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"What was it like to ride a stagecoach from Tucson to what became Oro Valley in 1900? Stagecoaches were used to transport goods and passengers in Great Britain from the 1700s onward, and they became common in the western United States in the late nineteenth century. A stagecoach carried people and freight from Tucson to Mammoth from the 1880s to at least 1908. After that, railroads, buses and automobiles replaced the stagecoach.
In 1900, the stagecoach followed Oracle Road, a rough, dirt highway. Passengers were in for a dusty and bumpy ride. The stagecoach left central Tucson and followed much of what is now Oracle Road to Mammoth. The roadway crossed the sandy bottom of the Rillito River about one-half mile west of the current bridge crossing.
The stage continued northward and often stopped at Steam Pump Ranch to water the horses, or at Francisco Marin’s ranch one mile further north (and 12 miles from the start in Tucson) to hitch up fresh teams. After 1899, the stagecoach primarily stopped at the Marin ranch. The significant elevation near Marin’s property, called Marin Hill, was the steepest climb for the horses and stagecoach (located on Oracle Road today, between the entrance to Catalina State Park and Tangerine Road). Some of the stagecoach operators and teamsters included local settlers like William Sutherland, Jesus Maria Elias and Teodoro Marin. Some of these men left jobs with the stagecoach and settled on ranches in the area."
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"Claiming the Desert" is available at the Western National Parks Association and through Amazon.com.
Jim will speak and sign books at Western National Parks on December 8, 2018. The location:12880 N Vistoso Village in Oro Valley.
