SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 157 
These animals were probably mired in the soft mud at the edge of 
the prehistoric lake. 
The desert valleys of San Simon and Sulphur Spring were inhabited 
by Indians of the agricultural class long before the advent of the 
Apaches. They had small settlements on the slopes near the foot of 
the mountains, mostly at places where the ground was occasionally 
flooded by summer downpours. Most homesteaders who have tried 
to live in such places have failed, but the Indians had the advantage 
of special drought-resisting varieties of corn, beans, and squash, 
which matured quickly when they had a little water, and their ability 
to piece out the ration with mesquite beans, sacaton seed, and animal 
food. Possibly there were many other plants that yielded food for 
them. Water supply was a serious problem, for in many places the 
water had to be brought from a great distance. Many potsherds indi- 
cate that they had plenty of vessels for the storage of food and water. 
Cochise is a small village sustained mainly by ranches in the adjoin- 
ing valley, and it is the junction point of the Arizona Eastern Railroad, 
: which goes south through Sulphur Spring Valley to 
Coctier. the mining settlements of Pearce (15 miles), Court- 
Populations land, and Gleeson and the city of Douglas. (See 
New Orleans1,420  p, 173.) At Pearceis the Commonwealth mine, which 
—— has been producing gold and other ore for the last 35 
years. The production to 1922 is stated by the present owners to 
have been $20,000,000. 
Northwest of Cochise is a prominent butte consisting mainly of 
limestone of Carboniferous age, on the southern extension of the axis 
of the Winchester Mountains. 
The old Butterfield Overland Mail, having come through Apache 
Pass and crossed Sulphur Spring Valley some distance south of Will- 
cox, passed near Cochise and through Dragoon Pass to the old stage 
station at Croton Spring, in the San Pedro Valley. Near Cochise the 
railroad has a moderate upgrade to reach Dragoon Pass, the gap 
between the Dragoon and Little Dragoon Mountains. In the Dra- 
goon Mountains, which lie south of the railroad, is the celebrated can- 
yon known as Cochise’s Stronghold, where the wily Apache band 
under the leadership of Cochise took refuge when pursued. 
handsome canyon, eroded out of red granite, has so narrow a mouth 
that it was easily defended and never taken. Gen. O. O. Howard was 
secretly conducted here by agents of Cochise for the conference which 
led to a treaty in 1872. (See p. 147.) The remains of Cochise are 
buried near the mouth of the canyon, but no white man has ever known 
the precise location. The stronghold, now often used as a picnic 
ground, can be easily reached by road from Cochise. 
A short distance south of Manzoro siding i is the old Golden Rule 
mine, formerly a producer of silver ore in moderate amount, from 
