When I set about finding a place to relocate, I was fortunate to discover the small community of Sunsites near the ghost town called Pearce.  This is indeed the heart of Cochise's country, situated at the foot of the Dragoon Mountains a mere 9 miles from the entrance to the East Stronghold.  Because I live alone, and quite modestly by preference, it was easy to locate a suitable home here.

          It was right after I informed Ed Sweeney of my intentions to move that he surprised me by sending me the photograph of the "big rock", which he had obtained years before from the grandson of Joseph Alton Sladen, Mr. Frank Sladen, Jr.  Ed lives in Missouri and while he has made many trips to the Dragoon Mountains in his quest for information for his books, he himself has never had the time to mount a serious search for the site.  He has asked others to look for it in past years, without success.

          I arrived here in November of 2000 and almost immediately began scouting the west side of the Dragoons, photo in hand, in hopes of identifying the rock formations in the photo.  The west side is undeveloped and there are no paved roads anywhere near the mountains.  The few Forest Service roads that exist are, at best, unimproved and there are virtually no markers to identify even the known historic locations, such as the spot that was previously thought to be the location of Cochise and Howard's first meeting:  Council Rocks.  There are cryptic markings on some maps available locally, but even they are hard to decipher.   As for the site of the Forbes photo (discussed on a previous page) . . . not a clue.  I had made the assumption by then that the location of the campsite, and the "big rock" at the heart of it, would end up being in the proximity of the Forbes site.

          If you have ever had the thrill of visiting the Dragoon Mountains, particularly the west side, you know what kind of challenge I was facing.  This is an awesome landscape.  Any spot along the 6 mile stretch between the entrance to West Stronghold Canyon and Middlemarch Pass could qualify as Cochise's Stronghold.  The land for as far as the eye can see is strewn with huge boulders, towers, and pinnacles, along the foothills and in some cases on up the slopes to the very tops of the range.  Boulders split and shattered . . . crags so deep they appear to lead into oblivion.  It is a jaw-dropping sight the first time you encounter this landscape, and I still thrill to it on every visit.  If you read Joseph Alton Sladen's account of his first impressions (Edwin R. Sweeney's "Making Peace with Cochise") you will see that the vista was no less impressive to seasoned travelers of the Old West.