Maricopa Wells, Arizona

Locale in Arizona, United States

33°09′43″N 112°05′03″W / 33.16194°N 112.08417°W / 33.16194; -112.08417CountryUnited StatesStateArizonaCountyPinalElevation

^[1]

1,093 ft (333 m)Time zoneUTC-7 (Mountain (MST)) • Summer (DST)UTC-7 (MST)Area code520FIPS code04-44585GNIS feature ID42802

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 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.

References

^ ^a ^b "Feature Detail Report for: Maricopa Wells". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
^ "Maricopa Wells (in Pinal County, AZ) Populated Place Profile". AZ Hometown Locator. Retrieved November 27, 2016.
^ 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.

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
Maricopa Wells – ghosttowns.com

Municipalities and communities of Pinal County, Arizona, United States

County seat: Florence

Cities

Towns

CDPs

Populated
places

Indian reservations

Ghost towns

Footnotes

‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties

Arizona portal
United States portal

v t e Butterfield Overland Mail 3rd Division Stations
Swiveler's Mission Camp Filibusters Camp Antelope Peak Peterman's (Mohawk) Texas Hill Griswell's Flap-Jack Ranch Burke's Oatman's Flat Murderer's Grave Gila Ranch Desert Maricopa Wells Casa Blanca Socatoon Oneida Blue Water Picacho Pointer Mountain Tucson
Source: "List of Butterfield Overland Mail Stations "Itinerary of the Route"" (PDF). New York Times. October 14, 1858.