San Carlos, Arizona, in the Eighties: The Land of the Apache

San Carlos, Arizona, is located where the San Carlos river flows into the Gila. The Agency and Camp were located on a Mesa forty-five feet above and North of the Gila. To the South is Mt. Trumbull, to the North the Triplets and to the West the Pinal Mountains. The land was sparsely covered with scrub Mesquite, Cactus, Prickley Pear and Sage brush and was dry and dusty. Truly the home and habitat of the.- coyote, horned toad, tarantula, centipede, scorpion, gila monster, skunk, rattlesnake and Apache. Some of the bottom land was arable. Water for domestic purposes was obtained from the river but later from wells. All food was brought in by wagon train. Beef was slaughtered on the reservation. This was an advanced outpost and life was entirely frontier. There were no tents and no buildings until about the eighties. The photographs show the camp and agency some-time in the early eighties.