Socatoon Station

Socatoon Station, was a stagecoach station of the Butterfield Overland Mail between 1858–1861. It was located four miles east of Sacaton a Maricopa village from which it took its name.[1] This station was located 22 miles east of Maricopa Wells Station and 11 miles east of Casa Blanca Station and 13 miles north of Oneida Station.[2]

The location of the station was on the route of the Southern Emigrant Trail at the first camp on the Gila River after crossing the desert from Tucson. It was a stopping place for the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line in 1857-58 before becoming the site of a Butterfield station.[3] After the Civil War, it was again used as a stage station by other stage lines.

References

1. John P. Wilson, Peoples of the Middle Gila: A Documentary History of the Pimas and Maricopas, 1500s - 1945, Researched and Written for the Gila River Indian Community, Sacaton, Arizona, 1998 (revised July 1999) Report No. 77, Las Cruces, New Mexico, p.137 Archived 2011-07-11 at the Wayback Machine
2. THE WAR OF THE REBELLION: A COMPILATION OF THE OFFICIAL RECORDS OF THE UNION AND CONFEDERATE ARMIES. CHAPTER LXII. OPERATIONS ON THE PACIFIC COAST. JANUARY 1, 1861–JUNE 30, 1865. PART I., CORRESPONDENCE., pp.1017-1018, Distances from Los Angeles, Cal., eastward to Mesilla, NM Territory
3. Table of distances from Texas Almanac, 1859, Book, ca. 1859; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth123765/ accessed November 12, 2013), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association, Denton, Texas