of the Southern Emigrant Trail, which became the major southern route of east-west travel for wagons and stagecoaches until the coming of the railroads. Apache Pass Station In 1858, the Butterfield Overland Mail Company began stagecoach service between Saint Louis, Missouri and San Francisco, California using a bow-shaped route down through Texas and the New Mexico Territory and on into southern California. They built a way station out of stone on the eastern side of Apache Pass, where they could rest their horses and utilize the water from the spring. It and the station at Dragoon Springs, Arizona were made from such durable material, an acknowledgement of the danger they felt from the local Apaches. Apache Pass Station () was originally 35 miles west of Stein's Peak Station in Doubtful Canyon and 49 miles east of Dragoon Springs Station, with no water along the route except at these three stations. Later in 1858, two new stations were built between these older stations, so that Apache Pass Station was located 19 miles west of San Simon Station on the San Simon River and 15 miles from Ewell Station, which shortened the route between Apache Pass and Dragoon Springs, and provided water on both sections. It is likely that Cochise's band provided the stage travelers with firewood when he was in the area. Bascom Affair The construction of the stage station and the increasing use of the pass by white settlers set the stage for an incident often considered the starting point of Cochise's eleven-year war against the United States, and which was a formative element in the much longer struggle between Apache peoples and American settlers even after Cochise made his own peace. In February 1861, a detachment of federal troops under Lt. George N. Bascom made camp in Apache Pass, near the spring and the stage station, hoping to negotiate with Cochise and his Chiricahua Apaches for the return of a kidnapped child. When Cochise agreed to meet near the camp, Bascom attempted to arrest him and several other Apaches; the resulting stand-off, lasting several days, ended with the deaths of hostages on both sides. The affront sparked a war between Cochise and the Americans that included the Battle of Apache Pass in 1862, and which only ended eleven years later with a treaty facilitated by General Oliver O. Howard and a white teamster and friend of Cochise's named Tom