Arrival of the first locomotive in Fort Yuma, Arizona, in 1877, when the Burkes Station opened.

 Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

By the time Mary Stacey arrived in Arizona territory, she claimed she had traveled across the continent six times. She often wrote to her mother about her adventures traveling from one military post to another and her mother sent Mary’s letters to the local newspaper for publication, particularly when her daughter headed across Arizona’s weird and wonderful desert wilderness.

Petite, golden-haired Mary Henrietta Banks was born July 9, 1846, in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. She married soldier May Humphreys Stacey on Dec. 9, 1869, while he was on leave from Arizona’s Fort Mojave. May Humphreys had been part of the Beale Road expedition that brought camels into the territory in 1857, a project that failed but left camels roaming the desert for several years.

The newlyweds returned to Fort Mojave until 1871 when May was ordered to Angel Island, California, followed by Nevada’s Camp McDermit. Mary gave birth to three children during this time.

In 1878, the Stacey family headed to Arizona’s Fort Thomas where Col. Stacey was to take command. They traveled by train from San Francisco to Fort Yuma, a relatively new mode of transportation in that part of the west.

Mary found Fort Yuma delightful. β€œThe thermometer is 80 in the sun,” she wrote her mother, β€œand we have all varieties of fruits and vegetables β€” strawberries, grapes, melons, cucumbers, green corn, tomatoes, etc. ... cactus ten feet high, a fine swing and croquet ground. In the garden are oranges, lemons, pomegranates, etc. ... While I write the rail cars are passing over the bridge in front of me. Three steamers are lying in sight and a circus is expected. Do you want greater evidence of civilization and culture? Yet I can see the Indian fires opposite my windows and hear the cayotes (sic) cry at night. Strange juxtaposition.”

Fort Yuma, from Yuma City, ca. 1870-90

Departing Fort Yuma, the company followed the Yuma to Tucson road that rarely strayed far from the Gila River.

According to Mary, the outfit β€œconsisted of two immense prairie schooners with twelve mules each, an ambulance with four horses. We have seventy-nine soldiers, who are compelled to travel on foot, as the government made no provision for their transportation.”

As the troops neared Gila City about 25 miles from Yuma, Mary, always eager to explore her surroundings, was disappointed that the entire town consisted of two buildings and a hut.

They drove on through Mission Camp and Fillibuster, old stage stations along the road. Stopping at Mohawk station south of the river, Mary noted that while Col. Stacey was busy purchasing meat from a rancher along with barley and hay for the animals, tempers flared when several of the soldiers helped themselves to some of the rancher’s honey. Peace was restored after the colonel ordered the men to pay for their ill-gotten sweet treat.

As a precaution against the Coronavirus (COVID-19), the annual Christmas en el Barrio used a drive-thru style format to handout toys, gift cards and other items to children and families at the Tucson Rodeo Grounds, on Dec 18, 2020. At 9 a.m. when the event officially kicked off there were over 150 vehicles in line. Over a thousand were expected to come through by the end of the day.

A limited number of volunteers, which added up to just under 50, were present from Nova Home Loans and other community supporters to help welcome vehicles and organize and distribute over $1,600 worth of toys. (Josh Galemore / Arizona Daily Star)

On Dec. 5, they arrived at Burkes Station that had opened in 1877 to maintain the military telegraph line. It was abandoned in 1880 when the railroad roared through the Arizona desert.

A few miles away lay Agua Caliente, warm springs that local Natives had used since the mid-1700s. Adventuresome Mary was not about to drive by without seeing this desert oasis. β€œIt was a dusty ride,” she said, β€œbut we were fully compensated for it. The water was bubbling out of the ground hot and soft.” She claimed she got into the water up to her arms. β€œIt was delightful.”

U.S. Army camp in central Arizona, 1884-1887

As Dec. 9 dawned Mary recalled it was her ninth wedding anniversary, as well as her seventh trip across the continent.

The troops passed through Maricopa Wells before pulling into the Montezuma stage stop.

β€œHere we found a good store,” Mary said, β€œand Mr. Dempsey who keeps it has a charming wife ... Mr. Dempsey gave me some pottery, one a broken bowl he had dug out fourteen feet under ground. How many years it had laid there, who can tell, or by whom made? He also gave me some Arizona rubies (probably garnet gemstones found throughout Arizona), very bright which will be handsome when dressed and set.”

As they neared the Picacho stage station, Mary was informed the caretaker was a disagreeable fellow.

β€œChanalas, the cook, came to me and said, β€˜This man has fresh meat but he won’t sell any; eggs but says he don’t like soldiers.’ So I went into the house ostensibly to warm; at first he would not look at me, but I talked to him and petted his dog and he relented enough to smile at me. ... I seemed to have touched some good chord in his heart, for he sent me ten dozen fresh eggs, and said, β€˜invite the lady down to the house and I will make a big fire.’ I went to bed feeling very sorry for that man, as I had been told his wife was dead, and I saw an empty cradle in his house.”

The next day the wagon train pressed on through Tucson to Camp Lowell. Now only a few days from Fort Thomas and realizing it was almost Christmas, Mary asked the soldiers to stop and cut down a tree so her children would have something to put their presents under on Christmas Day. They arrived at the post on Dec. 23.

Two days after Christmas, the little tree served a more solemn purpose when a soldier died. β€œI took the tree and made a cross of it,” Mary said. β€œHis coffin was wrapped in a flag and the cross placed on his coffin β€” a cross made from a Christmas tree β€” symbol our faith, and buried with honor in honor of the brave, and I trust, good man, who fell in his line of duty.”

Mary wrote little of her time at Fort Thomas except for an extensive account of an outing up Mount Graham in 1879. They stayed at the post until 1882. May Humphreys died four years later.

Mary died January 21, 1918. Her estate consisted of about $100, a few personal possessions, and a lifetime of memories.

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Jan Cleere is the author of several historical nonfiction books about the early people of the Southwest. Email her at Jan@JanCleere.com.

Website: www.JanCleere.com