Sierra Vista Ranger District

About forestry service, 86544, Red Valley, AZ, US, Arizona

Hereford is a populated place in Cochise County along the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is southeast of Sierra Vista and is a part of the Sierra Vista-Douglas micropolitan area. The elevation is 4,193 feet at the location of the original townsite at the far eastern end of the unincorporated area; the residential area runs for another 8 miles west from this location, blending into the unincorporated area of Nicksville at an elevation of approximately 4800 feet. Hereford Station Post Office is located at the far western end of Nicksville, at the foot of the Huachuca Mountains. == History == Founded in 1878, the community was named after Frank Hereford, who was a friend of the town's founder, and a distinguished local attorney. It was where cowboys Frank McLaury and Tom McLaury first met and became associated with Ike Clanton, in 1878. The two brothers would later be killed during the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, in Tombstone, Arizona, with Ike Clanton being at the center of that dispute with the Earp faction. Johnny Ringo and Curly Bill lived nearby and grew up with the Clanton's. John Slaughter's ranch was just under two miles south of Hereford, and was a favorite for cattle stealing raids by the Clanton Ranch. The El Paso and Southwestern Railroad, a mining road originally built by Phelps Dodge Mining Corporation, established a siding at the town around 1892, which featured a water tank and stock loading platforms.