The Sulphur Springs Valley is a valley in the eastern half of

Cochise County, Arizona Cochise County () is a county in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is named after the Native American chief Cochise. The population was 125,447 at the 2020 census. The county seat is Bisbee and the most populous city ...

. The valley covers an approximated vertical rectangle west of the

Chiricahua Mountains The Chiricahua Mountains massif is a large mountain range in southeastern Arizona which is part of the Basin and Range province of the west and southwestern United States and northwest Mexico; the range is part of the Coronado National Forest. ...

– Dos Cabezas Mountains complex. The Sulphur Springs Valley is the large flatland to the west.

Geography

The valley gets its name from two sulfur springs located there. Mule Deer Sulphur Springs Valley Arizona 2014

Drainage is from north to south, with a moderately sized

endorheic basin An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into la ...

, named the Willcox Playa, occupying the northern area. The southern portion of the valley drains into Mexico through

Douglas, Arizona Douglas is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States that lies in the north-west to south-east running Sulpher Springs Valley. Douglas has a border crossing with Mexico at Agua Prieta and a history of mining. The population was 16,531 ...

through

Agua Prieta Agua Prieta ( English: ''Dark Water'', Opata: ''Bachicuy'') is a town in Agua Prieta Municipality in the northeastern corner of the Mexican state of Sonora. It stands on the Mexico–U.S. border, adjacent to the town of Douglas, Arizona. Th ...

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into 72 municipalities; the ...

, and into the Yaqui River. During plentiful rain the mountain foothills contain plentiful grasslands. The region is otherwise an

arid A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ...

part of the northeastern

Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert ( es, Desierto de Sonora) is a desert in North America and ecoregion that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the southwestern United States (in Arizon ...

, influenced by the

Chihuahuan Desert The Chihuahuan Desert ( es, Desierto de Chihuahua, ) is a desert ecoregion designation covering parts of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. It occupies much of far West Texas, the middle to lower Rio Grande Valley and the lowe ...

just southeast in

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex , Offi ...

and northwest

Chihuahua Chihuahua may refer to: Places *Chihuahua (state), a Mexican state **Chihuahua (dog), a breed of dog named after the state **Chihuahua cheese, a type of cheese originating in the state **Chihuahua City, the capital city of the state **Chihuahua Mun ...

. The highest mountain areas of this southeast

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...

section contains

Madrean Sky Islands The Madrean Sky Islands are enclaves of Madrean pine–oak woodlands, found at higher elevations in a complex of small mountain ranges in southern and southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and northwestern Mexico. The sky islands are s ...

of mountain sky islands. Sulphur Springs Valley is one of the largest and driest subsections in this otherwise mountainous region. From north to south at the west of the valley are the Little Dragoon Mountains, the

Dragoons Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat ...

, and the Mule Mountains. The south end of Sulphur Springs Valley also has three small

ranges In the Hebrew Bible and in the Old Testament, the word ranges has two very different meanings. Leviticus In Leviticus 11:35, ranges probably means a cooking furnace for two or more pots, as the Hebrew word here is in the dual number; or perhaps ...

associated with the southern Chiricahua Mountains, the Swisshelm, Pedregosa, and Perella Mountains.

Transportation

The valley is traversed north-south by U.S. Route 191 connecting Douglas, AZ north to Willcox on

Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originally ...

, at the Willcox Playa. Arizona 181 in the east accesses the west and northwest Chiricahua's, including Chiricahua National Monument. It is connected to Arizona 186 which traverses the southwestern foothills of the Dos Cabezas range.

Conservation

The Southeastern Arizona Bird Observatory is active in Cochise County and all of southeast Arizona, especially in the Willcox Playa, where thousands of

sandhill crane The sandhill crane (''Antigone canadensis'') is a species of large crane of North America and extreme northeastern Siberia. The common name of this bird refers to habitat like that at the Platte River, on the edge of Nebraska's Sandhills on th ...

s roost.National Geographic Magazine. (Sandhill Cranes)
/ref> The Sky Island Alliance also has conservancy programs associated with the sky island mountains and their fauna and flora.

References

External links

Article (with map of Chiricahua's and the valley)Map: (west of Chiricahua Mountains)

National Geographic: Masters of Migration (Sandhill Cranes in the Sulphur Springs Valley)
{{Authority control Valleys of Arizona Landforms of Cochise County, Arizona

Geography

Transportation

Conservation

See also

References

External links