Rodeo Station

Rodeo began in 1902 as a stop on the El Paso and Southwestern and grew into the cattle-shipping point for the San Simon Valley. The name is Spanish for a roundup or a place where cattle are gathered, from rodear, to surround; some read it as the line's loop around the Chiricahua Mountains instead. With the trains gone, the town of about a hundred people leans on the mountains: Cave Creek Canyon, on the east face of the Chiricahuas a few miles west, draws birders for the elegant trogon among some 375 recorded species.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Rodeo Station The El Paso and Southwestern rail- road was constructed in 1902 by Phelps, Dodge and Company, to link El Paso, Texas with the copper mines of Bisbee, Arizona. New Mexico Highway 9, the "Border Route," between Columbus and Rodeo, parallels the rail line, and actually utilizes a portion of the abandoned railroad bed. The Southern Pacific's "Golden State Limited" and "Californian" passenger trains passed through Rodeo until 1952.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Chiricahua National Monument — 22 mi
  The Land of Standing-Up Rocks — Cochise and Geronimo's stronghold

More markers nearby

• Rodeo Intermediate Field Civil Aeronautics Authority # 57A — 5.9 mi
• Smuggler's Trail — 15 mi
• The Clanton Hideout — 15 mi
• The Chiricahua Apache — 22 mi