Bear Spring House, Guardhouse, and Spring
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bear Spring House, Guardhouse, and Spring | |
 Bear Spring house, ca. 1915 | |
   | |
| Location | Bowie, Arizona |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 32°08′22″N 109°25′34″W / 32.13944°N 109.42611°W |
| NRHP reference No. | 83002985[1] |
| Added to NRHP | March 18, 1983 |
The Bear Spring House, Guardhouse, and Spring is a late 19th century ranch situated in the Chiricahua Mountains in Cochise County, Arizona
Apache Pass is a pass in the Chiricahua Mountains. During the mid and late 1800s, it became a point of contention between European settlers and the Chiricahua Apache, as it was at a crossroad in the region, as well as being the site of a freshwater spring. In 1857, the Butterfield Overland Mail Stage Line established a station in the pass. In 1862, the Battle of Apache Pass took place, after which Fort Bowie was established on July 28, 1862. The spring in the pass supplied all the water for the fort initially, but by 1874, more water was needed, and nearby Bear Spring was selected. A stone reservoir was created to store water, which was pumped into water wagons and trucked to the fort. In 1874 an adobe guardhouse was constructed.[2]
In 1884–85, a 5,000 foot pipeline was laid between the reservoir and the fort, using two-inch pump and a hydraulic ram. The two-inch line was replaced with a four-inch line in 1889. In 1894 Fort Bowie was abandoned. That year, James Dickson began construction on the farm house, on land which included the guardhouse, the reservoir, and another small defensive bunker. The house was two-story, with four dormer windows. The windows were salvaged from the home of the fort's commander, Colonel E. B. Beaumont, and many of the other building materials were also scrounged from the fort. In 1918 L. A. Knape purchased the property from Dickson, he added large tracts of the surrounding land, turning it into a cattle ranch, which was sold in 1934. Since then it has seen several different owners.[2]
