Desert Wells, originally Desert Station, 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

La Paz–Wickenburg Road LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

in the 1870s, is a

populated place Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

La Paz County La Paz County is the 15th county in the U.S. state of Arizona, located in the western part of the state. As of the 2020 census, its population was 16,557, making it the second-least populous county in Arizona. The county seat is Parker. Th ...

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 ...

, United States. It lies at an elevation of and is located 4.7 miles west-southwest of

Vicksburg Vicksburg most commonly refers to: * Vicksburg, Mississippi, a city in western Mississippi, United States * The Vicksburg Campaign, an American Civil War campaign * The Siege of Vicksburg, an American Civil War battle Vicksburg is also the name of ...

on U.S. Route 60.

History

Desert Wells was originally known as Desert Station, a stagecoach station on the

, in what was then Yuma County. It lay 26 miles from

Tyson's Wells Quartzsite is a town in La Paz County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2020 census, the population was 2,413. Interstate 10 runs directly through Quartzsite which is at the intersection of U.S. Route 95 and Arizona State Route 95 wi ...

to the west and 20 miles from Flint's on

Centennial Wash Centennial Wash is an ephemeral dry wash that forms the final watershed of the Gila River in central Arizona – before the river turns south. From the Centennial Wash confluence, the Gila turns south, then southwest to exit Arizona on the Calif ...

to the east. In 1875, it was seen by

Martha Summerhayes Martha Summerhayes (October 21, 1844 – May 12, 1926) was an American memoirist. She was a Nantucket, Massachusetts native who later on in life immigrated to Arizona. A well travelled and educated woman, Summerhayes spent two years, from 1871 ...

, and later described in her book ''Vanished Arizona'':

At night we arrived at Desert Station. There was a good ranch there, kept by Hunt and Dudley, Englishmen, I believe. I did not see them, but I wondered who they were and why they staid in such a place. They were absent at the time; perhaps they had mines or something of the sort to look after. One is always imagining things about people who live in such extraordinary places. At all events, whatever Messrs. Hunt and Dudley were doing down there, their ranch was clean and attractive, which was more than could be said of the place where we stopped the next night, a place called Tyson’s Wells.Martha Summerhayes, ''Vanished Arizona Recollections of the Army Life by a New England Woman'', The Salem Press Co., Salem. Mass., 1908.
/ref>

Desert Station appears on

Arizona Territory The Territory of Arizona (also known as Arizona Territory) was a territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863, until February 14, 1912, when the remaining extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of ...

maps between 1875 and 1880,Sheet No. 3, Department of Arizona. Revised, 1875. Compiled under the authority of Maj. Gen. J.M. Schofield Commanding Mil. Div. of the Pacific by 1st Lieut. J.C. Mallery Corps of Engrs. Published by authority of The Hon. The Secretary of War in the Office of the Chief Of Engineers U.S. Army Washington D.C. 1876. Drawn by J.W. Ward.
/ref>Official Map Of The Territory Of Arizona Compiled from Surveys, Reconnaissances and other Sources. By E.A. Eckhoff And P. Riecker, Civil Engineers, 1880. Drawn by Eckhoff & Riecker. The Graphic Co. Photo-Lith. 39 & 41 Park Place, N.Y. Entered ... 1879, by Emil Eckhoff and Paul Riecker ... Washington, D.C., 1880
“Official Map of the Territory of Arizona” showing La Paz – Wikenburg Road and Hardyville – Prescott Road with mileage between locations along the roads, from davidrumsey.com, accessed on 6/21/2016 and an itineraries in 1878.Richard Josiah Hinton, The Handbook to Arizona: Its Resources, History, Towns, Mines, Ruins, and Scenery, Payot, Upham & Company, San Francisco, 1878
/ref> The name was retained for many years. It took its present form because it had a 120-foot well.

References

{{coord, 33, 42, 30, N, 113, 49, 18, W, display=title, source:GNIS Populated places in La Paz County, Arizona Stagecoach stations in Arizona La Paz–Wikenburg Road

History

See also

References