The Gila Wilderness and Gila National Forest was the home of the ancient people, the Mimbres.  Allow yourself a glimpse of the homes and lives of the people of the Mogollon culture who lived in the Gila Wilderness Region from the 1280s through the early 1300s. The surroundings probably look today very much like they did when the cliff dwellings were inhabited. It is surrounded by the Gila National Forest and lies at the edge of the Gila Wilderness, the nation's first designated wilderness area.  This designation means that the wilderness character of the area will not be altered by the intrusion of roads or other evidence of human presence.  The area in which you will explore is now known as The Double E Ranch. 

Pre-Historic Cultures...before the Apaches, the region was home to the Mimbrenos, an advanced pre-historic Indian culture. Highly artistic, they are known for their  exquisite black-on-white pottery featuring nature motifs.  The Mimbres made their homes farming and hunting along the Gila River and Bear Creek, living in pit houses, shallow caves and small cliff dwellings. Earlier Indian cultures most certainly lived in the area. Limited evidence of hunting by the earliest inhabitants (9500-6000BC) has been found in several highland areas. Widespread evidence of the Archaic Culture, which is considered part of the Cochise Culture dating from 6000 BC to 300 AD, has been found in the region.  The sites you will visit are all located on Double E Ranch and privately protected. 

The Mimbres Valley region is historically significant primarily because of the Mimbres Indians who lived here almost a thousand years ago. The Mimbres people are an enigma to archeologists, because they can only speculate about their beginnings and especially about their ultimate fate.  The Mimbres culture was relatively isolated in southwestern New Mexico and eastern Arizona. It reached its zenith about C.E. 1050 in the Mimbres river valley 20 miles east of Silver City, New Mexico. Resource stress (sound familiar?) caused by overpopulation, drought and pressure (perhaps) from the emerging Chichimec Casas Grande power base, 100 miles to the south, put them out of business by 1130 C.E. They appear to have been a peaceful bunch with regular contact with other contemporaneous Southwestern cultures (Anasazi, Mogollon Tularosa, Hohokam and the Chichimec trading cultures).

Archeologists believe the Mimbres culture evolved from the Mogollon culture, which itself possibly evolved from the Anasazi and/or the Hohokam cultures. During the Mimbres phase, the move was made from pit houses, to semi-pit houses, and then to above ground pueblos. The dead were often buried under the floor inside the house, with a pot covering their head. The big puzzle is what happened to the Mimbres people. It is speculated that the original Mimbrenos moved away, and were integrated into other cultures, possibly to the south. It is not likely that they were driven from the area by warfare, as evidence points to an exodus extending over a period of years.

Mimbres pottery is the most famous artifact of the Mimbres culture. Pottery was made in plain and corrugated brown clay, polychrome, black and red, and the famous black and white. The black and white pottery usually depicted animals encountered in daily life, daily routines, or geometric designs. Cranes, turkeys, fish, mosquitoes or hummingbirds, small mammals, and humans often grace Mimbres pottery.  The expertise of the Mimbres potters is considered superior to that of any other Native American potters. A characteristic of pots found associated with a burial is that of the "kill hole".  A piece was broken out of the bottom of the pot. It is postulated that this might have been to release the soul of the deceased.  Approximately 10,000 ceramic bowls have been unearthed and easily that many remain buried in hundreds of small ruins located where ever water was regularly found.

Apaches, Pioneers and Ranching...

It has only been 114 years since the Apache Chief Geronimo's surrender permitted miners and homesteaders to explore and settle the Gila-Bear Creek region without fear of Indian attack. Geronimo, Cochise, Mangus Coloradas, and Victorio knew Bear Creek, the Gila River and the Gila Wilderness very well. The countless side canyons and adjoining peaks provided a vast natural safe haven during their People's fight.  The roughness of the land probably contributed to the Apache cultural stability, keeping the push of newcomers to a minimum. 

Geronimo:

Born: 1829 or 1834 in the  region of  Janos River in Mexico
Died: February 17, 1909 at Fort Sill, Oklahoma

Geronimo was an Apache Indian warrior who followed Mangas Colorado and Cochise with raiding parties.   During the Apache Indian wars, Geronimo became a leader of the Chiricahua Apache Indians. Geronimo fled the reservation with his Apache Indian war party on numerous occasions.    In  his absence from the reservation Geronimo carried on his personal guerilla warfare against the white settlers with a small war party of Chiricahua Apache Indians.  Geronimo was worn down by the Cavalry after years of skillful fighting.   The Surrender of Geronimo regretfully took place in 1886.

Soon to experience a fate worse than death to a Chiricahua Apache Indian, Geronimo was cruelly transported to Florida as a prisoner of war.  In 1894 Geronimo and his band of Chiricahua Apache Indians were moved to  Fort Sill,  Oklahoma.  Geronimo remained  a conquered prisoner of war deprived of freedom and the meaning of  life till his death.

Homesteaders and ranchers eventually moved into the Gila Valley near the turn of the century and the  area was opened for exploration and settlement.  In the late 1990s, the Ranch was acquired by Alan  and Debbie Eggleston, your hosts for the Gila Wilderness Nature Ride.

Join us at Double E Guest Ranch and let Gila Wilderness Nature Ride lead you on a nature-focused horseback riding adventure your senses will not soon forget.   You're offered a rare opportunity to visit an extraordinary place in time.

  Experience an Adventure
your heart and mind will not soon forget ...
Sign on for a Gila Wilderness Expedition Nature Ride - Today!

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