In 1900, finding Bisbee's smelter too small and inconvenient to handle ores from
recently purchased mines in Mexico, the Phelps Dodge Company, began looking for
a new smelter site in Sulphur Springs Valley. They chose this spot and named the
new town for Dr. James Douglas, president of the company.
In the early 20th century, Douglas and its sister town in Mexico, Agua Prieta, saw
their share of excitement. Mexican government troops battled it out in Agua Prieta
with revolutionaries Captain "Red" Lopez in 1911 and Pancho Villa in 1915.
Pancho Villa even made threats against the town of Douglas before eventually retreating.
An international airport—part of its runway in the United States and part
in Mexico—opened here in 1928.
The fortunes of both
Douglas and Agua Prieta rose and fell with the price of copper. The prettiest sight
in Douglas, some residents used to say, was the billowing steam and smoke from the
giant copper smelter just west of town. The busy ore-processing plant meant jobs.
Smokestacks of the Phelps Dodge smelter puffed their last in January 1987, but the
two cities have diversified with other industries. American companies operate manufacturing
plants in Agua Prieta under the "twin plant" concept, using Mexico's inexpensive
labor to assemble American products. With these new opportunities, Agua Prieta's
population has mushroomed to about 150,000, eclipsing that of Douglas' approximately
17,500.
Historic Architecture
Many fine early 20th-century commercial buildings
line downtown streets. Church Square, two blocks east of the Gadsden Hotel, earned
fame in the 1930 Ripley's Believe It or Not as the only city block in the
world with a church on each corner; it's between 10th and 11th Streets and D and
E Avenues. These old churches and the buildings in the adjacent Douglas Residential
District (Seventh to 12th Sts. and E to Carmelita Aves.) are fine examples of period
architecture.
The Beaux Arts Classic Revival-style railroad
depot, used from 1913 to the end of passenger service in 1961, has been restored
to its former elegance; you're welcome to step inside the rotunda and see the stained-glass
ceiling. The depot is at Pan American Ave. and 14th St., just south of Douglas Visitor
Center, and now serves as the police station, so it's always open.
Douglas-Williams House Museum
Jimmy "Rawhide" Douglas—who
later built the house that's now a museum for Jerome State Historic Park—constructed
this house in 1908 when he was working for his dad, Dr. James Douglas, at Phelps
Dodge Company The redwood house (10th St. and D Ave., across from Church Square,
520/364-7370, 1-4 p.m. Wed., Thurs., and Sat., donations welcome) now holds exhibits
on regional history, including photos showing the early town and smelter operation.
Douglas Art Association Gallery
You'll find changing exhibits of local
art inside the town's first public building—a 1901 hall that has served as
town hall, church, school, and library. A gift shop sells handicrafts. The Gallery
(625 10th St., 520/364-6410, free) is next door to the post office, two blocks west
of the museum.
Douglas Wildlife Zoo
Drop in to see parrots, peacocks, emus, deer,
lemurs, apes, and other creatures from near and distant lands. The collection (520/364-2515,
10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily except to 4 p.m. on Sun., closed major holidays, $3 adults,
$2 children 3-12) got its start as a place for propagation of exotic animals and
birds. From Douglas, head west three miles on AZ 80 (between Mileposts 362 and 363),
then turn north 1.7 miles on Plantation Road.
Slaughter Ranch
John Slaughter (1842-1922), a former Texas Ranger,
wandered into southeast Arizona in 1884 and bought a lease to the 73,240-acre San
Bernardino Ranch. Today it's the last survivor of Arizona's great 19th-century cattle
ranches (520/558-2474, www.slaughterranch.com,
10 a.m.-3 p.m. Wed.-Sun., $8 adults, free under age 14).
Long
before Slaughter developed the vast spread, the springs here had attracted Opata
Indian farmers, Apache, Spanish, Mexicans, and Americans. Slaughter shipped 10,000
head of cattle one year and employed up to 500 people, including 200 Chinese vegetable
farmers. His 1890s house and other structures have been restored to show ranch life
in territorial Arizona at the turn of the 20th century.
A
self-guided tour leaflet given out at the visitor center describes the buildings
and grounds. The house contains period furniture, photo exhibits of Slaughter's
colorful career—including two terms as sheriff at Tombstone—and stories
about the area's long history. Longhorn cattle, a breed brought in by Slaughter,
graze in a nearby field. The pond, containing endangered native fish and surrounded
by grass and cottonwoods, offers a pleasant spot for a picnic. A trail near the
pond climbs the hill to ruins of a U.S. Army post useed during the time of Mexican
civil unrest in 1911-23; you can see far to the south into Mexico and to the east
across the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge.
From Douglas,
head east on 15th Street to the edge of town, then continue 15 miles on the graded
dirt Geronimo Trail to the ranch turnoff, marked by a memorial to the Mormon Battalion.
No dogs, please.
San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge
At this 2,330-acre refuge,
springs and ponds attract more than 270 species of birds, as well as mule deer,
javelina, mountain lions, bobcats, and other wildlife. The waters support endangered
Yaqui chub, Yaqui topminnow, Yaqui catfish, and beautiful shiner. Elevations range
3,720-3,920 feet. Old roads and trails lead to ponds and wetlands with excellent
birding. The entrance is three-quarters of a mile past the Slaughter Ranch turnoff.
Open daily during daylight hours.
Leslie Canyon National
Wildlife Refuge, on the south end of the Swisshelm Mountains, protects endangered
fish and a rare velvet ash-cottonwood-black willow gallery forest. You can reach
it on Leslie Canyon Road; lands south of the road are closed to the public, but
you can visit areas north of the road.
San Bernardino and
Leslie Canyon National Wildlife Refuges headquarters (7628 N. Hwy. 191, P.O. Box
3509, Douglas, AZ 85607, 520/364-2104,
www.fws.gov/southwest/REFUGES/arizona/sanbernardino.html,
8 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.-Fri.) is 11 miles north of Douglas; turn east one mile on the
paved road about a quarter-mile past Milepost 11 on US 191.