Stagecoach wheel of historic Butterfield Overland Mail. Hueco Tanks State Park & Historic Site, El Paso County, Texas, USA.

Stagecoach wheel of historic Butterfield Overland Mail. Hueco Tanks State Park & Historic Site is popular for birding and bouldering (rock climbing) in El Paso County, Texas, USA. History: Throughout the last 10,000 years, Hueco Tanks has provided water, food and shelter to travelers in the Chihuahuan Desert. People left clues to their stories in unique pictographs and petroglyphs visible today. Starting in 1858, Hueco Tanks served for a year as a relay station and water source for the historic Butterfield Overland Mail (which was then shifted south to a safer route). Twice a week, the Butterfield stagecoach carried passengers and US Mail in just 22 days to San Francisco starting from Memphis, Tennessee or St. Louis, Missouri; for the first time, people separated by nearly 2000 miles of wilderness could communicate. Escontrias Ranch started here in 1898, became a tourist attraction by the 1940s and became a country park in 1965, then a state park in 1969. Directions: From El Paso's Montana Avenue (US Highway 62/180), turn north at RM 2775.

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Filename: 1404TX-1239_Hueco-Tanks_Texas.jpg
Copyright: © Tom Dempsey / PhotoSeek.com
Image Size: 7500x5820 / 12.2MB; http://www.photoseek.com/; auto automobile car desert history past transportation
Contained in galleries: 2014 Mar 15-Apr 09: all: southwest (UT, NM, TX), OR, CA, Texas: Hueco Tanks State Park & Historic Site

Stagecoach wheel of historic Butterfield Overland Mail. Hueco Tanks State Park & Historic Site is popular for birding and bouldering (rock climbing) in El Paso County, Texas, USA. History: Throughout the last 10,000 years, Hueco Tanks has provided water, food and shelter to travelers in the Chihuahuan Desert. People left clues to their stories in unique pictographs and petroglyphs visible today. Starting in 1858, Hueco Tanks served for a year as a relay station and water source for the historic Butterfield Overland Mail (which was then shifted south to a safer route). Twice a week, the Butterfield stagecoach carried passengers and US Mail in just 22 days to San Francisco starting from Memphis, Tennessee or St. Louis, Missouri; for the first time, people separated by nearly 2000 miles of wilderness could communicate. Escontrias Ranch started here in 1898, became a tourist attraction by the 1940s and became a country park in 1965, then a state park in 1969. Directions: From El Paso's Montana Avenue (US Highway 62/180), turn north at RM 2775.