Burke's Station was a

stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...

station on the

Butterfield Overland Mail Butterfield Overland Mail (officially the Overland Mail Company)Waterman L. Ormsby, edited by Lyle H. Wright and Josephine M. Bynum, "The Butterfield Overland Mail", The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 1991. was a stagecoach service i ...

route in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

. It was named in 1858 after Patrick Burke, the first proprietor of the station. It was temporarily closed when the Butterfield line shut down during 1861 due to the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. Burke's was located 9.43 miles from Grinnels Ranch approximately halfway over the difficult route to Oatman Flat. It was afterward purchased by

King Woolsey King S. Woolsey (ca. 1832 – June 30, 1879) was an American pioneer rancher, prospector and politician in 19th century Arizona. Woolsey Peak and other features of Arizona geography have been named after him, but he has also been criticized by ...

. Later revived as a stagecoach station in 1866, it was purchased by William Fourr who also sold flour and groceries there and acquired a dairy herd. Then in 1869, Fourr sold Burkes Station and it continued as a stage station until the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

arrived in Arizona, making it obsolete.The Fourr Ranch, from Library of Green Valley Hiking Club website, gvhcmail@yahoo.com accessed on July 27, 2011
After closure as a stage station, the name was changed to 'Burkes Ranch' and by 1900 to 'Alpha' (AZ-T101).

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burkes Station Butterfield Overland Mail in New Mexico Territory American frontier History of Arizona Stagecoach stations in New Mexico