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Maricopa Wells is a former place (locale) situated in Pinal County, Arizona.[2] It has an estimated elevation of 1,093 feet (333 m) above sea level.[1] Historically, it was an oasis around a series of watering holes in the Sierra Estrella, eight miles north of present-day Maricopa, Arizona, and about a mile west of Pima Butte. It developed as a trading center and stopping place for travelers in the mid to late 19th century.

History

Maricopa Wells was a watering place named by travelers on the Southern Emigrant Trail who used it as a stopping place on the trail. They could rest and feed and water their animals. They traded with the nearby Maricopa and Pima natives for crops produced in their fields, which they irrigated by the Gila River. A settlement developed here when it was the base for the large stage station for the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line and Butterfield Overland Mail, and later stage companies. At one time this was the primary military telegraph post for all of Arizona Territory. Following the American Civil War a traveller's guide to the American West published in 1866 reported that it was 411 miles from San Diego Barracks to Oatman Flat via the roads of the day.[3]

Maricopa and Pimas Villages, Military District of New Mexico, mapped 1858
1904 map of Pima Indian Reservation showing location of Maricopa Wells versus (new) Maricopa
Maricopa Wells is in the center of the map, noted as "abandoned" in this 1913 topographic map produced by the U.S. Geological Survey

Maricopa Wells was abandoned after the Maricopa and Phoenix Railway constructed a route north through Tempe to Phoenix. Maricopaville was planned as a terminus before Tempe won a spot on the line that was constructed. The settlement moved east to what developed as Maricopa Junction, known as Maricopa.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Feature Detail Report for: Maricopa Wells". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  2. ^ "Maricopa Wells (in Pinal County, AZ) Populated Place Profile". AZ Hometown Locator. Retrieved November 27, 2016.
  3. ^ Hall, E. Hepple (1866). The great West: railroad, steamboat, and stage guide and hand-book, for travellers, miners, and emigrants to the western, northwestern, and Pacific states and territories. New York: D. Appleton and Company. p. 93 – via HathiTrust.

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