January 30
This morning, after a day with my horse on Bute, and another day of rest (today), we decided he is fully fit to travel. This morning he had no signs of lameness. I have the great benefit that my host is a veterinarian, so we can consider this an informed decision.

I have officially declared that she, my host, is the angel of this venture. When she learned I wanted to drive my horses around this area, she said I could bring the horses to her place, and I have based here. I had vaguely wanted to drive in this plain between the mountains, and this has evolved into the trip I have planned to start tomorrow. The mountains themselves are the important part, more than the plain, and this trip is two days across them and in their shadows. I am not exaggerating when I say these low mountains are one of the most beautiful spots on earth. Each time so far that I have driven in my truck next to them I have been in awe. Going slowly by horse will be all the finer.

Having visited Cochise Stronghold a couple of days ago, I can see how the mountains were so important to the Apaches, that most of their life would have been in the mountains. The mountains had the water and the richest vegetation, and other advantages. The lowland plains mostly are desert, and in the time of conflict, the Apaches were vulnerable there if seen. If as I am told, the Apaches traveled mostly on foot, the Army would have had some advantage of speed on horses. But in the mountains, the advantage was to the person afoot. From the mountains, the Apaches could see the Army approaching from much distance. If the Army was approaching one side of the mountain, the Apaches could flee from the opposite side.

This morning I went to look at Apache images. In Tombstone, 20 miles south of here, at the OK Corral (in its original location, a museum) is a display of photographs of C. S. Fly. Fly took almost all of the well known pictures of the Chiracahuas, including those of Geronimo. At a later date I will copy some of them here.

The contrast of the Apache pictures with the presentation of cowboy and mining history of Tombstone made the settlers look coarse, corrupt and immoral. One of the presentations was of the prostitutes of the town. I don’t remember the number but can safely say "plentiful". In the display were certificates issued to women by the town, authorizing their trade. The description of their line of work was “ill fame”. Prostitution continued in Arizona until WWI.

Some of the white folks in this area still fail to impress. I took a wrong turn up someone’s drive yesterday near Benson. It was a trailer house with junk cars and garbage all over, and a junkyard dog that approached my truck. I stayed in the truck and turned to leave. Along the drive, I looked down to see a small recently dead dog lying there. On one of the cars was a bumper sticker, “Proud to be a Republican”. I didn’t see much reason for them to be proud of anything, but what do I know?

I am told that Charles Manson declared Benson to be a special place, something like the center of evil. Used to be there was a Route 666 near here, presumably some indication of the devil, but too many people were stealing route signs, so Arizona change the number.

Maybe the area was in better hands with the Apaches.