Navajo Springs

Before the Atlantic & Pacific railroad reached Horsehead Crossing on the Little Colorado and renamed it Holbrook, the Wells Fargo stage line had a station at Navajo Springs.

The name says Navajo Springs, but it's really a seep. Still there. No stage station. Nothing, really, but a single commemorative stone.

ARIZ. TERR. GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED HERE DEC. 26, 1863

Correct. When Arizona was separated from the territory of New Mexico, the new governor stopped at Navajo Springs, the first stage station into the new territory of Arizona, where he took his oath of office. 

This is the photograph of a photograph I took of the seep at Navajo Springs. If it were dug out, there would be water. At least, that's what the reeds in the swale seem to say. There were only shards of old wood left there, which I took to be what was left of the old stage station. A warped old wooden water trough still lay there as well. But 360 degrees showed only a flat horizon such as you see in the photo. 

When the new governor, John Noble Goodman, assigned by President Lincoln, arrived in the new town of Prescott, he had to set up his government in the military camp nearby. It might be good to remember the first capital of Arizona, especially if you are a reader of this blog. 

Fort Whipple!