Category:Desert Wells Stage Stop

English: The Desert Wells Stage Stop contains the ruins of a small spur stop for the Arizona Stage Company, founded in 1868. The stop – located at South Sossaman Road north of East Chandler Heights Road in Queen Creek, Arizona – provided water, shade, and protection for the people, horses and mules of stages traveling from Florence via Olberg and on to Mesa through the gap in the San Tan Mountains. The well at the stop was 114 feet deep (34.75 m) and held an average of 14 feet of water (4.27 m). A small traction engine pumped the water to a cement and stone tank, the foundation of which is what is visible on the site today. No longer extant is the 10 sq foot (0.93 sq m) shelter built of rock with a mud and thatched roof, which was surrounded on three sides by a water trough. The stop, which was owned by three locals, not the stage company, was in use until around 1916. (Description source: Signs and notices posted on site.)