1917 Map of San Simon

About this map

San Simon Creek bisects this high desert landscape during the mid-1910s, a period when the Southern Pacific railroad served as the vital artery for small Arizona settlements like Bowie and San Simon. To the south, the Chiricahua Mountains rise sharply within the Chiricahua National Forest, housing the site of Old Fort Bowie. This area reveals an economy transitioning from frontier defense to extraction and ranching, evidenced by the Marble Quarries near Bowie Mtn and the isolated National Mine on the New Mexico border.