Place guide
Fort Sill Apache Tribe
A Chiricahua Apache tribe with ancestral homelands in southwestern New Mexico.
📍GPS: 32.241564, -107.420566
Fort Sill Apache Tribe
The Fort Sill Apache Tribe is a federally recognized tribe of Chiricahua Apache people. After Geronimo’s surrender in 1886, the Chiricahua Apache were held as prisoners of war and deported to Florida, Alabama, and eventually Fort Sill, Oklahoma. They were never given a reservation in their traditional homeland, and their descendants are now mainly associated with the Fort Sill Apache, Mescalero Apache, and San Carlos Apache tribes. Today, the tribe’s headquarters (they don’t have a reservation) remain in Oklahoma, but it owns a small parcel of trust land near Deming, New Mexico.
Location of Apache tribes in the late 18th century. Ch – Chiricahua, WA – Western Apache, M – Mescalero, J – Jicarilla, L – Lipan, Pl – Plains Apache, N – Navajo (a related but distinct people speaking an Athabaskan language).
Chiricahua Apache Plaza
Located along Interstate 10 west of Deming, the Chiricahua Apache Plaza sells fuel, convenience items, and food. It is a gas station.
Visiting Respectfully
The Fort Sill Apache Tribe, though essentially a gas station, is a sovereign tribal nation with its own government and history. Visitors should still respect tribal property and posted regulations.
Nearby places
Cabinetlandia
A remote outdoor art installation made of cabinets and found objects in the desert of southern New Mexico.
Rockhound State Park
A unique park near Deming where visitors are encouraged to collect their own semiprecious stones.
Las Cruces
A sunny desert city at the crossroads of the Camino Real, famous for green chile and wide open skies.