The Black Range extends south from the Mogollons in a series of ridges and canyons that provide natural defensive terrain of extraordinary complexity.

This was not merely landscape.

It was the context within which the Chiricahua Apache had developed their entire culture, their economy, their spiritual life, their social organization.

The specific plants and animals of this terrain were the basis of the Apache diet — the mesquite pods, the acorns, the piñon nuts, the deer and pronghorn and peccary that the hunters pursued.

The specific geography of the mountains — the springs, the caves, the high passes and the hidden valleys — was encoded in Apache knowledge that had accumulated over generations.