2017

Updated May 26, 2019 - Posted March 29, 2017 - Charles Miles

Exiting Buehman Canyon in a storm. February 2017.

The rain is making streaks across my photos – I am half way up a small side canyon finishing a too-short loop in Buehman Canyon. Often I would welcome the weather – but today, parked on a dirt road I barely know and in a section of canyon I have never visited before, an early exit due to the weather seems like a smart decision and, reluctantly, I continue upwards.

Rather than the the traditional entrance to Buehman Canyon I started on Brush Corral Road – FR4407 – near Pink Tank. From here there are beautiful views of the Evans Mountain area – it is an easy walk to the edge of Buehman Canyon and stunning views of the canyon below.

The descent down a small drainage into the canyon is steep and unremarkable – but the bottom of the canyon is amazing! Interesting rock walls, carved water ways, flowing water, gorgeous colors – the first drops of rain signal an end too my visit much too quickly…

Pima County owns and protects much of the bottom of the canyon east of the forest boundary – the land was donated to The Nature Conservancy in 1996 and in 2011 was transferred to Pima County (who owns the nearby A7 and Six Bar ranches). In the last few miles down to the San Pedro River the canyon becomes a mix of Arizona State Trust Land and private land.

Buehman Canyon is named for Henry Buehman. Henry Buehman was born in Bremen, Germany, in 1851 and before setting off for the US in 1868 he spent 3 years as a photographer’s apprentice. After a short stay in New York Buehman traveled to California where he worked as a photographer for 4 years before selling his business in Visalia to fund mining ventures in Califonia, Utah and Nevada.

After becoming an American citizen Buehman crossed into in Arizona at Stone’s Ferry and equipped himself for a trip into Mexico in Prescott – but in Tucson he ended his journey and soon began working as a photoghaper and dentist.

Buehman made potraits, photographed events and traveled Southern Arizona creating photographs. His studio and photographic business were successful and he purchased 150 acres west of Redington and established a ranch. He lost the ranch after droughts in 1895 and 1896.

In addition to photography Buehman held a number of offices in Pima County and Tucson beginning in 1882 when he was elected as Public Administrator of Pima County and culminating with two consecutive terms as Mayor from 1895 to 1899.

Henry Buehman died in 1912 – but Buehman Studio continued to be run by Henry’s son Albert and grandson Remick. The studio closed in 1950 and in 1967 the Arizona Historical Society purchased the collection. The photos are available for the public to view thru the Arizona Historical Society and are featured in The Buehman Studio, Tucson in Focus.

Sutherland Wash Rock Art District – 1/29/2017

Updated May 26, 2019 - Posted February 14, 2017 - Charles Miles

Rushing water in Sutherland Wash. January 2017.

Moving away from the static of the rushing water in Sutherland Wash we can hear the slow, constant, distant, repeating gunshots – not close by, not a concern… not even inappropriate – but certainly an unwelcome intrusion as we try to carefully and respectfully contemplate the petroglyphs in the Sutherland Wash Rock Art District.

After visiting this area last year I spent some time reading about and looking for information – some of which is included in the post – this year my mind wanders to two books – John P. Wilson’s Islands in the Desert (an amazing history of the mountains of Southern Arizona) and Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian (a fictional journey thru the borderlands of the mid 1800s based on the Glanton Gang). In both books the landscape is a stunningly beautiful – maybe even magical in Blood Meridian, but in both books there is also terrible and stunning violence – sacred and the profane, petroglyphs and gunfire…

Green Mountain – 9/24/2016

Updated May 26, 2019 - Posted December 12, 2016 - Charles Miles

Guthrie Mountain from Green Mountain. September 2016.

Views from Green Mountain – from San Pedro Vista the trail climbs to a saddle, from the saddle a set of loose/braided/unofficial half-paths climb first to a rocky overlook and then to the flat tree-covered summit of Green Mountain.

Headless Windmill in Geesaman Wash – 8/5/2016

Updated May 26, 2019 - Posted August 17, 2016 - Charles Miles

Headless Windmill in Geesaman Wash at 'Deep Well'. August 2016. — Headless Windmill in Geesaman Wash at ‘Deep Well’. August 2016.

As a result of the mining and ranching history on the east side of the Santa Catalina Mountains there are a seemingly infinite number of dirt roads criss-crossing the landscape. One of these roads splits off from the Black Hills Mine road and works along the ridge between the Geesaman and Stratton Washes. Below the road, in Geesaman Wash, at a site labeled ‘Deep Well’ a headless windmill stands near a large, impressively full, water tank – the solar panels that replaced the windmill sit below the old tower.

Finley Geesaman, 1830-1917, staked a number of claims in the Old Hat Mining district and this wash and a mine group higher on the mountain bear his name. A short obituary appeared in the Arizona Daily Star on December 18, 1917:

Finley Geesaman.

Up to 9 o’clock last night, pioneers of Tucson visited the Reilly Undertaking parolrs [sic] to take a last look at the long familiar features of Finley Gessaman [sic], who died Saturday night at a local hospital after a brief illness, at the age of 87. The remains will be shipped this morning to his boyhood home, Quincy, Ill., to rest beside the graves of his father and mother. Mr. Gessaman is survived by a number of nephews and nieces, beneficiaries under his will of an estate estimated at about $60,000. His holdings include a number of claims in the Catalina mountains. Once the owner of the old Condon mines, he sold them to the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining company.

There are two photos of F. Geesaman in the Geesaman Family Newsletter #11 (Volume III, July, 1977, No. 3) – a portrait and a photo of Geesaman in the door of a cabin in the Santa Catalina Mountains. These photos accompany a letter written by Geo. P. Myers to Miss Amanda F. Geesaman of Rouzerville, Pa. after Geesaman’s death.

A horseshoe in the Deep Well area of Geesaman Wash. August 2016.

A flower surviving in the middle of Black Hills Mine Road. August 2016.

Marked on the map as 'Drill Hole' this small site sits on the slope of Alder Canyon below Black Hills Mine Road. August 2016. — Marked on the map as ‘Drill Hole’ this small site sits on the slope of Alder Canyon below Black Hills Mine Road. August 2016.

Phone with Windmill, Redington – 7/16/2016

Updated May 26, 2019 - Posted August 8, 2016 - Charles Miles

The payphone in Redington. July 2016. — The phone in Redington. July 2016.

Near the San Pedro River, between Redington and Cascabel Road, at the edge of Redfield Canyon, across from the Carlink Ranch, in the ‘town’ of Redington, with the top of a windmill visible over the trees and protected by a cholla stands a lonely phone. There are roads, homes and ranches along the San Pedro River so I suppose the phone makes a certain kind of sense – but mostly it just seems strange.

Crossing the San Pedro River on the way from Redington Road to the town of Redington and the Carlink Ranch. July 2016. — Crossing the San Pedro River on the way from Redington Road to the town of Redington and the Carlink Ranch – cows in the distance. July 2016.

The Redfields settled in the San Pedro River Valley in the 1870s when Apache Raids were a concern and soldiers traveled from Fort Lowell over Redington Pass to protect residents. In 1879 the Redfields petitioned for a post office to be established, but the site could not be named after a living person so the name ‘Redington’ was used instead of Redfield. In the late 1880s Henry Redfield sold his ranch and moved to Benson – the ranch was eventually acquired by the Bayless family who had established the Carlink Ranch 1884. The Carlink Ranch is still operating today, run by descendants of William Bayless. The Post Office operated until 1940 and at one time the town had both a school and a general store.