Abandoned Towns
Aerial view of the desert floodplain around Maricopa Wells, with a line of trees along a wash and scattered mesquite

Railroad and road town

Maricopa Wells

The busiest stage stop on the desert road to California, abandoned when the railroads came. It's on Gila River Indian Community land, and little or nothing is left.

33°09′43″N 112°05′03″W · 1,093 ft

Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain). See the photographs in the gallery below.

No public access found

Maricopa Wells is on land of the Gila River Indian Community. We found no visitor information for the site and no public road to it. Don't drive onto community land without permission. An undated listing reports little left, a few stables and a foundation, and we found no dated description of the ground.

Overview

The last water before the jornada

Maricopa Wells photographed by Carlo Gentile, about 1870
Maricopa Wells photographed by Carlo Gentile, about 1870 · Photo: Carlo Gentile, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Maricopa Wells was a group of dug wells on the desert flats south of the Gila River, about eight miles north of present-day Maricopa. The wells reached groundwater under the river, and they were the last dependable water and forage before the 40-mile jornada, the waterless crossing west to Gila Bend. Travelers named the place for the Maricopa people, the Pee-Posh, who farmed along the river with the Akimel O'odham, the Pima. Emigrants bound for California stopped here to rest their stock and trade for wheat, corn and other crops from the villages.

In 1857 the San Antonio–San Diego Mail made this its largest station between El Paso and San Diego, with an adobe house and corral, and the point where the eastbound and westbound mails met. The Butterfield Overland Mail used it next, and later stage lines kept it going. By the 1870s it was a trading center where the east–west road met the road north to Phoenix, and for a time it was the main military telegraph post for the territory.

The railroads ended it. When the Southern Pacific came through in 1879, the stop moved south to the tracks at Maricopaville. The branch line to Phoenix was then built from Maricopa Junction, farther east, and that junction became today's city of Maricopa. The 1913 USGS map already marks the wells as abandoned.

Timeline

From campground to stage station to nothing

Emigrants and Maricopa people at the wells, from an 1857 War Department survey drawing
Emigrants and Maricopa people at the wells, from an 1857 War Department survey drawing · Photo: United States War Department, United States Army, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
  1. Travelers on the Southern Emigrant Trail camp at the wells to rest and water their animals, and trade with Maricopa and Pima farmers along the Gila River.
  2. The Battle of Pima Butte, also called the Battle of Maricopa Wells: Maricopa and Pima defenders rout a war party of Yuma, Mohave, Yavapai and Apache warriors nearby.
  3. The San Antonio–San Diego Mail, nicknamed the Jackass Mail, makes Maricopa Wells its largest station between El Paso and San Diego. Eastbound and westbound mails meet and turn back here.
  4. Butterfield Overland Mail coaches use the station until the line shuts down in 1861.
  5. Congress creates the Gila River reservation, the first in Arizona, for the Akimel O'odham and Maricopa.
  6. The San Antonio–San Diego line loses its Camp Stockton to Tucson section, ending its mail through here.
  7. Carlo Gentile photographs the station's long adobe buildings.
  8. A busy trading center and stage stop. At one point it's the main military telegraph post for Arizona Territory.
  9. The Southern Pacific reaches the area. The stop moves south to meet the tracks at Maricopaville.
  10. The Maricopa and Phoenix Railroad is routed through Tempe. Maricopa Wells is abandoned, and the settlement shifts east to Maricopa Junction, today's Maricopa.
  11. The USGS Maricopa sheet labels the site "Maricopa Wells (Abandoned)."

Site map

Where the station stood

Today's USGS map puts Maricopa Wells on the floodplain between Santa Rosa Wash and Santa Cruz Wash, inside the Gila River Indian Community and about four miles west-northwest of Pima Butte. Wikipedia places it about a mile west of the butte, but the current map and a Bartlett survey history both put it several miles away.

The 1913 sheet in the historic maps below marks "Maricopa Wells (Abandoned)" with a building symbol where several wagon roads meet, and a wetland to the west. By 1952 the sheet shows only scrub cover and a benchmark. An undated listing mentions a few stables and a foundation, and we haven't been able to confirm what's on the ground now.

USGS topographic map of Maricopa Wells between Santa Rosa Wash and Santa Cruz Wash
USGS The National Map, topo. The label sits between Santa Rosa Wash, at left, and Santa Cruz Wash, at top.
Aerial view of the Maricopa Wells area: a tree-lined wash at left and pale flats dotted with mesquite
Aerial imagery, same area. Mesquite lines the wash at left. We can't pick out any structures.

Historic maps

Maricopa Wells on USGS maps, 1913–1981

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Maricopa Wells, 1913
Maricopa sheet, 1913, 1:62,500 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Maricopa is the closest city. Both routes below were computed from OpenStreetMap and haven't been driven by us. Both end on unnamed tracks inside the Gila River Indian Community, about 1.5 miles short of the site. We found no public access, so they're here for reference only. Don't drive onto community land without permission.

USGS topographic map between Maricopa and Maricopa Wells, showing the Gila River Indian Reservation boundary and the routed approach

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From central Maricopa15.1 miabout 1 h 25 min
  1. From central Maricopa, take John Wayne Parkway (AZ 347) north, then Edison Road and Loma Road west.1.7 mi
  2. Turn left on Smith-Enke Road (AZ 238), which becomes Maricopa Road.5.3 mi
  3. Turn right on Rio Bravo Road and head north into the Gila River Indian Community.5.1 mi
  4. Turn right on an unnamed track. The route ends about 1.5 miles short of the site.3 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • The site and the last miles of both routes are on Gila River Indian Community land. We found no published visitor access. Ask the community before you go.
  • The routes end on unnamed tracks across sandy washes that we haven't checked. Washes can flood after storms.
  • Summer heat is severe. There are no services north of Maricopa on the approach.
  • The Phoenix route was computed through the reservation. The usual way south from Phoenix is I-10 and AZ 347 to Maricopa.

Photos

Maricopa Wells in pictures

Visitor reports

Been to Maricopa Wells?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

Railroad and road

More railroad, road and fort ghost towns

The nearest in Arizona.

Map around BeardsleyGuide

Beardsley

33.66, -112.38

Maricopa County, Arizona

A railroad stop and livestock pen on the desert northwest of Phoenix, named for the man who worked for nearly four decades to dam the Agua Fria.…

Inside Sun City WestRailroad and road
Tortilla Flat's weathered wooden country store and saloon under rocky hills, with a motorcycle parked out frontGuide

Tortilla Flat

33.53, -111.39

Maricopa County, Arizona

A freight camp from the building of Roosevelt Dam that has hung on for more than a century. Six people live here, and the saloon, store and…

Open dailyRailroad and road

All 120 railroad, road and fort ghost towns →

Nearby

Other sites near Maricopa Wells

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Arizona index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. ghosttowns.com, "Maricopa Wells": fact sheet fields (roads, climate, remains, reservation land).
  2. Wikipedia, "Maricopa Wells, Arizona", retrieved October 2026: emigrant trail, stage lines, telegraph post, railroad abandonment, coordinates and elevation (GNIS).
  3. Wikipedia, "San Antonio–San Diego Mail Line" and "Butterfield Overland Mail in New Mexico Territory", retrieved October 2026: station role, adobe house and corral, service dates.
  4. Wikipedia, "Battle of Pima Butte": date and combatants.
  5. InMaricopa, 2026 New Resident & Visitor Guide, pp. 12–13: origin of the name, wells, 1879 move to Maricopaville, Maricopa Junction.
  6. Southwest Explorations, "Pima Villages": dug wells, the 40-mile jornada, distance from Pima Butte.
  7. Gila River Indian Community, "History": emigrant traffic, 1859 reservation.
  8. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked. Status checked against the sources above on October 19, 2026.

Photo and map credits

Record5 of 10
  • Coordinates (GNIS)
  • Stage line history
  • Railroad-era abandonment
  • Images from 1857 and about 1870
  • Historic maps, 1913–1981
  • Post office dates
  • Population
  • Visitor access rules
  • What remains on the ground
  • Field report or photos since 2000
Missing items are what we'll ask readers and local sources to fill.