Ojo de Vaca Station, was a

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 ...

stagecoach station at Ojo de Vaca (Cow Springs), in

New Mexico Territory The Territory of New Mexico was an organized incorporated territory of the United States from September 9, 1850, until January 6, 1912. It was created from the U.S. provisional government of New Mexico, as a result of ''Santa Fe de Nuevo México ...

. It was located northeast of Soldiers Farewell Station and southwest of Miembre's River Station, later Mowry City. The site is now Cow Springs Ranch located in

Luna County Luna County is a List of counties in New Mexico, county located in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the population was 25,095. Its county seat is Deming, New Mexico, Deming. This county abuts the M ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

, United States.

History

Ojo de Vaca was a watering place on the old trail between

Janos, Chihuahua Janos is a town located in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. It serves as the municipal seat of government for the surrounding Janos Municipality of the same name. As of 2010, the town of Janos had a population of 2,738. Janos was possibl ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

to the Santa Rita

copper mine Copper extraction refers to the methods used to obtain copper from its ores. The conversion of copper consists of a series of physical and electrochemical processes. Methods have evolved and vary with country depending on the ore source, loca ...

s. When

Cooke Cooke is a surname derived from the occupation of cook. Notable people with the surname include: * Alexander Cooke (died 1614), English actor * Alfred Tyrone Cooke, of the Indo-Pakistani wars * Alistair Cooke KBE (1908–2004), British-American j ...

Mormon Battalion The Mormon Battalion was the only religious unit in United States military history in federal service, recruited solely from one religious body and having a religious title as the unit designation. The volunteers served from July 1846 to July ...

was searching for a wagon route between the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

and

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, they intercepted the old Mexican road at this spring, then followed it southward to Guadalupe Pass then westward and northward to Tucson, pioneering the route known as

Cooke's Wagon Road Cooke's Wagon Road or Cooke's Road was the first wagon road between the Rio Grande and the Colorado River to San Diego, through the Mexican provinces of Nuevo México, Chihuahua, Sonora and Alta California, established by Philip St. George ...

. In 1849, Cooke's road became the major southern route of the forty-niners during the

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...

and Ojo de Vaca spring was one of the reliable watering places on what became the

Southern Emigrant Trail :''The Southern Emigrant Trail should not be confused with the Applegate Trail, which is part of the Northern Emigrant Trails.'' Southern Emigrant Trail, also known as the Gila Trail, the Kearny Trail, Southern Trail and the Butterfield Stage ...

. Later Ojo de Vaca was a water station on the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line and subsequently the Butterfield company built their stagecoach station there. It remained an important stop on this route until the long distance stagecoach lines ended in the late 19th century.

References

History of Luna County, New Mexico Geography of Luna County, New Mexico Springs of New Mexico San Antonio–San Diego Mail Line Butterfield Overland Mail in New Mexico Territory Stagecoach stations in New Mexico American frontier {{NewMexico-geo-stub