abandoned as a military post after having been occupied for about twenty years. The following description of the past is given by reader of The Republican,:
 The old Fort Bowie, COchise county, Arizona, was established by the gov ernment in 1870 and abandoned as military post in 1894. The soldiers were stationed at the fort to suppress the murdering Apaches, who attacked the emigrant trains passing through the Apache pass en route to California A great many emigrants were butch cred in this pass, as well as in the Big and Little Emigrant canyons on the east end of the reservation which the travellers sought on account of several springs being there. There are still some remaining records of the Apache raids on the wooden grave posts in the old grave yard under Fort Bowie. The government removed all the buried sol diers back east, but the non military occupants of the graveyard still re- main. Several of the grave posts re- cord the fact that the one buried was murdered by Apaches, sometimes giv- ing the name and occasionally marked unknown. Cattle range over the grave yard and soon all these marks will be Obliterated.
 Nothing remains of the old fort but crumbed walls, defining the lines of the previous elevations.
 All the area comprising the reserva- ton has been classified and will be sold under the various classifications next month and for not less than the value placed upon it by the government ap- praisers.
 The reservation comprises 21,93S acres of mineral, agricultural and grazing lands. Since the fort was abandoned most of the range has been used for cattle grazing
 The nearest approach to the reserva- tion is from Bowie on the Southern Pacific. The first settlement, is Tom Riggs, twelve miles from the railroad Here MT. Riggs has nice little home perched upon an emminence with about two acres of orchard and an al falfa patch. About two miles north west J. H. LOwhorn has a house and a cultivated patch in section 36. Although in the reservation, this section belongs to the territory. being school land. On section 2, James E Dickson has a set pf tU raIa including a e-room adobe hose, an or chard of 200 trees, barn, corral and windmills.
 Immediately under Fort Bowie is a narrow canyon containing spring and vegitation growing all around it and is in possession of a miner named William K. Reurs. who has several tents and d small garden The place is being kept very neat and clean, but this is evidently the result of a wom- 1 ans influence, for MT. Reuss has his l sister and her daughter keeping house | for him while he is occupied working some gold claims in the granite range rising directly above the fort. Close to the springs are the remnants of a II stamp mill that worked the ores from these claims. There are a good many | claims located on granite area by James Qaillan. A company did great deal of work on this property, consist | ing of shafts and tunnels. The ore was taken and treated in the Gold Nugget | mill about a mile and half from the property, on the northwest quarter of section F township 15. This mill is | now in decay The battery still remains, but the engine has been taken away. The mill is owned by Solomon X Wickersham at Bowie
 Right under the old fort is ledge of graphite owned by T. Riggs. The ledge is from ten to twelve feet wide and suggests enlargement The graphite encountered by the drift is of excellent grade and gives promise of supplying a large tonnage of high grade material.
 Considerable prospecting has alsol been done on the eastern border of the