Doubtful Canyon was the name of two canyons in the Peloncillo Mountains, once considered in the 19th century as one canyon that served as the pass through those mountains. Today the canyon bearing the name Doubtful Canyon, is mostly in

Cochise County, Arizona Cochise County ( ) is a county in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is named after Cochise, a Chiricahua Apache who was a key war leader during the Apache Wars. The population was 125,447 at the 2020 census. The count ...

, near the

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

border. It descends to the east into the

Animas Valley The Animas Valley is a lengthy and narrow north–south valley 85 miles (137 kilometres) long, located in western Hidalgo County, New Mexico, in the Bootheel Region; the extreme south of the valley lies in Sonora- Chihuahua, in the extreme north ...

past Steins Peak it is in

Hidalgo County, New Mexico Hidalgo County () is the southernmost county of the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,178. The county seat and largest city is Lordsburg. A bill creating Hidalgo from the southern part of Grant County was p ...

. Doubtful Canyon has a tributary, Little Doubtful Canyon that joins it just east of the Arizona New Mexico border. The western canyon is now called West Doubtful Canyon and it descends into the

San Simon Valley The San Simon Valley is a broad valley east of the Chiricahua Mountains, in the northeast corner of Cochise County, Arizona and southeastern Graham County, with a small portion near Antelope Pass in Hidalgo County of southwestern New Mexico. T ...

, in

History

The mountain water sources and the low north south divide that lay between the two Doubtful canyons made it a favored shortcut for early east west travelers to the

Southern Emigrant Trail :''The Southern Emigrant Trail should not be confused with the Applegate Trail, which is part of the Emigrant Trail, Northern Emigrant Trails.'' The Southern Emigrant Trail, also known as the Gila Trail, the Kearny Trail, the Southern Trail and ...

wagon road that ran farther south before turning west. Doubtful Canyon and West Doubtful Canyon formed the pass where the

Butterfield Overland Mail Butterfield Overland Mail (officially Overland Mail Company)Waterman L. Ormsby, edited by Lyle H. Wright and Josephine M. Bynum, "The Butterfield Overland Mail", The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 1991. was a stagecoach service in ...

passed through the Peloncillo Mountains. Later near Steins Peak, the Steins Peak Station of the Butterfield Overland Mail was located in Doubtful Canyon. Steins Peak Station was destroyed and its keepers killed by the Apache in 1861.On May 4, 1864, soldiers of

California Column The California Column was a force of Union volunteers sent to Arizona and New Mexico during the American Civil War. The command marched over from California through Arizona and New Mexico Territory to the Rio Grande and as far east as El Paso, ...

fought a band of Apache in the

Skirmish in Doubtful Canyon Skirmishers are light infantry or light cavalry soldiers deployed as a vanguard, flank guard or rearguard to screen a tactical position or a larger body of friendly troops from enemy advances. They may be deployed in a skirmish line, an irregu ...

, in the canyon near Steins Peak.

References

{{reflist Valleys of Arizona Valleys of New Mexico Landforms of Cochise County, Arizona Landforms of Hidalgo County, New Mexico