Mexico Border~Letterboxing

When we left Bisbee, we drove south about 20 minutes to the border town of Naco to find our third letterbox of the day.

We were to explore the historic Fort Newell.
Built in Naco in 1916 as a border garrison following Pancho Villa's raid on Columbus, New Mexico.
Named after John J. Newell, a prominent landowner who leased the site to the War Department for $1 a year.
Fort Newell or Camp Newell, guarded the Arizona border against further incursions. During the Punitive Expedition, cavalry troopers under the command of General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing performed the last known horse cavalry charge.

During the early days of World War I, before the completion of Fort Newell, troops in Naco were first based in trenches, railroad cars, and later in a tent city at Camp Naco to the east of the cantonment.
Naco was a flashpoint during the Mexican Revolution, and battles frequently broke out just south of the border.
At one point, German mercenary machine gunners accidentally fired across the border onto the troops, but no casualties resulted.

We were quite impressed with the left-over adobe and earth buildings creating this historic fort, but saddened to find them vandalized and not under some kind of protection. In the building we were in, it was obvious that vagrants had been using it to sleep in, with old dirty mattresses on the floor, and broken liquor bottles.

Of course, this also meant that the letterbox had gone missing, even though it had just been planted in Feb 2007.
But, we still enjoyed the experience and learning about this little moment in history.(Photo borrowed from the Letterboxing "AtlasQuest" clue)
We also enjoyed visiting the Mexican Border, too.Notice the Mexican Flag across the border. (Click photo for larger view)The border fence stretched off in both directions, as far as the eye could see.