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The Mountains
| The Chiricahuas laid claim to
a vast chunk of the southwest -- virtually the entire southeastern corner
of present day Arizona, a narrow strip of the extreme western edge of New
Mexico, and the northern mountains of Mexico at the point where Chihuahua
and Sonora share a border. The yellow square on this map gives
an idea of this traditional Chokonen stomping ground.
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In times of peace, Cochise's band (Chokonen)
would spend the summer months in the high valleys of the Chiricahua Mountains,
or journey farther north to the Pinalenos (also called the Grahams), where
higher elevations gave some relief from the baking southwestern sun.
They might even venture farther on toward the Gila Mountains, but this
was the extreme limit of Cochise's country. In winter they would
go down into the Mexican mountains just below the border where Ghost Face
(winter) tended to be much less punishing. These normal ways were
severely disrupted during times of war with either Mexico or the newly
arrived Americans --- and war with Mexico had been for the Apaches a recurring
disruption from time immemorial.
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