Buying Tucson

On Dec 16, 1846, the Mormon Battalion marched unopposed into the Mexican town of Tucson. The Mexican Garrison at Tucson had relocated South to the Mission San Xavier del Bac to avoid conflict. The Mormon Battalion raised the US Flag over Tucson for the first time.

Mormon Battalion Monument, Tucson

  One might think that this established Tucson as part of the United States, but one would be mistaken in so thinking. What was accomplished, though, was the establishment of a Southern Emigrant Trail to California and survey maps of the route used for the 1853 Gadsden Purchase of southern Arizona and southern New Mexico. Cash strapped after the Mexican-American War and wanting to rebuild his Army, Santa Anna sold the Mesilla Valley of New Mexico and the Southern part of Arizona - including Tucson, Yuma, and the copper-rich Santa Rita mountains - to the USA for $10M in the Gadsden Purchase.

A survey team was sent out in 1889 to mark the Mexican-American border established by the purchase. A 12 ft obelisk was erected in the mountains West of Nogales at the point where the Southern Arizona border bends northwest to intercept the Colorado River just South of Yuma. I wanted to find this monument.

It is easy to pull up Google Maps, find this border inflection point, and obtain the latitude and longitude coordinates. I then established the nearest road location to the monument. It just so happens the nearest point on the road is at a cattle tank named 'Monument Tank'.

I drove to the location the first time on Dec 28, 2019. The weather had been raining for several days and the road was a little muddy. Unfortunately it started to snow when I arrived (the road is at 5000 ft altitude).

Snowy Day ... but monument is visible on the mountainside

I was feeling an illness coming on and decided hiking in the snow was not going to be the best idea. I would have to come back another day.

One week later, I was feeling better and decided to try again. I drove to the location again.

Most of the Snow had Melted

I could see the monument and just needed to hike up the valley and then up the mountain.

The Goal is Visible on the Mountain

There was no clear trail and once I entered the valley the trees obscured my view of where I needed to go.

Path along the Stream 

I knew I needed to cross the stream in the valley and climb the mountain, but there were several feeder streams and mountains and my first attempt took me up a ridge, only to realize that I would need to cross 2 more steep and dangerous ravines to get to the mountain slope I really wanted. I had to turn around and go back down to the stream and walk further up the stream. Fortunately, I had a GPS receiver to tell me I was heading in the right direction despite no clear path being established.

I followed the GPS closely and left the stream when it started veering the wrong direction. As I climbed the mountain a slight trail started to become visible through the Manzanita bushes. The closer I got the more visible the trail.

First Glimpse of Snow on the Trail

Soon the monument was visible again, but a barbed wore fence was in the way.

Fence 50 ft in front of the Monument

I crawled under the fence and arrived at the goal.

USA Side

Mexico Side

There was a geocache.

LESSON:
In life we can have a goal. Let's say it is exaltation and eternal life. We know the general direction we need to go, but as we begin the journey, distractions and worldly concerns can obscure our view (like the trees and valleys on the trail). We could find ourselves on the wrong path that leads to dangerous circumstances. Getting back on the correct path requires us to step back, realize our folly, and repent by returning to the known good position. If we use our scriptures and prophetic council (like a GPS on the trail) to keep us heading the correct direction we will know when small corrections are necessary and we will finally reach our goal.

View Down the Valley to my Start Location at the Cattle Tank