Thank Jefferson Davis

Jefferson Davis is one of the people whom we have to thank for the chunk of land on which I'm riding today. He was Secretary of War in 1848, when he convinced President Franklin Pierce to send James Gadsden to Mexico to negotiate the land purchase. This area later became Confederate territory during the Civil War, when Jefferson Davis served as President of the Confederate States of America.

I just passed through the Town of Wellton, Arizona. "Wellton (originally Well Town) was named for the time water wells were drilled to service the Southern Pacific Railroad. Most areas were settled in the 1860's as the need arose for stations to serve the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoaches. With the railroads eventually supplanting the stagecoach lines in the 1870's, several communities were established (Tacna and Wellton) to provide water facilities for the old steam-powered engines. As the stagecoach gave way to the railroad, so the railroad gave way to the automobile. Though rail service is still maintained through Wellton-Mohawk Valley, the current economic livelihood is based on agriculture."