LAVENDER JEEP GREATER BISBEE & MEXICO TOUR
A geographical happenstance that flavors Bisbee's character is its proximity to Mexico, which lies less than 10 miles to the south. From the San Jose area of Bisbee, it's less than five minutes to the border town of Naco. This Tour can be added onto the Greater Bisbee Tour and takes about another 30-45 minutes. (NOTE: This Tour stays in the United States; it does NOT go into Mexico.)
Naco dates to the turn of the 20th century, when it was create as a railhead for a line that was to be run to the Mexican city of Nacozari to the southeast, another copper-mining area. That rail line would not come about, but Naco became the border crossing point for another copper town, Cananea, to the southwest. There are two Nacos, one on each side of the border, the one in Mexico being larger by far.
Naco provided considerable action for Bisbee residents over the years in more ways than one. During the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920), several pitched battles took place on the south side of the line, but a bit of it spilled across. Thousands of Americans traveled to Naco just to watch the fighting, totally disregarding the dangers.
That led to the establishment of a U.S. military presence on the border for many years. Eventually the Army built a cantonment, known as Camp Naco, just a few hundred yards from the border to give some small comforts to the soldiers stationed there. Much of Camp Naco remains today, and an effort is under way to preserve the old adobe buildings, the last remnants of border protection during the teens.
Naco, Mexico, played a different role during Prohibition, when many from Bisbee made regular trips south of the line for dining, drinking and dancing. Today, Naco is the site of a significant length of the controversial border fence.
Also at Naco is Turquoise Valley Golf Course, the oldest golf course in Arizona, which recently celebrated its centennial. It is home of the Rattler, a 747-yard, par 6, the only par 6 golf hole in Arizona.
Naco also is known for a 1940s discovery of a Clovis Man kill site, dating back some 10,000 years. Bones of "Pleistocene megafauna," such as the mammoth, were excavated here in the 1950s, one of the first such excavations in the country.