BILLY OHNESORGEN & TRES ALAMOS A.T., THE SAN PEDRO [RIVER] STATION, AKA, THE SO-CALLED "BUTTERFIELD STAGE STATION"
By John D. Rose
“Plenty of money in those days. You could see it hanging on the bushes.” –Billy Ohnesorgen.
Contention City was founded coincidental to the stamp mills built there, and its ideal location would shortly establish it as a transportation hub. In 1880 it gained the distinction as the closest milling point in the district to the railroad route Southern Pacific (S.P.R R.) was building through Arizona. In early 1882 it would be the first city in the Tombstone District to receive its own railroad connection and accompanying depot.
It would all begin with one mill, the Contention, whose construction began in the summer of 1879 to refine the very rich ore from the Contention Mine at Tombstone. These Tombstone satellite towns created a lively transportation circuit that vitalized the entire area. Teamsters traveled back and forth on a daily basis, management traveled from mine to mill for meetings and consultations, and business of all kinds took place in the process, including trade between the territory and Mexico. Although Contention City merchants would soon offer a great deal of goods for purchase, some residents would still be drawn to the comparative metropolis that Tombstone would become, just to see what the “big city” had to offer.
While Contention City was yet a fledgling development, a stage station operator at Tres Alamos saw an opportunity. News of Tombstone’s rich mines could only mean growth and possibly more towns in the area - a concentrated populace was sure to spring up from the desert floor to his south. Located at the confluence of Tres Alamos wash and the San Pedro River, Billy Ohnesorgen’s station, a building left over from the days of the Overland Mail route (today commonly known as the Butterfield Stage), had for years thrived, supplying travelers heading from Tucson to Mesilla, New Mexico. But the discovery of rich ore at Tombstone, and the inevitable creation of milling towns like Contention and Charleston, opened a new opportunity for additional business.
On September 15, 1879, Ohnesorgen would join forces with stage operator H.C. Walker to form Ohnesorgen & Walker, going into direct competition with J.D. Kinnear. Ohnesorgen traveled a long way from the land of his birth to end up in the “back woods” of the Arizona Territory. “I was born in the Hartz [Harz] Mountains, Provence of Hanover, Germany, in 1849. My father was employed by the government as mine superintendent, when the revolution broke out, in 1848, and that upset everything. So we set sail for America. I think it was in 1853…It was a sailing vessel and it took 40 days before it landed in New Orleans. The boat sank on the return trip. From New Orleans we went around the Gulf of Texas coast, then by ox team to San Antonio. There I spent my early childhood.”
But as he became of age, young Ohnesorgen found San Antonio dull, and wanted to venture further west, and an opportunity to do so presented itself. “I was 16 and had been clerking for my uncle, who was on his way to Messilla, New Mexico, to close out his business. I came more for adventure than anything else-it was a new country and little was known about it.” He would arrive in Arizona in February of 1868, working for the Lesinskys in Tucson, but in three years his brother bought an isolated stage stop, and asked Billy to run it for him. This move to Tres Alamos, also known as the “San Pedro Station,” would affect much of his life from then on. “The station, like most of them, was made of adobe walls 18 inches thick, arranged in the form of a hollow square with port holes in each corner and no windows. How did we get light? Well, we had the doors and if we wanted lots of light we went outside. The wall of the corral was eight feet [in height], for we were on flat country.”
Life in the Tres Alamos area could be a hard one, as he recalled, “The first people to settle at Tres Alamos, was a colony of 25 Americans, but they were all killed in time. I remember, in 1871, four were killed in one day, one, a big Missourian named Long. Then the Mexicans settled there, but the water gave out. In 1876, or ’77 William Gibson came and he stayed, he and a man named Roberts. They stayed by the cattle and made good.” Of Gibson, Ohnesorgen recalled the lengths he’d go to just to have a partner in late night card games. “Gibson loved to play cards. He would come to my place and pay a man $2.50 to sit up with him all night and play.”
Even though the settlements along the San Pedro such as Tres Alamos, Drew’s Station, Contention, and later Fairbank often became tough neighborhoods, they proved highly lucrative. “We kept supplies, forage, etc. Plenty of money in those days. You could see it hanging on the bushes. I paid $3.00 a pound for butter at Las Cruces; bacon, $1.50 a pound; lard, 50[cents]; flour, $10 a hundred-got it from Sonora in ox carts-good too. Needles, we sold them one at a time.”
It would all begin with one mill, the Contention, whose construction began in the summer of 1879 to refine the very rich ore from the Contention Mine at Tombstone. These Tombstone satellite towns created a lively transportation circuit that vitalized the entire area. Teamsters traveled back and forth on a daily basis, management traveled from mine to mill for meetings and consultations, and business of all kinds took place in the process, including trade between the territory and Mexico. Although Contention City merchants would soon offer a great deal of goods for purchase, some residents would still be drawn to the comparative metropolis that Tombstone would become, just to see what the “big city” had to offer.
While Contention City was yet a fledgling development, a stage station operator at Tres Alamos saw an opportunity. News of Tombstone’s rich mines could only mean growth and possibly more towns in the area - a concentrated populace was sure to spring up from the desert floor to his south. Located at the confluence of Tres Alamos wash and the San Pedro River, Billy Ohnesorgen’s station, a building left over from the days of the Overland Mail route (today commonly known as the Butterfield Stage), had for years thrived, supplying travelers heading from Tucson to Mesilla, New Mexico. But the discovery of rich ore at Tombstone, and the inevitable creation of milling towns like Contention and Charleston, opened a new opportunity for additional business.
On September 15, 1879, Ohnesorgen would join forces with stage operator H.C. Walker to form Ohnesorgen & Walker, going into direct competition with J.D. Kinnear. Ohnesorgen traveled a long way from the land of his birth to end up in the “back woods” of the Arizona Territory. “I was born in the Hartz [Harz] Mountains, Provence of Hanover, Germany, in 1849. My father was employed by the government as mine superintendent, when the revolution broke out, in 1848, and that upset everything. So we set sail for America. I think it was in 1853…It was a sailing vessel and it took 40 days before it landed in New Orleans. The boat sank on the return trip. From New Orleans we went around the Gulf of Texas coast, then by ox team to San Antonio. There I spent my early childhood.”
But as he became of age, young Ohnesorgen found San Antonio dull, and wanted to venture further west, and an opportunity to do so presented itself. “I was 16 and had been clerking for my uncle, who was on his way to Messilla, New Mexico, to close out his business. I came more for adventure than anything else-it was a new country and little was known about it.” He would arrive in Arizona in February of 1868, working for the Lesinskys in Tucson, but in three years his brother bought an isolated stage stop, and asked Billy to run it for him. This move to Tres Alamos, also known as the “San Pedro Station,” would affect much of his life from then on. “The station, like most of them, was made of adobe walls 18 inches thick, arranged in the form of a hollow square with port holes in each corner and no windows. How did we get light? Well, we had the doors and if we wanted lots of light we went outside. The wall of the corral was eight feet [in height], for we were on flat country.”
Life in the Tres Alamos area could be a hard one, as he recalled, “The first people to settle at Tres Alamos, was a colony of 25 Americans, but they were all killed in time. I remember, in 1871, four were killed in one day, one, a big Missourian named Long. Then the Mexicans settled there, but the water gave out. In 1876, or ’77 William Gibson came and he stayed, he and a man named Roberts. They stayed by the cattle and made good.” Of Gibson, Ohnesorgen recalled the lengths he’d go to just to have a partner in late night card games. “Gibson loved to play cards. He would come to my place and pay a man $2.50 to sit up with him all night and play.”
Even though the settlements along the San Pedro such as Tres Alamos, Drew’s Station, Contention, and later Fairbank often became tough neighborhoods, they proved highly lucrative. “We kept supplies, forage, etc. Plenty of money in those days. You could see it hanging on the bushes. I paid $3.00 a pound for butter at Las Cruces; bacon, $1.50 a pound; lard, 50[cents]; flour, $10 a hundred-got it from Sonora in ox carts-good too. Needles, we sold them one at a time.”
OHNESORGEN MEETS TOM JEFFORDS BUT AVOIDS APACHES
Ohnesorgen did attempt aesthetic improvements to the location, but to no avail. “I planted willows and things on either side of the river but the beaver cut down all but one cottonwood which grew to be some three feet in diameter.” But operating this key stage stop, especially once Tombstone began, brought him into contact with some long remembered personalities. “I knew most of the noted characters…I knew Captain Jeffords. He was an Indian agent at one time-no good, filthy fellow,-filthy is his way of living-lived right among those damn things (Apache Indians). Once in a while he would go down and haul one home with him,- was a blood brother or something of Cochise. He was very bright. His clerk did all the work when he was agent. He could not even keep the Indians on the reservation. Jef was a tall, lanky fellow of about six feet and his face was full of hair.” Ohnesorgen’s opinion of Jeffords may have been informed by his dislike of Apaches, and he took precautions to avoid them. “If I wanted to go to Tucson, went on horseback at night or traveled with an ox train.” The historical record recalls Jeffords in a far better light than did Ohnesorgen then; Jeffords’ place in history is secured by his unique and very close relationship with Apache chief Cochise.
Soldiers would sometimes be assigned at the stage station for protection in case of Apache attacks. “The government kept a picket of eight or ten soldiers at the station to protect us and the ranchers around us as well as the emigrants. Indians never attacked the station while I was there, but they did before I went there and killed two soldiers.”
Soldiers would sometimes be assigned at the stage station for protection in case of Apache attacks. “The government kept a picket of eight or ten soldiers at the station to protect us and the ranchers around us as well as the emigrants. Indians never attacked the station while I was there, but they did before I went there and killed two soldiers.”
OHNESORGEN RECALLS J.B. ALLEN OF TOMBSTONE FAME
Ohnesorgen would also make the acquaintance of a well-remembered merchant of the Tombstone District, though his time there was brief. “Pie Allen (J.B. Allen) was a funny genius. He came out with the California Column, made pies on the way and sold them at one dollar a piece. They called them ‘Washington Pies’ and were made of dried apples. He started a little store in Tucson…He got to be Adjutant General under Governor McCormick. That is where he got the title of ‘Colonel.’”
SHE’S HOW OLD?
“At that time of the gold excitement at Planches de Plata, in Mexico, he [Allen] bought a couple of barrels of whisky and went down. When that excitement was subsided, Tombstone was on the boom and he went there…There he married a Mexican girl twelve years old….Had to get a doctor’s certificate, etc. But she quit him and he went to Tucson.” Allen left Tombstone with the main street bearing his name, settling north of Tucson. “There he got a house and a few cows near the point of the mountains north of town. Made butter. I went there to see him and to collect a bill. He said, ‘You would not take all a man has, would you?’ and he pulled out $27.00. I said, ‘no, keep it. If I had all the money standing out, I would be rich.’ He certainly was an enterprising fellow if changing from one thing to another and keeping him on the go is enterprise. He was a fellow who never drank. Old age got away with him.”
It was fortunate for Allen that press notes regarding him didn’t include the assertion that he “married a Mexican girl twelve years old…” Instead, he presented himself as a successful pioneering merchant, without the hint of personal scandal. “Gen. J. B. Allen returned to Tombstone today where he is doing a large business, and no man in Arizona is more deserving of prosperity than he.”
It was fortunate for Allen that press notes regarding him didn’t include the assertion that he “married a Mexican girl twelve years old…” Instead, he presented himself as a successful pioneering merchant, without the hint of personal scandal. “Gen. J. B. Allen returned to Tombstone today where he is doing a large business, and no man in Arizona is more deserving of prosperity than he.”
ONE MEMORABLE EVENING IN TOMBSTONE MAY BE ENOUGH
Given Tombstone’s notoriety, Ohnesorgen of course paid the boomtown a visit, walking right down the dusty thoroughfare known as Allen Street, named in honor of his acquaintance. Of his visits there, he recalled that “Tombstone was a hard town and a busy one. You could hardly cross the street about the time the miners came off shift because there were so many people. I went to the Bird Cage once-yes, just once, that was enough. Even then they dress better than they do now-didn’t show so much….Three elevators [dumbwaiters] went up and down to the boxes carrying drinks and the women delivered them-got a rake for selling them. I only saw one scrap. A gambling boss by the name of Rickenbaugh [sic] knocked a fellow down with his pistol. The damn thing went off and the bullet stuck in a post, just over my head.” Lou Rickabaugh was a well-known Tombstone gambler and partner of Wyatt Earp at a gambling concession in the Oriental Saloon.
Note that Ohnesorgen points out that the women working the Bird Cage in the 1880’s dressed “ better than they do now,” and that they “didn’t show so much,” implying that women dressed more conservatively at the very height of the Bird Cage’s success. This evidence contradicts the oft repeated claim today that the Bird Cage was a brothel; it was one raucous night club though, as the bullet discharged by Lou Rickabaugh’s gun illustrates.
Note that Ohnesorgen points out that the women working the Bird Cage in the 1880’s dressed “ better than they do now,” and that they “didn’t show so much,” implying that women dressed more conservatively at the very height of the Bird Cage’s success. This evidence contradicts the oft repeated claim today that the Bird Cage was a brothel; it was one raucous night club though, as the bullet discharged by Lou Rickabaugh’s gun illustrates.
RIDING DICK GIRD’S BARREL SHAPED MULE TO TRES ALAMOS
Although Ohnesorgen found Tombstone an acquired taste, he was a witness to the movement of the enterprising pioneers who formed it. The sojourn that thousands would soon be making to the Tombstone District would begin with a trio nervous about Indian attacks and claim jumpers, a trio destined for a success few would ever know.
As a partner of Dick Gird and the Schieffelin brothers (Ed and Al), John Vosburg was on an excursion not only with his partners, but the Corbin brothers, who would later contribute to the success of the Tombstone District by building the second of two mills at Millville. Of this key time, Vosburg recalled that after a luncheon the Corbins “started in the ambulance [coach] and would drive on to Tucson…yours truly stayed to make an agreement with the owners, Ed, Al and Gird, which I did…then the time said 3.30 or 4 o’clock. Dick Gird let me take ‘Molly’ his favorite mule and I started for Tucson seventy miles away.
“This Molly was a pet and had been loafing for some months on fairly good pasture and showed it. It was like riding a barrel, spread eagle-wise. I made the crossing of the San Pedro river, where the Town of Benson now is, about 7:30 p.m. Billy Ohnesorgen (and his swamper) were the total population of [the] ‘San Pedro Crossing’ at that time.” Given the width of Molly, Vosburg still recalled later, “when I got down to the river I was so cramped, I said ‘Billy come and help me off this mule’…further riding was out of the question. The stage line crossed the San Pedro at Tres Alamos…and was due at that place between twelve and one that night.” Vosburg added, “Billy’s only transportation was a two horse wagon…” It took the aid of Ohnesorgen and his “swamper” to free Vosburg from Molly’s back, or depending on the perspective, the other way around.
As a partner of Dick Gird and the Schieffelin brothers (Ed and Al), John Vosburg was on an excursion not only with his partners, but the Corbin brothers, who would later contribute to the success of the Tombstone District by building the second of two mills at Millville. Of this key time, Vosburg recalled that after a luncheon the Corbins “started in the ambulance [coach] and would drive on to Tucson…yours truly stayed to make an agreement with the owners, Ed, Al and Gird, which I did…then the time said 3.30 or 4 o’clock. Dick Gird let me take ‘Molly’ his favorite mule and I started for Tucson seventy miles away.
“This Molly was a pet and had been loafing for some months on fairly good pasture and showed it. It was like riding a barrel, spread eagle-wise. I made the crossing of the San Pedro river, where the Town of Benson now is, about 7:30 p.m. Billy Ohnesorgen (and his swamper) were the total population of [the] ‘San Pedro Crossing’ at that time.” Given the width of Molly, Vosburg still recalled later, “when I got down to the river I was so cramped, I said ‘Billy come and help me off this mule’…further riding was out of the question. The stage line crossed the San Pedro at Tres Alamos…and was due at that place between twelve and one that night.” Vosburg added, “Billy’s only transportation was a two horse wagon…” It took the aid of Ohnesorgen and his “swamper” to free Vosburg from Molly’s back, or depending on the perspective, the other way around.
TOMBSTONE’S DISCOVERER MAKES THE TRIP FIRST
Tombstone District discoverer Ed Schieffelin recalled Tres Alamos. He was heading on the expedition that would make himself and those traveling with him, brother Al and Dick Gird, rich. They were being tailed by those at Signal who could not understand why Gird would suddenly leave after being offered the General Superintendency of the mine. Even before Tombstone, Gird was a mining man of formidable reputation, whereas Ed Schieffelin was an unknown. That was about to change. “They followed the same road we were taking, and left Tucson one day ahead of us. Beyond Tucson about 40 miles the road forks, one road leading to Tres Alamos, and another to where Benson now is. The former [Tres Alamos] was the mail route and most of the travel went that way, this party turned into the other road, the one I was to take, and went down to where there was an old stage station, where we passed them. We saw their wagons and mules in the corral, but there was only one of the party, named White, in the house, who was sick, and though he heard us as we went by, did not come to the door. Parsons, who was one of the party, had gone off towards the Whetstone Mountains to prospect, and he told me afterwards, if he had learned that Gird was with me, he would have followed us. We went on up the river some distance and camped that night; the next day we arrived within three miles of the Broncho Mine.”
Gird echoed Billy Ohnesorgen’s report on Indian troubles in the area. After leaving Tucson, the trio arrived at “Pantano, or at least the place that since has been named Pantano…At this point was an old stage station, showing with bullet-marks and with other signs the sieges it had stood against the Indians. From here on we knew that we were in hostile Indian Country.” Gird noted the precautions that he took as they headed toward Tres Alamos. “…I insisted on putting out fires, and, in addition, I got up before daylight every morning and scouted the high points around the camp until daylight…From Pantano on, our route was by the old stage-road. I recall how Al and myself suffered from the crossing of this windswept ridge. Before noon of the same day the San Pedro river was crossed at Onasogins, [Billy Ohnesorgen’s] which was an old stage-station.” The day before reaching Ohnesorgen’s the trio made a grim discovery. “Having, the day before, passed rather recently-made graves of two persons that had been killed by the Indians, I deemed it even more prudent to take even more precaution against surprises…”
In the area of Tres Alamos they left the stage road to avoid inquiries, and pushed up the eastern side of the San Pedro, passing the area where their discoveries would soon cause William Drew to open Drew’s Station. From there they continued to traverse a wilderness that would soon be home to Contention City, setting up camp where Fairbank would later be located. Gird continues, “The morning after breaking camp at Fairbanks [contemporary accounts use both Fairbank and Fairbanks] with visions of the freshly made graves in my mind, I kept my rifle loaded for quick action, instead of removing the cartridges, which was our custom. On starting I placed my gun in the wagon with the butt on the foot-board. A heavy jolt while crossing a steep wash bounced the gun off the foot-board, and the hammer striking the double trees discharged the ball, which passed under my right arm, through my coat, vest and shirt, but fortunately for me, merely grazing the skin. Ed was greatly frightened, but Al, who was riding ahead, took it as a matter of course with his usual sang-froid.”
In the area of Tres Alamos they left the stage road to avoid inquiries, and pushed up the eastern side of the San Pedro, passing the area where their discoveries would soon cause William Drew to open Drew’s Station. From there they continued to traverse a wilderness that would soon be home to Contention City, setting up camp where Fairbank would later be located. Gird continues, “The morning after breaking camp at Fairbanks [contemporary accounts use both Fairbank and Fairbanks] with visions of the freshly made graves in my mind, I kept my rifle loaded for quick action, instead of removing the cartridges, which was our custom. On starting I placed my gun in the wagon with the butt on the foot-board. A heavy jolt while crossing a steep wash bounced the gun off the foot-board, and the hammer striking the double trees discharged the ball, which passed under my right arm, through my coat, vest and shirt, but fortunately for me, merely grazing the skin. Ed was greatly frightened, but Al, who was riding ahead, took it as a matter of course with his usual sang-froid.”
Al Schieffelin upper left, and Richard Gird upper right. These two, along with Ed Schieffelin, reached great discoveries and success following their trek to Tombstone. This adventure included an errant gun shot that could have ended in tragedy. From the collections of John D. Rose.
JOHN CLUM’S SAN PEDRO VISIT TO DUNBAR’S
From John Clum’s personal diary, dated Tuesday, August 3rd, 1875: “Drove into the San Pedro, took dinner at [Thomas] Dunbar’s, and at 4 P.M. started out again and drove into the Cienega. Arriving in good order and season, took supper and tried to sleep but Oh! The Mosquitos!!!” Courtesy of the U of A Special Collections.
A BRIDGE OVER SHALLOW, MUDDY WATERS
In November of 1878 the Pima County Board of Supervisors was petitioned by Thomas Dunbar to build a bridge at Tres Alamos. Dunbar operated a stage stop competing with Billy Ohnesorgen, and understood as did others the need for a reliable bridge during unpredictable flash flooding caused by summer rains. Dunbar wrote the Board that “After having examined the Bridge I think the following material needed [is] 4 stringers 24 feet long…it will take about 300 feet of 3 inch plank to cover it…cost about $550…Thomas Dunbar.” (Note that Dunbar states that “after having examined the Bridge” which may mean that one already existed but was in disrepair, or it was a projection of what would be needed, or poor wording on his part, as much of the letter is written in broken sentences.) The “stringers” mentioned were the long beams of wood which would cross the span of the river, and then planks would be nailed into those beams creating a bridge that wagons could easily cross. That Dunbar notes that the stringers needed to be 24 feet long indicates that the width of the river at Tres Alamos, at that time, was narrow, as the stringers would have to rest on the solid ground of both banks of the San Pedro.
The need for a proper crossing at Tres Alamos would be met not by Pima County with tax dollars, but by the private funding and initiative of Billy Ohnesorgen. In August of 1879 Ohnesorgen advertised that he had “completed a good and substantial bridge across the San Pedro River, at San Pedro Station, A.T., at his own expense, and will, therefore, collect toll from those using it until he is reimbursed. High water hereafter will be no obstruction to freight and travel.” The ad was written to address prescient issues, and may have been a response to the construction of a new stage road from Tucson to Contention. A bridge wasn’t as necessary at Tres Alamos is it would be for traffic between Charleston on the west side of the San Pedro, and Millville on the opposite bank. Charleston was known for having repetitive quicksand issues in the river, whereas Tres Alamos didn’t seem to be plagued with the same problem and to the same degree. The only time when this bridge would matter was if a summer monsoonal or other rainstorm raised waters on the San Pedro, but such occurrences were rare. Also, substantial freight shipments had traveled from Mesilla, New Mexico to Tucson, A.T. for years, with drivers crossing the bottom of the river, often without incident.
But Ohnesorgan’s bridge would be of valuable use for the shipments of industrial mining and milling equipment heading for Contention, Millville, and Tombstone. “In the winter of 1878-79, I built the toll bridge. There was no cut in the river then. You could have stooped down and drank out of it at any point. The bridge only had a 25-foot span. I bought four stringers from the sawmill in the Huachucas [the saw mill that William Gird founded with help from Richard Gird, later sold to Jimmy Carr] and they cost me $55.00 each. I built the bridge myself, of course, and that did not cost me anything. The thing [the bridge] did not pay until 1880, when they were bringing in machinery for Contention, Charleston…That year was high water and one month I took in $400.00.”
Ohnesorgen’s ad noted that he had constructed the bridge “at his own expense, and will, therefore, collect toll from those using it until he is reimbursed.” The point needed to be made publicly as he later recalled…“My, how people hated to pay [the] toll. They declared it was a public highway. I told them the highway went through the river and they could use it if they wished, but the bridge was on my land and if they used it they would have to pay toll.” But given that he had paid $220.00 for the four stringers which were the key to the bridge, it appears that in 1880 he had more than made his investment back, and yet was still charging for the use of the bridge. This is contrary to his earlier statement that he only planned to collect the toll “from those using it until he is reimbursed.”
An early customer of this toll bridge enterprise would be the Contention mill. So substantial were the early shipments to the Contention Mill that the freighting firm hired to haul the equipment from the end of railroad to the site had lacked the capacity to move all of it at once. “Buckalew’s [freight line] passed through town [Tucson] this morning with another load of machinery for the Contention mill, the weight of which aggregated 114,000 pounds. They expect to arrive at the mill site on the San Pedro in about four days. There is still about sixty five thousand pounds at the end of the railroad.”
The need for a proper crossing at Tres Alamos would be met not by Pima County with tax dollars, but by the private funding and initiative of Billy Ohnesorgen. In August of 1879 Ohnesorgen advertised that he had “completed a good and substantial bridge across the San Pedro River, at San Pedro Station, A.T., at his own expense, and will, therefore, collect toll from those using it until he is reimbursed. High water hereafter will be no obstruction to freight and travel.” The ad was written to address prescient issues, and may have been a response to the construction of a new stage road from Tucson to Contention. A bridge wasn’t as necessary at Tres Alamos is it would be for traffic between Charleston on the west side of the San Pedro, and Millville on the opposite bank. Charleston was known for having repetitive quicksand issues in the river, whereas Tres Alamos didn’t seem to be plagued with the same problem and to the same degree. The only time when this bridge would matter was if a summer monsoonal or other rainstorm raised waters on the San Pedro, but such occurrences were rare. Also, substantial freight shipments had traveled from Mesilla, New Mexico to Tucson, A.T. for years, with drivers crossing the bottom of the river, often without incident.
But Ohnesorgan’s bridge would be of valuable use for the shipments of industrial mining and milling equipment heading for Contention, Millville, and Tombstone. “In the winter of 1878-79, I built the toll bridge. There was no cut in the river then. You could have stooped down and drank out of it at any point. The bridge only had a 25-foot span. I bought four stringers from the sawmill in the Huachucas [the saw mill that William Gird founded with help from Richard Gird, later sold to Jimmy Carr] and they cost me $55.00 each. I built the bridge myself, of course, and that did not cost me anything. The thing [the bridge] did not pay until 1880, when they were bringing in machinery for Contention, Charleston…That year was high water and one month I took in $400.00.”
Ohnesorgen’s ad noted that he had constructed the bridge “at his own expense, and will, therefore, collect toll from those using it until he is reimbursed.” The point needed to be made publicly as he later recalled…“My, how people hated to pay [the] toll. They declared it was a public highway. I told them the highway went through the river and they could use it if they wished, but the bridge was on my land and if they used it they would have to pay toll.” But given that he had paid $220.00 for the four stringers which were the key to the bridge, it appears that in 1880 he had more than made his investment back, and yet was still charging for the use of the bridge. This is contrary to his earlier statement that he only planned to collect the toll “from those using it until he is reimbursed.”
An early customer of this toll bridge enterprise would be the Contention mill. So substantial were the early shipments to the Contention Mill that the freighting firm hired to haul the equipment from the end of railroad to the site had lacked the capacity to move all of it at once. “Buckalew’s [freight line] passed through town [Tucson] this morning with another load of machinery for the Contention mill, the weight of which aggregated 114,000 pounds. They expect to arrive at the mill site on the San Pedro in about four days. There is still about sixty five thousand pounds at the end of the railroad.”
A delay in stage coach travel through Drew’s Station would occur when this bridge was damaged in the summer monsoons of 1880. “Delayed. The non-arrival of the stages on time from Benson was caused by heavy roads [rains] and the delay was caused by the carrying away of the bridge across the San Pedro River, this latter occurring some days since.”
Writing a letter to her hometown newspaper, Clara Spalding Brown offered a vivid description of the storms that had caused the damage to Ohnesorgen’s bridge. “Last year the rainy season was inaugurated by smart shows last in June, and July and August were very wet months…Sometimes they would appear to center over Tombstone, the thunder would roll as if some mighty giant were patronizing a mammoth bowling alley close at hand, and the lightning would flash almost continually, and every one would be pleased with the prospects of a terrific shower; yet soon the threatening clouds would disperse in all directions, and, at different points along the horizon, we could discern where the fury of the elements was spent.”
Tres Alamos would eventually be usurped by the founding of Benson Arizona. And the founding of Benson meant that the Southern Pacific Railroad offered travelers the most advanced conveyance of the day. Stage coaches could never compete with the arrival of railroads. This once vital stage stop that gave travelers refuge from the elements and their fears of the area in general, would soon turn into a remote location and largely forgotten with the passage of time. But its legacy remains an important one. In its day, Tres Alamos was a vital stop as the Arizona Territory slowly gained its populace while its place in the American West.
Writing a letter to her hometown newspaper, Clara Spalding Brown offered a vivid description of the storms that had caused the damage to Ohnesorgen’s bridge. “Last year the rainy season was inaugurated by smart shows last in June, and July and August were very wet months…Sometimes they would appear to center over Tombstone, the thunder would roll as if some mighty giant were patronizing a mammoth bowling alley close at hand, and the lightning would flash almost continually, and every one would be pleased with the prospects of a terrific shower; yet soon the threatening clouds would disperse in all directions, and, at different points along the horizon, we could discern where the fury of the elements was spent.”
Tres Alamos would eventually be usurped by the founding of Benson Arizona. And the founding of Benson meant that the Southern Pacific Railroad offered travelers the most advanced conveyance of the day. Stage coaches could never compete with the arrival of railroads. This once vital stage stop that gave travelers refuge from the elements and their fears of the area in general, would soon turn into a remote location and largely forgotten with the passage of time. But its legacy remains an important one. In its day, Tres Alamos was a vital stop as the Arizona Territory slowly gained its populace while its place in the American West.
The above information is in part excerpted from On the Road to Tombstone, by John D. Rose, published in 2012. This is the first book devoted in great detail to Fairbank, Contention City, and legendary Drew’s Station, but also offering an in depth view of the importance of Tres Alamos as an early transportation hub in the wilds of the Arizona Territory. For more on this story and other research breakthroughs, this book is available at https://www.createspace.com/3952635 as well as Amazon.com.
Copyright John D. Rose 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, all rights reserved.