Where exactly was and is Drew’s Station?
By John D. Rose
Author John D. Rose, at the last remaining wall of Drew’s Station, ca. mid 1990’s.
The first publication to conclusively prove the exact location of Drew's Station was "On the Road to Tombstone: Drew's Station, Contention City, and Fairbank," by John D. Rose. And Drew's Station is, a location that has long generated a great deal of interest: it was an active stage stop for only a short period of time, it was incorrectly named on a survey, there is limited historical documentation relating to it, and it was located on the larger Drew’s ranch which covered 160 acres, with more than one building thereon. The shooting of Kinnear and Company Stage coach driver Bud Philpot near Drew’s is a key event in the Tombstone saga, and has only added to the interest in this site. As a researcher and writer, it was important for me to locate every resource possible which would identify the correct location. Luckily, there exist statements from William Drew himself (in the Drew vs. Mason court case) and others who lived and worked in the area, including T.W. Ayles and Bob Paul, which substantiate the site which I have identified in this book and on my website, WyattEarpExplorers.com. (articles entitled “Drew’s Station” and “New Drew’s?”).
The account of Thomas Webb Ayles was written in Contention. Ayles would not only understand where Drew’s Station/Ranch was in relation to Contention City, but also the location of the point of attack between Drew’s and Contention. And Ayles had another first-hand source of information. Eddie Drew personally told Ayles exactly where he found Bud Philpot’s body, laying in the wash where he was shot off the top of the Kinnear Stage which he was driving, “…the wash just below Drew’s Station…” From the Contention City perspective, this would mean before the stage had reached Drew’s, or south of Drew’s. The Epitaph describes it as follows: “As the stage was going up a small incline about two hundred yards this side of Drew’s Station and about a mile the other side of Contention City…” The Epitaph is a Tombstone paper, and in describing the scene to its readers there, “this side of Drew’s Station” would be to the south, or the Tombstone side of the station. The “other side of Contention City” would then be to the north of Contention City. The Epitaph estimate of “two hundred yards” from the wash to Drew’s Station is in reality underestimated. It is actually 533 yards from the wash to the station, although one of their outbuildings approximately 200 yards from the wash, matching the Epitaph’s account.
Also note that Paul’s description of the holdup in the Arizona Republican of June 26th,,1892 matches the Epitaph description of March 16th, 1881. “A short distance from the ranch was a ‘wash’ about ten feet deep which lay in the road of the stage. When in its bed Philpott [sic] and Mr. Paul noticed four men, two on each side of the ride, standing on the elevation they were approaching.” The stage was coming out of the wash, as the Tombstone Epitaph put it, on “this side” of Drew’s station, clearly to its south, as was the wash in which Philpot was killed. In fact, there are no other washes that intersect the north bound stage road between the correct Drew’s site and that proposed by TTR/Sosa.
In 2011 it was asserted by Nancy Sosa, on behalf of the group known as TTR, that Drew’s Station was farther north than the site I have named and marked on the above maps that appear in On The Road To Tombstone: Drew’s Station, Contention City And Fairbank, as well as at the end of this article. The TTR/Sosa site is 2.43 miles north of south side Contention City, more than one mile farther than the Epitaph report. From the north side of Contention City, the TTR/Sosa site is closer to two miles, still double what Bob Paul stated in his telegram to authorities in Tombstone, on which the Epitaph based the key points of its account.
For support of her site Mrs. Sosa points to the work of 1880’s surveyor Solon Allis. Allis was hired to survey and map the San Juan de las Boquillas y Nogales land grant, beginning the project on February 23rd, 1881. While surveying the boundaries of the grant, he also made mention on the resulting map of key points such as Contention City, the Contention and Grand Central mills, and the old ruins at Santa Cruz (de Terrenate) among others. In Allis’ notes, he makes mention of other landmarks along his line of measure: adobe house (numerous references to these), new hotel, high gulch, old chimney, etc. On one line of entry he mentions “Drew’s House.” If one were to use this note to measure Drew’s location, it would place Drew’s Station closer to the TTR/Sosa site. However, Allis may have mistaken the home of a Morgan or another settler who owned the property north of Drew’s, or was simply misinformed as to which homestead was which while working the area.
The map pictured is this article is a map by William Carlyle for a proposed toll road. The map contains errors. Clearly, the map is not to scale; Billy Ohnesorgan’s ranch and stage station at Tres Alamos, aka, the San Pedro Station, is located north of Benson. Still, the map is not without merit, and it does show Drew’s as being south of lands claimed by “Morgan.” It is in this area that the TTR/Sosa sites are found.
William Carlyle proposed this roadway enterprise to the Pima County Board of Supervisors on November 13th, 1880. This is a different road than the one laid by Robert Mason, William Drew, and H. F. Lawrence, which became what was later known as the “Benson Road,” the one that Bud Philpot was traversing when murdered.
Allis’ key job was defining the true boundaries of the grant, so that the Howard/Hearst partnership knew for certain what lands they had right to as owners. It was not a census to establish the name and location of every inhabitant on the grant, as evidenced by the fact that most buildings are just described rather than specifically identified.
The TTR/Sosa site was actually discovered by BLM employee John Herron, who officially recorded the discovery on October 10th, 1990 by using the Allis survey notes. Since 1990, the Sierra Vista BLM office has widely distributed a contemporary, non-historic, USGS map marking the Herron discovery as Drew’s station. This and binders full (along with the Allis Survey) of Drew information are found at the Chiricahua Regional Museum, Willcox Arizona.
The account of Thomas Webb Ayles was written in Contention. Ayles would not only understand where Drew’s Station/Ranch was in relation to Contention City, but also the location of the point of attack between Drew’s and Contention. And Ayles had another first-hand source of information. Eddie Drew personally told Ayles exactly where he found Bud Philpot’s body, laying in the wash where he was shot off the top of the Kinnear Stage which he was driving, “…the wash just below Drew’s Station…” From the Contention City perspective, this would mean before the stage had reached Drew’s, or south of Drew’s. The Epitaph describes it as follows: “As the stage was going up a small incline about two hundred yards this side of Drew’s Station and about a mile the other side of Contention City…” The Epitaph is a Tombstone paper, and in describing the scene to its readers there, “this side of Drew’s Station” would be to the south, or the Tombstone side of the station. The “other side of Contention City” would then be to the north of Contention City. The Epitaph estimate of “two hundred yards” from the wash to Drew’s Station is in reality underestimated. It is actually 533 yards from the wash to the station, although one of their outbuildings approximately 200 yards from the wash, matching the Epitaph’s account.
Also note that Paul’s description of the holdup in the Arizona Republican of June 26th,,1892 matches the Epitaph description of March 16th, 1881. “A short distance from the ranch was a ‘wash’ about ten feet deep which lay in the road of the stage. When in its bed Philpott [sic] and Mr. Paul noticed four men, two on each side of the ride, standing on the elevation they were approaching.” The stage was coming out of the wash, as the Tombstone Epitaph put it, on “this side” of Drew’s station, clearly to its south, as was the wash in which Philpot was killed. In fact, there are no other washes that intersect the north bound stage road between the correct Drew’s site and that proposed by TTR/Sosa.
In 2011 it was asserted by Nancy Sosa, on behalf of the group known as TTR, that Drew’s Station was farther north than the site I have named and marked on the above maps that appear in On The Road To Tombstone: Drew’s Station, Contention City And Fairbank, as well as at the end of this article. The TTR/Sosa site is 2.43 miles north of south side Contention City, more than one mile farther than the Epitaph report. From the north side of Contention City, the TTR/Sosa site is closer to two miles, still double what Bob Paul stated in his telegram to authorities in Tombstone, on which the Epitaph based the key points of its account.
For support of her site Mrs. Sosa points to the work of 1880’s surveyor Solon Allis. Allis was hired to survey and map the San Juan de las Boquillas y Nogales land grant, beginning the project on February 23rd, 1881. While surveying the boundaries of the grant, he also made mention on the resulting map of key points such as Contention City, the Contention and Grand Central mills, and the old ruins at Santa Cruz (de Terrenate) among others. In Allis’ notes, he makes mention of other landmarks along his line of measure: adobe house (numerous references to these), new hotel, high gulch, old chimney, etc. On one line of entry he mentions “Drew’s House.” If one were to use this note to measure Drew’s location, it would place Drew’s Station closer to the TTR/Sosa site. However, Allis may have mistaken the home of a Morgan or another settler who owned the property north of Drew’s, or was simply misinformed as to which homestead was which while working the area.
The map pictured is this article is a map by William Carlyle for a proposed toll road. The map contains errors. Clearly, the map is not to scale; Billy Ohnesorgan’s ranch and stage station at Tres Alamos, aka, the San Pedro Station, is located north of Benson. Still, the map is not without merit, and it does show Drew’s as being south of lands claimed by “Morgan.” It is in this area that the TTR/Sosa sites are found.
William Carlyle proposed this roadway enterprise to the Pima County Board of Supervisors on November 13th, 1880. This is a different road than the one laid by Robert Mason, William Drew, and H. F. Lawrence, which became what was later known as the “Benson Road,” the one that Bud Philpot was traversing when murdered.
Allis’ key job was defining the true boundaries of the grant, so that the Howard/Hearst partnership knew for certain what lands they had right to as owners. It was not a census to establish the name and location of every inhabitant on the grant, as evidenced by the fact that most buildings are just described rather than specifically identified.
The TTR/Sosa site was actually discovered by BLM employee John Herron, who officially recorded the discovery on October 10th, 1990 by using the Allis survey notes. Since 1990, the Sierra Vista BLM office has widely distributed a contemporary, non-historic, USGS map marking the Herron discovery as Drew’s station. This and binders full (along with the Allis Survey) of Drew information are found at the Chiricahua Regional Museum, Willcox Arizona.
A letter from BLM Archaeologist John Herron informing members of the Drew Family that he had discovered a site that he believed to be Drew’s Station. Though this site is not Drew’s Station, it is the same site which Nancy Lewis Sosa believes is Drew’s Station, as well as her discovery. Dated December 13th, 1990, it is clear that Mr. Herron arrived at the site over twenty years before Mrs. Sosa. The address of the family members has been black lined for their privacy.
Having interviewed Mr. Herron by phone, I learned that the Allis notes were his only source for identifying this as Drew’s Station. I asked him if he had any other primary source for this, and he stated to me that he did not. This means that Mr. Herron made the determination that his site was Drew’s Station based on the Allis notes alone. But Mrs. Sosa has the advantage of having a copy of the Drew vs. Mason case, the principle primary source as to the location of Drew’s Station. Mr. Herron did not have the benefit of this case when he made his determination. I was the first to publish the existence of this case in 2011 on WyattEarpExplorers.com, under the “Drew Family Scrapbook” article. But the Drew vs. Mason court papers contain the conclusive information of Wm. Drew’s three mile estimate from the ruins. Mrs. Sosa has yet to acknowledge this key information within them, or the fact that this alone disproves the site she claims is Drew’s Station.
In his sworn testimony in his trial with Robert Mason, Wm. Drew explained that his homestead was located “about three miles North of the old San Pedro ruins…” The TTR/Sosa site is four miles north of these same ruins. Mrs. Sosa has still not published any of her primary sources that she believes support her argument, which she said she would do in late 2010.
Mr. Kenneth (aka K.t.K) Vail supports Mrs. Sosa on her site, and has made many other errors regarding the location where Philpot was shot, and when and where the wagon roads were established. Vail claims that he has “been unable to find a single contemporary account which places the ambush to fit all the books written about the incident…it dispells [sic] the long-held notion that the ambushed [sic] happened before Drew’s rather than after the stage stop”. He states, “Correct me if I’m wrong, but if the ‘down coach’ gets attacked at ‘the wash’ it means on the Benson side.” Vail, in his second statement, is assuming that “down coach” means from north to south. Actually the term “down coach” referred to the stage coach that was coming down from Tombstone (higher in elevation) to Contention, and then on to Benson.
Vail has asserted that since Bob Paul’s telegram from Benson to Tombstone was written in Benson, then the directions to the site are reversed, and are written for those traveling from Benson south to Drew’s and then to the scene of the shooting. Such a description would only deter the real reason for Paul’s sending this all important telegram, on which the Epitaph based its report. It was to recount the route from Tombstone to Contention and beyond that Paul and Philpot had just taken. It is obvious that Paul sent directions to officials in Tombstone for the purpose of directing posses to the scene to start following the tracks of the killers. Bob Paul gathered men to accompany him from Benson to the location of the shooting, so he would not need to give directions starting in Benson. In fact, Paul’s directions were so clear that by the time he and his men reached the wash, Philpot’s body had been removed.
Vail has also accused Dr. Gary Roberts of misquoting the T.W. Ayles account. Roberts, a respected historian and author, replied, “I’ve not misquoted Ayles I simply interpret it differently. I have always taken the wash ‘just below Drew’s Station’ to mean the wash on the Contention side od [of] the Station. I would expect him [referring to T.W. Ayles] to have said the wash ‘just BEYOND Drew’s Station,’ were it on the Benson side.” Although Roberts added that his mind is not made up on the matter, he was exactly correct. His assertion is backed by Bob Paul’s account. Roberts further added that “…while there is some dispute among the researchers who have worked to locate Drew’s Station, most have placed it on the road after passing the wash.”
In his sworn testimony in his trial with Robert Mason, Wm. Drew explained that his homestead was located “about three miles North of the old San Pedro ruins…” The TTR/Sosa site is four miles north of these same ruins. Mrs. Sosa has still not published any of her primary sources that she believes support her argument, which she said she would do in late 2010.
Mr. Kenneth (aka K.t.K) Vail supports Mrs. Sosa on her site, and has made many other errors regarding the location where Philpot was shot, and when and where the wagon roads were established. Vail claims that he has “been unable to find a single contemporary account which places the ambush to fit all the books written about the incident…it dispells [sic] the long-held notion that the ambushed [sic] happened before Drew’s rather than after the stage stop”. He states, “Correct me if I’m wrong, but if the ‘down coach’ gets attacked at ‘the wash’ it means on the Benson side.” Vail, in his second statement, is assuming that “down coach” means from north to south. Actually the term “down coach” referred to the stage coach that was coming down from Tombstone (higher in elevation) to Contention, and then on to Benson.
Vail has asserted that since Bob Paul’s telegram from Benson to Tombstone was written in Benson, then the directions to the site are reversed, and are written for those traveling from Benson south to Drew’s and then to the scene of the shooting. Such a description would only deter the real reason for Paul’s sending this all important telegram, on which the Epitaph based its report. It was to recount the route from Tombstone to Contention and beyond that Paul and Philpot had just taken. It is obvious that Paul sent directions to officials in Tombstone for the purpose of directing posses to the scene to start following the tracks of the killers. Bob Paul gathered men to accompany him from Benson to the location of the shooting, so he would not need to give directions starting in Benson. In fact, Paul’s directions were so clear that by the time he and his men reached the wash, Philpot’s body had been removed.
Vail has also accused Dr. Gary Roberts of misquoting the T.W. Ayles account. Roberts, a respected historian and author, replied, “I’ve not misquoted Ayles I simply interpret it differently. I have always taken the wash ‘just below Drew’s Station’ to mean the wash on the Contention side od [of] the Station. I would expect him [referring to T.W. Ayles] to have said the wash ‘just BEYOND Drew’s Station,’ were it on the Benson side.” Although Roberts added that his mind is not made up on the matter, he was exactly correct. His assertion is backed by Bob Paul’s account. Roberts further added that “…while there is some dispute among the researchers who have worked to locate Drew’s Station, most have placed it on the road after passing the wash.”
The correct site of the botched robbery attempt, in the wash, just south of Drew’s Station. The cut made by the old wagon road is still visible just beyond the far side of the wash.
Vail’s position is summed up as follows: “All I care about is that Cora Drew Reynolds backs Bob Paul on point.” Vail and others should care about the fact that the founder of Drew’s Station, Wm. Drew, gives a description that shows the TTR/Sosa site to be too far north to be the actual Drew’s Station. Cora stated that the shooting took place after Philpot’s coach passed their station going north. But Cora was about eight years old at that time. And she does not at all corroborate Paul’s description.
Another Vail research error is the following statement: “At this point about August [of] 1879 Drew is nowhere near the place up river from the San Pedro state [station] that would become Drew’s Station…” Vail further asserts that “Drew’s opened for business June 1880…Before [the] Benson Road’ was ever invented there existed the original Tombstone Road direct to Tucson by another route.” In the past, Mr. Vail has accepted Cora Drew’s accounts without reservation, even though she is recounting them decades after the events occurred, and some of her claims have been proven false by other contemporary sources. Cora was, however correct in saying that her father Wm. Drew helped construct their stage station and home. This is backed by his own testimony in the Drew vs. Mason case. If Vail insists that Drew’s did not open until June of 1880, he is actually contradicting Cora here, and has William Drew building his station after his death in November 1879.
Wm. Drew testified that settling and building the ranch began on April 10th, 1878, placing him at that very location for over a full year. He further testified that by the end of 1878, he had built a home, dug a well, built a corral, extended an irrigation ditch to his property, and started raising crops.
Regarding his statements as to the available roadways at the time, Vail further claims the route to Tombstone at that time traversed the “southern end of [the] Whetstone Mts….The stagecoach road from Tucson came by way of Camp Wallen.” He is literally on the wrong side of the valley. Vail next states, “there was no such thing as [the] ‘Benson Road’ before June 1880.” It is true that the road that traveled across Drew’s ranch was not known as the Benson road until Benson was established in June of 1880, but Vail falsely concludes that this means there was no road that crossed Drew’s Ranch and headed toward the area where Benson was about to be founded.
The road in that area did exist, and was improved upon, as proven by the documents published in this article and On The Road To Tombstone: Drew’s Station, Contention City and Fairbank, from Mason’s ranch in the summer of 1878 when they laid out a newer version of it– the road was not called the “Benson Road”, but the established road in the area ran from Tucson to Tres Alamos (Ohnesorgen’s stop eight miles north of the future Benson town site) and on to Tombstone. Mr. Vail should take note of the August 13th, 1878 document from Mason’s ranch (see the maps and documents at the end of this article) showing the laying out of the roadway from Tucson to the Upper San Pedro Settlements, then across Mason’s and Drew’s ranch. He should also take notice that on November 19th, 1878, the Pima County Board of Supervisors approved funds for the repair of this road. That this area was well traveled before Benson was established is further confirmed by John Vosburg’s mule ride to Billy Ohnesorgen’s, as well as the accounts of Ed Schieffelin and Dick Gird. The travel time and expense of commercial stage coach traffic from Tombstone to Contention to Benson traveling through Camp Wallen and near Whetstones defies reason, and the record. Just because a road ran through Camp Wallen does not mean that it was the road used for commercial stage lines traveling from Tombstone, to Contention, past Drew’s and onto the area where Benson would be built.
Vail further advocates the veracity of a reward poster claiming the Philpot robbery happened “at a point about two miles west of Drew’s stage station.” (See page 209, Wyatt Earp, Life behind the Legend, by Casey Tefertiller.) Philpot’s route was from Contention to Benson, a south to north route. The stage did not travel west at this point; that would put Drew’s and the robbery west of the river. Drew’s was clearly on the east side of the river. The poster is in error.
And lastly, Vail supports Cora Drew’s claim that Bud Philpot changed his horses at Drew’s Station on the night of the March 15, 1881 robbery attempt. Once again, Cora was a little girl, recalling this information decades later, no doubt remembering the past times when Philpot did stop with his team when Drew’s was yet a viable station. According to Bob Paul, Bat Masterson was riding that coach that night. “On March 15, a stage left Tombstone with a silver bullion shipment…Bud Philpot was driving, and Bob Paul was riding shotgun…while Philpot changed his teams at the Contention station, the cowboys had ridden cross country to intercept the coach and rob it.” (Bat Masterson, The Man and the Legend, by Robert K. DeArment, University of Oklahoma Press, page 200.)
In conclusion, it is clear that the stage was travelling south to north from Tombstone to Contention to Benson. The attempted robbery happened south of Drew’s Station: “…At Drew’s Station the firing and rapid whirling by of the coach sent men at the station to the scene of the tragedy…” The horse team ran out of control after the first shots were fired, galloping at fever pitch past Drew’s. Bob Paul’s account places Drew’s Station two hundred yards north of the second wash north of Contention City. This second wash is one mile north of the northern end of Contention City; the TTR/Sosa site is two miles north.
This fact, combined with William Drew’s statement that he was located three miles above the ruins, provides definitive proof for the Drew’s location that I have published. Solon Allis is the principal primary source as to the boundaries of the Boquillas Land Grant. Wm. Drew is the principal primary source as to where he lived, and built Drew’s Station. Drew himself provides clear proof that the site discovered first by John Herron of the BLM, later publicized by Mrs. Sosa as her discovery and supported by Kenny Vail, are not Drew’s Station.
Another Vail research error is the following statement: “At this point about August [of] 1879 Drew is nowhere near the place up river from the San Pedro state [station] that would become Drew’s Station…” Vail further asserts that “Drew’s opened for business June 1880…Before [the] Benson Road’ was ever invented there existed the original Tombstone Road direct to Tucson by another route.” In the past, Mr. Vail has accepted Cora Drew’s accounts without reservation, even though she is recounting them decades after the events occurred, and some of her claims have been proven false by other contemporary sources. Cora was, however correct in saying that her father Wm. Drew helped construct their stage station and home. This is backed by his own testimony in the Drew vs. Mason case. If Vail insists that Drew’s did not open until June of 1880, he is actually contradicting Cora here, and has William Drew building his station after his death in November 1879.
Wm. Drew testified that settling and building the ranch began on April 10th, 1878, placing him at that very location for over a full year. He further testified that by the end of 1878, he had built a home, dug a well, built a corral, extended an irrigation ditch to his property, and started raising crops.
Regarding his statements as to the available roadways at the time, Vail further claims the route to Tombstone at that time traversed the “southern end of [the] Whetstone Mts….The stagecoach road from Tucson came by way of Camp Wallen.” He is literally on the wrong side of the valley. Vail next states, “there was no such thing as [the] ‘Benson Road’ before June 1880.” It is true that the road that traveled across Drew’s ranch was not known as the Benson road until Benson was established in June of 1880, but Vail falsely concludes that this means there was no road that crossed Drew’s Ranch and headed toward the area where Benson was about to be founded.
The road in that area did exist, and was improved upon, as proven by the documents published in this article and On The Road To Tombstone: Drew’s Station, Contention City and Fairbank, from Mason’s ranch in the summer of 1878 when they laid out a newer version of it– the road was not called the “Benson Road”, but the established road in the area ran from Tucson to Tres Alamos (Ohnesorgen’s stop eight miles north of the future Benson town site) and on to Tombstone. Mr. Vail should take note of the August 13th, 1878 document from Mason’s ranch (see the maps and documents at the end of this article) showing the laying out of the roadway from Tucson to the Upper San Pedro Settlements, then across Mason’s and Drew’s ranch. He should also take notice that on November 19th, 1878, the Pima County Board of Supervisors approved funds for the repair of this road. That this area was well traveled before Benson was established is further confirmed by John Vosburg’s mule ride to Billy Ohnesorgen’s, as well as the accounts of Ed Schieffelin and Dick Gird. The travel time and expense of commercial stage coach traffic from Tombstone to Contention to Benson traveling through Camp Wallen and near Whetstones defies reason, and the record. Just because a road ran through Camp Wallen does not mean that it was the road used for commercial stage lines traveling from Tombstone, to Contention, past Drew’s and onto the area where Benson would be built.
Vail further advocates the veracity of a reward poster claiming the Philpot robbery happened “at a point about two miles west of Drew’s stage station.” (See page 209, Wyatt Earp, Life behind the Legend, by Casey Tefertiller.) Philpot’s route was from Contention to Benson, a south to north route. The stage did not travel west at this point; that would put Drew’s and the robbery west of the river. Drew’s was clearly on the east side of the river. The poster is in error.
And lastly, Vail supports Cora Drew’s claim that Bud Philpot changed his horses at Drew’s Station on the night of the March 15, 1881 robbery attempt. Once again, Cora was a little girl, recalling this information decades later, no doubt remembering the past times when Philpot did stop with his team when Drew’s was yet a viable station. According to Bob Paul, Bat Masterson was riding that coach that night. “On March 15, a stage left Tombstone with a silver bullion shipment…Bud Philpot was driving, and Bob Paul was riding shotgun…while Philpot changed his teams at the Contention station, the cowboys had ridden cross country to intercept the coach and rob it.” (Bat Masterson, The Man and the Legend, by Robert K. DeArment, University of Oklahoma Press, page 200.)
In conclusion, it is clear that the stage was travelling south to north from Tombstone to Contention to Benson. The attempted robbery happened south of Drew’s Station: “…At Drew’s Station the firing and rapid whirling by of the coach sent men at the station to the scene of the tragedy…” The horse team ran out of control after the first shots were fired, galloping at fever pitch past Drew’s. Bob Paul’s account places Drew’s Station two hundred yards north of the second wash north of Contention City. This second wash is one mile north of the northern end of Contention City; the TTR/Sosa site is two miles north.
This fact, combined with William Drew’s statement that he was located three miles above the ruins, provides definitive proof for the Drew’s location that I have published. Solon Allis is the principal primary source as to the boundaries of the Boquillas Land Grant. Wm. Drew is the principal primary source as to where he lived, and built Drew’s Station. Drew himself provides clear proof that the site discovered first by John Herron of the BLM, later publicized by Mrs. Sosa as her discovery and supported by Kenny Vail, are not Drew’s Station.
A map for a proposed toll bridge on the San Pedro, which makes mention of Drew’s Station.
William Drew’s map, published for the first time ever in On the Road to Tombstone: Drew’s Station, Contention City and Fairbank. On the pages that follow this all important map is divided into multiple images for close in viewing for the readers study.
The last of the Drew map images.
This USGS map shows Quiburi Mission at the location of Santa Cruz de Terrenate, aka, the San Pedro Ruins. As Wm. Drew noted, he located his home “about three miles North of the old San Pedro ruins…” Traveling the contours of the San Pedro River, this 2.8 distance is almost exactly three miles just as Drew estimated. “Presidio de Terrenate” has been added to the map for easy reference. The correct location of Drew’s Station is settled. At the north side of Contention, the distance from the Sunset Mill to the robbery site is exactly one mile, just as Bob Paul described. This map was first published in August of 2012 on page 13 of On the Road to Tombstone: Drew’s Station, Contention City and Fairbank by John D. Rose.
Cropped from the Eckhoff and Riecker map of the Arizona Territory, first published in 1880. The large square shown is the outline of the Tombstone Mining District. Note that the bottom left corner of the District’s outline is at the “Ruins of old St. Cruz,” aka, Santa Cruz de Terranate, a site wrongly noted as Quiburi Mission by Dr. Charles Di Peso in the 1950’s. At the top left of the District’s boundary, the word “Drew’s”, has been darkened to make it make it more distinct to the reader, is visible with the northern line of the district running through it.
The above two documents prove that the need and planning for a stage across Drew’s ranch was well underway in 1878. Also, on November 19th, 1878, the Pima County Board of Supervisors appointed A.A. Wilt as Road Overseer for the “San Pedro Road District and that the sum of Five hundred dollars be allowed to build [a] bridge and repair [the] road…” The fact that just three months after the Mason/Drew/Lawrence survey, the road was in need of repair, likely means that travelers began using the road in its primitive state, and then the county attempted to improve it once in use, which was often the case in such boom areas. It is likely that Drew began his enterprise of a stage station as soon as travelers began crossing his land, offering him readily available income.
The above information is in part excerpted from On the Road to Tombstone, Drew’s Station, Contention City And Fairbank by John D. Rose, published in 2012. This is the first book devoted in great detail to not only the Fairbank Train Robbery, but also the town of Fairbank, Contention City, and legendary Drew’s Station. For more on this story and other research breakthroughs, this book is available at https://www.createspace.com/3952635 as well as Amazon.com.
This essay and accompanying documents originally were published in On The Road To Tombstone: Drew’s Station, Contention City and Fairbank, the cover of which is pictured above. Copyright John D. Rose, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018.