Steins Peak

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Steins Peak
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Steins Peak
Location in New Mexico
Highest point
Elevation 5,864 ft (1,787 m)  NAVD 88 [1]
Prominence 1,061 ft (323 m) [1]
Coordinates 32°20′01″N109°02′37″W / 32.3336902°N 109.0436689°W / 32.3336902; -109.0436689 Coordinates: 32°20′01″N109°02′37″W / 32.3336902°N 109.0436689°W / 32.3336902; -109.0436689 [2]
Geography
Location Hidalgo County, New Mexico, U.S.
Parent range Peloncillo Mountains

Steins Peak is a 5,864-foot-high (1,787 m) mountain in Hidalgo County, New Mexico. It lies south of the upper reach of Doubtful Canyon. It is located 0.3 miles (0.5 km) east of the Arizona, New Mexico State line and 8 miles (13 km) north northwest of Steins, New Mexico.

Hidalgo County, New Mexico county in New Mexico, United States

Hidalgo County is the southernmost county of the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 4,894. The county seat and largest city is Lordsburg. A bill creating Hidalgo from the southern part of Grant County was passed on February 25, 1919, taking effect at the beginning of 1920. The county was named for the town north of Mexico City where the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, which in turn was named for Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, the priest who is known as the "Father of Mexican Independence". This county abuts the Mexican border.

New Mexico State of the United States of America

New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern region of the United States of America; its capital and cultural center is Santa Fe which was founded in 1610 as capital of Nuevo México, while its largest city is Albuquerque with its accompanying metropolitan area. It is one of the Mountain States and shares the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona; its other neighboring states are Oklahoma to the northeast, Texas to the east-southeast, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua to the south and Sonora to the southwest. With a population around two million, New Mexico is the 36th state by population. With a total area of 121,590 sq mi (314,900 km2), it is the fifth-largest and sixth-least densely populated of the 50 states. Due to their geographic locations, northern and eastern New Mexico exhibit a colder, alpine climate, while western and southern New Mexico exhibit a warmer, arid climate.

Doubtful Canyon

Doubtful Canyon was the name of two canyons in the Peloncillo Mountains, once considered in the 19th century as one canyon that served as the pass through those mountains. Today the canyon bearing the name Doubtful Canyon, is mostly in Cochise County, Arizona, near the New Mexico border. It descends to the east into the Animas Valley past Steins Peak it is in Hidalgo County, New Mexico. Doubtful Canyon has a tributary, Little Doubtful Canyon that joins it just east of the Arizona New Mexico border. The western canyon is now called West Doubtful Canyon and it descends into the San Simon Valley, in Cochise County, Arizona.

Contents

History

The peak was named for U. S. Army Major Enoch Steen (1800–1880) who led troops and an expedition in the area in 1849 and the early 1850s. [2] It was a landmark for travelers that indicated the Doubtful Canyon pass through the Peloncillo Mountains along the Butterfield Overland Mail where it built its Steins Peak Station to the north of the mountain along Doubtful Canyon.

Major is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world.

Enoch Steen United States Army officer and western explorer

Enoch Steen was a United States military officer and western explorer. He joined the United States Army in 1832, serving at posts throughout the United States, including many remote locations in the west. During his military service, Steen explored parts of the western United States including large areas of southern New Mexico and southeastern Oregon. He served as the commander of several Union Army forts during the American Civil War. Today, there are landmarks in Oklahoma, Oregon, and New Mexico named in his honor; however, many of the place names are misspelled as Stein.

Peloncillo Mountains (Cochise County)

The Peloncillo Mountains of Cochise County is a mountain range in northeast Cochise County, Arizona. A northern north-south stretch of the range extends to the southern region of Greenlee County on the northeast, and a southeast region of Graham County on the northwest. The north stretch of the Peloncillo's forms the border between the two counties. It lies east and northeast of the Willcox Playa, and the San Simon Valley.

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Steins, New Mexico human settlement in United States of America

Steins is a ghost town in Stein's Pass of Hidalgo County, New Mexico. It was originally called Stein's Pass after the nearby pass through the Peloncillo Mountains. The pass was named after United States Army Major Enoch Steen, who camped nearby in 1856, as he explored the recently acquired Gadsden Purchase.

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The Skirmish in Doubtful Canyon took place on May 3, 1864 between a company of infantry from the California Column and a band of about 100 Apaches. The fighting occurred near Steins Peak in Doubtful Canyon, Arizona Territory. Doubtful Canyon, along with Apache Pass in Arizona and Cookes Canyon, in New Mexico was a favored location for an ambush by the Apache along the Butterfield Overland Mail route.

West Doubtful Canyon canyon in south-east Arizona

West Doubtful Canyon was the name of one of two canyons in the Peloncillo Mountains, once considered in the 19th century as one canyon "Doubtful Canyon" that served as the pass through those mountains. Today the canyon bearing the name Doubtful Canyon, is mostly in Cochise County, Arizona, near the New Mexico border. It descends to the east into the Animas Valley past Steins Peak it is in Hidalgo County, New Mexico. The western canyon is now called West Doubtful Canyon and it descends into the San Simon Valley, in Cochise County, Arizona.

Stein's Peak Station, was one of the original stage stations of the Butterfield Overland Mail. Its ruins are still to be seen in Doubtful Canyon, at an elevation of 4652 feet, northeast of Stein's Peak in Hidalgo County, New Mexico. Stein's Peak Station, was 35 miles (56 km) east of Apache Pass Station and 42 miles (68 km) west of Soldier's Farewell Stage Station. Later stations were located midway between these stations to provide water and changes of horse teams in the hot, arid climate. These were San Simon Station to the west and Mexican Springs Station to the east of Lordsburg, New Mexico.

San Simon River is an ephemeral river, or stream running through the San Simon Valley in Graham and Cochise County, Arizona and Hidalgo County, New Mexico. Its mouth is at its confluence with the Gila River at Safford in Graham County. Its source is located at 31°51′21″N109°01′27″W.

Stein's Pass, is a gap or mountain pass through the Peloncillo Mountains of Hidalgo County, New Mexico. The pass was named after United States Army Major Enoch Steen, who camped nearby in 1856, as he explored the recently acquired Gadsden Purchase. The pass is in the form of a canyon cut though the mountains through which Steins Creek flows to the west just west of the apex of the pass to the canyon mouth at 32°13′19″N109°01′48″W.

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