Excursion to the Soldiers Hole and Bisbee via the Hanging Tree!

On Friday midmorning we left our RV Park passing through Tombstone taking the Gleeson Road with a view of the Dragoon Mountains. That was when we noticed all these milk cans standing every few miles by the side of the road. Cattle were grazing left and right but they were no milk cows, so we figured they could not be milk cans. Well, we stopped and of course Benno had to investigate and had to laugh out loud, because what he found were rain gauges. :-)

With so many historical sites and stories of bygone days here in Arizona, one doesn’t have to travel very far to find them. In a previous post I wrote about our visit to the old jails. Thanks to Nancy, who pointed out in my comments section that the hanging tree in Gleeson, which was used to chain prisoners to it before the jail was built, still stands behind the old country store, almost opposite of the jail. It was also used as the Hanging Tree. So we wanted to stop by to have a look yesterday on our way to Bisbee. The tree is still majestic and strong in its old age. Yes, the steel cable as well as a chain are still there and are partly ingrown into the trunk.

The old general store next to the wash

While we explored the site, a local resident stopped by to retrieve his mail from one of the dozen or so mailboxes that lined the road. Benno started up a conversation with him about the tree, jail and the wash going by the property. He said the water in the wash that runs by his 32 acre property was 5 feet deep last year but the house he is presently building sits on high ground and is not affected by it. By the way, this fellow could have been a spitting image of “Ryan Black” from the “Farmer Wants a Wife 2023” series, but he said he was from Chicago, so that was a letdown.

There is a story about the “Soldiers Hole” and a marker with bronze plaque sits by the West Gleeson Road, 2-1/2 miles west of Hwy 191, about 6 miles from the Gleeson Jail. In the 1861 to 1886 years cavalry troops camped here at a permanent source of water known as “Soldiers Hole”. There is a 15 page story of its origin published and can be found here for any of you history buffs, it’s quite an interesting read. 

We drove further towards the lovely touristy town of Bisbee, but that took us through the town of Mc Neal where Al and Kelly from “Travel With The Bayfield Bunch” spent some time looking after a ranch during their time vacationing down here in Arizona and you can read about it here.

We stopped at the gas station in Mc Neal on the main road to get a snack. 

In Bisbee, the famous copper mining town is not new to us as we have been touring it a few times in the past. However, we made a stop at the Queen Mine for a bit of touristy browsing of their souvenirs and such. 

A display of  how mining was done about 140 years ago

Nice displays at the Queens Mine

Then it was time to head home as our doxies were getting hungry. It sure was another interesting tour with wonderful views of the surrounding mountains.

Thanks for dropping in again.