Riding The Prescott-Santa Fe Stage

Following the trail of the Arizona-New Mexico territorial capital-to-capital stage line leads to adventures and historic sites.

- Johnny D. Boggs

I’ve solved one Old West mystery. You want to know why the Star Line Transportation Company, a k a the Prescott-Santa Fe stage line, only lasted from 1876 to 1882? It’s because no one could find the stagecoach stations.

I’m on a roadside pullout off Arizona Highway 179 just east of Sedona looking for the historical marker the Sedona Westerners erected in the early 1970s. It’s only 450 feet from the parking lot, but it’s 30 minutes before I finally find the marker.

Okay, so I’m not Bill Williams or an Apache scout.

The stagecoach line ran 507 miles, connecting the two territorial capitals (Prescott had the honor twice: 1864-66 and 1877-February 1889). According to the Beaver Head Stage Station marker that’s tucked up underneath the trees about 450 feet northwest from the northern edge of the parking lot (choose your path wisely so you don’t wander around aimlessly), this was the “only road to Verde Valley until 1870” and “only road north until 1902.”

Today, Beaver Head’s also the only marker about the stagecoach line on the actual route. The Prescott-Santa Fe line was “a lesser-known stage route,” New Mexico historian Marc Simmons says.