Maricopa Wells, Arizona

An American wagon train at Maricopa Wells in 1857.

Maricopa Wells, was 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.

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, where they could rest and feed their animals and trade with the nearby Maricopa and Pima natives for food they grew in their fields irrigated by the Gila River. It later became a settlement growing around the location of the large stage station for the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line and Butterfield Overland Mail and for later stage companies. It was at one time the main military telegraph post for all of Arizona Territory. It was abandoned after the arrival of the railroad in favor of the new town along the rail line, called Maricopaville and the later Maricopa Junction which gradually became known as Maricopa.

See also

• Battle of Pima Butte

External links

• Google Map: Maricopa Wells, Arizona
• MARICOPA WELLS and the BUTTERFIELD OVERLAND STAGE HERE
• Topographic map of Maricopa Wells, Arizona, from www.topoquest.com