Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 1475-H Availability of Additional Water for Chiricahua National Monument Cochise County, Arizona

By PHILLIP W. JOHNSON

The Chiricahua National Monument is in the eastern part of Cochise County, Ariz. The monument is about 35 miles southeast of Wilicox in the north end of the Chiricahua Mountains which border Sulphur Springs Valley on the west. The area is drained by two intermittent washes, one in Bonita and the other in Rhyolite Canyons.

Shake Spring is the present source of water for the monument. It ranges in rate of flow from 2 to 12 gpm (gallons per minute) and during dry periods It is not adequate to support the requirements of the monument.

Ample water to meet the present and future needs of the Chiricahua National Monument is available from a combination of several sources—undeveloped springs or seeps, capture of runoff out of the canyons, and wells drilled in the alluvium.