Texas Hill Station

Texas Hill Station
Locale
Texas Hill Station Texas Hill Station Approximate location in the state of Arizona
Coordinates: 32°49′50″N 113°39′33″W / 32.83056°N 113.65917°WCoordinates: 32°49′50″N 113°39′33″W / 32.83056°N 113.65917°W
Country	United States
State	Arizona
County	Yuma
Elevation	337 ft (103 m)
Time zone	MST (no DST) (UTC-7)
[1]^:150

Texas Hill Station, is the Locale of a later Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach station. It was one of several built in 1859 to increase the number of water stops and team changes along the drier and hotter sections of the route and was located about 2 miles east of Texas Hill.^{[1] :150}

History

Texas Hill Station replaced Griswell's Station and when the Union Army measured the distances between stations in 1862, it was located 10.98 miles east of Mohawk Station, and 16.13 miles from Flap-Jack Ranch, later known as Grinnel’s Ranch, and Stanwix Station. Their report also noted the station was a half a mile back from the river and that there was a little grass on the hill. ^[2]

From 1861 the station was abandoned by the Overland Mail Company, but Texas Hill Station remained in use as a water stop and camp for soldiers, freighters and travelers, and from 1866 until 1880 a stage station once again.^[3]

The Site Today

Today no trace of the station remains in the river valley, no doubt swept away by the changing course of the river or by flood events since 1880.

References

1. Sanders, Kirby, Butterfield Overland Mail Route Through New Mexico and Arizona, Kirby Sanders and Amazon Createspace, 2013
2. THE WAR OF THE REBELLION: A COMPILATION OF THE OFFICIAL RECORDS OF THE UNION AND CONFEDERATE ARMIES. CHAPTER LXII. OPERATIONS ON THE PACIFIC COAST. JANUARY 1, 1861–JUNE 30, 1865. PART I., CORRESPONDENCE., p.1056, itinerary of the marches from Fort Yuma to Pima Villages, made by Lieutenant-Colonel West
3. Barnes, Will C., Arizona Place Names, University of Arizona Bulletin, Vol.IV, No.1, University of Arizona, Tucson, 1935, p.441. "Texas Hill Yuma Co. Hinton Map, 1878; U. S. G. S., 1923.

   In T. 7 S., R. 14 W. Familiar stage station before railroad days; on Gila river near present railroad station of Stoval, or Crystoval, q.v. Of this place Poston writes: "Next Texas Hill looms on the plain." The writer ate dinner at this station in February, 1880. Shows as a mountain on north side of river on some early maps. But was always called Texas Hill."