Peterman's Station, a ranch and stage station located along the Gila River

Gila River

The Gila River is a tributary of the Colorado River, 650 miles long, in the southwestern states of New Mexico and Arizona.-Description:...

. It was first established by a man named Peterman, in 1857 along the route of the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line

San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line

The San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line, also known as the Jackass Mail, was the earliest overland stagecoach and mail operation from the eastern United States to California. It was the creation of organized and financed by James E. Birch the head of the California Stage Company. Birch was awarded the...

, later a station of its successor, the Butterfield Overland Mail

Butterfield Overland Mail

The Butterfield Overland Mail Trail was a stagecoach route in the United States, operating from 1857 to 1861. It was a conduit for the U.S. mail from two eastern termini, Memphis, Tennessee and St. Louis, Missouri, meeting Fort Smith, Arkansas, and continuing through Indian Territory, New Mexico,...

, 19 miles east of Fillibuster Camp

Wellton, Arizona

Wellton is a town in Yuma County, Arizona, United States. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the town is 1,862. It is part of the Yuma Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Wellton is located at ....

, 12 miles west of Griswell's Station

Griswell's Station

Griswell's or Griswell's Station was a stagecoach station of the Butterfield Overland Mail located along the Gila River in Arizona. It was located 12 miles east of Peterman's Station and 15 miles west of Flap Jack Ranch Station....

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Isaiah C. Woods, operating manager of the San Antonio-San Diego Mail while establishing the route, described Petermans Station on his return from San Diego on Novermber 9, 1857:

"November 9 - Today we left Peterman's station, (on the bank of the Gila,) consisting of a log house and excellent corral, built since I passed here. Peterman told me he had built this station, which he intended making his permanent residence, in order to obtain the business of the main line. I purchased of him several tons of mezquit beans, besides contracting for a supply of hay.

The soil in this neighborhood is excellent. Already this enterprising pioneer has contracted with a party of Mexicans to build a main irrigating ditch from the Gila, with branches sufficient to enable him to cultivate several hundred acres of land. The Mexicans are now at work. I made such arrangements for him, by writing to an agent at Fort Yuma, as would secure the necessary barley for seed, making at the same time a conditional purchase of all his crop. He felt confident of gathering a good harvest the present season. Peterman originally came up here from Fort Yuma to execute a contract for several tons of mezquit bean, made with the parties who are contractors for hauling the ore of the Arizona Copper Mining Company to Fort Yuma."

By the time of the Civil War Petermans was called called Mohawk Station in Union Army reports.