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T\[ew ^Mexico Historical "Review

Palace of the Governors, Santa Fe

KANSAS CJTV n* PUBLIC Lit

MAY 2 - 1962

January, I960

Editors FRANK D. REEVE PAUL A. F. WALTER

PERCY M. BALDWIN GEORGE P. HAMMOND

FRANCE V. SCHOLES ELEANOR B. ADAMS

BRUCE T. ELLIS

VOL. XXXV JANUARY, 1960 No. 1

CONTENTS

Page

The German Jew and the Commercial

Revolution in Territorial New Mexico, 1850-1900

William J. Parish . 1

Fort Bascom, New Mexico

James Monroe Foster, Jr. . 30

The Brazito Battlefield

Andrew Armstrong 63

Book Reviews 75

THE NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW is published jointly by the Historical Society of New Mexico and the University of New Mexico. Subscription to the quarterly is $3.00 a year in advance ; single numbers, except those which have become scarce, are $1.00 each.

Business communications should be addressed to Mr. Bruce T. Ellis, State Museum, Santa Fe, N. M. ; manuscripts and editorial correspondence should be addressed to Prof. Frank D. Reeve, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, N. M.

Entered as second-class matter at Santa Fe, New Mexico UNIVERSITY PRESS, ALBUQUERQUE, N. M.

NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

Editors FRANK D. REEVE PAUL A. F. WALTER

Associates

PERCY M. BALDWIN GEORGE P. HAMMOND

FRANCE V. SCHOLES ELEANOR B. ADAMS

BRUCE T. ELLIS

VOLUME xxxv 1960

PUBLISHED QUARTERLY BY THE

HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF NEW MEXICO

AND THE

UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO

CONTENTS

3ER 1, JANUARY, 1960

Page

The German Jew and the Commercial Revolution in Territorial New Mexico, 1850-1900

William J. Parish 1

Fort Bascom, New Mexico

James Monroe Foster, Jr. 30

The Brazito Battlefield

Andrew Armstrong 63

Book Reviews 75

NUMBER 2, APRIL, 1960

West of the Pecos

E. L. Steve Stephens 81

Printing in New Mexico Beyond Santa Fe and Taos 1848-1875

Jackson E . To wne 109

Western Silver and the Tariff of 1890

H. Wayne Morgan 118

The German- Jew and the Commercial Revolution in Territorial New Mexico 1850-1900 (concluded)

William J. Parish 129

Book Reviews . . 151

NUMBER 3, JULY, 1960

Frank Bond : Gentleman Sheepherder of Northern New

Mexico 1883-1915 . 169

Navaho-Spanish Diplomacy, 1770-1790

Frank D. Reeve 200

West of the Pecos (continued)

E. L. Steve Stephens 236

Book Reviews 257

NUMBER 4, OCTOBER, 1960

The Pueblo Rights Doctrine in New Mexico

Robert Emmet Clark 265

VivaElRey!

Eleanor B. Adams 284

Frank Bond : Gentleman Sheepherder of Northern New

Mexico 1883-1915 (continued) 293

West of the Pecos (continued)

E. L. Steve Stephens 309

Notes and Documents ........ 327

Book Reviews 336

NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

VOL. XXXV JANUARY, 1960 No. 1

THE GERMAN JEW

AND THE COMMERCIAL REVOLUTION

IN TERRITORIAL NEW MEXICO

1850—1900

By WILLIAM J. PARISH *

The text of this article is reprinted with minor changes from the Autumn 1959, New Mexico Quarterly, copyright 1959 by University of New Mexico Press.

A T mid-nineteenth century in Taos and Santa Fe, when the JL\ German Jewish merchant took his place alongside the American- and Mexican-born storekeeper, a commercial revo- lution had begun. There can be no doubt that the German Jew was the moving force in this change of pace.

It is true that one can find an occasional non-Jew who made his contribution, and Franz Huning was one such per- son— although even he was a German immigrant.1 Miguel Desmarais, a French Canadian, established his store in Las Vegas before Kearny made his entry. His enterprise was car- ried on by a nephew, Charles Blanchard, with branches in Socorro, Carthage, and San Pedro, and perhaps these busi- nessmen should receive credit in this regard.2 Trinidad Ro- mero of Las Vegas was an in-and-out, not very successful merchant who played a minor part.3 Peter Joseph of Taos, who founded his store in 1840, an enterprise that was con- tinued by his son, Antonio, for ten years the Territorial Delegate to Congress,4 has obscure beginnings and perhaps he was not an exception to our theme after all.

The more one seeks out the non-Jew who came to New

* The author is Dean of the College of Business Administration, University of New Mexico.

2 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

Mexico before or during the eighteen-fif ties, and who settled down to deal successfully in the regular imports of finished goods and in the exports of Territorial commodities, the more it becomes apparent that there were few of him, indeed. In fact, if one holds strongly to the word "success," one can say that Franz Huning, the German Lutheran who arrived in Santa Fe in 1849 and who established his general merchan- dise store in Albuquerque in 1857,5 may have been the only non-Jew to have contributed significantly to the early com- mercial revolution in New Mexico.

Before we describe the pervasiveness of the German Jewish merchant in the urban centers of Territorial New Mexico, or express the credit and gratitude due him for his contributions to the growth of the economy and for his catalytic influence in the linking of our several cultures, it would be well to make clear that his coming did constitute a spectacular change in the conduct of this frontier business.

Prior to the Mexican War, the traveling merchant from the States found little encouragement in his efforts to sell wares in the Mexican domain. Heavy taxes, the amount gen- erally unknown until he arrived at Santa Fe or Taos, added financial risk to his enterprise and discouraged many who otherwise would have dared the dangers of thirst and death. This impediment to trade was fostered through the corrupt- ing of public officials, principally by the merchants of Chi- huahua who brought American goods through Vera Cruz and then on to Santa Fe, selling them at rather high prices. The traders from Franklin, Missouri, and later Independ- ence, even without government protection on the Santa Fe Trail, gradually broke down this monopoly when they learned the corrupt, or perhaps just needy, Mexican officials were subject to influence.6

At the time of Mexico's independence from Spain in 1821, the storekeepers of Santa Fe represented a rather immature development of retail trade. Pattie's 1827 reference to mer- chants can be interpreted as meaning there were a few petty capitalists, or storekeepers, operating at minor stands for the sedentary retailing of sparse goods.7 Gregg found mer-

THE GERMAN JEW 3

chants with a variety of wares in 183 1.8 Allison in 1837 also wrote of the Santa Fe storekeepers, including a Louis Gould.9

It is apparent, however, that these storekeepers could not rely on the traveling merchants for their inventories. The early records describe the trading of the traveling merchant as having been done directly with the people with no need for wholesaling. The exception was Ceran St. Vrain who, on one occasion in 1830, was forced to sell to a storekeeper because his goods were moving too slowly at his temporary stand at the customhouse.10

When the adventurer-merchant, James Webb of Connec- ticut, was in and out of Santa Fe from 1844 to 1847, he de- scribed the store of Don Juan Sena, on the southeast corner of the Plaza, as being the second best store. Mr. John Scolly had the best because its floor was planked — the only one in the Territory so equipped, he thought, except, perhaps, one or two in Taos.11 It is interesting that soon after making this observation, and being forced to leave his goods with others to be sold on a ten per cent commission, Webb chose not to deposit his goods with the first or second best store. Rather he made his arrangement with Eugene Leitsendorf er, a Ger- man Jew,12 whose location has been described as the "head- quarters for all American traders for social and business conversation and for plans for promoting their general in- terests."13 One of the reasons he chose this merchant is sig- nificant. Webb could not speak Spanish, as indeed few English-speaking people did or still deign to do. The Jewish merchant was cosmopolitan in his outlook, experienced in languages, and not in the least inhibited by the social re- strictions of economic strata.

Among the traveling merchants on the Santa Fe Trail was a Prussian Jew of some prominence and ability. His name was Albert Speyer and he was related, probably, to the Frankfort Speyers whose international banking house (with a branch in New York City)14 was flourishing about this time. He and Webb traveled together on occasion and some- times extended their Santa Fe trips to Chihuahua. Speyer, according to Webb, bought out the merchandise stock of

4 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

General Manuel Armijo when the General apparently had expected Kearny of the United States forces to arrive sooner than he did.15

In spite of this commercial activity involving traveling and sedentary merchants, there are several reasons why we should be cautious in imagining the character of this early trade to have been much above the level generally attained by the beginning petty capitalist who deals in the products of the local countryside, supplemented on an unplanned basis by the imports of the traveling merchant. The traveling mer- chant— not the sedentary storekeeper — was the one who dominated the scene. This adventurer is epitomized by the names of Charles Bent and Ceran St. Vrain ; by Patrick Rice, James Collins, and Jesse Sutton ; by the Magoffins — Samuel, James, and William with their respected Susan; by Henry Connelly, Alexander Majors, James Webb, and Albert Speyer. These merchants usually brought their goods to Taos or Santa Fe, sold what they could at retail, and then, if a balance remained, started south, retailing in small villages along the way. They would extend their tour, if necessary, and often if not necessary, to Chihuahua. When the trip was thus prolonged, they usually acquired silver bullion and gold dust as their reward and seldom took produce back with them to the States. In 1825, a Chihuahua merchant and legislator, Manuel Escudero, passed through Santa Fe on his way to the States as one of the first of his countrymen to add to this dominantly one way volume of trade. He returned the follow- ing spring with "six or seven new and substantial wagons" laden with goods.16

A second reason for not exaggerating this commercial development was the psychology of the traders. Almost en- tirely, these petty capitalists had no thought of a permanent business in Santa Fe or New Mexico. Like James Webb, who wrote, "there is nothing to induce me to entertain a desire to become a resident or continue in trade except as an adven- turer and the possible advantages the trade might afford of bettering my fortune,"17 these merchants disappeared grad-

THE GERMAN JEW 5

ually from the scene with their wealth or lack of it, as the case might have been.

A third reason for keeping in perspective our thinking on the character of this early trade is the nearness, from the point of view of time, of the old Fair which had been the dominant institution for the distribution of goods. Barter, except for strictly local currencies that sometimes existed, and which had no value outside the locale, was the chief form of trade prior to 1821.18 Taos Fairs were being held each July almost as late as this time and the trade there has been de- scribed as that in which "no money circulates — but articles are traded for each other."19 It should be remembered, too, that society in New Mexico prior to 1821, and even to a greater extent later, was essentially feudalistic with large numbers of people living as peones in commissary fashion, constantly in debt to the large landowners or ricos. In such an atmosphere, surpluses of goods were not consistent enough to encourage many storekeepers to ply their enterprise.

Only an occasional adumbration of the new era to come can be discovered. Manuel Alvarez had a store in Santa Fe for more than thirty years after 1824, and the tendency is to judge him as a precursor of the larger mercantile capitalist. His ledgers, however, show but three Eastern trips, some bartering in Taos and Abiquiu, but no signs of imports and exports on any scale.20

Henry Connelly, having been a traveling merchant while keeping a store in Chihuahua, later established branches in Santa Fe, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, and Peralta. He became too involved in political affairs, however, to have permitted himself the opportunity of becoming a successful mercantile capitalist. His death in 1866 snuffed out even the possibility.21

Eugene Leitsendorfer, who appeared as a Santa Fe trader in 1830, opened his store on the Plaza with his brother Thomas and partner Jacob Houghton in 1844. He tried to conduct a typical frontier, general merchandise business by bringing finished goods from the East and returning the pro- duce of the countryside in payment. He failed in 1848, an

6 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

event that may be taken as some evidence that his efforts were premature. 22 The Goldstine Brothers was a merchant house in Santa Fe as early as 1847 but it disappeared.23 The Leitsen- dorfers and Goldstines, however, were a foreshadowing of the German Jewish mercantile capitalist who, in increasing numbers, came to stay after the mid-point of the century.

The commercial revolution that was born in New Mexico following the American Occupation in which the German Jew played so large a part, cannot be thought of as a distin- guished or isolated development in the far western or south- western areas of the United States. It took place in an en- vironment possessing a longer and more romantic history than in neighboring areas, to be sure, and it had its begin- nings almost as early as other similar developments in the general region. It was similar, also, in most respects, to the observable effects of the whole German immigration wave that filtered throughout the United States following its force- ful beginnings out of the European depression of 1836.24

For that portion of the German immigrants who were of Jewish persuasion — roughly seven per cent between 1840 and 188025 — the United States generally was as fertile a soil for their peculiar talents and training as could be imagined. As summary background for this statement we need only ex- plore a few of the broader reasons.

The western Jew, more completely than his eastern Euro- pean counterpart, had been confined in his business activities to commerce and banking. The causes of this are not particu- larly pertinent here, but, in passing, we should mention the intellectual aversion of Greek and Christian civilizations to the profit that arose from trading or money-lending. It was, of course, the great scarcity of and need for both goods and credit in a growing economy that offered opportunities for abusive tactics and that placed this aversion in western phi- losophy and within its dominant theology. Thus the Jew, a man apart, was called upon to carry these burdens to satisfy the needs of a Christian market.

Closely confined to these narrow fields of endeavor, the western Jew became expert and often wealthy in his perform-

THE GERMAN JEW 7

ance of these scorned but necessary economic functions. De- spised for the work he performed and for the success he achieved, continuously persecuted and frequently driven from his native land, the Jew, as a matter of economic survival, sharpened his talents for converting merchandise into money and money into more money: in short, for becoming the world's expert in the managing of mobile capital.26 When the Western World awakened to its commercial revolution in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, the Jew was generations ahead in the quality of talents most in demand.

A change occurred in the organization of business in the nineteenth century throughout western Europe, and in Ger- many this change received emphasis. The commercial revolu- tion had given away to industrial capitalism and with it, particularly after 1812, the lot of the Jew improved signifi- cantly. The need for Jewish capital was so great that one authority has written: "the economic development actually dictated equal rights for Jews."27 Yet industrial capitalism, dominated by large corporate and impersonal enterprises, found the Jew declining in influence although he had been instrumental in the founding of railroad and shipping com- panies, electric manufacturing firms and chemical enter- prises.28 Monopoly increasingly excluded him by convention. The Jew excluded himself by choice.

In the wealthier provinces of Germany, largely to the south and west, the Jew remained in the smaller towns and villages where the family commercial enterprises were the center of rural activity29 and where the ancestors of these people had founded, in the tenth and eleventh centuries, whole Jewish towns along the Rhine and Moselle Rivers.30 In Wurtemburg, in 1846, eighty-one per cent of the Jews lived in villages.31 In Bavaria approximately the same percentage were domiciled outside the five largest communities.32 It was from these provinces, including Baden and Westphalia, that a heavy concentration of German Jews departed for the United States.33 They possessed a fair education and a rea- sonable amount of capital, either of their own or to which they had access. Although the depression beginning in 1836

8 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

had brought with it some political and social reaction against them, it was the loss of economic hope in Germany and the promise of economic success in America, spurred on by agents of the new Cunard, and Hamburg- American lines, and later the American railroads, that sent them on their way.

A large percentage of them were single with more than a few dreaming of the day they could return under favorable economic circumstances to marry a German girl and then to take her back to the States. These immigrants had borne far greater political and social restrictions in years past, yet they had not left their homeland. It took a higher standard of liv- ing, contributing the wherewithal to move, and the oppor- tunity to emigrate to a growing economy of thousands of small villages and towns, each dominating an agricultural hinterland, to move them en masse. As one business historian has written of these same migrants, "it was to the blandish- ments of an economic rather than a political Utopia that the common man succumbed."34

This was the supply side of the equation for the years of the nineteenth century following 1836. The demand side, on the other hand, was most absorbent and strong. By 1840 there were hundreds of small and growing centers stretching from New England through the South and from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. The United States was figuratively crying for humanity to man its towns. Furthermore, the traditional methods of wholesale and retail distribution were being strained to the limit and were in need of supplement. As we learn in the principles of economics: when such a demand schedule intersects with such a supply schedule, something is compelled to happen. Something did.

The German Jew, happy to work for himself — even to be permitted to observe his holidays if he wished, though diet was another problem — took his limited capital, turned it into merchandise and, with pack on back, trudged out across the countryside. When he had gained more than a pittance — and with his training and new environment there were few who failed to do so — he chose a small town of promise in which to establish his general merchandise store. Soon this store be-

THE GERMAN JEW 9

came a temporary training ground for relatives or Jewish friends who needed some capital sustenance before seeking independent enterprise. In many cases these newcomers drummed the hinterland using their benefactor's base as a source of supply. Scarcely a town of any importance in the eastern United States was without its German Jewish mer- chant by mid-century.

In the 1850's these people were beginning to repeat in the western states the same encouragement to commercial devel- opment that prior to the Mexican War and the California Gold Rush had extended itself solidly into Missouri.35 The Jewish movement into Texas preceded those into the Terri- tories by a few years, although there is little evidence that the German Jew came in any numbers until after the Mexican War.36 In the next few years significant settlements of these people were made along the Gulf Coast, principally in the towns of Victoria and Galveston.37

The California Gold Rush attracted a number of German Jews who in the years 1849 and 1850 were making the trip around the Horn, or by pack and mule across the Isthmus, and then to San Francisco.38 In the early 'fifties they were converging from the west and the east on Salt Lake City39 where the Mormons, following the historical antipathies to trade, had left a near- vacuum40 for the Jewish Gentiles.41

The movement into Colorado did not occur with any force until the 1860's when similar trends can be seen to have be- gun in Arizona and Nevada.42

When the German Jewish merchant came to New Mexico at the close of the 1840's, his bed already had been made for him by an enterprising, free-lance American trader who in a decade and a half had come to dominate the market from Independence to Chihuahua. This adventurous trader had found a hole in Mexican business enterprise, and had quickly poured his efforts into it. He had found the Mexican mer- chant, with few exceptions, to possess little drive for material productiveness. With little surprise he had discovered the market, that had been served so ineffectually, to have been strongly materialistic on the consumption side. To this trav-

10 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

eling merchant it had been worth braving the Indian, break- ing the tariff wall, and bribing officials — not alone for the potential profit involved, but also for the spirit of adventure that was part and parcel of it all.

If this adventurous traveling merchant had made a bed for the German Jew, it was the more comfortable because of the military intervention that quickly followed the economic spearhead. To the Mexican nation that succumbed to this display of force, there probably seemed to be no ring of equity in it. There never is in any time or climate for those of us who seek comfort behind intellectual and economic tariff walls. It is a lasting truth that such protective complacencies are weakening to those within and strengthening to those with- out. The inevitability of this crumbling effect in New Mexico to the year 1846 has been described by Charles and Mary Beard, whose economic interpretations of history may be closer to the truth than many present-day historians are wont to admit : "Without capital and without stability, har- assed by revolutions and debt, Mexico could not develop the resources and trade of the northern empire to which she pos- sessed the title of parchment and seals. More than that .... she did not have the emigrants for that enterprise."43

Even though the traveling merchant and the United States military had made and smoothed a bed for the German Jew, it is doubtful that this bachelor alien came to Santa Fe to contemplate the comforts that had been prepared. In an atmosphere that later, and after some desirable changes, could be described as "no life for a lady/'44 there were some domestic comforts for which contemplation would be the only proper word.

Into this land of hope and promise came Jacob Solomon Spiegelberg. Whether or not he came with the thought of settling down in New Mexico we do not know, for evidently he came as part of the manpower of a supply train for Kear- ny's troops. When Colonel Doniphan's regiment went on to Chihuahua, Spiegelberg accompanied him. It was not until he returned to Santa Fe with the regiment that, upon receiv- ing an appointment as sutler to Fort Marcy, he established his

THE GERMAN JEW 11

general merchandising firm.45 The date is generally thought to have been 1848, the same year that Brewerton described the Santa Fe Plaza as a "very babel [of] French, English, German, and Spanish. . . ,"46

A year later, or perhaps even sooner, there came to Taos another German Jewish merchant — Solomon Beuthner — al- though records are not available to fix the beginnings of the sizeable mercantile house that bore his family name in that town.47 By 1852, the merchant house of Seligman in Santa Fe was founded when Sigmund Seligman joined with his part- ner for the next decade, Charles P. Clever.48 Perhaps the lat- ter was not of Jewish extraction although he had earlier Jewish associations.49

One of the first Jewish merchants in Santa Fe was Jacob Amberg, whom we find earlier as a partner of Henry Con- nelly50 and as a prospector among some silver claims in Pinos Altos, New Mexico.51 In 1855, he joined with Gustave Elsberg in a mercantile partnersip, Elsberg and Amberg, in West- port, Kansas, and a year later the firm moved to Santa Fe.52 Toward the end of the 'fifties, Zoldac and Abraham Staab established their firm.53

It was not long after these pioneer firms were founded that the relatives began to arrive from Germany. The Spie- gelberg brothers, Bernard, Elias, Willi, Emanuel, Levi and Lehman, together with their nephew Abraham (a New Yorker by birth) , one by one, dropped into town to add to the manpower of the firm.54 Then a cousin, Aaron Zecken- dorf , came in 1853 and clerked in the store until the Spiegel- berg's financed his start in Albuquerque, in 1863. 55 This favor appeared not to be a deterrent to the establishment by the Zeckendorf brothers of a competing branch to Spiegelberg in Santa Fe by 1865.56

When we first find evidence of the Beuthner Brothers firm in Taos, Joseph had joined his brother Solomon and, perhaps, his brother Samson.57 Joseph and Solomon had enlisted in the Union forces — Joseph attaining the rank of captain and Solo- mon that of colonel.58

The other houses enlarged, too. Sigmund Seligman was

12 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

followed by his brothers Bernard and Adolph.59 Albert Els- berg and Moses Amberg joined the firm of Elsberg and Amberg as did Herman Ilf eld, a cousin of the two families, and the first of the Ilfeld brothers to come to the United States and New Mexico.60

Charles Ilfeld61 came into the fold shortly after Herman. A lad barely turned eighteen, he put in a very short stint with his older brother, and then went to Taos as clerk for Adolph Letcher to open a new firm financed by Elsberg and Amberg. Letcher and Ilfeld stuck it out in Taos for almost two years before the blossoming town of Las Vegas beckoned and en- ticed them off with their merchandise on muleback across the Sangre de Cristo mountains. Wending their way through the town of Mora, where three years before a traveling reporter of the Santa Fe Neiv Mexican had described the larger por- tion of the merchants as German,62 the retinue reached Las Vegas and draped itself around the Plaza. This young firm had now become A. Letcher and Company, with Charles Il- feld as partner, and its new abode was in the old store of Frank Kihlberg, a much traveled German Jew. This was early May, 1867. In September, 1874, Charles bought the in- terest of his partner and the proprietorship of Charles Ilfeld began, a firm that subsequently grew into the largest general merchandise wholesaler in the state of New Mexico.

The new firm of Charles Ilfeld had good cultural company on the Plaza. Emanuel Rosenwald, who had opened his gen- eral merchandise business in 1862, was across the unim- proved core of the quadrangle with his brother Joseph.63 Marcus Brunswick, who became Charles' closest friend, and who is now buried in the Ilfeld plot in Las Vegas, had a mer- cantile establishment with Ben Hecht.64 Other Jewish mer- chants of Las Vegas in 1870 were : May Hays, N. L. Rosen- thai, Philip Holzman, and one of the Jaffa Brothers.65

A large number of the clerking and drumming brothers, sons, cousins, and family friends of the major Jewish mer- cantilists soon found their way into proprietorships or part- nerships of their own — sometimes through their hard-gained resources, but usually through the capital of their sponsors.

THE GERMAN JEW 13

Spiegelberg, alone, must have been responsible for a dozen or more of these new stores throughout the urban centers. Henry Biernbaum was one of these proteges. He came to Santa Fe in 1851 and subsequently moved about; first with a store in San Juan, then Pueblo, Colorado, then San Miguel, southeast of Santa Fe, and then Mora, before he finally estab- lished a large mercantile store in Trinidad.66

We have already mentioned the Zeckendorf s who followed Biernbaum by two years. In the 'sixties there were Nathan and Simon Bibo, sons of a Westphalian Rabbi who, first, with Spiegelberg capital and then with their own, established stores at Laguna, Fort Wingate, Cebolleta, Bernalillo and Grants. Later they were joined by their brother Solomon.67 Nathan Bibo, with Sam Dittenhofer, another Spiegelberg protege, started a store in the little stagecoach town of Teco- lote.68 This was in 1873, and when Charles Ilfeld decided to have his own wayside store and corral there for the Barlow and Sanderson Stage Lines, he rented the building from Willi Spiegelberg and placed David Winternitz, later a charter member of the Congregation Montefiore69 in Las Vegas, as his partner-manager.70

In the 'seventies and 'eighties the Spiegelberg brothers kept up their commercial proselyting through the Grunsf elds (Alfred, Albert, and Ernest) who first managed and then bought the Spiegelberg branch in Albuquerque,71 evidently after the Zeckendorfs had decided to embark in their own enterprise. In the 'nineties, the Grunsfeld brothers estab- lished a branch in Santa Fe72 after the Spiegelbergs had chosen to retire, one by one, to New York City. Two other clerks of the Spiegelbergs, Henry Lutz73 and Morris J. Bern- stein,74 had moved on to Lincoln, New Mexico.

Other sponsoring firms also did their bit. The Seligman brothers gave Bernard Ilfeld his first employment in New Mexico.75 Later this brother of Charles had his own store in Albuquerque.76 Herman Ilfeld, upon the failure of Elsberg and Amberg, revived the enterprise as a proprietorship77 and soon took in as partners his brothers Noa and Louis. Louis founded a branch of the firm in Alcalde, and with Noa, estab-

14 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

lished another outlet on the Plaza in Old Albuquerque in the 'seventies.78

By way of further illustration of this moving, pervasive force of new German Jewish mercantile firms following short training periods with older established houses, we need men- tion but a few. Alexander Gusdorf, successful merchant of Taos, received his first training with C. Staffenberger of Santa Fe.79 His brother Gerson, who followed Alexander, worked for Z. Staab and Company.80 Carl Harberg,81 Sig- mund Nahm,82 Simon and Adolph Vorenberg83 all owed al- legiance to the successful Mora firm of Lowenstein and Strausse. Herman Wertheim,84 Solomon Floersheim, the Goldenbergs (Alex, Hugo and Max) and many others were originally or later employed in New Mexico by Charles Ilfeld.85

We could go on and on. What the Jaffas and Pragers of Roswell, or the Price brothers of Socorro may have done in furthering new proprietorships and partnerships we do not know. Yet a similar story could be told of the launching of enterprises by Henry Lesinsky whose prominent firm in Las Cruces gave Phoebus Freudenthal86 and others their start. Charles and Morris Lesinsky played similar roles. In Silver City the firms of Cohen and Lesinsky and Weisl, Lesinsky and Company87 appear. The Freudenthals, solid in Las Cru- ces, also had commercial interests in Silver City, Clifton, Ari- zona, and El Paso, Texas.88 Isador Solomon, brother-in-law of Phoebus Freudenthal, went on from Las Cruces to found Solomonville, Arizona, where he built a mercantile firm and where, with help from the Freudenthals and others, incor- porated the Gila Valley Bank, a forerunner of the Valley Na- tional Bank of Phoenix.89

We have not mentioned the Kahns90 and the Cohns,91 the Eldodts92 and the Eisemanns,93 or the Seligmans of Berna- lillo.94 There were the Golds95 and the Rosenthals,96 the Neu- stadts97 and Hirsches.98 We should not overlook the Jacobs99 and the Sterns;100 the Lohmanns,101 Lessers102 and Levys,103 or the brothers Schutz104 and the brothers Spitz.105 To close the century we must include Julius and Sigmund Moise, born

THE GERMAN JEW

15

in Oberstein, Germany, who founded a mercantile firm in Santa Rosa.106 Without laying any claim to exhaustion of op- portunities, and only including those who became proprie- tors, partners or managers of retailing or wholesaling firms handling goods of one kind or another, three hundred sixty- six have been documented over the period 1850 to 1900. If separate establishments are counted without regard to duplication of personnel, there were more than five hundred. (See Table I.)

The German-born residents of New Mexico made up ap- proximately six-tenths of one per cent of its total population

TABLE I A Tabulation of Jewish Merchants in New Mexico (1845-1900)

Total No of 1845- 1850-1860-1870-1880- 1890-(1845-Individuals 49 59 69 79 89 1900 1 1900) Involved
Albuquerque	—	1	2	11	49	33	96	62
Las Vegas	—	2	10	26	47	35	120	82
Santa Fe	8	16	32	30	28	33	147	85
3 Largest Center	8	19	44	67	124	101	363	229
Percent	89	76	68	45	44	48
Bernalillo	—	—	—	3	4	5	12	8
Las Cruces	—	—	1	13	15	3	32	22
Roswell	—	—	—	—	8	8	16	12
Silver City	—	—	—	11	10	—	21	16
Taos	1	2	6	3	3	2	17	12
Raton	—	—	—	—	3	7	10	10
Socorro	—	—	—	1	14		15	14
7 Large Centers	1	2	7	31	57	25	123	94
Percent	11	8	11	21	21	12
10 Largest Centers	9	21	51	98	181	126	486	323
Percent	100	84	79	66	65	60
77 Rural Centers	—	4	14	49	97	84	251	191
Percent	—	16	21	34	35	40
87 Centers	9	25	65	147	278	210	734a	514s
Percent	100	100	100	100	100	100
Minus duplication of individuals who had
multiple domiciles during the period	148
Total individuals in	sample							366

1. By observation, the sample obtained for the 'nineties is decades.

2. The difference between 734 and 514 is accounted for by merchants in two or more decades.

not as full as for earlier the appearance of many

16 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

according to the census figures of 1860, 1870, and 1880.107 In 1870, slightly less than one-fourth of the Germans who were occupied in one business or another were listed in trade. Nearly one-third were so listed in 1880.108 Inasmuch as Jew- ish businessmen were predominantly in trade, we might con- clude from these data that the German Jewish population grew substantially faster in the decade of the 'seventies than the total German population, but that by 1880 the German Jewish people, obviously less than one hundred per cent of all Germans, probably comprised less than one-half of one per cent of the inhabitants.

However, unless the birthrate for the Jewish population greatly exceeded that of the Territory — and this is not prob- able— the proportion of German Jews must have been consid- erably less than one-half of one per cent. Even at three- eighths of one per cent, the apparent rate of German Jewish immigrants, relative to total German immigration, would have been three times the national average.109

However small the proportion of these people may have been, they had a tendency to spread themselves throughout the Territory. A sample of more than three hundred and fifty merchants known to have been in New Mexico at various specific dates and periods between 1850 and 1900 indicates that the concentration of these people in the larger towns fell sharply as the century progressed — a pattern quite con- trary to the experience of total Jewry for the nation where heavy concentrations occurred in the larger metropolitan centers, particularly in New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

Sixty-five per cent or more of the German Jewish popula- tion in New Mexico was concentrated in Santa Fe before 1860. In the next decade this percentage fell to fifty per cent and declined further to about fifteen per cent by the end of the century. In total, the three largest cities, Santa Fe, Las Vegas, and Albuquerque, as well as the ten largest, showed a steady decline in percentages of the German Jewish popula- tion from 1850 to 1900. At the end of the period approxi- mately forty per cent of these people lived in the more rural communities. (See Table I.)

THE GERMAN JEW 17

This small group of people was a ubiquitous lot. Howard W. Mitchell's 1877 journal describes Las Vegas as "made up chiefly of Mexicans although quite a number of Americans and Jews." Santa Fe he found to have "mostly general stores kept by Jews."110 Ex-Governor Arny in a public speech in Santa Fe in 1876 described that town as of two classes — Mexican or Spanish-speaking and American or English- speaking. The latter class he described as being composed "really of a majority of foreign born persons, among them a large proportion of Jews."111

The Illustrated History of New Mexico, published in 1895, made the following comment : "The merchants of New Mex- ico at the time of the advent of the railroad were largely com- posed of [the Hebrew] nationality, and this ancient people still hold their own in all mercantile concerns. There is scarcely a village having any trade at all in which they will not be found."112 Our sampling of the Territory, principally through newspapers and the invaluable correspondence and records of Charles Ilfeld, prove this statement to have been quite accurate.

In plotting eighty-seven New Mexico communities in which one or more German Jewish merchants resided at one time or another during the last half of the nineteenth cen- tury, we find these urban centers to have been concentrated in that larger half of the Territory from the Rio Grande east- ward. The heaviest grouping, of course, was in the northeast- ern part and west to the San Luis Valley. Most of the balance were strung out along two river routes : The Pecos from Bado de Juan Pais through Anton Chico, Puerto de Luna, Fort Sumner, and Roswell, and the Rio Grande from Albuquerque through Los Lunas, Socorro and Las Cruces. A few centers fell between these strings, but these were largely to be found in the Lincoln, White Oaks, Tularosa area. A number of these towns are located west of the Rio Grande along the route to Arizona through Deming, the mining district around Silver City, and the settlements between Albuquerque and Gallup. Those areas where settled Jews do not appear are found in the northwest quadrant and most of the southwest, where

18 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

few commercial centers would have existed anyway because of Navajo lands in the northern part and difficult terrain to the south together with sparse population throughout.

It is worth noting, however, that even after Farmington began to grow in the rich agricultural region of the San Juan River, German Jewish merchants were not to be found there. A heavy concentration of them, however, served this area out of Durango as, indeed, from Trinidad they also held much of the trade of Raton and Cimarron.

The fewness of Jewish merchants in the western part of the Territory did not mean that these people were ignoring the trade that was to be found there. Willi Spiegelberg had a Navajo Trading Agency.113 The Bibos specialized in com- merce at Acoma and other Indian pueblos.114 The Seligmans of Bernalillo did the same.115 Louis and Noa Ilf eld dealt with the Indians extensively but concentrated on the Zunis.116

Magdalena was an outpost for the Price Brothers of So- corro,117 as it later became for Charles Ilfeld, for the trade to the west along and around the route to Springerville, Ari- zona.118 The Jewish drummers from the Spiegelberg and Staab houses of Santa Fe, and the Ilfeld and Grunsf eld broth- ers of Albuquerque,119 left little of the Territory untouched.

Thus, a relatively small group of German Jewish mer- chants permeated the Territorial economy with their influ- ence by no later than the last two decades of the century. They shared it not at all with the eastern European Jews who did not come to the United States in any numbers until the 'nine- ties and rarely, prior to 1900, to New Mexico.

It is evident, therefore, that a great change took place in business capitalism in New Mexico after the American Occu- pation, and that the German Jew was the key man in encour- aging and developing its growth. How, in general terms, would we describe this commercial revolution ?

The traveling merchant, who was almost always on the move, was replaced by the sedentary merchant who sat down in administration. In the sitting-down process he became dependent on regular deliveries, ordered ahead of time, from distant areas. In New Mexico this meant the East — first Bal-

THE GERMAN JEW 19

timore, then Philadelphia and New York, and for heavier bulky goods that needed to be moved cheaply, St. Louis.120

We are picturing, too, an economy with a strongly unfa- vorable balance of trade that resulted in money being a scarce commodity — an economy that placed the merchants under great pressures to acquire monetary exchange. The most im- portant single factor giving the initial momentum to sizable amounts of monetary exchange in New Mexico was the pub- lic works project of the day: the army forts. These institu- tions not only had payrolls that had a way of being spent, but they had great need for supplies of local produce. Solomon Spiegelberg, as we mentioned earlier, was encouraged to start his Santa Fe mercantile business upon his appointment as sutler to Fort Marcy. In later years Marcus Brunswick, almost an alter ego of Charles Ilf eld, tapped the trade of Fort Stanton with a store in Lincoln.121 Other Jewish merchants who were sutlers in New Mexico were Nathan Bibo at Fort Wingate,122 Arthur Morrison at Fort Union,123 Ferdinand Meyer at Fort Garland,124 and William Gellerman at Fort Bascom.125

When a close connection with an army fort existed, cash sales to military personnel were high. Adolph Letcher found this to be true in Taos where his store was a convenient stop- ping place for the traffic between Fort Marcy and Fort Gar- land.126 The cash could then be converted into Federal drafts on Eastern banks which were deposited with wholesaling houses in New York City. These Eastern drafts could also be obtained, and in larger amounts, by filling supply contracts for the forts and for the Superintendent of Indian Affairs. These contracts were particularly valuable to the merchant because they meant the purchase of local produce — corn, wheat, lumber, and meat — which permitted the merchant's customers to reduce their balances with him.

It was this latter source of exchange that further encour- aged the large mercantile houses to establish branches in small rural towns in order to gain access to the produce of the countryside. Elsberg and Amberg had sent Letcher and Ilf eld to Taos for just this purpose.127 Spiegelberg sent the Ditten-

20 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

hofer brothers to Anton Chico and later, Sam Dittenhofer and Nathan Bibo to Tecolote.128 Abraham and Zoldac Staab used Gerson and Alexander Gusdorf in Taos, Arroyo Hondo, and Red River.129 Charles Ilfeld had this in mind in financing William Gellerman in La Junta (now Watrous), William Frank in El Monton de los Alamos, David Winternitz in Tecolote, the Goldenbergs in Tularosa and Puerto de Luna, and Philip Holzman in Fort Sumner, and later in Pastura and Corona.130

Much of the monetary exchange could be gained by freighting raw materials to the eastern markets. Metal ores and Mexican silver dollars, the latter bought at a discount and sold in the east to help replenish the shortage of silver money, were prominent items.131 The basic export, however, was sheep and wool.132 In this trade Jews and non-Jews were prominent. Those who specialized in the raising of sheep with a small store on the side, like the Bond brothers,133 were more likely to be non-Jews. Those who specialized in merchandise with sheep on the side were more likely to be Jews, although Jacob Gross of Gross, Blackwell, and later Gross, Kelly, was content that this activity became the province of Harry Kelly. However, Meyer Friedman of Las Vegas and the Ilfeld Brothers of Albuquerque became specialists in sheep and wool after ventures in mercantile trade,134 and Louis Baer and the Eisemanns started as wool merchants.135 The big Jewish houses, however, kept their investments in this activ- ity in reasonable proportion to their merchandise business.

The firms of Rosenwald and Ilfeld of Las Vegas were among those mercantile houses who put the greatest empha- sis on the sheep and wool trade. In fact, they found it ad- vantageous, in order to guarantee an adequate supply of these exportable goods, to subsidize many of their customers through a substantial expansion of the old Spanish partido system where the partidarios paid a rent on a flock of sheep in either a fixed amount of wool per head or through a percent- age of the flock's increase. Although, contrary to belief, this was not a very profitable investment for the merchant, it did succeed in carrying many a Spanish-speaking customer

THE GERMAN JEW 21

through the difficult days of the depression of the 'nineties. It also, of course, permitted a greater extension of credit to these customers than could otherwise have been granted prudently.136

It took more than the export of sheep and wool, however, to pay the current bills of the merchants, especially in the early development of this system and in the depression of 1893 to 1897. Sources of credit for the merchant were all important. In this respect the German Jew had no peer. His connections were far and wide and the non-Jewish merchant must have found it extremely difficult to duplicate this advantage.

Many of these Jewish merchants in New Mexico may not have been as fortunately situated as Charles Ilfeld in this regard, but it is doubtful if the other leading ones were far behind. In the beginning, Ilfeld had a direct connection with Adolph Letcher's brother in Baltimore who had an estab- lished wholesale mercantile firm and who could serve as his agent for the purchase of any eastern goods. Actually before this, when Elsberg and Amberg was still a going concern in Santa Fe, Gustave Elsberg remained in New York at the pur- chasing agent for his firm as well as for Letcher and Ilfeld. After a short time of dependence upon a Samuel Rosenthal of Baltimore, Charles Ilfeld switched his allegiance to Solo- mon Beuthner who had chosen to specialize in New York City as a purchasing agent for firms in New Mexico. Beuth- ner, too, had excellent family connections in Germany and on the Continent that could have been of real help to Ilfeld if needed.137

The credit terms available to Ilfeld through such agents were fairly liberal but, of course, they did not match the credit extensions of one year or more that he was forced to give to his New Mexico customers. High profit margins on merchandise sales helped to keep many merchants in a profitable position. Yet when slow times came, as they did frequently, he needed credit to tide him over. This the Jewish merchant often received through Jewish merchant bankers in New York City. Ilfeld relied heavily during the depression

22 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

of the 'nineties upon his cousin Emil Wolff, of the substantial firm of Einstein and Wolff, for this aid. There can be little doubt that ready access to credit, once the Jewish merchant proved he was worthy, was one of the contributing factors to his successful dominance in the mercantile trade in New Mex- ico prior to 1900.

The commercial revolution in New Mexico, as elsewhere, always carried with it another aspect — the bringing of greater liquidity into the economy. Here again the Jewish merchant had a distinct talent. Several of them naturally turned toward banking as was the case of the Spiegelbergs, Jaffas, and Freudenthals.138 Generally, however, these mer- chants held exclusively to their own merchant credit system. Having sent many a trained relative or friend into the hinter- land to found a "branch" and to gain access to produce, he also used this outlet, in many cases, as a kind of branch bank- ing device. New Mexico lost a productive branch credit sys- tem when the commercial bank, operating under an unfortu- nate unit banking law,139 took over. Ilfeld, for instance, kept these satellite stores on the lookout for new business — principally in the sheep and cattle industry — which in those days offered the brightest hope for economic expansion. In effect he made these people loans by giving reliable ranchers check books which they could use up to reasonable amounts to pay their labor and operating costs. Labor then could buy merchandise with these checks in Ilf eld-appointed stores.140

The banking function expanded into attraction of savings deposits at interest. Even when the establishment of com- mercial banks became general — and except for Santa Fe, Las Vegas, and Albuquerque this was after the coming of the railroad and principally after 1900 — the bankers found con- tinuing reason to complain that people were entrusting their savings in disappointingly large amounts with the merchant. Yet neither a highly restrictive law in 1902 nor a special gubernatorial message in 1909 could curb the flow of these funds to the merchant who was an integral part of the lives of the customers he served.141

It was the larger general merchant who conducted this

THE GERMAN JEW 23

intimate trade with the hinterland in a two-way flow of im- ports and exports with the financing mechanism built in. With some notable exceptions, like John Becker of Belen, and Harry Kelly of Las Vegas, it was the German Jewish mer- chant who, in competition with his own immigrant people, had risen to a pre-eminent economic position. He was the commercial revolution.

It would be wrong, however, to drop him so summarily and thereby imply that his contributions were limited to trade and capital formation. Just possibly he was also the most significant catalytic agent in the reasonably peaceful convergence of New Mexico's three cultures and other ethnic groups. Of one culture he was a part, though an independent, eclectic, and adaptable part. These qualities were peculiarly fortunate for New Mexico.

It might be argued that the term "catalytic agent" is too weak ; that his force in fusion of the cultures would be more appropriate. The inter-faith marriage between the newly- arrived bachelors and native girls has received prominence in stories of frontier phenomena. The pictured loneliness of these young male immigrants and the difficulties of distance and cost in returning to the fatherland for purposes of wed- lock have lent credence to these romantic tales. The United States census of 1880 could be interpreted as supporting these stories for it enumerates that forty-two per cent of the off- spring of German-born fathers had native-born mothers142 — a figure, of course, that is applicable to both Jewish and non-Jewish fathers. The marriages of such prominent mer- chants as Henry Biernbaum,143 Louis Kahn,144 and Solomon Bibo145 to New Mexican women of Mexican-Spanish descent, and of Simon Bibo to the daughter of a Pueblo Indian offi- cial,146 also serve as basis for the generalization.

(To be continued)

NOTES

1. Charles F. Coan, History of New Mexico, American Historical Society, Vol. Ill, 1925, pp. 473-474.

2. Helen Haines, History of New Mexico, New Mexico Historical Publishing Co., N. Y., 1891, p. 577 ; Ralph E. Twitchell, Leading Facts of New Mexican History, Torch Press, Cedar Rapids, Iowa: 1911-1917, Vol. IV, p. 238; History of New Mexico, Pacific States Publishing Co., 1907, Vol. II, p. 880.

3. Helen Haines, op. cit., p. 360. Charles Ilfeld bought Romero's home in Las Vegas and Marcus Brunswick was a receiver for Romero's Old Town store for a period of time. Charles Ilfeld materials, University of New Mexico library.

4. R. P. Bieber, "Papers of James J. Webb, Santa Fe Merchant," Washington University Studies, Vol. XI, Humanistic Series, No. 2, 1924, p. 284. Illustrated History of New Mexico, Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1895, pp. 664-665. Twitchell, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 464.

6. Harvey Fergusson, Home in the West, Duell, Sloan and Pearce, N. Y., 1944, p. 16. Coan, op. cit., Vol. Ill, pp. 473-474.

6. Much research needs to be done on this phase of Mexican-United States rela- tions. James Wiley Magoffin, several times American Consul at Chihuahua, went ahead of Kearny in the conquest of New Mexico with Kearny's emissary, Captain Cooke, to soften the way. (See R. L. Duff us, The Santa Fe Trail, Longman's, Green & Co., N. Y., 1931, pp. 199-200. Also William A. Keleher, Turmoil in New Mexico, Rydal Press, Santa Fe, 1952, p. 122, fn. 37 and other indexed items.) Jose (Jesse) Sutton, a one-time part- ner of Josiah Gregg at Chihuahua as early as 1839 (Max L. Moorhead, New Mexico's Royal Road, Trade and Travel on the Chihuahua Trail, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1958, p. 144, fn. 59), evidently had loaned money several times to the Mexican government. (See Land Office Records, Report 45, File 61, Microfilm Reel, No. 17.)

7. Timothy Flint, Ed., The Personal Narrative of James O. Pattie of Kentucky, Lakeside Press, R. R. Donnelley & Sons Co., Chicago, 1930, p. 206. Pattie's narrative is thought to be authentic in spite of its inaccuracies. His statement — "with sufficient money to pay for the goods, consigned to merchants in Santa Fe, to be purchased there, provided a sufficient quantity had recently arrived from, the United States to furnish assortment" — adds credence to the general picture of a still weak transition toward established retailing practices.

8. Josiah Gregg, Commerce of the Prairies, J. W. Moore, Philadelphia, 1849, 4th ed., Vol. I, p. 113.

9. W. H. H. Allison, "Santa Fe During the Winter of 1837-1838," Old Santa, Fe, Oct. 1914, pp. 181-183.

10. H. M. Chittenden, The American Fur Trade of the Far West, Vol. II, N. Y., Francis P. Harper, 1902, p. 520.

11. James Josiah Webb, Adventures in the Santa Fe Trade (1844-1847), Ralph P. Bieber, Ed., Arthur H. Clark Company, Glendale, California, 1931, p. 93.

12. Ibid., p. 101.

13. Ibid., p. 111.

14. Barry E. Supple, "A Business Elite: German-Jewish Financier in Nineteenth Century New York," The Business History Review, Vol. 31, Summer 1957, No. 2, pp. 145 and 156.

15. Webb, op. cit., p. 186.

16. Twitchell, op. cit., VoL II, p. 118 ; New Mexico Historical Review, Vol. 14, p. 47, January, 1939 ; Chittenden, op. cit., VoL II, p. 510 ; F. F. Stephens, "Missouri and the Santa Fe Trade," Missouri Historical Review, Vol. 11, Nos. 3 and 4, April-July 1917, pp. 303-305.

17. Webb, op. cit., p. 91.

24

THE GERMAN JEW 25

18. Eleanor B. Adams and Fray Angelico Chavez, The Missions of New Mexico, 1776. A description by Fray Francisco Atanasio Dominguez, University of New Mexico Press, pp. 31, 81, 124, and 169. The Spanish authorities practically prohibited trade so that there was little significant change until Mexican independence. See Chittenden, op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 489-499.

19. Blanche C. Grant, When Old Trails Were New, Press of the Pioneers, N. Y., 1934, p. 26. Also Blanche C. Grant, One Hundred Years Ago in Old Taos, Taos, N. M., 1925, p. 10.

20. Lansing Bloom, "Ledgers of a Santa Fe Trader," El Palacio, VoL 14, pp. 133-136, May 1, 1923.

21. Twitchell, op. cit., Vol. V, p. 294.

22. Webb, op. cit., p. 41.

23. Santa Fe Republican, Microfilm, University of New Mexico library, Oct. 16, 1847. (Adv.)

24. Nathan Glazer, American Judaism, University of Chicago Press, 1957, pp. 22-23.

25. It has been estimated that 200,000 Jewish immigrants came to the United States between 1840 and 1880. Louis Finklestein, The Jews, Their History, Culture, and Re- ligion, Harper and Co., 1949, pp. 1216-1217. Approximately 1% of the Jewish immi- grants in the period 1820-1870 were from Eastern and Southern Europe. Ibid., p. 1208. Approximately 2,900,000 German nationals came to the U. S. from 1841-1880. U. S. Census.

26. A good presentation of the Jewish interest in mobile capital is given by Cecil Roth, The Jewish Contribution to Civilization, Harper and Co., 1940, pp. 266-268.

27. Finklestein, op. cit., p. 1211.

28. Marvin Lowenthal, The Jews of Germany: A Story of Sixteen. Centuries, Longmans Green and Company, N. Y., 1936, pp. 271-273.

29. Supple, op. cit., p. 148. Also Finklestein, op. cit., p. 1207.

30. Guido Kisch, The Jews of Medieval Germany, University of Chicago Press, 1949, p. 3.

31. Adolph Kober, Jewish Emigration from Wurtemberg to the United States of America (1848-1855), Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, Vol. 41, 1951-1952, p. 238. Cited by Supple, op. cit., fn. 15, p. 148.

32. Ibid.

33. Ibid.

34. Supple, op. cit., p. 147. The remark appears to have been a synthesis of the conclusions of Marcus Lee Hansen, The Atlantic Migration, 1607-1860, Harvard Uni- versity Press, Cambridge, 1940, Chapter VII. Hansen cites a number of causes, but typical of his dissertation is : "To many, probably the majority, economic freedom made an even greater appeal than political freedom." p. 160.

35. American Jewish Archives, VoL VIII, No. 2, Oct. 1956, pp. 61 and 64.

36. Negative evidence of this is present in R. L. Biesele, The History of German Settlements in Texas, 1831-1861, Press of Von Boeckmann-Jones Company, Austin, 1930. German Jewish names in early Texas are not apparent.

37. American Jewish Archives, op. cit., pp. 78 and 79.

38. Leon L. Watters, Pioneer Jews of Utah, Studies in American Jewish History, No. 2, American Jewish Historical Society, 1952, pp. 5-6.

39. Ibid., pp. 4 and 5.

40. Ibid., p. 37.

41. An observer from the House of Representatives in 1865 commented : "In this strange community all the brethern are Saints, all the outsiders are sinners, and all the Jews are Gentiles." Ibid., p. 9. Of course, there was also a certain sympathetic reception for these people that was tied closely to the Mormon's tenth article of faith : "We be- lieve in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes. That Zion will be built upon this (i.e. the American) continent. . . ." B. H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Century 1, Vol. II, Church Deseret News Press, Salt Lake City, 1930, p. 132.

26 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

42. American Jewish Archives, op. cit., pp. 87, 94, 103-104.

43. Charles A. and Mary R. Beard, Rise of American Civilization, The Agricultural Era, Macmillan, 1930, p. 586.

44. Agnes Merely Cleaveland, No Life for a Lady, Houghton-Mifflin, N. Y., 1941.

45. William A. Keleher, Violence in Lincoln County, 1869-1881, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1957, p. 53, fn. 3. Hester Jones, "The Spiegelbergs and Early Trade in New Mexico," El Palacio, Vol. 38, April, 1935, p. 86.

46. George Douglas Brewerton, Overland with Kit Carson, A Narrative of the Old Spanish Trail in '48, Coward-McCann, Inc., N. Y., 1930, p. 183.

47. A traveling reporter of the Santo. Fe New Mexican wrote of this house as "one of the largest if not the largest in all the northern portions of New Mexico. . . . One of the brothers is in Europe, another in New York [Solomon] and Joseph remains in Taos. ... I am informed that Lucien B. Maxwell is connected with the business and interests of this company." May 21, 1864.

48. History of New Mexico, op. cit., VoL II, p. 642; Twitchell, op. cit., Vol. V. p. 258.

49. Had been employed by Eugene Leitsendorfer. H. O. Brayer, William Blackmore: The Spanish-Mexican Land Grants of New Mexico and Colorado (1863-1878), Denver, 1949, p. 150.

50. Bieber, op. cit., p. 301.

51. F. A. Jones, New Mexico Mines and Minerals, Santa Fe, 1904, p. 51.

52. Gustave Elsberg v. Jacob Amberg et al., Bill in Chancery, First Judicial District of Territory of New Mexico, July 29, 1869.

53. Illustrated History of New Mexico, p. 634.

54. Keleher, Violence . . ., p. 53, fn. 3 ; Hester Jones, op. cit., pp. 88 and 89.

55. Santa Fe Weekly Post, Feb. 24, 1872 ; Rio Abajo Weekly Press, Albuquerque, Sept. 8, 1863. University of New Mexico microfilm library.

56. Zeckendorf was closing out March 11, 1865. Santa Fe Gazette (microfilm).

57. See note 48. Webb wrote of Samson Beuthner (Bieber, op. cit., p. 284). A piece of land in Taos was deeded by Solomon to Samson Beuthner, May 31, 1860. Samson was in Berlin in 1871 (Book A2, pp. 59 and 60; Book 3, p. 101, Records of the County Clerk, Taos, N. M.).

58. Santa Fe New Mexican, Aug. 12, 1864 (microfilm).

59. Twitchell, op. cit., Vol. V, p. 258.

60. Gustave Elsberg, Bill in Chancery, op. cit.

61. William J. Parish, The Charles Ilfeld Company: A Study of the Rise and De- cline of Mercantile Capitalism in New Mexico. Forthcoming publication of the Harvard University Press.

62. Santa Fe New Mexican, April 30, 1864, New Mexico Historical Society, Santa Fe.

63. Twitchell, op. cit., VoL IV, p. 233; Las Vegas Gazette, June 9, 1877, private library of William A. Keleher.

64. Brunswick and Hecht Ledger, University of New Mexico library.

65. These names were included among 15, including the Rosenwalds and Ilfeld, who signed a published agreement to close their respective stores at one o'clock on Sunday afternoons to give their employees some leisure time. Las Vegas Gazette, Sept. 12, 1874, Keleher library.

66. History of New Mexico, Vol. II, p. 652.

67. The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. VIII, N. Y., 1942, p. 170. American Jewish Archives, op. cit., Oct. 1956, p. 82 ; History of New Mexico, Vol. II, p. 610.

68. Ledger A, A. Letcher Company, Charles Ilfeld Collection, University of New Mexico library. Later Charles Ilfeld rented this store from Willi Spiegelberg. Parish, op. cit., Chap. IV.

69. American Jewish Archives, op. cit., Oct. 1956, p. 86.

70. Parish, op. cit., Chapter V.

71. Illustrated History of New Mexico, pp. 325 and 474 ; Coan, op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 98-99.

THE GERMAN JEW 27

72. Coan, op. cit.. Vol. II, p. 126.

73. History of New Mexico, Vol. II, p. 755.

74. Keleher, Violence .... p. 136, fn. 7.

75. "another Ilfeld brother arrived . . . employed by Seligman and Bro." Weekly New Mexican, Sept. 29, 1872, New Mexico Historical Society.

76. Charles Ilfeld Company records, University of New Mexico library.

77. Ibid., Ledger B, p. 129, Aug. 1, 1871.

78. Twitchell, op cit., Vol. IV, p. 458.

79. Illustrated History of New Mexico, Vol. II, pp. 661-662.

80. Twitchell, op. cit., Vol. IV, p. 458.

81. History of New Mexico, Vol. II, pp. 661-662.

82. Twitchell, op .cit., Vol. IV, p. 234.

83. Ibid., Vol. Ill, p. 430 ; Coan, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 205.

84. Coan, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 315.

85. Charles Ilfeld Company records, op. cit. Solomon Floersheim was Ilfeld's col- lector of ranch accounts in the early '80's ; Max Goldenberg was Ilfeld's sheep manager for many years ; the Wertheims and Max and Alex Goldenberg were aided financially by Ilfeld at both Liberty and Tucumcari ; Max and Hugo Goldenberg were so aided at Puerto de Luna.

86. Haines, op. cit., p. 435.

87. Grant County Herald, Jan. 4, 1879. I. N. Cohen, Morris Lesinsky, and B. WeisL Last-named was a brother-in-law of Charles Lesinsky. Ibid., July 12, 1879, Microfilm, University of New Mexico library.

88. Twitchell, op. cit., Vol. V, p. 270 ; Ernest J. Hopkins, Financing the Frontier — A Fifty Year History of the Valley National Bank (1899-1949), Arizona Printers, Inc., 1950, p. 11 ; American Jewish Archives, op. cit., Jan. 1954, p. 63.

89. Hopkins, op. cit., pp. 10-24.

90. B. Kahn (Santa Fe), Rocky Mountain Sentinel, 1878, and Military Review, 1881, Microfilms, University of New Mexico library; Louis Kahn, freighter between Santa Fe and Leavenworth, 1849- ; Sapello merchant, 1867- ; Mora, 1874. History of New Mexico, p. 657 ; Coan, op. cit., Vol. Ill, p. 432.

91. Charles L. and George (El Cuervo and La Cinta), Charles Ilfeld, op. cit., letters, July 13, 1884 and Dec. 12, 1886 ; also a Cohn of Cohn and Gottlieb of Costilla, ibid., Oct. 30, 1869, and Howard Cohn (Kohn) at El Cuervo and La Cinta, ibid., July 13, 1884; Samuel Kohn (Las Vegas), Las Vegas Gazette, Sept. 12, 1874, Keleher library; Herman Cohn, Las Vegas Daily Optic, Feb. 3, 1880, Office of Publisher.

92. Marcus, Nathan, and Samuel. Illustrated History of New Mexico, Vol. II, p. 420.

93. Albert and Nathan. Albert Eisemann (1856-1929) was born in Mossbach, Ger- many. He came to the U. S. in 1872 and established a wool business in Taos in 1878. He moved to Albuquerque in 1883. Several brothers joined Albert. Letter from Sidney A. Eisemann, Boston, Oct. 28, 1957 ; Albuquerque City Directory, 1896.

94. Julius, Siegfried, Ernest, and Carl. Stores before and after the turn of the century at Bernalillo, Domingo, Grants, Bland, Cubero, and Jemez. Twitchell, op. cit., Vol. IV, p. 167.

95. Abe, Jacob, Louis, M. Aaron, and Ned. M. Aaron were in Penasco in the 1870's (Sheldon H. Dike, "New Mexico Territorial Post Offices," New Mexico Historical Re- view, Vol. 34, No. 3, July 1959, p. 214) ; at Albuquerque, 1872 (Raton Range, micro- film, University of New Mexico library) ; in Santa Fe, 1880's (Socorro Sun, microfilm). The rest were in Santa Fe in the 1890's (various sources including the First National Bank of Santa Fe records, University of New Mexico library) .

96. William: in Santa Fe, 1876 (Las Vegas Gazette, Feb. 26, 1876) ; also 1878, (Keleher, Violence . . ., p. 47, 49, 57-58) ; in Lincoln, 1889 (Charles Ilfeld Company records, op. cit., letter, Nov. 20, 1889). N. L. Rosenthal in Las Vegas, 1879 (Illustrated History of New Mexico, Vol. II, p. 432).

97. Charles and Simon: Los Lunas before 1871 and Albuquerque later (Illustrated History of New Mexico, p. 468 ; History of New Mexico, Vol. II, p. 609 ) . Samuel :

28 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

in Los Lunas before 1871 (Twitchell, op. cit., Vol. V, p. 84) ; in Albuquerque as Vice- Pres. of B'nai B'rith, Albuquerque City Directory, 1897.

98. A. J.: Hillsboro, 1887 (History of New Mexico, Vol. II, p. 761) ; Emil: Las Vegas, 1886 (American Jewish Archives, op. cit., Oct. 1956, p. 86) ; Joseph: Santa Fe, 1847 (Twitchell, op. cit., Vol. IV, p. 75 and History of New Me'xico, Vol. II, p. 644) ; Leo, son of Joseph, ibid. Joe Herrsh, Santa Fe, 1853-4 (Bieber, op. cit., pp. 282 and 299).

99. Ben and Sol Jacobs, merchants in Roswell before 1885 (Lucius Dills, Roswell, Some Facts and Observations Relative to its Settlement and Early Growth, Chaves County Archaeological and Historical Society, Private Printing, Sept. 1932, University of New Mexico library; A. Jacobs, Santa Fe, 1892-1894 (First National Bank Records, op. cit.) ; W. W. Jacobs, merchant in Springer and partner of A. J. Clouthier some time after 1879 (Haines, op. cit., p. 419).

100. Isador: Fort Sumner, 1874 (Las Vegas Gazette, May 30, 1874) ; Las Vegas, 1876-1898, ibid., May 6, 1876 and Charles Ilfeld Company records, op. cit., letter, Nov. 1, 1899; B. : Albuquerque, 1889 (Albuquerque Morning Democrat, microfilm) ; Leon B.: Albuquerque, 1896 ( Albuquerque City Directory, 1896).

101. Martin and Oscar, Las Cruces, 1870's and 1880's (Haines, op. cit., pp. 553-554 and History of New Mexico, Vol. II, p. 574).

102. Louis and David, Albuquerque 1880's to 1900 (Albuquerque Opinion, microfilm and Albuquerque City Directories 1896-1901) ; Sussman Lewinson had become a partner to Louis Lesser by 1896 in a dry goods store doing business as The Economist. By 1897 David Weinman left the Golden Rule Dry Goods Company of Albuquerque to join this partnership, leaving his brother Jacob as proprietor of the Golden Rule. By 1901 the Lessers were no longer in Albuquerque and The Economist became the style name for Weinman and Lewinson. Sussman Lewinson retired to Philadelphia by 1910 and Sey- mour Lewinson had joined the firm (Albuquerque City Directories).

103. Felip: Sabinal, 1882-1902 (Dike, op. cit.), Levy and Cohn, Las Vegas, 1880 (Las Vegas Daily Optic, Sept. 19, 1880) ; H. Levey & Bro., Las Vegas, 1886 (American Jewish Archives, op. cit., Oct. 1956, p. 86) ; J. E. Levy, Las Cruces, 1879 (Mesitta Valley Independent, microfilm) ; L. F. : Gallup, 1888 (Gallup Register, microfilm).

104. S. and A. Schutz, Mesilla, 1878 (MesiUa News, microfilm). Aaron Schutz mar- ried Fanny Nordhaus, Max Nordhaus' sister. Charles Ilfeld Company records, op. cit., letters, July 13, 1877 and April 14, 1881.

105. E. : Albuquerque, 1896 (Albuquerque City Directory, 1896) ; Ed: Albuquerque, 1903 (Charles Ilfeld Company records, op. cit., letter, Feb. 2, 1903) ; Ernest, ibid., Nov. 23, 1903. Bernard Ilfeld and one of the Spitz brothers were partners in a general mer- chandise store in Albuquerque. Louis C. Ilfeld Letter Book, Charles Ilfeld Company records, op. cit., July 22, 1910. Berthold : Albuquerque, 1901, was manager of Bernard Ilf eld's dry goods store (Albuquerque City Directory, 1901) .

106. Coan, op. cit., Vol. Ill, p. 418.

107. Population German Born % 1860 93,516 564 0.60 1870 91,874 582 0.63 1880 119,565 729 0.61

108. In the 1870 census, 201 soldiers of German extraction were recorded in that occupation. In 1880 this category was not given. If the "soldier" occupation of 1870 is eliminated the business occupation figures were as follows :

Business Occupations Trade %

1870 483 115 24

1880 495 153 31

109. German Jewish immigration to the U. S., 1840-1880, amounted to nearly 200,000 people (see note 25) or slightly more than 2% of total immigration (9,438,480) and almost 7% of German immigration (2,891,943). In N. M., in 1880, if the German Jew comprised % of 1% of total population (119,565) this portion would have amounted to 448 individuals or 5%% of the total foreign born (8,051). On such a comparison we might estimate that the German Jew in N. M. represented almost three times as great a concentration in the population as for the nation. Admittedly this is a tenuous estimate

THE GERMAN JEW 29

and yet, if Mexican-born nationals are excluded (5,173) the % of 1% portion of the population would comprise 15% of the other foreign born. In contrast to the 1% portion of German Jewish immigrants to German immigrants nationally. 448 German-Jewish- born individuals in N. M. would have been 60% of the German-born of 1880.

110. Howard W. Mitchell, Journal, Nov. 8, 1877 to Feb. 26, 1880, microfilm, Uni- versity of New Mexico library.

111. U. S. Surveyor-General, New Mexico: Federal Land Office, Santa Fe, Report 88, microfilm reel 21, University of New Mexico library, July 4, 1876 (Speech prepared by David J. Miller, Land Office translator) .

112. Op cit., p. 107.

113. Hester Jones, op. cit., p. 87.

114. The Jewish Encyclopedia, 1942, p. 170.

115. Twitchell, op. cit., Vol. IV, pp. 167-168.

116. Ibid., Vol. V, p. 245.

117. Magdalena Mountain Mail, 1888, microfilm.

118. 1916. Charles Ilfeld Company records, op. cit.

119. Parish, op. cit., Chapter XIV ; Illustrated History of New Mexico, p. 474.

120. Parish, op. cit., Chapter V.

121. Account book of Brunswick's Lincoln store. University of New Mexico library.

122. American Jewish Archives, op. cit., Oct. 1956, p. 82.

123. Actually operated out of Las Vegas as sutler before the troops were moved from that town to Fort Union. Illustrated History of New Mexico, p. 316.

124. E. L. Sabin, Kit Carson Days, Vol. II, The Press of the Pioneers, N. Y., 1935, p. 763.

125. Las Vegas Gazette, May 18, 1880, Keleher library.

126. Parish, op. cit., Chapter II.

127. Ibid.

128. Ledger A, Letcher and Company. Charles Ilfeld Company records, op. cit. Charles Ilfeld rented the Tecolote store from Willi Spiegelberg after Dittenhofer and Bibo left. Parish, op. cit., Chap. IV.

129. Twitchell, op. cit., Vol. IV, pp. 458 and 474 ; Dike, op. cit.

130. Parish, op. cit., Chapters V, IX, and XV.

131. Ibid., Chap. IV.

132. Ibid., Chaps. IX and X.

133. An excellent history of the Bond Brothers is given in Frank Grubbs, Frank Bond, Gentleman Sheepherder of Northern New Mexico (1883-1915), Master of Business Administration Thesis, University of New Mexico, 1958.

134. Meyer Friedman had traveled for Otero, Sellars, early commission house, as early as 1874 and later had a store and warehouse for groceries in Las Vegas. Ilfeld Brothers, Louis and Noa, of Albuquerque, went wholly into sheep and wool after their general merchandise business burned down in 1897.

135. Sidney Eisemann letter, op. cit.

136. Parish, op. cit., Chap. XI.

137. Ibid., Chap. V.

138. Spiegelbergs : The Second National Bank of Santa Fe ; Jaffas : Bank of Ros- well and Citizens Bank of Roswell ; Freudenthals : Silver City Bank.

139. For all practical purposes branches of banks are confined to the home office county.

140. Parish, op. cit., Chapter XIII.

141. William J. Parish, "Merchant Banking Showed the Way in Early New Mexico," Mid-Continent Banker, Vol. 51, No. 7, July, 1955, St. Louis, p. 70.

142. Of 598 persons born in the United States of German extraction and living in New Mexico, 250 had native born mothers.

143. Coan, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 221 ; History of New Mexico, Vol. II, p. 651.

144. History of New Mexico, p. 657.

145. The Jewish Encyclopedia, 1942, p. 170.

146. Ibid.

FORT BASCOM, NEW MEXICO By JAMES MONROE FOSTER, JR.

ADOBE mounds, almost melted back into earth, scattered slivers of decaying lumber, and heaps of time-weathered bricks are the only markers today of Fort Bascom, New Mex- ico. In this modern age of five-strand barbed wire fences and securely locked gates, the site, located on a gentle bend of the Canadian River, is practically inaccessible to the general public. But less than a century ago the range was open, and soldiers from Fort Bascom patrolled a vast expanse of Eastern New Mexico and West Texas to protect the sparsely settled region from hostile Indians. Born in Kentucky, George N. Bascom was appointed to West Point from his home state. He entered the Academy on July 1, 1853, and was graduated as an infantry lieutenant exactly five years later. His first assignment was of routine peacetime duty in the East, but before the end of 1859 he had been reassigned to frontier duty. On April 23, 1859, he joined the 7th U. S. Infantry at Fort Buchanan, New Mexico. On February 21, 1862, Captain Bascom, 16th U. S. Infantry, gave his life in defense of the Union at the Battle of Valverde.1

Brigadier General James H. Carleton assumed command of the Department of New Mexico on September 18, 1862. It is doubtful that he could have made a wiser choice when he selected Captain Peter W. L. Plympton to command the force sent out to build "a new post on Red River, near the mouth of Utah Creek."2 On August 15 of 1863, the fort was

1. George W. Cullum, Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, N. Y., from its Establishment in 1802 to 1890.

2. The Rio Abajo Weekly Press, Aug. 25, 1863, p. 3. This reference to Red River was made by the above cited newspaper. There has always been some confusion about the name of the river and it is often referred to as the "Red Canadian." However, when the newspaper pin-pointed the spot as being near the mouth of Utah Creek (or Ute Creek) there should have been no question as to the proper name of the river, since "Red River" was usually applied only to the northern portion of the stream. The news- paper seems to have been alone in this error as other contemporary reports, some by Fort Bascom personnel, refer to the site as being on the south bank of the Canadian. [This article was extracted by F.D.R. from the author's History of Fort Bascom, New Mexico, 1868-1870. M.A. Thesis, Eastern New Mexico University].

30

FORT BASCOM 31

announced as New Mexico's newest military post and took its place as a frontier institution of the West.3

Plympton was born in Missouri in 1827 and spent most of his life on the frontier. The son of an army officer, he was appointed at large to the U. S. Military Academy and gradu- ated from there in 1847. He served in his home state until 1850 and for the next eight years saw service at several fron- tier posts farther west. He was stationed in New Mexico at the outbreak of the Civil War and was cited for "gallant and meritorious service" at the Battle of Valverde. He re- ceived a similar citation for his part in the Battle of Peralta.4

Plympton twice served as commanding officer of Fort Union. He stayed at Fort Bascom only long enough to get the post erected. He returned to Santa Fe for a staff job but later commanded Fort Defiance and assisted in the removal of the Navajos to the Bosque Redondo. In 1866, when only thirty-nine years old, Plympton died while on frontier duty at Galveston, Texas.5

The mission of Plympton and his men, who comprised Company "F" of the 7th U. S. Infantry and Company "I" of the 1st New Mexico Volunteers,6 was widely acclaimed throughout the territory. It prompted an Albuquerque news- paper to predict that "By and by, a man can go alone ... to the States, take his meals at taverns, and sleep in a house every night of the trip/'7 The paper also reported the following :

The new post is named in honor of Capt. George N. Bascom ... we suggest that the town that will probably spring up in that neighborhood before long be also called Bascom. The name is euphonic and we know of no better way of honoring those who have died in our defense, than by giving their names to counties and towns.8

a. Kecorus oi the United States Army Commands. (Undated material from the National Archives )

4. Cullum, <rp. cit,, p. 841.

5. Ibid. „,

6. Records of the United States Army Commands. (Undated material from the National Archives )

7. The Rio Abajo Weekly Press, Aug. 25. 1863, p. 3.

8. Ibid.

32 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

The suggestion of the newspaper was ignored. The town that did spring up was built five miles west of Fort Bascom, because "it was unlawful to sell whiskey within five miles of a military post."9 The soldiers stationed at Fort Bascom named the town themselves and chose to call it "Liberty" because it was the one place where they were under no re- straint.10 After Fort Bascom was abandoned as an active military post, Liberty lived on as a small ranching commu- nity. It existed until the turn of the century when the railroad pushed through eight miles to the south. Apparently, the citi- zens of Liberty realized the significance of the railroad, for they packed up their town and moved to form the nucleus of Tucumcari, New Mexico.11

Fort Bascom was built on a rolling plain. It was bordered on the north by the Canadian River and by one of the nu- merous mesas of the region. The plain stretched eight miles westward to the base of Mesa Rica. To the south and east, the terrain was undecided between level plains, gentle hills, and rock-strewn cedar brakes. Small creeks, usually dry, and ravines carved up the land in threading a path to the Ca- nadian River. A good growth of gramma grass promised to make ranching profitable.

The wife of an army officer stationed at Fort Bascom once wrote: "Life seemed horribly empty at Fort Bascom . . . Day succeeded day and I found no joy in the common tasks."12 It should be pointed out that the woman, who for a long period of time was the only white woman at the post, was writing under extreme stress as her infant child had just died. But she came close to accurately describing the simple, but stern, life of any frontier outpost.

Duties of the soldiers, at times dangerous enough, were frequently menial, but necessary tasks. Particularly during the first two years of the fort's existence, soldiers laid down

9. The Tucumcari Daily News, Aug. 11, 1952.

10. Ibid.

11. Herman Moncas, Personal Interview, Aug. 30, 1954. Mr. Moncas owns and operates a drug store in Tucumcari, N. M., and for many years has made a hobby of collecting museum pieces, and stories, of the West.

12. Mrs. Hal Russell, "Memoirs of Marian RusselL" Colorado Magazine, VoL 21 (Jan., 1944), p. 35.

FORT BASCOM 33

their arms to become carpenters and masons.13 The lack of timber resources in the immediate area made it necessary to send details to forest reserves to procure lumber. Until the completion of a well within the post proper, the hauling of water from the Canadian River was a daily task.

Troopers were often required to spend weeks encamped in the rugged Mesa Rica to watch for hostile Indians. Long patrols and escorts were other duties that more often than not were energy-sapping trips that did little to break the monotony of the daily grind.

It would be an error to assume, that because of the small- ness and near isolation of the post, that military discipline was lax. One form of punishment frequently meted out to troopers at Fort Bascom was dubbed the "California Walk" because it brought to mind the long trek from California to Albuquerque by the First California Volunteers during the Civil War. The "Walk" was described by one observer as follows :

The offending soldier was forced to carry on his shoulder a four-foot length of heavy, green log. Around and around the flag pole he marched from daylight to dark — an hour of con- tinuous marching followed by an hour of rest beside his burden in the hot sunshine. Sometimes a soldier would be sentenced to sixty days of the California Walk. I have seen as many as six doing it at the same time.14

The same observer reported another form of punishment which, if it was actually done, was much more severe. Ac- cording to the observer, the offender was suspended by his thumbs for hours at a time, with his toes just clearing the ground. One soldier, who had been hanging in that fashion so long that his thumbs had swollen to an ugly purple, asked one of the other troopers to wipe his nose for him. The poor soldier's plight was considered a great joke at Fort Bascom. Although it places a strain upon the imagination to believe

13. Fort Bascom Letters Sent, Aug. 26, 1865. (Unsigned letter to Colonel W. M. Enos, Department of New Mexico, Santa Fe. ) All material cited as Fort Bascom Letters Sent was obtained on micro-film from the National Archives, Washington, D. C. The letters cover a period from July 24, 1865 through Dec. 6, 1870.

14. Russell, op. cit., p. 33.

34 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

that such inhuman torture was used, it should be remem- bered that it wasn't practical to restrict individual freedom on a frontier outpost, and that the only satisfactory method of dealing with minor offenses was corporal punishment.

Fort Bascom was built to accommodate three companies.15 Its strength varied through the years, but it was apparently considered too strong by the Indians for a direct attack. How- ever, the surrounding ranches knew no immunity from the hostile Comanches and Kiowas.

One of the ranches that suffered a number of attacks was located at the mouth of Ute Creek, about fifteen miles east of Fort Bascom. The ranch was owned by William B. Stapp and Charles Hopkins, who were also partners in a store near Fort Bascom.

On one of these attacks, Hopkins was killed, and his wife survived a harrowing experience.16 The attack occurred when Hopkins was alone at the ranch. Stapp was keeping the store at Fort Bascom, and Mrs. Hopkins was at the home of her parents, who lived a few miles west of the Stapp-Hopkins ranch. Hopkins, on the day of the attack, had told his wife he would join her at the home of her parents by noon. When he failed to appear, she became worried and rode to the ranch. She found a band of Indians plundering the house, and the lifeless body of her husband near a curbed well.17

Mrs. Hopkins dismounted and ran to the body of her hus- band but was seized by an Indian who pressed a knife to her throat. A renegade Mexican riding with the Indians inter- ceded for her life.18 He told the Indians that the woman was his sister, and they contented themselves with cropping off her long black hair, and throwing her into the well.

The well, which contained only a small amount of water, was not deep but the fall injured Mrs. Hopkins, and she was unable to free herself. As night fell the Mexican returned,

15. Charles F. Coan, A History of New Mexico, p. 378. Chicago and New York : The American Historical Society, 1925.

16. W. H. Stapp, Personal Interview, Aug. 31, 1954. Mr. Stapp, the son of William B. Stapp, is a retired druggist who makes his home in Las Vegas. He was very active in the successful drive to get the ruins of Fort Union declared a. national monument.

17. Russell, op. cit., p. 36.

18. W. H. Stapp, Personal Interview, Aug. 31, 1954.

FORT BASCOM 35

helped her from the well, and then rejoined the raiding Indians.19

In the fort proper, danger from the Indians was not great. However, there were some threats to the health and well-being of the people living there. One officer died of ty- phoid fever while serving at the post.20 An officer's wife, whose infant had died at the fort, once found two large rattle- snakes in her quarters.21

Another soldier was mutilated because he could not hold his tongue. A Mexican laundress became outraged over some- thing a soldier was supposed to have said about her and promised to cut off his tongue if he ever repeated his remarks. The soldier only laughed, and "again his tongue betrayed him/'22

A few days later, the soldier went on a drunken spree with the laundress' husband. They retired to the Mexican's quarters to sleep off the intoxication, and somehow, during the night, the laundress managed to slice off the tip of the soldier's tongue. He spent many days in the hospital on a liquid diet.23

The average soldier at Fort Bascom received eleven dol- lars per month, plus rations. The rations included four pounds of coffee and one-fourth pound of tea a month. Soap was issued very sparingly. The troopers also received a bit of salt side each month and all the hardtack, beans, and beef they wanted.24

The lot of the soldier may have been much better than that of other persons living in the territory. The Santa Fe New Mexican described army life when it published the following article soon after Fort Bascom was founded :

Now is a good time to enlist as a volunteer. . . . Many a poor, healthy man is now working as a peon for scarcely anything worthy to be called wages, and for equally scanty food and

19. Russell, op. cit., p. 36.

20. Fort Bascom Letters Sent, Captain John V. Dubois to DeForrest, June 13, 1867.

21. Russell, op. cit., p. 37.

22. Ibid., p. 35.

23. Ibid.

24. Ibid., p. 37.

36 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

clothing. When a soldier ... is sick a physician attends him. His officers are bound to treat him with care and justice. . . . He receives good abundant food and clothing. . . . The labor- ing man can find no mode so easy, creditable, and profitable to discharge himself from poverty and service, as enlisting as a volunteer. The duties of the service promote patriotism, punc- tuality, courage and manliness.25

Apparently, entertainment facilities at Fort Bascom were practically non-existent. There is no record of company par- ties and dances, but these activities were probably held with some regularity. Horseback riding was a fairly popular sport, particularly with officers and their wives.

Since the sale of whiskey within five miles of the post was unlawful, thirsty soldiers had to be resourceful in order to supply themselves with spirits. Their resourcefulness on one occasion led to a letter of chastisement from the post commander to the post sutler, Hopkins.26

Hopkins was supposed to receive whatever supply of wa- ter he required from the detail which hauled water from the river. But one day the soldiers refused to give him water un- less in return he would supply them with liquor. Hopkins al- most lost his franchise to operate the store when he complied with their demands rather than take the problem to the post commander.27

A hospital was maintained at Fort Bascom with a medical officer, the post surgeon, assigned there to care for the ills of all personnel at the fort. By the nature of his duties, the post surgeon enjoyed more independence than other officers. This independence was reflected at Fort Bascom by two let- ters, one to the post surgeon and the other to Department of New Mexico headquarters. The first, written by the post adjutant on the order of the commanding officer, states :

The Major commanding directs me to say to you that the prac- tice of keeping soldiers (who are well enough to perform their

25. The Santa Fe New Mexican, Nov. 7, 1863, p. 1.

26. Fort Bascom Letters Sent, Lieutenant Colonel E. H. Bergmann to Mr. Charles Hopkins, June 8, 1866. The "sutler's store" was operated for the convenience of military personnel.

27. Ibid.

FORT BASCOM 37

ordinary duties) on the sick report for the purpose of em- ploying them as laborers, messengers, servants at the hospital must cease at once and can not be allowed in the future. At this moment every man is needed ... If soldiers (on the sick list) with cough, cold, or similar diseases are so far re- covered as to be able to perform errands for the hospital in the cold morning air, and at considerable distance from the post, without endangering their state of health, it would be sur- prising if their duties proper should do so.28

The second letter, written personally by the post com- mander, forwarded to department headquarters the resigna- tion of the surgeon. The post commander commented that he had called the doctor's attention to the "improper language used in the document, and requested a change in his style of writing," but that the surgeon had returned the letter without explanation.29

Toward the end of the Civil War, military personnel in New Mexico were struggling to regain control over the In- dians. One of the attempted solutions was a Navajo reserva- tion on the Pecos River called the Bosque Redondo. Fort Sumner was constructed there to control the Indians. If the Navajo reservation had lived up to the high expectations and hopes of its architect, Brigadier General James H. Carleton, Fort Bascom would have never been concerned with the in- stitution, and a skeleton force at Fort Sumner might have been sufficient to keep the Indians under control.

Ranchers and Mexican sheep herders charged the Navajos with stealing their stock. At least one army officer believed most of the stories of depredations were fabricated. The officer was Lieutenant Colonel E. H. Bergmann, who commanded Fort Bascom from July of 1865 until September of 1866.

In the spring of 1866, Carleton ordered him to station three pickets in the surrounding canyons and mesas. In carrying out the instructions, Bergmann scouted the country- side for eight days, and failed to sight a single Indian, or detect a single Indian sign. In his report, he stated :

28. Ibid., Lieutenant R. D. Reupell to Surgeon J. C. Brey, Dec. 28. 1865.

29. Ibid., Berjrmann to Major S. McKee, March 1, 1866.

38 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

In conclusion I beg leave here to state that rumors of pretended 'Navajo outrages' committed in the Conchas Valley . . . are almost daily brought here by Mexicans. In the beginning, I readily believed these stories and went out with scouting par- ties in the months of January, February, and April last, . . . but I was never fortunate enough to encounter Indians, see their signs, nor even could find one of the great number of Mexican herders who had seen Indians or Indian signs. I thought it best not to report these apparently invented rumors.30

Bergmann then commented that all the herders and set- tlers who had resided in the area for over a year had not been molested by Navajos, but that "all those who are here only a few days from the lower country are daily complaining of being robbed and killed."31 He did not explain, however, how anyone managed to complain of being killed.

A few days later, the countryside was combed again after the reported murder of the Fort Bascom expressman. The expressman, a civilian, carried mail and official correspond- ence between Fort Bascom and the outside world to Hatch's Ranch located midway between the post and Fort Union. Other couriers took over at that point. The victim, if he was actually killed, was identified only as "Chambers."32

Possibly connected to the incident was a report received on May 20, 1866, that a band of thirty Navajos were en- camped northwest of Fort Bascom and were molesting herd- ers in that vicinity. Bergmann sent a company of troopers under Captain C. M. Hubbell to investigate the report. Hub- bell's orders read in part :

. . . Should you find any Navajo or Apache Indians in that vicinity without passports, or are you satisfied that they have committed robberies, you are hereby ordered to destroy all (men) of them without mercy. Try all in your power to punish these marauders.33

Hubbell returned to Fort Bascom on June 2, 1866, but

30. Ibid., Bergmann to DeForrest, May 12, 1866. 81. Ibid.

32, Ibid., Bergmann to DeForrest, June 8, 1866.

33. Ibid., Bergmann to Hubbell, May 24, 1866.

FORT BASCOM 39

apparently had nothing enlightening to offer, for Bergmann led a scouting party west of Fort Bascom on the same day. He spent six days in the field searching for clues to the mur- der and for Indian signs. He failed to find either.34

With the coming of the new year, 1867, Fort Bascom got a new commanding officer, Colonel A. J. Alexander, who had no doubt of his authority to kill any Navajo outside the reser- vation. In writing to Major General George Sykes, who com- manded Fort Sumner, Alexander said his instructions were to scout thoroughly the country north of the reservation and kill every Indian capable of bearing arms that he could find.35 In another letter, he indicated that the order applied only to Navajo Indians, but that the instructions would be given to soldiers who wouldn't know the difference between a Navajo and a Comanche.36

The new post commander wasted no time in leading a scouting expedition. Alexander's force, patrolling in a west- erly direction from Fort Bascom, ran across a fresh Indian trail. The troopers followed it until they came upon a party of seven Navajos, six men and one woman, the latter, untrue to Indian custom, the only mounted member of the band.

Upon his approach the Indians showed "no disposition to either fight or run, observing which I discharged my pistol at them, and ordered the men to fire on them." This unex- pected, and probably uncalled for, aggressiveness had the desired result, as the Navajos broke for a mesa, but only to be overtaken by the mounted soldiers.

I sent most of the men around to head them off from the rocks, which they succeeded in doing. When the Indians doubled back down the deep rocky draw, and came out close to me, begging for their lives with such piteous gestures, that I gave the command to cease firing and took them prisoners.37

With the seven Navajos held as prisoners, Alexander struck a fresh trail which he said was made by four men and

34. Ibid., Bergmann to DeForrest, June 8, 1866.

35. Ibid., Alexander to Major General George Sykes, Fort Sumner, Jan. 3, 1867.

36. Ibid., Alexander to Hubbell, Jan. 4, 1867.

37. Ibid., Alexander to DeForrest, Jan. 12, 1867.

40 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

one woman. One of the captives informed him that Manuelito, one of the more famous Navajo chiefs, was a member of the second party. The troopers took up the chase, but the second band of Indians proved more resourceful than the first. When Alexander's column was within a mile of them the Indians fired the prairie, and the blaze held the soldiers at bay until the fugitives escaped to a rocky mesa. Alexander found it "impossible to trail them except with extreme labor and great difficulty" and gave up the pursuit at nightfall.

The captive Indians made a successful break for freedom that night, but according to Alexander, the escape was part of his plan. After the soldiers had pitched camp, Alexander told the Indians that the woman would be returned to the Bosque Redondo since he "did not kill squaws."38 After care- fully dropping other hints that the men were to be slain, he withdrew one of the sentinels shortly after midnight.

He did not have to wait long for results. Soon after the guard was removed the Indians dashed from the camp. The troopers gave a brief chase, but Alexander had recall sounded before the Navajos could be overtaken. In describing the escape, he wrote :

The Indians, I think, got off without injury, although I heard one cry out, as if struck. Neither soldiers nor Indians knew of my intentions, and I think the latter got back to the reservation with a wholesome scare. ... I felt satisfied that if they had been sent back in a week or two, the effect would have been bad for our future operations, whereas by letting them escape in this manner, I think the effect will be good.39

During this period, the Navajos were harassed not only by federal troops, but also by natural enemies, the Plains In- dians, who felt that their land had been intruded upon. Activi- ties of the Kiowas and Comanches during the years of the Bosque Redondo were not only troublesome for the Navajos, but for Fort Bascom personnel as well.

The Comanches made a practice of stealing stock from the Bosque Redondo, and then selling the animals to Mexican

38. Ibid.

39. Ibid.

FORT BASCOM 41

traders. The traders, who claimed to have bought the cattle in good faith, were always reluctant to return the stock to the Navajos. Often the Navajos left the reservation at night to steal their own stock from the Mexicans.

A band of Kiowas caused trouble in the summer of 1867 when Captain John V. DuBois was commanding Fort Bascom. A Mexican youth brought word to the post that twenty Kiowas had attacked a ranch house about twenty-five miles southwest of Fort Bascom. The Mexican youth and an Ameri- can, identified only as "Mr. Thompson," were the only occu- pants of the ranch at the time of the raid.

The Kiowas did not molest the Mexican boy, but took Thompson with them to serve as a guide toward a ranch further west where some Texas trail drivers were holding a large herd of cattle. Upon receiving the report DuBois im- mediately dispatched a force of twenty-seven men which, after traveling only fourteen miles, met Thompson heading toward Fort Bascom. Thompson continued to the post and reported to DuBois. No mention was made of overtaking the Kiowas.

Thompson told DuBois that the Kiowas destroyed every- thing at the ranch house, and then pressed him into service as a guide to lead them to the cattle herd. According to Thompson, the Kiowas promised to kill all Texans and Navajos but planned to spare all Americans. Their distinction between a Texan and an American probably originated dur- ing the Civil War.

Before the Kiowas reached the cattle herd, they came across the trail of eleven Navajos and joyously followed it at a gallop toward Mesa Rica. However, fresh trails were found at the foot of the mesa, and the Kiowas became frightened after they estimated Navajo strength at sixty or more. They turned again toward the cattle herd, but fortunately for the Texans, the Kiowas stumbled upon a single Navajo.

They killed the helpless Indian, scalped him, and then completed their savagery by cutting out his tongue. Satisfied with the day's work, they returned Thompson to his looted ranch and freed him — after warning him to quit the ranch,

42 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

for they planned to drive everyone from that section of the country.40

In the years between 1865, soon after Kit Carson's fight with the Kiowas at Adobe Walls, and late 1868, when a winter campaign was staged against the Comanches, relations be- tween Fort Bascom troopers and the warriors of the plains were strained. While there was no singularly spectacular In- dian depredation, and no large punitive expedition against the Plains tribes, the Comanches were a constant source of irritation in Eastern New Mexico.

A detachment of Fort Bascom troopers, while on routine patrol one day in 1865, came upon two Mexican women who were apparently lost. The women were taken to the post where it was learned that they had somehow managed to escape a Comanche camp. Details of the escape were not recorded.41

One of the women was middle-aged and had been a pris- oner of the Comanches so long that she had forgotten her native tongue, but the other was considerably younger and spoke Spanish fluently. The younger woman reported that their flight had been delayed soon after leaving the Comanche camp when the older woman gave birth to a baby. The infant, born of a woman fleeing savage warriors on the wilderness of the plains, had little chance for survival, and died soon after birth. The two women concealed the child's body under brush before continuing their forced march toward civili- zation.

The younger woman readjusted to civilization easily, and was soon sent to Santa Fe to pick up the threads of her life again. But the older woman "had been with the Indians too long." She resisted all rehabilitation efforts, and when last mentioned was finally put to work under the post's Mexican laundress.

In the summer of 1866, the commanding officer of Fort Bascom, Lieutenant Colonel E. H. Bergmann, made a trip deep into Comanche country under verbal orders from Santa

40. Ibid., Captain John V. DuBois to DeForrest, Aug. 9, 1867.

41. Russell, op. cit., p. 36.

FORT BASCOM 43

Fe. The trip was for the purpose of attempting by peaceful means to secure stock which the Indians were thought to have stolen from Fort Sumner and from a New Mexico rancher, Mr. Thomas Roberts. The expedition was not overly success- ful, as Bergmann found only five horses, which he recovered, bearing the government brand. He failed to locate any ani- mals belonging to Roberts. Bergmann did, however, make some interesting observations, and leave a rather complete account of the trip.

Bergmann took only ten men, some of them civilians who enjoyed the confidence of the Comanches, and departed from Fort Bascom on July 26, 1866. He knew where to look for the Comanches, as he led his party in a southeasterly direc- tion from Fort Bascom, but the Indians learned of his ap- proach and retreated. They feared that Bergmann's party was only the advance guard of a large military force. The civilians vainly tried to overtake the fleeing Comanches to inform them of the purpose of Bergmann's visit.

Although the Indians were well-mounted on fresh ponies, Bergmann doggedly kept up the pursuit until his persistence was rewarded. On about August 1, he captured two Mexicans who had been traveling with the Comanches. By using them as guides, he was soon able to bring the Indians to a stand about two hundred fifty miles southeast of Fort Bascom. Bergmann said the place was "on the Llano, . . . and very close to Texas settlements." In all probability the officer was referring to the Llano Estacado, the Staked Plains, for if he meant the Llano River he would have been deep into Texas and up to three hundred miles wrong in his estimate of the distance from Fort Bascom.

According to Bergmann, the Indians were not anxious to meet him to hear what he "had to say, because they antici- pated that it could be nothing pleasing to their ears." How- ever, he said he was determined to carry out his instructions and therefore continued to advance toward a Comanche rancheria. His advance was not challenged as the Indians, after some skillful long-distance communication, decided to welcome the party into their rancheria. Bergmann was par-

44 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

ticularly impressed by the Comanches' ability to communi- cate with each other over a long distance.

Their precautions and their mode of communicating news from one party to another . . . are very ingenious and deserve to be admired. At a distance of not less than twelve miles, the rancheria was informed, by a party of warriors who had come out to meet me, that there was [st'c] only ten in my party, and that we did not come to fight. Orders were asked if we could enter the village. The answer returned was: 'Bring them in, they will be welcome.' All this was done rapidly . . . just as if a telegraph had been used, and required nothing more than one of the common round looking glasses.42

The rancheria Bergmann entered consisted of one hun- dred sixty lodges. The officer stressed that the strength of the camp could not be calculated by that number, however, since many of the young men were away on the warpath, and that Indians did not have need of many lodges during the summer. He found not only Comanches but several Kiowa war parties paying a friendly visit to their allies. Bergmann said all of the Indians were splendidly mounted and well-provided with arms. He failed to see a single warrior who did not possess a revolver, and said a great number of them were armed with two pistols.

Bergmann was astonished to discover that at least one- half of the warriors in the camp were either Mexican cap- tives, or Mexicans who lived voluntarily with the Comanches. He considered them more dangerous than actual Indians, for many of them had a fair command of the English language and were constantly boasting of entrapping and killing trav- elers. The officer described them as follows :

These wretches who understand (English) so well throw travelers off their guard. They delight in narrating their out- rages and triumphantly show how they betrayed and en- trapped, and then afterwards butchered poor white men who were foolish enough to believe these monsters.43

One white child, a ten-year-old boy, was being held pris-

42. Fort Bascom Letters Sent, Bergmann to DeForrest, Aug. 11, 1866.

43. Ibid.

FORT BASCOM 45

oner by the Kiowas at the camp. Bergmann offered money, horses, and mules for the boy's release, but the Indians re- fused. He assumed a threatening manner, but said his words were "spoken to blocks of granite." The officer said he was tempted to try to rescue the child by force, but that he knew that it would not be possible even "if acting recklessly, and without consideration of committing suicide."

In conferring with the various chiefs, Bergmann found them rather antagonistic toward him. Although the Indians told him that if the troops waged war, they (the Comanches) would claim the right to say they had not called for it, Berg- mann said their speech was "nothing but empty words and laughable excuses," and that the Indians were hunting for an excuse to justify them robbing and murdering in New Mex- ico. He also said :

It is my unqualified opinion that a sound and severe thrashing would do them a great deal of good — it would cool down their boldness with which at present they seem to be richly supplied, and chiefly, it would prevent them from making depratory [sic] excursions into this territory.44

Bergmann's conference with the Comanches seemed to have little effect as the situation showed no improvement over the next several months, during which time Fort Bascom underwent a complete reshuffling of post commanders. In the spring of 1867 Captain John V. DuBois, a West Point trained officer, became commanding officer of the post.45

DuBois graduated from West Point in 1855, and was on frontier duty in New Mexico the following year. He returned to the East for the Civil War, and was wounded at the Battle of Corinth, Mississippi, in October, 1862. He attained the rank of brevet lieutenant colonel for gallant services during the war. With the close of the Civil War he returned to fron- tier duty and saw service at Fort Sumner prior to taking command at Fort Bascom.

The officer's tour of duty at Fort Bascom, as indicated by his letters, was not enjoyable for him. He had a double

44. Ibid.

45. Ibid., Captain John V. DuBois to DeForrest, March 31, 1867.

46 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

assignment as post commander and commanding officer of one company. His letters written to Santa Fe indicate that he considered Fort Bascom a forgotten post which was being left to shift for itself. Finally, on July 5, 1867, DuBois asked to be transferred. He wrote :

My health renders the double duty of post and company com- mander more than I can properly perform. I have neglected my company lately for want of time, and respectfully request to be sent to some post where I am not senior officer, when it can be done without injury to the service.46

Apparently, it could not be done without injury to the service for several months. DuBois was not transferred until April, 1868. Soon after leaving Fort Bascom, DuBois was arrested and placed on trial, but the existing record fails to record the alleged offense. At any rate, the officer was appar- ently acquitted, for he did not lose his commission, and was soon on duty again at several New Mexico and Arizona posts.

DuBois' army career ended on May 17, 1876, after he had put in a tour of duty in the Sioux Indian country. He was discharged for a "disability contracted in the line of duty," and died at the age of forty-six on July 31, 1879, in his home state of New York.47

In May, 1867, DuBois and an Indian agent received sepa- rate orders to negotiate with the Comanches for the release of white captives. The orders seem to have applied to different Comanche bands and different captives. DuBois was in- structed to attempt to secure the release of the son of a Mr. Hubert Weinard,48 while the Indian agent, Lorenzo Labadi, was to negotiate for the freedom of Rudolph Fisher.49

In replying to his orders, DuBois asked for authority to hire a guide. He said he could do nothing without one. In a later letter, the officer said the Comanches refused to "come in for a talk."50 According to DuBois, the reluctance of the Co-

46. Ibid., DuBois to DeForrest, July 5, 1867.

47. Cullum, op. cit., p. 616.

48. Fort Bascom Letters Sent, DuBois to DeForrest, May 10, 1867.

49. Report on Indian Affairs by the Acting Commissioner, for the Year 1867, p. 214.

50. Fort Bascom Letters Sent, DuBois to DeForrest, May 23, 1867.

FORT BASCOM 47

manches was at least partly due to the fact that they believed Fort Bascom to be garrisoned only by Negro troops. He said the Comanches would not kill Negroes, as they had many of them in their tribe. He didn't explain, however, how that situ- ation would keep the Comanches from coming to Fort Bas- com on a peaceful mission.

DuBois took no action during the rest of the month. In June, he repeated his request for authority to hire a guide, or to send Mexican runners to the Comanche camp. The au- thorization for runners must have come, for in July DuBois reported that three Mexicans had returned with a reply from the Comanches to a proposal he had sent them. The proposal offered to purchase the release of the captives.51 The Co- manches' reply was apparently in the negative, as DuBois made no further mention of the case during the rest of his stay at Fort Bascom.

Labadi, the Indian agent, took quick action on his orders. He started for Comanche country in early May, and did suc- ceed in holding a conference with some of the chiefs. He found the camp he sought about one hundred miles east of the boundary line between New Mexico and Texas. Labadi saw the Fisher boy, another white youth, and one Negro boy, all being held captive by the Comanches. However, he failed to secure their release. The Indians said the more important chiefs were away on the warpath, and that no one at the camp had authority to free the captives.

The Comanches also told Labadi that they still raided Texas settlements because they were unaware that the United States was at peace with that state. They closed the interview by asking for another meeting after they had had time to gather up all their captives. There is no record of the second meeting.

In commenting on his expedition, Labadi showed that he held soldiers in low esteem. He took only six civilians with him and no army personnel. "I did not call either at Fort Sumner or Bascom," he wrote, "because I preferred to go

51. Ibid., DuBois to DeForrest, July 12, 1867.

48 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

with six citizens to going with forty soldiers. I considered it more safe."52

In July, 1867, DuBois summed up Comanche activities in a letter to his superiors in Santa Fe. Although he did not mention any raids in the neighborhood of Fort Bascom, he wrote that the Indians were making constant forays into Chihuahua, and that the United States was required by treaty with Mexico to stop such raids. He also said that the Co- manches, "in contempt of the act of congress and military power," held a Negro boy as a slave.53

A few days later, DuBois wrote that he thought Fort Bascom had been visited by a spy for the Comanches. The offi- cer had been absent from the post for a few days, and upon his return learned that a Mexican who claimed to be an es- caped prisoner of the Comanches had spent three days at the post.54 It was of the utmost concern to DuBois, who had earlier written that Fort Bascom was insecure and sus- ceptible to Indian attack.55 Any fears he may have had, how- ever, turned out to be needless worry for the post was never attacked.

Not all difficulties of this period were caused by the Co- manches. DuBois, seemingly unhappy at Fort Bascom, had difficulty in keeping his men in hand. In July, 1867, he wrote that he had been forced to report three desertions during the month and had three men unaccountably absent. The officer said that the probable cause was irregularity in payment, and the employment of soldiers as common laborers without extra pay.56 The following month, DuBois reported that he had lost one private by desertion and one sergeant by suicide.57

Further disturbances were caused by cattle thieves who would have been happy to have their work attributed to the Comanches. Perhaps the most interesting raid of white cattle rustlers came in late April, 1867, when Captain George W.

52. Report on Indian Affairs, by the Acting Commissioner for the Year 1867, p. 215.

53. Fort Bascom Letters Sent, DuBois to DeForrest, July 12, 1867.

54. Ibid., DuBois to DeForrest, July 27, 1867.

55. Ibid., DuBois to DeForrest, May 10, 1867.

56. Ibid., DuBois to DeForrest, July 27, 1867.

57. Ibid., DuBois to DeForrest, Aug. 16, 1867.

FORT BASCOM 49

Letterman was commanding Fort Bascom. Letterman was absent at the time, and the incident was handled by Lieuten- ant John D. Lee.58

A fresh cattle trail was found leading from the vicinity of the post and a quick check revealed that government cattle were missing. Lee immediately dispatched a sergeant and five enlisted men to follow the trail. The troopers followed the trail forty miles before they came upon the cattle, which were being driven by two men. The thieves abandoned the cattle and made good their escape. The place where the cattle were recovered was just a few miles from a ranch owned by Mr. Charles M. Hubbell. Hubbell held a contract to supply Fort Bascom with beef.

The soldiers followed the trail of the thieves and were not overly surprised to learn that it led directly to Hubbell's ranch. The sergeant asked for Mr. Hubbell but was told that he and an employee, Mr. Sam Smith, had arrived a short time previously, but had left immediately. The party picked up the trail from the ranch and followed it to Fort Bascom. Hubbell was to make a delivery of beef on April 21. He and Smith appeared at Fort Bascom on April 20, but were ap- parently not questioned about the attempted cattle theft. Neither Hubbell nor Smith appeared on the following day, and neither was mentioned in any correspondence thereafter.

Letterman wrote that from all the circumstances, it ap- peared to him that Hubbell and Smith were guilty of the theft.59 Since Hubbell appeared the day before the beef de- livery was scheduled, and then apparently left the vicinity of Fort Bascom, it appears that he hoped to fill his contract with the post's own cattle.

But in spite of other problems, Fort Bascom's chief task — that of protecting the territory from the Comanches — re- mained unchanged, and toward the end of 1868 a long prom- ised full-scale war was in the offing. In 1865, General Carleton had directed the commanding officer of Fort Bascom to relay the following message to the Comanches :

58. Ibid., Letterman to DeForrest, April 27, 1867.

59. Ibid.

50 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

Tell them that the question of a bitter war is left with them- selves. If they attack our trains we will make war upon them which they will always remember. Tell the chiefs that if our trains are attacked we shall not wish to see them again ; that we shall not believe ever in their sincerity, certainly not in their ability to control their people.60

By the time the "war which they will always remember" came, Carleton was no longer commander of the New Mexico military department. He had been replaced by General George W. Getty. But a change in personnel had no bearing on the approaching conflict.

The Treaty of Medicine Creek Lodge called for fixed homes, farms, and agricultural implements for the Indians. In return, the Indians were to give up all claims to their for- mer ranges, cease war on the frontier, and make amends for their wrongs. However, not all of the Plains chiefs were parties to the treaty. The chiefs who refused to sign declared that terms of the treaty were unacceptable and that they would not abide by them.

The result was that depredations again flared throughout the southwestern frontier during the spring and summer of 1868. The winter campaign was entrusted to a Civil War hero, General Phil Sheridan, who immediately set about forming plans for the expedition. By November, he had as- sembled well-trained troops and winter supplies at a number of posts within the Division of the Missouri. Concerning the approaching campaign, he wrote :

As soon as the failure of the grass and the cold weather forces the scattered bands to come together to winter in the milder latitudes south of the Arkansas, a movement of troops will take place from Bascom, Lyon, Dodge, and Arbuckle, which I hope will be successful in gaining a permanent peace.61

Fort Bascom enjoyed relative quiet just prior to the military buildup. One raid was reported on September 18, 1868, when Indians struck within three miles of the post to

60. Ralph Emerson Twitchell, The Leading Facts of New Mexican History, Vol. 4, p. 222. Cedar Rapids, Iowa: The Torch Press, 1912.

61. Report of the Secretary of War, Part 1, p. 21. (1868).

FORT BASCOM 51

steal a herd of horses owned by W. B. Stapp. The Indians, probably Comanches, killed one herder and wounded an- other. They were not overtaken by pursuing Fort Bascom troopers.62

Later in the fall, when Captain Louis Morris was com- manding the post, nearly two hundred men were put in the field to operate against hostile Indians.63 Results of this ex- pedition were not recorded, and it is likely that the troopers were recalled to participate in the approaching winter campaign.

The military buildup did not escape notice in New Mex- ico. In October, 1868, the Santa Fe New Mexican noted that a large force was on hand at Fort Bascom to "warm up" the Indians.64 The following month, news of the coming cam- paign had apparently been made public as the same paper observed :

It is understood that General Sheridan has fully waked up to the emergency of Indian affairs in the western portion of his department, and that the campaign now organized is intended to be no summer holiday affair, but a regular and decided business operation.65

A seasoned fighter, Colonel A. W. Evans, was placed in command over the forces at Fort Bascom. The choice pleased the New Mexican which said Evans was known to be an excel- lent officer.66 Evans, a West Point graduate, saw action at Valverde and Peralta in New Mexico during the Civil War, and was cited for "gallant and meritorious service" during these battles.

He returned to the East to lead the First Maryland Volun- teers against Rebel forces and fought in a number of battles, including the action that resulted in the capitulation of Con- federate troops at Appomattox, where he was again cited for gallantry. He returned to the West immediately after the

62. Fort Bascom, Letters Sent, op. cit., Captain Louis Morris to Lieutenant Edward Hunter, Sept. 18, 1868.

63. Ibid., Lieutenant James K. Sullivan to Hunter, Oct. 15, 1868.

64. The Santa Fe New Mexican, Oct. 27, 1868, p. 2.

65. Ibid., Nov. 3, 1868, p. 1.

66. Ibid.

52 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

Civil War and commanded various forts in Texas until 1868 when he was chosen to lead the column out of Fort Bascom against hostile Indians.67

From Fort Bascom, Evans went to several Arizona posts for duty against the Apaches, and later he fought against the Sioux in the Dakotas. After a brief return to Arizona for the final Apache uprising, Evans retired from the army after more than thirty years of service — practically all of it on the frontier.68

The role of Fort Bascom in the winter campaign of 1868 was planned at Division headquarters level. Evans' com- mand was to advance down the Canadian River to drive all hostile Indians toward Fort Cobb in Indian Territory. An- other column, operating out of Colorado, was to flush out all hostile Indians in that area. The main offensive was to come from the eastern edge of the Division of the Missouri, where a formidable force had been assembled.

Evans had an imposing force at his command. It included six cavalry companies, one infantry company, and a battery of mountain howitzers.69 It is hard to estimate the total num- ber of troopers under Evans' command, but if all the com- panies were at full strength, the column could have totaled over a thousand soldiers.

Evans* party marched out of Fort Bascom on November 18, 1868, and proceeded down the north bank of the Canadian River. On December 7, at Monument Creek, Texas, about one hundred and eighty-five miles below Fort Bascom, Evans ordered a fortified supply depot built. From his supply camp he resumed the march on December 18, 1868. He left tents behind him and took only enough wagons to haul his ammunition.70

Evans marched the command steadily for over forty miles and then struck a trail made by a village of Cheyennes. He followed the trail which led him across the Canadian

67. Cullum, op. cit., p. 496.

68. Ibid., p. 497.

69. The Santa Fe New Mexican, Feb. 23, 1869, p. 1.

70. Ibid. The reported distance from Fort Bascom would make this creek somewhere in the vicinity of present-day Borger, Texas. Present-day maps fail to show a creek by that name in the region, but do show several unnamed draws.

FORT BASCOM 53

River and deep into Indian Territory to a point thirteen miles south of the Wichita Mountains. Unable to find water, Evans detoured to the northeast, and the troopers made a dry camp near the Wichitas on Christmas Eve.71

The stage was set for a Christmas Day battle to be fought in deep snow with a howling north wind driving the tem- perature below zero.72 The troops were up early on Christmas Day. Evans sent scouts scurrying in all directions to pick up Indian signs.

One scout returned early to report that he had seen and talked to two Indians, and Evans immediately dispatched Major Tarleton and one company of cavalry to capture them. Meanwhile, he pushed forward with the rest of his command to make a new camp.

Major Tarleton had traveled only a short distance when he was engaged by a band of Comanches in the mouth of a canyon. The Comanches were in sufficient strength to hold Tarleton at bay, so the officer sent a runner to Evans for rein- forcements. Two companies of cavalry and two mountain howitzers came to his aid and enabled him to force the In- dians to fall back on their village farther up the canyon.

The Comanches offered brave resistance, but the troopers pressed them closely ; and the battle was won when two shells from the howitzer exploded in the village. The Comanches fled "two and three on a horse."73 No mention was made of army casualties, while the Indian loss was estimated at twenty-five killed.

The Comanches left behind "all the paraphanalia [sz'c] of a rich Indian camp,"74 which included buffalo robes, weapons, saddles, lariats, powder, lead, tobacco, salt, sugar, flour, dried buffalo meat, and corn meal. After the Indians had already broken, Evans brought up his entire command and burned the village. He pursued the Comanches until darkness made trailing difficult.

On the following day Evans wished to continue the pur-

71. Ibid.

72. Richardson, op. tit., p. 319.

73. The Santa Fe New Mexican, Feb. 23, 1869, p. 1.

74. Ibid. (Quoting telegram sent by General Sherman)

54 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

suit, but he had already marched his command almost two hundred miles from his supply depot, and his rations were running low.

He decided to set a course for Antelope Hills which would take him near the supply depot. From there he planned to detour in a southeasterly direction before returning to Fort Bascom and perhaps strike the trail of the Indians once more. He put his plan into operation and on December 28, 1868, made camp near Antelope Hills, about thirty miles from Fort Cobb.

Meanwhile, some of the Indians defeated in the battle had gone to Fort Cobb to complain that their lodges were burned and stock killed by a "bunch of Texans." General Sheridan, temporarily at Fort Cobb, sent out scouts to learn what troops were involved in the action. The Santa Fe New Mexican re- ported that Sheridan was pleased that the "little column from New Mexico . . . had traveled so far, and dealt so severe a blow to a notoriously bad and desperate band of Indians."

After making camp at Antelope Hills, Evans apparently gave up the idea of trying to strike the Indians again on his way back to Fort Bascom. His men and animals were suf- fering badly, and he was anxious to reach his supply depot. The troopers stumbled into the depot on January 13, 1869. Most of them were on foot. The supplies on hand must not have been sufficient as Evans was required to send two men to Fort Bascom to procure supplies when his column was still sixty miles from the post.75

Unfortunately, the men, both civilians, failed to reach the post. They were killed on February 20, 1869, by Navajo In- dians who were apparently on their way to Comanche coun- try on a stock-stealing expedition. Two other ranchers were killed at approximately the same time, presumably by the same band of Indians.76

Evans' littered trail back to Fort Bascom was still visible a year later when a United States Special Indian

75. Ibid., March 23, 1869, p. 1.

76. Ibid.

FORT BASCOM 55

Commissioner, Vincent Colyer, retraced the route. Colyer was on an inspection tour of the Indian country, and came upon Evans' tracks when he left Camp Wichita, Indian Ter- ritory, for Fort Bascom. He described the trail as follows :

The skeletons of dead horses from which the wolves had de- voured the flesh, cast-away saddles, bridles, axes, camp coffee- kettles, etc., strewed the way of Evans' route with the same ghastly and expensive marks of an Indian war as we had seen on Sheridan's trail. . . . Beyond Antelope Hills we came across the remains of several army wagons in so good a condi- tion that I most heartily wished I had the wheels on my farm at home. ... I mention these things to show how willingly our people will waste thousands of dollars in a costly war, and begrudge a few cents, comparatively, on school houses, and instructors in the interest of peace.77

When Colyer arrived at Fort Bascom, he found the officers and ranchers of the area rather alarmed because Comanche chiefs were being held prisoners in Santa Fe. The chiefs had become so frightened after the winter campaign that they came to Fort Bascom to surrender. They were placed under arrest and sent to Santa Fe, later to be transferred to Fort Leavenworth, and finally to their reservations. But the citi- zens of Eastern New Mexico feared reprisal by the Co- manche bands if the army persisted in holding their chiefs as prisoners. But after the winter campaign of 1868, duties of the troopers stationed there changed from those of Indian fighters to those of a border police agency. There were still oc- casional Indian raids, but the principal task confronting the troopers was that of controlling the illegal commerce between Mexican Comancheros and the Comanche Indians. The illegal trade, which gave the Comanches arms and ammunition and the Mexicans stolen Texas cattle, was not a sudden develop- ment, but it did reach a climax in Fort Bascom's waning years.

Writing in 1867, A. B. Norton, New Mexico Indian Super- intendent, said that when he took office that "unrestrained

77. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Made to the Secretary of the Interior, for the Year 1869, p. 88.

56 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

commerce was being carried on between the Comanches and the Mexicans, and ... in fact, the territory was filled with Texas cattle."78

According to Norton, he and General Carleton issued orders revoking all trading permits, and conditions improved immediately. However, the superintendent charged that the Commissioner of Indian Affairs began issuing licenses, and that the situation became as bad as ever. He wrote :

When no cattle or horses are found in the Comanche camp by the Mexican traders, they lend the Indians their pistols and horses and remain at the camp until the Comanches have time to go to Texas and return, and get the stock they desire.79

To combat the situation, Norton recommended that no more trading permits be issued, that all permits already in force be revoked, and a trading agency built at Fort Bascom. Under his plan one trader would be appointed to operate out of Fort Bascom. Norton also urged that all Texas cattle and all goods of unlicensed traders be confiscated whenever found.

Norton's recommendation for a trading agency at Fort Bascom was never acted upon, but soldiers of the post did begin clamping down on the illegal commerce. On August 30, 1867, a detachment of seventeen men was sent from the post to investigate reports of a large party of Comancheros. About sixty miles east of the fort, the troopers overtook six Mexicans with eleven donkeys loaded with goods. None of the Mexicans had papers authorizing them to trade with the Indians, although they claimed other members of their party, who had preceded them into the Indian country, had legal permits.

The soldiers doubted the story, and forced the traders to accompany them to Fort Bascom where the Mexicans were released and the goods confiscated. The confiscated goods included five hundred pounds of beans, forty butcher knives, and several pounds of lead and powder.80

78. Report on Indian Affairs, by the Acting Commissioner for the Year 1867, p. 194.

79. Ibid., p. 195.

80. Fort Bascom Letters Sent, Letterman to DeForrest, Aug. 81, 1867.

FORT BASCOM 57

In making a report of the action the post commander, Captain George Letterman, said that several other parties had been intercepted on their way to Comanche country. Some had permits signed by private individuals who claimed that they were empowered by Washington officials to trade with the Comanches. Others had no licenses of any kind. Letterman had a poor regard for all of them. He wrote :

I believe all these traders to be scoundrels who succeed fre- quently in smuggling contraband goods through to the Indians and in bringing back stolen cattle in return, notwithstanding the efforts of the military to prevent such practices.81

On the following day Letterman again reported contact with Mexican traders. He said that he had taken eighty-two head of cattle from a party of Comancheros and it was evi- dent that all of the stock had been stolen in Texas. On Sep- tember 7, 1867, the officer wrote that he was holding eight hundred head of confiscated cattle at Fort Bascom.82

To guard the trails leading into Comanche country, troop- ers were divided into small units and stationed out of Fort Bascom as pickets. Occasionally these pickets acted rather arbitrarily in dealing with persons suspected of carrying on illegal trade. In such instances the troopers drew sharp reprimands from the post commander.

One such case involved a group of traders returning to New Mexico from Comanche country. The traders, after being intercepted by troopers of one of the pickets, went to Fort Bascom to complain that their personal weapons as well as a horse and a mule had been confiscated. Letterman sent a letter to the sergeant in charge of the picket that spelled out regulations to be used in confiscating property. In part, it said :

You should bear in mind that all captured property is to be properly cared for. An accurate inventory of all stock and goods seized by you will be required at this headquarters in order that the whole matter can be fully investigated by the

81. Ibid.

82. Ibid., Letterman to DeForrest, Sept. 7, 1867.

58 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

proper authorities. In no case will the traders be deprived of the arms and ammunition necessary for their own protection. Say one pistol or rifle to each man and ammunition not exceed- ing thirty rounds each. Parties returning from the Indian country will not be deprived of any arms or ammunition whatever.83

The illegal traffic continued through 1870, the last year of Fort Bascom's existence as a military post. Captain Horace Jewett became commanding officer late in 1869,84 and in the spring of 1870 he reported rumors of a large trading expedi- tion. According to Jewett's informant, the party consisted of twenty Mexicans and six Pueblo Indians. Their train included about seventy pack animals.

The traders were traveling as buffalo hunters, but as they adopted precautions to conceal their trail, Jewett was con- vinced that they were actually engaged in illegal trade with the Comanches. Jewett's informant was probably a civilian, for at the end of his report he requested that authority be granted to any citizen to arrest traders and seize their property.85

On August 26, 1870, Jewett captured an unreported num- ber of persons whom he suspected of trading with the Co- manches. He sent them to Santa Fe, and suggested to the officers there that clever questioning might determine the parties behind most of the illegal commerce. Jewett's opinion was that the actual traders were only "luckless Mexicans who took all the risk for wealthy merchants." He suggested that the prisoners might be induced to turn state's evidence.86

The prisoners he sent to Santa Fe may have been the same ones referred to by the New Mexican on September 6, 1870. If so, Jewett's suggestions were ignored. The paper stated that the men, two Mexicans and one Negro, were released as no charges were made against them. The paper also said the goods confiscated when the men were captured were burned.87

83. Ibid., Letterman to unidentified sergeant commanding Fort Bascom pickets, Sept. 15, 1867.

84. Ibid., Captain Horace Jewett to Adjutant General Washington, Nov. 24, 1869.

85. Ibid., Jewett to Major William Kobbe, Santa Fe, March 15, 1870.

86. Ibid., Jewett to Assistant Adjutant General, Santa Fe, Sept. 6, 1870.

87. The Santa Fe New Mexican, Sept. 6, 1870, p. 2.

FORT BASCOM 59

After Fort Bascom was abandoned in December, 1870, exchange between traders and Comanches continued at about the same rate for the next two years. Trade in stolen cattle diminished in 1872,88 and finally ceased to be a problem. Since the winter campaign of 1868, most of the Plains Indians had been at sullen peace on their reservations, and when warfare broke out again in 1872, the Indians were pressed so closely and harried so effectively by troops operating in Texas that they were unable to engage in stock-stealing and trading as of old.

As previously mentioned, the area around Fort Bascom was not entirely free from Indian depredations after the cam- paign of 1868. On March 14, 1869, a detachment of troopers investigated a particularly grisly massacre at a salt lake which was used by all settlers of the vicinity, about sixty miles northeast of Fort Bascom.

The victims of the massacre, unidentified by name, in- cluded one American and three Mexicans. The American and two Mexicans had been shot while working in the lake and their bodies dragged to shore. The other Mexican had been killed near a wagon on the shore of the lake. All had been shot through the head, and three of them had several bullet wounds in their bodies. The American and one Mexican had been scalped, and the fingers and thumbs of each of the vic- tims' right hands had been cut off.

The investigating soldiers determined that the murders had been committed about March 1, 1869, a date when Indians had also stolen nine horses from the camp of some Texas cattle dealers. The cattle dealers were encamped several miles nearer Fort Bascom. The soldiers found the trail of about ten Indians but could not determine the tribe involved.89

In May of 1870, large bands of Navajos returned to the vicinity of their former concentration camp, the Bosque Re- dondo, and committed two violent acts near Fort Bascom. The Navajos were thought to be enroute to Comanche coun- try for one of their periodic raids.

88. Richardson, op. cit., p. 311.

89. Fort Bascom Letters Sent, Lieutenant Cain to Hunter, March 14, 1869.

60 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

Jewett reported both raids. The first occurred on May 12 near the mouth of Ute Creek as the Navajos, estimated at fifty in number, took a pistol from a herder and killed two of his sheep. The second raid occurred eight days later. Jewett reported that eighty to one hundred Navajos stole one thous- and two hundred sheep from a single Mexican herder.90 Jewett said the raid occurred just twenty miles from the post, and that some of the Indians probably participated in both raids.91

The last Indian raid reported by Fort Bascom officers, although probably not the last depredation in the area, oc- curred the following month on June 15. The Indians, never definitely identified, struck very near the post at the home ofW.B.Stapp.

The Indians killed and scalped a Mexican woman em- ployed by Stapp and stole three horses and several household articles. From there they struck still nearer the post, as they fired at a Fort Bascom sentinel and stole five more horses. No reference was made to any pursuit by Fort Bascom forces.

The raid was unique inasmuch as the Indians involved may have been Cheyennes and Arapahoes. A few days earlier Mexican workers had reported sighting a band of twenty-six or more of those Indians within twenty-five miles of the post.92 If Cheyennes and Arapahoes were guilty of the raid, it was the only time in Fort Bascom's history that troopers stationed there made contact with them in New Mexico.

In spite of the rash of Indian attacks in May and June, Fort Bascom's days were numbered. After the campaign of 1868 the number of soldiers stationed there declined steadily. Jewett complained on November 24, 1869, that the garrison had been reduced to eighty-eight men — a number, he said, not sufficient for guard duty.93

Probably the first hint of abandonment of the post reached Fort Bascom on September 14, 1870. On that date Jewett

90. Ibid., Jewett to Assistant Adjutant General, Santa Fe, May 12, 1870.

91. Ibid., Jewett to Assistant Adjutant General, Santa Fe, May 20, 1870.

92. Ibid., Jewett to Kobbe, June 15, 1870.

93. Ibid., Jewett to Adjutant General Washington, Nov. 24, 1869.

FORT BASCOM 61

wrote Santa Fe acknowledging instructions to cease a con- struction and repair program on all buildings.94 Two weeks later the War Department gave its assent to abandonment, and in December, 1870, Fort Bascom was vacated. The garri- son and stores were transferred to Fort Union.

Protests of citizens who perhaps rightly felt that hostile Indians were still a menace in the area were in vain. Many felt that Fort Bascom had been improperly located and that instead of being abandoned that it should be rebuilt about one hundred miles farther southeast.

In view of the facts that depredations continued up to the final months of Fort Bascom's existence, and that illegal commerce with the Comanches did not abate until after 1872, it may well be that the abandonment of the post was prema- ture. But army officials in Santa Fe felt that the heavy ex- pense of supplying the small fort was not justified by its accomplishments.95

And so, after seven years as a landmark of white man's civilization, Fort Bascom, like the old soldier, faded away. For seven years blue-uniformed troopers rode from its gates to come to grips with savage Indians, to offer protection to weary travelers, and to make strenuous, though sometimes vain, efforts to safeguard the lives and property of settlers. Fort Bascom and other military posts, either large or small, played the vital role in the winning of the West from a for- midable savage foe who made a magnificent stand in the uneven struggle.

Fort Bascom was a frontier institution and its days were numbered even as it was being built. Although little is known about it today, the post left its imprint on Eastern New Mex- ico. It gave birth to a small ranching community that was destined, after a timely move, to grow into one of New Mex-

94. Ibid., Jewett to Assistant Adjutant General, Santa Fe, Sept. 14, 1870.

95. Records of the United States Army Commands. (Undated material from the National Archives )

Stanley, op. cit., p. 274. Had this suggestion been carried out, Fort Bascom would have been relocated very near present-day Portales, possibly at Portales Springs where water was available.

62 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

ico's larger cities;96 its soldiers safely escorted immigrant trains through hostile Indian country ; it encouraged settle- ment along the grassy banks of the Canadian River; and when, in the opinion of ranking military men, it had fulfilled its mission, it quietly took its place as a symbol of a past era.

96. This town was Liberty, which later helped form the nucleus of present-day Tucumcari. (Supra, p. 32). Tucumcari, long an important railway center and the principal city of a vast ranching district, has in more recent years boomed as an irri- gated farming region. The 1950 census listed it as having a population of over eight thousand.

THE BRAZITO BATTLEFIELD By ANDREW ARMSTRONG *

IN early December of 1846, Colonel A. W. Doniphan, acting under orders of General S. W. Kearny, began concen- trating a small force at Valverde, twenty-six miles below the present town of Socorro, New Mexico, on the Rio Grande. From there he was to march south about four hundred miles to meet and reinforce General Wool at Chihuahua.

Hearing that a Mexican force was coming north to op- pose any American invasion through El Paso del Norte, Doniphan left Valverde without waiting for artillery or addi- tional troops. He began his southward advance in three sections on the fourteenth, sixteenth and eighteenth of De- cember, with a total of 856 effective fighting men.

Below Valverde, Doniphan left the river, which there takes a wide swing toward the west through mountains at that time holding the constant threat of Indian attack. Since the earliest Spanish traffic from Santa Fe to Chihuahua, it had proved expedient to march straight across a stretch of waterless desert and rejoin the river a hundred miles below. This timeworn shortcut had long been known as the Jornada del Muerto, or Journey of the Dead Man because of its lack either of waterholes or of natural shelter from the unshaded heat of summer and the hurricane cold of winter. Accounts of Doniphan's time and earlier mention no settlements be- tween Valverde, at the northern end of this stretch, and Dona Ana, where the trail rejoined the river. Place names marked only camp sites established by two hundred years of steady traffic over the Jornada.

Doniphan planned to concentrate his sections at Dona Ana. There Major Gilpin's detachment caught up with Doni- phan and the main body on December 23rd. Doniphan waited no longer for Major Clark and the third section, but started southward again at the head of less than 500 men, still without artillery.

* 5536 Dorchester, Chicago 37, Illinois.

64 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

Now marching close to the Rio Grande, he made one camp on Christmas Eve and another toward noon on Christmas Day. This second camp was pitched where the river, after swinging eastward across the flat valley, divided for a short distance to leave a small island. The east branch had come to be known as the Little Arm, or Brazito.

In the next few hours the Americans ate, rested, and scattered for wood and water. They noticed Mexican scouts, apparently from El Paso on the river below the pass to the south, but paid them little attention. Suddenly, around three o'clock, a troop of Mexican cavalry outlined itself on a rise half a mile off.

Doniphan had been playing three-trick loo with his offi- cers. He threw down his cards and called his men to arms. Forming hastily, they waited until the attacking Mexicans came to point-blank range, then hit them with such accurate fire that they broke and retreated in disorder by several routes back toward El Paso.

Doniphan's loss amounted to seven men slightly wounded ; that of the Mexicans to a howitzer captured and perhaps a hundred men killed or wounded ; and this farcical brush, lasting thirty or forty minutes in all, has figured in American annals as the battle of Brazito.1

Where, specifically, did the battle of Brazito occur?

Its sole monument is the state historical marker on High- way 80, at Brazito Schoolhouse, six and four-tenths miles southeast of Mesilla Park. This sign gives only a general in- dication that the event happened somewhere in the neighbor- hood. As one looks across the broad valley, he confronts a vast emptiness that could have contained a hundred battles of Brazito's size.

In attempting to locate the site today, we find it obscured not only by the enormous landscape of the Mesilla Valley but by the changes of the intervening century, and further by the confusion of data among the journals of the participants. Despite the seeming permanence of mountains and mesa, the

1. Justin Smith, The war with Mexico, I., 302.

BRAZITO 65

country is not as it was in Doniphan's time. The region was greener then. Occasional wooded areas are noted throughout the journey in the diaries of several of his men,2 whereas today the mesas are but thinly scattered with greasewood and mesquite. Whatever cottonwoods spot the view are of recent growth, along the edges of irrigated fields.

The river no longer forms the Little Arm by which Doni- phan and his soldiers identified the site. Its course moved out into the valley in the floods of 1862 and 1865, and now runs two to three miles farther west.3 The only map of the battle itself, crudely drawn without scale by one of the participants, shows the Little Arm ; but it means little when one tries to match it with the traditional site today.4

When measuring distances given in accounts of Brazito, the historian can go astray on the place names of Doniphan's time against those of the present. Not only does the adjacent valley contain towns not yet founded in those days ; locations that then existed have taken new names.5 Some older names designated uninhabited locations.

On maps of this country, many names will be found where, in truth, there is not a house . . . because the places are regular camping grounds for caravans.6

Even if the time-wrought differences in the neighborhood were clear, Brazito's story presents additional difficulties in the writings of the men who fought there. The two official re- ports of the battle, by Colonel Doniphan7 and the Mexican commander, Antonio Ponce De Leon,8 are not specific on the

2. E.g., Marcellus Edwards, Journal, 224 ; Hughes, Diary, entry for December 22, 1846.

3. P. M. Baldwin, A short history of the MesiUa Valley. New Mexico Historical Review, v. Ill, no. 3 (July, 1938), p. 319.

4. Accompanying battle map from Frank S. Edwards, A campaign in New Mexico with Colonel Doniphan, p. 91.

5. The largest town in the immediate area, Las Cruces, was not founded until 1850. El Paso Del Norte was the name for the present plaza and adjacent streets of Juarez, Chihuahua.

6. F. Edwards, op. cit., p. 84.

7. Doniphan to Jones, March 4, 1847: Senate Exec. Doc. no. 1, 30th Cong., 1st Sess., pp. 497-502.

8. De Leon to Vidal, reprinted and translated in New Mexico Historical Review, v. Ill, no. 4 (October, 1928), pp. 381-389.

66 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

location. Doniphan records no distances after leaving Dona Ana. De Leon refers only broadly to a place, Temascalitos, north of the town he knew as El Paso Del Norte,9 but he does not place the battle in relation to that general area.

According to Conkling, Los Temascalitos is the name given by old inhabitants to a hill two miles northeast of the present town of Vado, because of its resemblance to a group of primitive oven-shaped Indian sweat-bath houses, known as Temascales.10 It also is known locally as Three Buttes, and is marked on modern maps as Vado Hill.11

If it is assumed that De Leon located the battle for his superior officer by referring to this perennial landmark, the battle site of Brazito is related to three localities still existent along the Rio Grande : Dona Ana to the north, the old plaza of Juarez to the south, and Vado Hill between. Seven of Doni- phan's men, marching in the various detachments, recorded mileage from Dona Ana south to a camp site between that village and the battle ground. George Gibson, a lieutenant, and Jacob Robinson and William Richardson, both privates, say they went twelve miles to Dead Man's Camp.12 Another private, Frank Edwards, says ten miles.13 Marcellus Ed- wards, also a private and no relation to Frank, says thir- teen.14 John Hughes says fifteen in his diary published in 1847,15 and twelve in the reprint a year later.16 Major Gilpin sets the distance highest of all, at eighteen.17

These differences may arise from the movements of the

9. See note 5.

10. Short of the Archiva de Guerra in Mexico City, no Mexican maps of the time seem to be available. The Bancroft Library at Berkeley and the University of Texas Library at Austin, both of which might be expected to possess such maps, report they do not.

11. Roscoe B. Conkling, The Butterfield Overland Mail, v. II p. 95.

12. George Rutledge Gibson, Journal of a soldier under Kearny and Doniphan, 1846- 1847; December 24, 1846 entry. Jacob S. Robinson, A Journal of the Santa Fe Expedition under Colonel Doniphan, entry for same date. William H. Richardson, Journal, entry for same date.

13. F. Edwards, op. cit., December 24, 1846 entry.

14. Marcellus Edwards, op. cit., pp. 227-228.

15. Hughes, op. cit., December 24, 1846 entry.

16. Hughes, reprint cited in Doniphan's Expedition, by Wm. E. Connelly, De- cember 24th, 1846 entry.

17. Connelly's Appendix B, op. cit., p. 595, containing Major Gilpin's speech at Jefferson City, Mo., August 10, 1847.

BRAZITO 67

various detachments, which were not cohesive in the modern military sense. Men straggled along the line of march in groups of less than company strength. Ruxton had met them earlier, above Socorro, and notes that five hundred men were strung out over a hundred miles of road.18 This haphazard progress may account for the lack of agreement in mileages recorded, since not all of these men camped together at night after the same distance covered on any particular day. How- ever, among these seven men, we find three agreeing on a twelve mile distance from Dona Ana to the next night's stop- ping place. A fourth says it was two miles shorter. A fifth says it was one mile more. A sixth says it was three miles more. A seventh says it was five miles more.

From Dead Man's Camp to the Brazito, two of the seven diarists drop out, recording no mileage for the day.19 Each of the remaining five gives a different distance. Marcellus Edwards calls it twelve miles.20 Lieutenant Gibson calls it fourteen.21 Frank Edwards says fifteen.22 John Hughes says eighteen.23 Major Gilpin, highest again, says nineteen.24

If we were to accept the figures of the highest ranking of- ficer, Gilpin, on the assumption that he is the best qualified judge of distance travelled, we would get a total of thirty- seven miles from Dona Ana to the battle site. This would place Brazito eighteen miles south of De Leon's Temascalitos and make his designation of the battle area an unreasonable choice, since he had other landmarks farther south to place it better for his superiors.25 This same consideration tends to throw doubt on John Hughes' original reckoning, since his total for the two days' march is thirty-three miles, only four miles closer to Temascalitos, or Vado Hill, and still fifteen miles south of it. In the reprint of his diary, his total of thirty

18. George F. Ruxton, Adventures in Mexico, p. 184.

19. Jacob Robinson and William Richardson.

20. Op. cit., p. 224.

21. Op. cit., December 25th entry.

22. Op. cit., December 25th entry.

23. Diary, December 25th entry.

24. See Connelly's Appendix B.

25. For example, he could have referred to the Pass, where the river enters a narrow gorge between mountains, much closer to Gilpin's location than the hill.

68 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

miles would put him farther north, within eleven miles of the hill, but even this is not close enough to fall within the area for which the hill might be considered a landmark.

Lieutenant Gibson's total for the two days is twenty-six miles from Dona Ana to the battle ground. This is one mile more than the totals of Frank and Marcellus Edwards. In these three accounts we find a close pattern of locations roughly five miles south of Vado Hill. If De Leon encountered Doniphan's men in this area, he might reasonably feel, in relation to the surrounding terrain, that he had reached the neighborhood known as Temascalitos.

This handful of participating reporters — the two com- manders, Doniphan and De Leon; the officers, Gilpin and Gibson ; the men in the ranks, Hughes, Richardson, Robinson and the two Edwardses — are the only on-the-spot sources that have come to light. Their stories occur, sometimes anony- mously, sometimes in citation, sometimes in paraphrase, in all the secondary sources analyzed.

Six years after the battle, Bartlett says he camped on the Brazito site while surveying the international boundary.26 However, judging by his context for this remark, he does not locate Brazito with any exactitude.

About the same time, we find a young soldier stationed at Fort Fillmore noting his impression that the fort stood on the same ground as Brazito, but apparently he bases this on hearsay, a local legend of a fairly recent event.26'8

Other than the historical marker on Highway 80, oppo- site the Brazito school building, and a reference in the WPA travel guide, Conkling seems to satisfy local residents as an authority for locating the battle ground today. His distances and directions are specific, pointing straight to an area be- ginning little more than a mile northwest of Vado Hill, al- though it is so dominated by the hill that its omission in Edwards' battle plan is inexplicable. Conkling asserts that relics have been recovered, but cites no finders.27 No authenti- cated relics are on view in museums where objects of such

26. John Russell Bartlett, Personal Narrative, v. II, p. 394. 26A. Citation mislaid.

27. Op cit., v. II, p. 97.

BRAZITO 69

interest in local history would be expected, either in Las Cruces, only eight miles from the highway marker for the supposed site, or in El Paso. If local people possess relics of Brazito, no expert seems to have examined them for their location in time, in a region known for relics of all other periods from the Pre-Columbian through the Civil War to today.28

If we ignore Conkling's reference to relics and weigh his opinion solely against the mileage entries in the diaries of the soldiers, we must assume that he worked with uncited pri- mary material that disagrees overwhelmingly with the facts as Doniphan's men saw them. The general location these men indicate is southeast of Vado Hill, while Conkling's — and the historical marker's, and the WPA's — is northwest of it. Moreover, the pattern of reckonings from the separate diaries places the soldiers' battle site at least seven miles away from Conkling's, and even farther from the marker.

Although two writers mention Brazito before the battle happened, they invite consideration because they are closer to it in time than those who have written of Brazito since.

Ruxton went north along the Rio Grande just above El Paso Del Norte a few months before the battle, during the period when Doniphan and his men were coming south from Santa Fe to assemble at Valverde. Like all followers of the river trail, Ruxton camped at long established sites, including the site known as Brazito. He says he passed the battle ground a short time afterward, indicating he knew this be- cause of later conversations with Doniphan's contingent.29

28. In this region, most relics are scraps, mostly brass, if older than fifty years, or lead. Leather and iron are from the more recent past, largely found in stages of great deterioration. The proximity of the Fort Fillmore site accounts for the discovery of many fragments of army material issued up to thirty years before the fort was established in 1851 ; many of these items were available for inclusion among the equipment of Doni- phan's men, but their presence would not necessarily indicate their use in the Brazito battle. Many fragments dating back through Mexican and Spanish periods of the region could well be mistaken by the amateur collector for relics of a later date. It seems remarkable that although Conkling refers to relics locally attributed to his site, none appear to have been reported as found on the westward line of the Mexican cavalry retreat, toward the Franklin mountains, where, Doniphan's troops were told when entering El Paso, Apaches watching the battle cut down straggling survivors. If this actually happened, the plains just to the north of the Franklins would appear to be a fertile ground for the relic hunter.

29. Op. cit., p. 170.

70 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

He saw these troops as he went farther north, while they were still advancing past him to their later encounter with the Mexicans.30 Where he saw any of them after the battle, he does not say, but since he moved slowly toward Santa Fe, a messenger hurrying north after the battle may have over- taken and passed Ruxton, giving him enough information to add the battle mention to his published diary.

All we can draw from Ruxton's remarks concerning Bra- zito is that according to his location of it the Mexican force must have advanced beyond the little arm of the river, and must have appeared first to the north of Doniphan's encamp- ment, rather than to the south, as is inferred whenever their first appearance is described in the diaries of Doniphan's men. This, however, if we accept their reckoning, would have placed the hill close behind the Mexicans. The hill would have figured in the pursuit of De Leon's fleeing soldiers, making its absence from the diaries a strange omission.

More compatible with the diaries is the record of another writer who travelled southward past the spot that a few months later was to become the battle ground.

Adolph Wislizenus, a young doctor from St. Louis, left Santa Fe on July 8, 1846, travelling to Chihuahua by the well worn trail down the river, over the Jornada, past Dona Ana, and through El Paso Del Norte. In his diary he steadily and scientifically noted his observations: the temperature each night and morning, the barometric reading for altitude at every camp site, and the mileage from each to the next.31 When Wislizenus reached Chihuahua, he was arrested with other Americans by Mexican authorities made nervous by the state of affairs between their country and the United States. He was held for about six weeks in a village not far from the city, and liberated at the end of February, 1847, when Doni- phan arrived. A footnote later appended to his diary entry for the preceding August 7th32 indicates that he talked to

30. Op. cit., p. 184.

81. Adolph Wislizenus, Memoir of a tour to Northern Mexico . . . 30th Cong., 1st Sess., Misc. no. 26, appended charts and tables. 32. Ibid., entry for August 7, 1846, and note.

BRAZITO 71

Doniphan or some of his men about their own march down the river and determined to his own satisfaction that their camp site at Brazito corresponded to his.

Adolph Wislizenus was a careful man, exact in his obser- vation of the topography, geology, flora and fauna, and all other natural peculiarities of the regions through which he travelled. His brother tells us of Adolph's full kit of scientific equipment accompanying him on his journeys, and shows him pursuing experimental physics with important results all his life.33 Senator Benton of Missouri was so impressed by Wis- lizenus' ability to document the unknown West that he caused the Senate to order five thousand reprints of his jour- nal, with tables and maps.34

Bartlett pays Wislizenus the following tribute :

I take this occasion to express my acknowledgement to Dr. Wislizenus, whose "Memoir of a tour through Northern Mex- ico, connected with Colonel Doniphan's Expedition, in 1846-47," has been of great service to me, and was my only guide from Chihuahua to Guajuquilla — and again after leaving Parras. I have great pleasure in testifying to the accuracy of this memoir, which is a model of its kind ; and I do not hesitate to say, that no official report has ever been published by our gov- ernment, which, in the same space, embraces so much and such accurate information.35

By Wislizenus' reckoning of his daily mileages from Bra- zito to El Paso Del Norte,36 his camp site and Doniphan's lay five to five and a half miles north of Vado Hill. By his reck- oning from Dona Ana to Brazito, his site falls almost the same distance south of Vado Hill.

For an observer so strongly recommended, this discrep- ancy seems impossible on the face of it. It brings into sharp focus, however, a similar discrepancy in each of the reports of the two soldiers who noted their mileages from Brazito

33. Frederick A. Wislizenus, Sketch of the life of Dr. Wislizenus, p. 12, in his trans- lation of A. Wislizenus' A journey to the Rocky Mountains . . .

34. Ibid., p. 9.

35. Personal Narrative, v. II ; note, p. 455.

36. Memoir, etc., August 7th and 8th entries, 1846.

72 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

south. Frank Edwards and John Hughes join Wislizenus in the incompatibility between their total mileages from Dona Ana to Brazito and from Brazito to El Paso Del Norte. All three diarists show an overlap that no amount of checking on modern maps of the area accounts for. The total mileage from Dona Ana to the old plaza in Juarez, taking the normal advantages that a foot traveller would search out in the topography, can not be stretched more than fifty miles. Yet Hughes' daily records total sixty-one miles in his original publication, and fifty-eight in his reprint. Frank Edwards' total is sixty-one. Wislizenus' is fifty-nine.

The impossibility of explaining away this overlap in the mileages of each of the three men necessitates plotting two locations for each: the first from their distances between Dona Ana and Brazito ; the second from their distances be- tween Brazito and El Paso Del Norte. In the second instance, Hughes' battle site falls just short of Vado Hill. Wislizenus and Edwards overshoot it to land five and a half, and seven and a half, miles beyond it, respectively. In the first instance, Hughes lands over ten miles south of the hill, while Wis- lizenus and Edwards land together less than five miles south of it.

Among them, then, the seven soldiers and the young physician-scientist have left us eleven locations for the battle of Brazito, as shown on the accompanying map.

Only two are north of Vado Hill, and probably west be- cause of the direction in which Dona Ana lies. Nine are south of the hill, and probably east, since El Paso is in a southeast direction down the valley.

Of the nine south of the hill, the two nearest it are really one, since they are Hughes' journal and reprint mileages counted back from El Paso, which, unlike his mileages counted forward from Dona Ana, agree.

Four other reckonings form a cluster about five miles south of the hill and due east of Berino — three of these twenty-five miles from Dona Ana, and one twenty-six.

Farther south by four miles is Hughes' reprint version of

BRAZITO

73

f/tMUtt, fall 0 && (34 *t/fa)

74 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

his mileage from Dona Ana. Three miles south of that is his original entry for the same march.

Gilpin's reckoning from Dona Ana puts the battle four miles still farther south.

The major weight of the evidence favors locating the bat- tle of Brazito to the southeast of Vado Hill, rather than to the northwest, as has been popularly supposed. Moreover, the terrain appears to fortify this view. Opposite the Wislizenus- Edwards-Gibson reckoning for the distance from Dona Ana, the configuration of bottom land and mesa strongly support the possibility of a bend in the old river at that point. Even Frank Edwards' crude map makes sense here, while it cannot easily relate to the area northwest of the hill.

A final location of the battle of Brazito may never be fixed, since the debris of the struggle which would constitute the best endorsement of its site may now be scattered irre- coverably through the sifting soil of the mesa and eroded away by the acids of time.

Furthermore, the question of Brazito's exact position may be of little historical importance. Perhaps Brazito was what Justin Smith has called it — "a farcical brush." Only the men who died there would protest.

Nevertheless, from the existing data, one seemingly in- escapable conclusion is that the position of the historical marker opposite the Brazito Schoolhouse, in the face of the evidence, is ill chosen. The marker might be less suspect if it were moved ten miles down Highway 80 to Berino.

Book Reviews

Navaho Art and Culture. By George Hills. Colorado Springs : The Taylor Museum of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, 1959. Pp. 273, Illustrations.

After reading the laudatory remarks of Clyde Kluck- hohn's introduction to this book, some readers may be dis- appointed in Navaho Art and Culture. As Mr. Kluckhohn points out, the problem undertaken by Dr. Mills is indeed a large and important one. Essential to understanding a cul- ture is an appreciation of the relationship of its art and its core values ("those more pervasive postulates and categories that underlie all culturally distinctive perceptions and judg- ments") . Yet these two spheres are peculiarly elusive to meas- urement in objective and empirical terms. In attempting a comparative study and synthesis of these fields, Dr. Mills is to be applauded, and, given the difficulties implicit in pioneer work of such a nature, it may be too much to expect a defini- tive work on first trial.

The present volume has many things to recommend it. The bibliography is useful for one, such as this reviewer, who is not an anthropologist, and one is grateful for the handy summary of John Adair's Navaho and Pueblo Silver- smiths or the historical background of Navaho weaving. Also the format and good quality of the illustrations make this a pleasant book to handle. But even here there are drawbacks. One has all sorts of unnecessary difficulties in relating text to illustrations. There is simply no way to tell which of the many drawings mentioned in the text are also illustrated other than looking up each reference. One discovers that as many drawings, seemingly important to the discussion, are omitted as are illustrated. And even more questionable : are these amateur drawings by Navahos, collected in the field by the author and here illustrated, of such relative importance as to justify the complete exclusion of illustrations of all other forms of Navaho art? The reader who desires specific

75

76 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

visual information about the other three fields of Navaho art considered in this volume must hunt out photographs and drawings elsewhere. And while the author makes very spe- cific references to his drawings, he makes almost no mention of particular art objects in the other three fields of Navaho art on which he also bases his conclusions. Indeed, one almost has the feeling that Dr. Mills has studied Navaho silverwork, drypainting (sand painting) and weaving through the eyes of other people.

Perhaps this reviewer can best summarize his impression of Dr. Mills' book by remarking that it reminds him more of a first draft than a finished work. There is lots of good ma- terial and many loose ends. The literary style constitutes a real barrier to the reader's concentration upon content. When the going is smooth and one is relieved of the angularities of style, he usually discovers that it is another author who is paraphrased or quoted. (Usually I found that it was one of Gladys Reichard's studies which had caught my attention be- cause of its content and clarity of expression.) Even more disturbing was Dr. Mills' use of inadequately explained con- cepts or terms such as "cue value" on page 157. It is under- standable that a scholar involved with given concepts for months on end will develop certain key phrases and words whose connotations for him are quite clear and in the use of which he may be quite consistent. But if he is to avoid dis- tracting uncertainty in the minds of his readers, he must ex- plain such concepts. The specialist must be able to back off from his project and see it in the general contours of the non- specialist, and he should try to anticipate the questions which will arise in the mind of his audience. Such organization, with an eye to the reader's legitimate demands, Navaho Art and Culture does not have.

On yet another count this book proves unsatisfactory. Too often the text becomes a mosaic of quotations or extracts from eminent authorities ; chapter eight discusses the formal traits of primitive art in such a fashion. One even suspects a kind of parading of reputable references, especially when they have as little pertinence as the citations from Heinrich

BOOK REVIEWS 77

Wolfflin on page 145 or from Frederick Antal on page 136. The reader does not doubt that author Mills has examined dutifully the fields of aesthetics and the psychology of art as well as all phases of Navaho life and culture. But Dr. Mills uses the material accumulated from his authorities in a mechanical way — as a kind of sieve through which he proc- esses his field notes on drawing and his accumulated reading notes about Navaho sand painting, weaving and silver-work. My feeling is that Dr. Mills never got convincingly beyond his stage of processing. True, there are summary paragraphs which appear suddenly and endless summary charts, but our author never manages to carry his reader along with him in his processes of arriving at judgments or of integrating Navaho art and culture.

University of New Mexico BAINBRIDGE BUNTING

Six Months in the Gold Mines: From a Journal of Three Years' Residence. By E. Gould Buffum. Edited with an introduction by John W. Caughey. Pp. xxiii, 145. n.p. : The Ward Ritchie Press, 1959.

All accounts covering the transition years from Mexican to American rule in California are prized, for the literature encompassing this period, especially the eve of the Gold Rush, is relatively sparse. This item covering the years indicated in the title falls in this category, but unfortunately for those especially interested in California prior to the late summer of 1848, they will be somewhat disappointed by the Buffum account which, as the main title indicates, pertains mainly to a half-year period beginning in late October, 1848. However, Buffum's introduction sketches the author's movements in Lower and Upper California from the time of his arrival at La Paz, Mexico, in March, 1847, as a lieutenant in the 7th Regiment of New York State Volunteers, until he took off from San Francisco in search of fortune in the Diggings. Interspersed with this travelogue are some thumb-nail por- trayals of California's physiography and her inhabitants.

78 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

And again, in the concluding pages of the book are some sketches of the old towns of California — Monterey, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and San Diego — which gives glimpses of the gay and somber sides of former rancho days.

Buffum's narration of his gold seeking ventures, while once removed from his journal, has the special virtue of being the record of a Forty-eighter — and a highly readable one at that. Buffum wrote with a journalistic flair, conscious of the fact that he was producing a work for publication. Professor Caughey, who provided an excellent introduction, asks the obvious question: "How, it may be asked, does Buffum's 'memorial of adventure' compare with other writings of the approximate date and purpose?" He then gives his answer. As a description of the mines during the fall and winter of 1848-1849 the book "may have a peer, but it is not surpassed." Moreover, the editor contends that the book performed its function as a general commentary on a metamorphic Cali- fornia. The book is very attractively composed and hand- somely, if not expensively, bound.

Indiana University OSCAR OSBURN WINTHER

Mexico: 1825-1828: The Journal and Correspondence of Ed- ward Thornton Tayloe. Edited by C. Harvey Gardiner. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1959. Pp. 212, Index. $5.00.

For contemporary accounts of men, events and conditions in Mexico, during the late 1820's, as seen through foreign eyes, we have heretofore been forced to rely almost exclu- sively upon the accounts of a quartet of British observers. In order of their importance, these are Minister Henry George Ward's Mexico in 1827 (2 vols., London, 1828) , businessman R. W. H. Hardy's Travels in the Interior of Mexico in 1825, 1826, 1827, and 1828 (London, 1829), and mining commis- sioner George F. Lyons' Journal of a Residence and Tour in the Republic of Mexico in the year 1826 (2 vols., London, 1828).

BOOK REVIEWS 79

Now as a result of the ingenious editorial labors of Pro- fessor Gardiner we have the first published eye-witness ac- count of this critical period by a United States citizen, namely that of Edward Thornton Tayloe (1803-1876), the private secretary of United States Minister Joel R. Poinsett. Ob- server Tayloe first set foot on Mexican soil on May 3, 1825, and departed on March 13, 1828. His prior and subsequent careers have been ably summarized by the editor in an epi- logue and a prologue to the journal and correspondence. Dr. Gardiner has further eased the reader's burden by skillfully integrating into the running journal Tayloe's own marginal expository notes and his letters from Mexico written to a favorite brother.

The editor argues the superiority of Tayloe's observa- tions as compared with the aforementioned Englishmen be- cause Tayloe was "unhurried" and not "eternally rushed" like the others, because "Tayloe's observations are based on longer stay in that country than are those of any other travel account of the period" and because "Tayloe, driven by his curiosity rather than a job to be done, had an opportunity to range more broadly over the total pattern of Mexican life" (p. 15).

In the opinion of this reviewer, the editor has gone over- board in his attempts to build up an essentially fourth-rate observer. For despite Tayloe's gentil family origins (Virginia planter aristocracy) and fine schooling (Harvard — class of 1823), his reporting abounds with immaturity, naivete, and bias. After all, he was but a callow youth of twenty-two, un- able to speak Spanish and ignorant of Mexican history, when his affluent father tried to launch him in a diplomatic career by paying his salary as Poinsett's private secretary. His sym- pathy for individual Mexicans is overshadowed by his general hostility toward what he describes as the nation's immoral men, its lazy women, its decadent church, and its corrupt politicians. Of Lucas Aleman, he writes, "as a statesmen . . . he has . . . many superiors — I admire neither his style, nor sentiments nor reasoning" (p. 72) . The only real objective of Miguel Ramos Arizpe and his party, he declares, is "self-

80 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

aggrandizement." He contrasts the pure and noble York Masons (yorkinos) in politics with the predatory and un- patriotic Scotch Masons (escoceses). Such observations re- veal far more about the observer himself than about the po- litical history of Mexico. In fact, disappointingly little can be learned about Mexican politics from this account. As much is said about the United States scene, but here again it is mainly a partisan defense of the high-minded Minister Poin- sett, Secretary of State Henry Clay, and President John Quincy Adams in the face of what Tayloe depicts as unwar- ranted attacks by unpricipled Jacksonian critics. He holds the niggardly United States Congress largely responsible for his repeated failures to obtain an official diplomatic appointment.

If there is anything in which the work abounds, it is trivia — what time Tayloe arose, what he ate for breakfast, the structure of the carriages, the condition of the roads, the distance between villages, the unsanitary inns, the uncom- fortable beds, the rainfall, the raincoats, the mountains, the snow on the mountains, the trees, etc. Until something better comes along, this reviewer, at least, intends to stick with the British observers for foreign insight into Mexican history and politics in the late 1820's.

University of New Mexico EDWIN LIEUWEN

n-

^Mexico

Historical "Review

Palace of the Governors, Santa Fe

v, M

1 ui960

April, I960

Editors FRANK D. REEVE PAUL A. F. WALTER

Associates

PERCY M. BALDWIN GEORGE P. HAMMOND

FRANCE V. SCHOLES ELEANOR B. ADAMS

ARTHUR J. 0. ANDERSON

VOL. XXXV APRIL, 1960 No. 2

CONTENTS

Page West of the Pecos

E. L. Steve Stephens 81

Printing in New Mexico Beyond Santa Fe and Taos 1848-1875

Jackson E. Towne 109

Western Silver and the Tariff of 1890

H. Wayne Morgan 118

The German Jew and the Commercial Revolution in Territorial New Mexico 1850-1900 (concluded)

William J. Parish 129

Book Reviews 151

THE NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW is published jointly by the Historical Society of New Mexico and the University of New Mexico. Subscription to the REVIEW is by membership in the Society — open to all. Dues, including subscription, $5.00 annually, in advance. Single numbers, except a few which have become scarce, are $1.00 each. For further information regarding back files and other publications available, see back cover.

Membership dues and other business communications should be addressed to the Historical Society of New Mexico, Box 1727, Santa Fe, N. M. Manuscripts and editorial correspondence should be addressed to Prof. Frank D. Reeve, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, N. M.

Entered as second-class matter at Santa Fe, New Mexico PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY OP NEW MEXICO, ALBUQUERQUE

STEVE

NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

VOL. XXXV APRIL, 1960 No. 2

WEST OF THE PECOS By E. L. STEVE STEPHENS

I WAS BORN in 1889 in a log house in east Texas. My father was an old time cow puncher west of Ft. Worth before I was born. When I was four years old my father and mother started me to school. It was two and one-half miles to the school house. My brother older and me we walked to school seven months out of the year. I went two terms there. I can remember when I was 3 years old on Christmas Day I saw my Daddy dancing with a catch rope in his hand with his boots and spurs on. He had talked to me many times about the woolly west that got in my blood.

When I was 6 years old we moved to West Texas where Snyder, Texas, is and lived there one year. I went to school there. Had 7 months school. I was seven years old then. It was dry. Not much grass and water for the cows and horses and we went farther west where Plains, Texas, is now. Was a small school. Was 8 kids in school there. I was 8 years old.

In the year of 1898 I went with my Father across the Pecos River where he traded for some bronc ponies. All across the plains of New Mexico the grass drug on the saddle stirrups. The grass was sure fine. Several times my father told me when we got them ponies we would move to New Mexico.

And we moved to New Mexico in 1899. It was in the LFD range. If a man had any stock he had to have a watering place. My daddy filed on a water right in the spring of 1900. I talked to the wagon boss for the LFD. I asked him for a job.

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His name was Charley Walker. He told me to come on over but the wagon wouldn't start until it rained.

I saddled up one and packed another one and went over. It was about 30 miles to the headquarters. It was the first of March and it rained and the wagon started in April, around the 5th day in April. The wagon boss sent the freight wagon in to Roswell, New Mexico, after chuck to feed the cow punch- ers and brought the wagon cook back. And then the wagon cook got busy getting the chuck wagon ready. The cook had to scrub out the chuck box and scrub all the pots and pans. The morning of the 3rd day of April the wagon cook had breakfast at 4 o'clock. The cow punchers began to gather in. The boss had us punchers to round up the horses and all the outlaws too. About that time they were about 30 cowboys had come in to work. At that time we had gathered 500 head of saddle horses. In the morning of the 4th of April the boss cut us punchers seven head of horses apiece. We had a rodeo every time we changed horses. They sure were wild ponies. A few days before then the boss had told me he was going to put me as horse wrangler. A few days after the wagon started I rode up by the side of the boss. I said,

"Mr. Walker, how about putting me on the drive with you?"

That was Mr. Walker. He didn't give me any answer then. A few days later he rode out where I was. He said,

"Steve, you can go on the drive in the morning with me."

That tickled me. The headquarters was the old Four Lakes. A few years before then that was an old Indian fort. The first weeks we cut cows and calves and branded the calves. Some time in the roundup we had 10,000 head of cattle in one roundup. We rounded up and worked cattle every day. We didn't get through with that work until some time in August and the chuck wagon pulled in to headquarters. And we stayed around headquarters about two weeks then the chuck wagon started out again. That time we gathered fat cows and steers getting ready to drive them to market. It was in October when we got ready to start to Trinidad, Colorado, where we turned the cattle over. That was a wild country. We

WEST OF THE PECOS 83

stayed around there a week. Them gambling dives and wild gals. I was a young lad. I was with the rest of the cow pokes. While we stayed in Trinidad, Colorado, we went to a rodeo. What I mean it was a bugger rodeo. The cow pokes entered me in the cow riding. I got bucked off the first day but after the first day I had their number.

We left there to return to headquarters. It was the last day in November when we got back to the ranch. All the cow punchers left to go to their homes to wait for next spring works. The next morning after we got in there sure was a bunch waiting to get paid. Thirty-five of us cow punchers waiting. The wagon boss sent the colored boy after me. He told me to get ready. He was going to put me in a camp until spring. But he didn't say where. The next morning after all the cowboys got gone but 6 he told the colored boy to hook up the mules to the buck board. Loaded up with horse feed and chuck for me to eat and sent me to the old 80 Ranch to spend the rest of winter. I saddled one and drove the rest behind the buckboard. When me and the colored boy reached the old 80 we unloaded. The colored boy stayed all night. The next morning he left to go back to headquarters. It sure did look wild and woolly. It would be 2 and 3 weeks before I would see anyone some time. The boss would come by. Maybe he would stay all night with me.

The wind would blow and wolves would howl and the skunks would come on the porch and fight. And the big blue rats. We called them pack rats for they would carry every- thing they could find loose. We had to keep everything pulled from the table we set on if didn't the rats would get on the table and carry everything off the table. That was a great life for a young lad. Well spring was here. The boss came by and told me he would send Joe down and get my horse feed I had left and my chuck. This Joe was the colored boy. Some of the cow pokes would say,

"Well, Steve, how did you like [it] down there?"

I said, "It wasn't bad. It was a little rough for a youngster."

This was the spring of 1901. Well by this time it had

84 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

rained and we begin to get ready for the spring work. The wagon boss sent the wagon first in to Roswell to get chuck and about that time he began hiring cowboys and the wagon cook lived in Roswell, New Mexico. We have got the saddle horses together. We counted 515 head. The boss came around and he asked how many we had and we told him.

He said, for me and ten other cowboys to go in [the] morning to Wolf Draw to see if we could find some more mus- tangs. We left the next morning at 3 o'clock. We gathered 20 head more. For they will be 37 cowboys in by the last of the week.

Well, on the morning of 7-April-1901, the chuck wagon pulled off from headquarters. There were 547 saddle horses and 37 cowboys. We had a wild west show every day. We went south over a hundred miles to the south of the range. There was where the work began. We rounded up and cut cows and calves, cut and branded calves for 60 days. When we finished that work we pulled in to headquarters and rested a week. Then the chuck wagon and cowboys went back south to start the fall roundup, to gather fat cows and fat steers. When we finished that roundup we started to market with the fat cows and steers. Mr. Tom White was the owner of the LFD. He sold this bunch to a cow dealer in the north part of Colorado. So we left to deliver this bunch up there. We left with 1400 head of cows and steers. We had lots of trouble that trip with the Indians [?] and rainy weather. The creeks and rivers were up. We got them delivered at last. We rested 3 days on our way back when we got to Raton. We stopped over there for 3 days. There was a big wild west show going on. Some of the cow punchers would get some of the money. Well some did. That was a small place, but tough. We got back to headquarters the last of November. The cow- boys was around to get paid so they could go home. When everything got settled down the boss told me,

"Steve, you get everything ready. We are signing you under the Cap Rock to the old track camp." I staid there the rest of the winter. I sure didn't see anyone but didn't have too much work to do. But more wolves and bob cats and

WEST OF THE PECOS 85

skunks, and it was warmer. The cold wind could hit you so bad. Was behind a hill. Well spring was coming on. We had some rain in March. The grass was trying to come. It was about the first around my birthday around April first, 1902. The boss sent the colored boy to move my chuck and horse feed back to headquarters to begin getting ready for another spring work but the boss didn't send me on the first works. He sent me over to the DZ ranch to work through with them. I was over there three or four weeks and I hadn't been back at the headquarters but a few days when the wagon pulled in off the first roundup. But the outfit started gathering the fat cows and steers a week later. Pulled out south [for] the fall work and [he] sent me that time. We worked the plains first and then we dropped over on the Pecos River and worked up the Pecos River about east of Artesia, N. M. Was 2 stores and the Post Office at that time. Pulled across to the head- quarters. Stayed around there 2 or 3 days. Then pulled out for Pueblo, Colo. We followed the Pecos River. Went by Ft. Sumner. It was a stage coach fort. They was tough hombres there. We camped east about 2 miles. The one that was not on guard rode over to see what was going on. That was a little rough. It looked to me like all the outlaws in the country was there. We didn't get into any trouble. We travelled on north until we reached Colorado. We was held up for a few days on account of high water. Finally we reached Bear Creek Ranch and turned the cattle over to the outfit that bought them. And we turned back to Four Lake Ranch, the LFD ranch east of Roswell. That was a rough trip. The chuck wagon pulled in for the rest of the winter. The cow punchers got paid and left for their homes. Some of the boys hadn't had a haircut or shave for 2 or 3 months. You can figure how they looked. Well Christmas was around the corner. I had told the boss I wanted to go home for a month and he told me I could. It had been 2 years since I had been home to see Mom and Dad. I reached home in time for Christ- mas. I stayed home 5 weeks. While I was at home I run into Mr. Miller, owner of the 101 Ranch in the northwest part of New Mexico and he wanted me to go to work for him.

86 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

He had a big outfit, but not as large as LFD. He said, "Steve, I will give you $30 a month." That was top wages then. I told him I would work for him when I returned to headquarters. When I got back to the ranch I saddled up one of my ponies and packed the other one and pulled out. It was over two hundred miles to the 101 Ranch. When I reached the ranch that outfit was ready to go to work. It wasn't but a few days when the chuck wagon pulled out. That was the spring of 1903. 1 didn't like the look of that outfit, but I figured I made a bad stab. The boss of that outfit cut me a mount of them limberneck ponies. The boss said, "Steve, you ride them." They was some pretty good ponies there and some no good. When the boss cut the ranhand ponies out for me I run them in another corral. One of the tough-looking ones say, "I wonder what he is going to do?" I heard him but I never said anything. When the boss got through cutting the boys' mounts out to them one of the boys who seemed to like me said, "Steve, what are you going to do?" I said, "I am going to ride them all today." I was just a young button, I kept my mouth shut. When I pulled my old cack and drug it to the corral and threw it on the fence some of the tough-looking boys were waiting to see. I didn't stay but a year. I didn't like that outfit.

On or around the 5th of April, 1904, I saddled one of my ponies and packed the other one and left the Springer country where grass was knee-high for the Pecos River country. I went through old Wagonmound. I travelled the Old Santa Fe Trail. Went by the old Ft. Union. It was off the Santa Fe Trail a little way. I stayed overnight there. Next morning I left for Las Vegas. I got there without much trouble. I put my horses in a wagon yard once was a stage coach terminal and I went up in town. I wasn't there an hour until I was shooting craps. One was killed. They drug him out the back door. All the lights was shot out. I got out of that place and walked in another place to get a cup of coffee and a bite to eat. I set down close to the door.

Before they brought my coffee an old cowpoke went by. It was Hackberry Slim. I met him in Colorado at a wild west

WEST OF THE PECOS 87

show. He said to me, "Steve, what are you doing?" I said, "I worked for some of these outfits." He said, "You can go to work for this outfit I am working for." The boss will be in town in 2 or 3 days to load the chuck wagon up. Going to work in a few days was nothing said about that until the next day. Well we finished eating and walked out the door about that time a fight started across the street. After it settled down Slim and I walked over there. We heard it was over one of the Redlight Hall. The pimps jumped a bunch of the cowboys out. About that time it was about one or so. We went to bed.

The next morning we got up about 5 o'clock and went downstairs and stopped in a saloon to get a shot before we eat. Everything was quiet. Was a few thugs on the street. Slim and I stopped in Peg Place to get a cup of coffee and a bite to eat. In came two tough-looking men. They set down at a table and said to Peg they wanted a shot of wine. Peg said we don't serve drink in here. You can get it across the street. We don't want to walk over there. Peg said you will if you get any. One of them said to the other one us send that lad to get us a drink. That was me they was speaking about. I didn't go. They drink a cup of coffee and left out.

Well the day rolled around and dark was coming on. The gamblers and gals begin to show up. In all the joints that was the second day I was there. Slim and I make all the dives. It was a tough place. All the old miners and the cattle thieves was in town. We we made through the night. We kept our bed at the hotel. We got up and went to get a cup of coffee. We seen 3 or 4 knocked in the head and robbed in a dark place. Well coming the third day I was there. Late in the evening the boss of the DI ranch come in and the man was driving the chuck wagon was eight mules huck to the wagon. The boss had the wagon loaded up with every thing to eat. The man drove down to the wagon yard and unhuck and feed the mules and we went up to eat. The boss and Slim and the freight wagon driver and myself taken all the saloons and gambling houses in. The boss hired several cowboys to be at the ranch in a week. Well that night we looked all them

88 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

joints over. We sure did see some tough looking guys. The beard and the hair was about six months old.

The next morning we got ready and left town. The boss was in the buckboard. They travelled faster than Slim and I. Slim and Me we didn't get to the ranch that day. We camped out early the next morning we started out. So we came upon a cowboy but the cowboy wasn't there but we cooked and eat and drink coffee. No one showed up we pulled out and got to the ranch about one o'clock. The cook fixed us some dinner. We lay around the rest of the day.

There were six cowboys come in to go to work. Slim knew of them but I didn't know any of them. The bull was knee- deep around there. I didn't say anything. One said to me, "What was my name." "Steve is what they call me." One of the boys asked Slim where did you see the kid? Slim said in Colorado. That was the first day what taken place.

The next morning about 4 o'clock the old cook said come and get it. We eat and the wrangler and two other cow pokes went out and drove the ponies in. Some nice looking horses. Some sure was wild. Drove the ponies in the corral. The boss come out with a catch rope in his hand. The third pony he roped was a dun. He said here Steve you can ride him. I saddled him up in a big corral and full [fool] a little while with him and stepped on. He tried to buck. I held him up.

By that evening most of the cowboys had gathered in. The boss had hired in Las Vegas. Well the cow work began and the wild west show started. That was a very good outfit to work for. The country was rough. Canyons was deep and bruse [brushy]. The cattle was wild and the ponies too. I stayed there 2 years and wen to town 3 times in the 2 years.

Going in to the spring of the second year they hired a button was a smart alec. It went on for about six months. The boss sent 4 of us punchers to Dog Canyon west of Encino and when we got back late that evening we was unsaddling this dun pony. The first one I rode was standing out there was sweaty. Someone had rode him. It made me mad. I found out this smart guy had rode this pet pony of mine. I told him to keep his saddle off my ponies. We had a few words. That dun

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pony made a top cutting horse. He was 3 years old. When I went to work there he hadn't been rode but a few times. I was the only one who rode him. The two years I worked there, but one time smarty rode him.

About a month before I quit I told the boss I was quitting in April. All he said was, "Steve, you better stay on." The evening before I left the next day I went out and drove my ponies in and put them in the corral and fed them some corn. I was in the barn. Slim said, "Steve, why don't you stay on?" I said, "No, Slim, I think it best for me to quit and leave for I don't want to have any more trouble with that guy. It might be too bad for one of us."

The next morning I went out to the corral and caught one of my horses. I called him Zebra Dun. He was a dun with black stripes around his legs. He hadn't had a saddle on in a year. He sure was fat and frisky. Slim said, "Steve will be back." I said, "Yes, if you fool with him." Then I went and caught my other pony and put my bedroll on him and led them out the gate. The boss came out and said, "Steve if you come back this way you got a job." Well I mounted and headed for Las Vegas.

The second day I reached Las Vegas. I put my ponies in the same stage coach wagon yard I did before. I left my .38 Colts at the yard and walked up to get a cup of coffee and a bite to eat. And then I was walking around and I went in all the gambling joints and seen several of the cowboys I had worked with. They wanted to buy me a drink. I said 0 K, then I bought them a drink. Them boys didn't know when I god a chance I poured it in the spittoon. I never drink with anyone. They thought I was but I wasn't. I tongued the bottles. It paid those days not to get too thick with anyone. It was getting a little late so I went back to the stage coach barn and unrolled my bed roll.

It was long after I went to the barn. It started at one of the gambling dens. They had a free for all. The next morning I was saddling up. The man who run the stage coach barn came out where I was and said, "Steve, why don't you help me a while. I will feed your ponies and pay you, too. I said,

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"Fine, Stinson, I will help you a little while." It was the last of November and it was getting cold and bad weather. I had been there about a month. One of his drivers got cripples and Jim said Steve [you drive], it was about the middle of December. I mounted the stage coach. My first stop was Pecos. That was on the Pecos River where the Santa Fe Trail and El Paso came together. The next stop was Ft. Marcy and that was where I turned back.

It took two days to return to Las Vegas. The weather was bad and the Indians wanted to look us over. I had the U. S. Mail and three passengers. Two were going on to Saint Louis. I stayed around there two months. Early in the spring of 1905 I was 15 years old. The big boss of the Diamond A Ranch came into Las Vegas on the stage coach on his way to the ranch. He was from Saint Louis. I hit him up for a job. Time he knew my name he said Steve you can come on any time you want to you have a job now. I had to wait several days the weather was bad and the snow was bad. It was around a hundred miles over to the ranch.

Well the weather warmed up and the snow about all gone. About 10 or 15 of April I saddled my dun pony and packed the other one and rode out of Las Vegas. I rode about 20 miles, the first day. My pony was soft and his feet were tender. I came up on a cow camp and stayed all night. There was one cowboy there. He invited me down and stay all night. We got up early the next morning. I didn't sleep much. Slept with one eye open. We cooked breakfast and made coffee and eat. I left about sunup. He told me it was about 25 or 30 miles to the headquarters of the outfit he worked for so I pulled out. I kept on the lookout. I used my field glasses to see if everything was all right. The country was rough. Every- thing else was too. I saw lots of Navajo Indians, but they didn't see me. I could tell about what they were going to do, but then all I saw were on the go. I finally reached the ranch that cowboy told me about. There was a trail about a mile over the ridge. I followed it. It would carry me to the camp. The trail was very dim at times. The country had deep can- yons in it.

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They was a hard looking bunch of cowpokes. Hadn't shaved or cut their hair in a long time. And we went in the house and the cook said come and get supper. It was ready we all got us a plate and got some beans and bread. In an- other pot was meat and it was bear meat. We all but one sat down on the floor and put our plates between our legs. I found out later that was the boss. He didn't have much to say. Well, after supper all but the boss and myself had a big poker game. The way everything looked they got paid. I was just a fuzzy-faced kid but they never asked me to play with them. I never did play poker in my life. Everything went off 0. K. that night.

The next morning the cook had breakfast at 3 :30. After we ate some of the pokes went out and drove the ponies in, but I kept my ponies in the corral. The boss caught the horses for the cowboys. I was sitting on the fence watching them saddle up. Those ponies were a little snakey. The boss said we will go up and get us a cup of coffee. Well, all got saddled up and left. We went and got us a cup of coffee. He asked my name. I said I go by Steve. He asked me where had I been working. I told him. He offered me a job. I thanked him, but I was going to work for the Diamond A. I saddled and pulled out. He told me about a camp I could make before sundown if the Indians wasn't at a watering place. It happened so there weren't any Indians there.

I made it to the cow camp with a little trouble. There was a cowboy there. I stayed all night. Things didn't look so good. On his bed was a Winchester and two pistols. He was a little nervous and I was too. I told him I was going to work for the dimae. He said that was a big outfit. I didn't sleep much. I watched him. We had coffee and a bite to eat. He fixed me a lunch. I saddled up and pulled out. He told me about how far it was. I figured I could make it by the middle of the evening if I had no trouble getting through Navajo country.

I reached the headquarters before sundown. There were 3 or 4 cowpunchers around there when I rode up. The big man I hired out to came walking down to the lot. He hollered and said. "Get off, Steve." Those other pokes walked around

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where we were talking. The boss asked me when did I leave Las Vegas. I said four days ago about sundown. Then four more cowboys came in. One of them I had seen several times in Colorado at a wild west show two years before. But he didn't know me.

I never did anything for a week. I just fooled around with the boss. The boss* name was Pack. I never learned his sur name. I stayed there three years. He sent the chuck, wagon in to Santa Fe to get chuck for the cow work started soon. The next day after the chuck wagon left for Santa Fe the boss left for Santa Fe to round up a bunch of cowboys. He was gone 5 days. But before he left for Santa Fe he had those cowpunchers to round up a bunch of saddle ponies. The day he left for Santa Fe he cut me nine good ponies.

While he was gone I just fooled around and rode all of my mounts that the ponies he cut out for me to ride when we were working stock. Them long haired cowboys never asked me to go with them any time. They didn't know I was going to work there. At the breakfast table they asked me if I ever punched cattle much. I said not much. One of them cowboys asked me where I was going when I came here. Just fooling around. He said lad this a big cow outfit. I asked are the ponies salty. He said yes. I had done figured it was a tough and wild country. I said to myself I can take it.

The boss came in. He was in the buckboard. Then the chuck wagon came in next day and had a bunch of cowboys. The next morning we had coffee and a bite to eat. He sent some of the cowboys out to round up some ponies. When they came in they put the horses in the corral. All of the cow punchers came dragging their saddles to the corral. The boss opened the gate to the corral with a catch rope in his hand. There were twelve of us cowboys. He roped all of us hands a pony. Not much fun that mounting. And he sent all of us to gather more horses.

We were gone nearly all day. We got in with 75 head of horses. The next morning the boss cut all the cowboys out their mounts. What I meant by mount was nine horses. What they rode working cattle. Well, the horses were wild and

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salty. We had a good wild west show every day until we got them tamed down. Well the chuckwagon pulled out on the east side of the Rio Grande River. We travelled three days and pitched camp and we worked cattle about a week. We ate and slept at the chuckwagon. After that we packed mules and ponies and went up in the mountains. It was so rough we couldn't take the wagon up there. Left some of the cow- boys at the chuck wagon to herd the cattle. We were up in the mountains a week. It was rough for a button, but I didn't let on. One of them jokers rode up by me and said how do you like it? I said just right. It suits me. We didn't know you was going to work for this outfit. I said I had to have a meal ticket. Same as you. That was all I said. He still popped off. I just looked at him. I had his number.

Every night so they could they played poker. I never did take any part in poker playing. We finished working up in the mountains. We moved northeast about 20 miles and stayed there a few days. We were on that cow work a little over two months. The cows and steers we gathered we held around headquarters for a while till we worked Cisco Canyon. That was east of headquarters. That was a rough work over there. We killed two cows and gave to the Isleta Indians to get along. Well, we finally finished over there and returned to the ranch and in a day or so we started to Arizona with the herd of cattle we were gone over 40 days we had tough luck.

On the way over we lost some horses. Some of the cow- boys said the Indians got them. But Pack, the boss, seemed to think outlaws got them. There were cattle rustlers and outlaws in that country then. Well, we returned back to the ranch. It was in November. It was getting cold by then. Well, all the cowboys got paid and left but four of us stayed. I stayed. Didn't do too much work. Just scouted the range and watched the other gap in the mountains so the cows would come through going south. Well, I made the winter all right. Spring was coming on. Won't be long the work begin. The way everything is looking we are going to have a bad and rough one. We were about out of fresh meat.

One morning the boss said Steve I will go with you this

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morning. So we saddled up and rode off. We were a few miles from the ranch. We topped a ridge and looking down in a canyon. I pulled out my field glasses and looked around. Never said another word. Handed them to him. Looked down the canyon. Somebody else was out of meat, too. We watched them till they left. So we rode up the ridge a little ways. We saw several big buck deer. We swung back to the ranch and across a wide canyon and up on the other side and seen some Indians driving a small bunch of cows. We rode around ahead of them and hid out to see if they were driving Dia- mond A cows, but they weren't.

We went on. Went a mile or so. We looked down the can- yon and saw several deer. I said to the boss I will shoot first, if I miss you get him as he comes out. We dressed the deer. It was a nice one. We carried it in. All of us done the cooking. The first one in he started supper. We got in. We started supper and were frying liver when the other boys got in. One said, John what are you cooking. Bobcat he said. Made some soda bisquit and gravy. Good eating.

The boss sent the man that drove the freight wagon into Santa Fe after supplies. We all were out of Bull Durham smoking tobacco. Everyone smoked Bull Durham. The man who drove the wagon, I told him to bring me back a caddy of .38 shells. I gave him the money. I didn't have many .38 shells left. It took 8 days to make the trip to Santa Fe and back. It took six mules to pull the chuck wagon. Well, the wagon had been gone nine days. The morning of the tenth day the boss said boys, hook the horses to the hack. I am going to meet the wagon. He had trouble. He said, Steve, come and go with me. So we pulled out. We had gone about a mile and met the wagon. He was bunged up. I took care of everything. Some of us was out of Bull Durham by then.

In May, 1906, the boss told us cowboys we was going up on No Gall to gather some horses. We packed several ponies and mules. I was 16 years old in April. I had been in that part one time. It was wild and woolly, but the boss know all them guys was tough lookers. We was tough lookers but about every 5 or 6 months we would cut each other's hair with the

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mule shears. But these guys I believe they had a hair cut and shave in a year. But they treated us very nice. We stayed around there several days and gathered the horses that be- longed to the Diamond A. When we got through and ready to start with the horses them guys looked through the horses to see if we were driving off some that didn't belong to the Diamond A Ranch. We returned to the ranch with ponies. Some good ones. Some no good.

I had been on this ranch over a year and hadn't seen a white woman if you wasn't a stag you would be. Fall was coming on. Pack, the boss said at the breakfast table he said, Boys 3 of you can go to town. We decide who would go first. I would go in the last bunch. They was gone several days and they came back. And we went to town. It seemed funny. We went to the stage coach yard and put up our ponies and went up into the rawhide town and I got cleaned up. Them others stopped at the first saloon we came to. I got cleaned up. I had my boots shined and I got me a good pair of trousers and a good shirt and a big, black silk handkerchief. Then I went to find them guys.

They was still in that saloon, they went in. I went up to them. Well, Steve, you got cleaned up. You said you was. Steve are you going to give the gals a whirl? I said maybe. They knew I never drank, but one asked me did I want a drink. I said I didn't believe I do. One of the boys went in the back of the saloon. Was a bunch of girls and pimps. After a while we went back to see about him. One of the gals and a pimp had him in room fixing to rool him for his money. We went in and got him. The gal said he was going to stay here with me. The pimp shut the door. One of the boys jerked the door open and knocked the pimp out the door. The gal inter- fered. I said gal, quiten down, you might get the water slapped out of you. We left out of that joint. Things was fixing to get rough.

Well, the boys went and got cleaned up. I said boys you are old enough for my daddy. You don't want to get drunk where you don't know what you are doing for the gals will take your money. Well we stopped in a cafe to get a cup of

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coffee and a bite to eat. That gal and that boy we had that run in with they said, Boys are you coming over tonight. I said maybe, but we didn't go. It sure was a rough and tough town for the gold miners came into town and got drunk and fight with them guys[,] never did work[,] wait for the miners come to town[,] cheat in gambling dens or knocked them in the head just any way to get their money. I saw several real battles cut and shut.

My buddy and I stayed in town seven days. One of my buddies got his hand crippled one night. Was 4 miners and me and my two buddies was in the nicest joint was in town. We was dancing with the girls. Some was drinking. I don't know what happened. It started in a room. A gal came tumbling back into the parlor where we was dancing. Here come about a dozen pimps and then the little ball started to rolling. One of them thugs picked up a chair and hit one of my buddies over the head. I picked up a beer bottle and broke the neck of that [one], was pretty good. It didn't last long. Several got bunged up.

Well, we loaded up with Bull Durham smoking tobacco and .38 and .45 pistol bullets and started back to the ranch. It taken us three days to get back. We rode up and unsaddled. The boss rode up about that time. Peat had his hand wrapped up. He said, "How are you?" OK we said. I had a knot on my head. In a day or two we started to work. We put in 60 days hard and rough work branding calves. But after that we rode all time. Didn't do much work. We branded a few calves all along. The weather was getting bad. Watch a few gaps in the mountains.

Well spring was here. We begin to get everything ready to send the freight wagon to town to get supplies for the spring work. It was the spring of 1907. I was 17 years old in April. In May the chuck wagon pulled out from the ranch. The second day after leaving the ranch one of the boys god bad hurt and the boss sent me back with him. I staid around there with him. I didn't do much. I had to stay close around for about a month. I practised shooting and I made a fish hook out of a horse shoe nail. It wasn't but a few yards to

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the creek. Sometimes I was lucky. The wagon was gone a little over two months.

About three weeks before the chuck wagon pulled in about sunrise I was at the corral two men rode up and asked did I have any chuck I said yes, a little. I started to open the gate to go out. One of the men drawed his gun and said stop and put your hands on the gate. I had my .38 but they had me covered. One held a gun on me and the other one went to the house. Tom said I thought that was you. The man said stick your hands up and face to the wall. He got what chuck he wanted and marched Tom down where I was. One jerked my gun and pitched over the fence and rode off looking back. They was tough-lookers.

The last two weeks the chuck wagon was out Tom and I went and met it and worked with them. Pack the boss asked Tom how he was. He said I believe I will make it. The ponies I rode sure was fat. No one had rode them. The second morn- ing after Tom and I got to the wagon I got bucked off and spring my ankle. The boys wrapped it in brown paper and poured vinegar on it. In a few days it was in very good shape. We finished that work. Fall was coming on us. We had some scouting to do to brand the calves we missed in the work. Well, we finished that stray work. By that time it had snowed some. We had a bad winter. All the cattle rustlers worked the country ever where.

Well the spring of 1908 was here. The boss sent the freight wagon to town after chuck. That was groceries. But we had fresh meat the year round. This was a hard year. The big men from Kansas City came to Santa Fe. The men owned the Diamond A Ranch. Some time in May the chuck wagon left the ranch for the spring work. Was 14 cowboys and a cook and he was a good one. We mark and branded the calves and held all the fat cows and steers. Some of the steers was 7 and 8 years old. Horns long as a man's arm and sure was wild. A tenderfoot could [not?] take it. Them days you had to take it or you would [not?] stay, you had to be wild and quick on the draw and a good bronc rider to work anywhere west of the Pecos River.

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We finished branding and the chuck wagon pulled into the ranch. We had gathered 500 big steers and fat cows and we started to Colorado with the cattle. We was 40 days. We travelled up the old north Santa Fe Trail. We watered at the Eagle Nest Lake there where we run into trouble. The Jica- rilla Indians come up on us. The wagon boss went out where Indian Chief was. They was a big bunch of them. We didn't know what would be the outcome of that. But the boss told the chief to pick him out a big fat cow and he did. The boss told me to cut the one he picked so I did and he killed her with his bow and arrow. I had some beads in a Bull Durham tobacco sack. I poured them out in my hand and he got a string. He patted me on the head. I knew I had it made then.

We stayed there 1% days watering the cattle out. After dinner the second day we pulled out. We travelled up the Santa Fe Trail. Went through Raton and into Colorado and delivered the cattle. Was a big wild West rodeo going on in Tranidad, Colorado. We stayed there three days and taken the rodeo in. Some of us punchers entered all the bronc riding shows. We drew every day. The second day was 4 of us drew. Was 2 prizes. The first prize was $500. The second prize was $250. They was three boys and one girl and then we drawed who we was going to ride against, so it fell my way to ride against the girl.

Her name was Goldy Smith. So we drawed to see who rode first. She rode first so she came out of the chute on a bay pony. He was a good pony. They drove a buckskin pony in the chute and I buckled my saddle on him and crawled on him and said let him out. He done everything but chin the moon. I could see his head. The girl beat me on points. She got the money, so I went over where she was and thanked her and patted her on the back. She said Steve what are you going to do tonight after the show. Go over to the dance I guess. I will see you there. After the rodeo over that night us boys went to the chuck wagon. I said boys I am going to the dance so I got cleaned up and went.

I had been there a few minutes. The music started. They was three girls sitting over to one side. I walked over asked

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for this dance. It was 0. K. We danced that set. I thanked her. I didn't dance the next set. I was standing close in the door against the wall looking everything over. I saw this girl Goldy come in. Her and this man she come in with went to dancing. It was her Dad. So I stayed there. Her and her Pop danced by. She gave me a smile. When that set was over come over where I was she said the next one are ours. She made me acquainted with several boys and girls. She was a good sport. They all showed me a good time. Daddy this is Steve. He rode against me today. Steve and I going to ride against two cowboys tomorrow.

Well the next day came. Goldy and her Dad worked it around where we did. Well we drawed to see which side would ride first. The boys win to ride first. The cowboy buckled his old kak on that bay pony and crawled on him and said let him out. That old pony came out bucking. One of his spul leathers broke and he grabbed the horn. He got off. That didn't count in a contest. Call out Goldy Smith next rider. Drove a wild pony in the chute and Goldy buckled her cack [sic] on him. I told her to put that saddle high up on his withers. She crawled up on that pony said let him out. That old pony came out. Sure was bucking but she was screwed down in that saddle. She done a good job.

It was up to me to beat my cowboy. They run another pony in the chute and called that other cowpunchers name. Can't remember what it was. He put his saddle on that old pony and crawled on him and let him out. That old pony put on a good show. Well the men was putting the pony in the chute. One ear half gone. Called out Steve next rider. I drop my old kak on him and slipped it high up on his withers and sure did buckle it down. I crawled on him and said let him out. I screwed deep down in my saddle. Goldy and myself win the contest by a few points.

We returned to the ranch. In our stay and taking in the rodeo I met Mr. Miller the man owned the 101 Ranch. He asked me to come to see him some time. I told him I would. I might want a job some time. He said come on. Cold weather was coming on. This was a cold winter. The snow covered

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the country for months. The cattle didn't winter so good on account of so much snow stayed on the ground so long. But the spring was fine. The grass come early. This is the spring of 1909. I was 19 years old when the spring work was over. Throwed all the cattle in the valleys for winter and we rode the gaps.

Us cowpunchers had to keep wood drug up or hauled up and cut up and brought in for the cook. The cook was fixing to get supper. I was out getting in wood for the night and the rest of the punchers was playing poker. Was trouble going on in the house. The cook ran out of the house and said Steve a gang fight in the house. I dropped the wood and went in- side. One of them boys throwed a chair at me and I ducked and [it] hit the cook. Knocked him. That was a tough one. The boss wasn't there. He had gone to town. He came in about a week. He found out about the trouble among us boys in a day or two [,] at the supper table he said boys what was the trouble the other evening. I was in the kitchen after the coffee pot when he asked the question. I was glad after the coffee pot. He was mad at the time.

When he got coolled off he called us all cowpunchers in. Said boys I have to let all you go. You knew I would have trouble among you boys. He let all go but the cook. I saddled up one and packed the other on and went to town look for another job. I rode up the stagecoach yard and got off my dun pony. The man was running stage coach yard came out. I unsaddled and unpacked. Put my ponies in a lot and fed them and walked up to town to get a cup of coffee and a bite to eat. For I was getting lank and my ponies was too. I went in a grease joint. I drink a cup of coffee and went out and walked a little farther and went in another place and set down close to the door at a table looking in a morror was over the bar and spied two cow punchers. I had seen in Colorado but they didn't know me.

I was there about a week. I was in a hotel where all the big cow men stayed when they was in town. Mr. Miller the man owned the 101 Ranch he said hello, Steve. What are you doing. I said I was taking in the sights. Was doing anything.

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Are you going to the ranch with me? I don't know yet. I had told Mr. Willcock the boss for S P Ranch over on the Arizona line I might work for him but I made up my mind I was going to work for the one gave me the best job. I saw Mr. Miller and he told me what he had to offer me. I told him I would help him out. He told me my time would start now. I asked him when was he going back to the ranch. About a week he said.

The second day after I was talking to Mr. Miller I saddled up and packed my other pony and pulled out. It was a long way there. I travelled up the Rio Grande River on the Old Espejo Trail to Taos. That is in west of the Kit Carson Coun- try. I had been on the trail several days. I topped a mountain and was looking around and taken my field glasses out and looked the country over and seen a bunch of Indians coming down the trail I was on. I didn't know just what I was going to do. I had to do something so I quit the trail and rode down to the river and got on a mountain and watch them. They went on down the trail and found a few cows I had seen. The cows I had seen as I came up the trail. I was sure glad they found them cows. They drove them off. I was in a tight spot for a little while. They finally went on and never saw me.

I pulled out up the river. About sundown I came upon a cow camp and stayed all night. I knew the cowboy who stayed at the camp. The next morning I pulled out just before sun- rise and about sundown I came to one of the 101 Ranch camps. Was a tough looking fellow at the corral. He said get down and unsaddle. So I did. We went to the house and he went to fixing supper. I sure was hungry and tired. I asked him how far was it to the Miller's headquarters. He told me are you going to work for the 101. 1 said maybe. I never told him I had a job with that outfit. That day and time nobody never did ask the other fellow where did he come from or ask where he was going.

I reached the headquarters without much trouble. Got stopped a couple of times. I rode up to the ranch and got off. About a dozen cowboys around the corral. They all spoke. One come over where I was. He said Jack is my name. I said

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Steve is mine. I said are you the wagon boss. And he said yes, are you the Steve Mr. Miller told me about hiring. I don't know but maybe. I said where are Miller. He said in Pueblo. He will be back in a week. The boss said if you want to lay around the ranch a few days and rest up that suited me. I said you cut me three or four ponies out. I may want to fool around some. So he did. That was a swell outfit. About a quarter of a mile was a swell house.

I had been there two days. That morning of the second day the boss left five ponies in the corral. When the boys caught pony I caught me one nothing was said. I saddled mine and climbed up on him. He sure did want to buck but I wouldn't let him. I rode him down to the bunkhouse and got off and made me some coffee and was out on the porch drink- ing it. I looked up and seen four girls walking down to the corral. I kept drinking my coffee but kept an eye on them to see what they was going to do. They saddled up their ponies. They came riding by and stopped. I said have a cup of coffee, girls. They dismounted and came in. I got them some coffee. A blond said what are your name. I said what are your name? I didn't tell them my name. But I found out what I wanted to know. They was wild west show girls.

I figured they was ranch girls the way they put the saddles on them ponies and the way they got on them ponies. When they finished their coffee they said you never did tell us your name. Are you going with us[?,] maybe. So I stayed on the outside of them. You couldn't tell what they would do. They said you are a stranger in this country. Yes more or less. Are you going to work on this ranch. Would mind all these good looking girls. I don't know much about ranch work. What do you do on the ranch. I got the low down. Ever thing I learnt the 101 was going to put on a wild west show starting in September and travel three months. Are you girls going with the show? Yes they answered. What do a fellow have to do? If I knew anything about a wild west show I would like to go. We will show you.

The blond headed gal I saw her in Colorado at a wild west show in 1905. 1 found out she was there but I never let on that

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I was there. We started back to the ranch. We come up on some little turkeys and we caught 2 of them. And we went on to the ranch. I said girls you all get off and I will make some coffee and have a smoke of Bull Durham with our coffee. You go up here with us. We will have coffee up here. Two them gals was sports. Them other two was stuck up a little.

Mr. Miller came in a few days. The boss said Steve you go into town and load the chuck wagon up with groceries and tell them cowpunchers the wagon will start in fifteen days. So I did. I went in the buckboard. It taken me 5 days to make the trip. I brought one cow puncher with me. I knew this cowboy, Hackberry Slim. I have called his name before. He was a real cowboy and a bronc rider. We had a little trouble getting things. The Pueblo country they was on the war path. A bushwhacker killed one of the chief leaders a few days before. We made it 0. K. after talking to him. We drove up to the ranch some of the punchers was at the corral. We un- hooked from the buckboard. About that time the boss come up. I said to Jack one cowboy come with me. Said that was good. He said Steve, did you get the wagon loaded out? I said yes and notified the cowboys.

About that time them gals rode up. The boss and I still talking. This blond head gal come over where we was. He said Steve this is my girl Goldy. She said Dad he went with us the other day. We asked him his name but he didn't tell us.

Well the chuck wagon getting ready to start on the work. The cowboys had gathered in. We rounded up the cow ponies and the boss cut our mounts out to us cowboys. We had a [wild] west show ever day we worked cattle for two and half months. One morning a cowboy rode up to the chuck wagon to get a drink of water. His old pony got buggered. Went to bucking and bucked over the cook pot things and turned over the coffee pot and knocked the chuck box lead down and the cook got mad and they got into skable. I rode up about that time. The cook had the butcher knife after that old boy. I saw what kind shape ever thing was in. I never said anything. That old cook sure was made. Ever thing was turned over and spilt everthing. Dinner was late and old cook

104 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

was still mad. The horse ringler jumped in and helped the cook get dinner ready.

The next day when we got the roundup throwed together and we changed horses Slim and I rode to the chuck wagon to get drink of water and a cup of coffee. Slim old pony got buggered and went to bucking and bucked into my old pony and he went to bucking and bucking rite into the chuck wagon. The cook shook a sack at the old pony and he turned back. I sure was glad. I didn't want that cook after me. We got a drink and a cup of coffee. I sure glad that old pony turned back. I said cook I like to tore down ever thing. He grin and said Steve I was getting ready to get mad. We got through this work and the chuck wagon pulled into the ranch the next day.

The boss sent five us cowboys to Panther Canyon Camp to brand some calves and gather some ponies. We were there after January. Jack the boss came over and left Slim and myself there and carried the other boys back with him. He said Slim you and Steve be sure and hold them horses for them are our rodio ponies. So we decided we would try out them old ponies. Some sure was salty and sure could buck so we could spot the worst bucking ones so if they went with the show we would know the worst ones.

Spring is here. This is spring of 1910. The boss come and brought five cowpunchers. We carried the ponies to head- quarters. It was the first of May. We started the cow work the chuck wagon pulled out from the ranch the cow work lasted about three months. When we finished the branding the wagon pulled in. In a few days we begin getting things ready for the wild west show the last of August. We left for Colorado the first show was at Durango. Anybody could inter that wanted to. We put on a three day show there and the next place was Pagosa Springs. Was a big Indian blow out. I begin to wonder what that outfit was paying me the morn- ing before we left for the next show.

I asked the show manager what was he paying me. He said just what you have been drawing at the ranch. I said I wont ride for that. All the outlaw horses in the country was

WEST OF THE PECOS 105

brought in to be rode. One word and another. We got into trouble. He hit me with a quirt. That started the ball to roll- ing. The laws stopped us. Was going to throw me in jail. I said bring him along too. I had a trial the next day. They turned me loose. I told the law he havent paid me. I am going after my money. The law said I will go with you. I told the law when we get to the show for him to lag back not to go up when I do. I told him I wanted my pay. Now he paid me then. All I had in the show was my saddle and my bedroll. The law said I will carry you and your outfit to the wagon yard. So he did. I hung around a few days.

I never liked that country so I taken stage coach. I left my ponies at the ranch so I had to go and get them when I got back to the ranch Jack the boss seen me and met me. He said how are everthing. All right I said I could work for ranch wages so I quit [the rodeo]. You can work here this winter. I finished the winter there. I told the boss I was going to town. I would be gone week or ten days. My idea was to get me another job. Was one [town] big ranch owners will be in. I wanted to see them for I knew that joker was running that show would be in. I didn't want to look at him for I was out of snuff already. I saddled up my old dun pony and packed the other one. I rode into town and put my pony in stage coach yard and feed them. The man was running the yard hello Steve. I fooled around a few days and seen several of the big boys and hard [hired] out to Slaughter of the Long Ranch, LP brand. He asked my name I said Steve. Yes, I have heard about you. I said nothing good. He said Steve you hang around about a week. My boss are coming into town and we will go back with him. I fooled around town and went in them joints and watched them dance and drink and fight. I didn't take much hand in it. The gals said you don't drink, A little maybe, I said. Never seen you. Are you a U. S. Marshall? You never can tell. That the answer I said. I never did get too thich with anyone. Would say most was gamblers and pimps. Don't fall for anything for they will roll you for what you had. Boys you watch your step now. I have been all down the line.

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The boss got into town. I run into them at a cafe. Slaughter said come around and set down. So I did. So the big boss said this is my boss Ed. Steve. I eat with them. He said we will go to the ranch in a few days.

One night I was sitting in a cafe at the table close to the door drinking a cup of coffee waiting for my orders. Two tuff looking guys came in the door and stood up and ordered coffee. They hair and beard was long. Was a girl waited on them. One said are the boss in this joint. She said he not in know. They drink their coffee and walk through the door into the back. Was a bunch of girls in there. Didn't stay long come out. As they come by me one said we come back later. Was a good many miners workerd in town. Was a gambling joint up the street and they went in there. Was['nt] long was a gun fight. Nobody don't ask any questions.

We left the next day for the ranch. That was the last time I saw a town for nine months. That was a hard country to work in. Mountains, canyons, was Sandia Indian reservation had to watch them all time. Had to stay on the good side with them. Give them a beef once in a while.

Well the spring of 1911 we started out on the spring work. We had been working about a month when two fellers rode up the chuck wagon. No one there but the cook and the horses rangier. They drink coffee. When they drink the coffee we need some chuck. Don't move. You won't get hurt. He sacked up some chuck and rode off. We got the roundup throwed together and went to eat[,] the cook said I had a visitor. Stuck me up and got a sack of chuck and rode off. That was a new cook in the country. Ed the boss said that nothing new. Just feed them. That was a tough country. In ever way cattle rustlers outlaws.

Well we finished that cow work and pulled into head- quarters. In a few days the boss begin to shape things for winter. He had too many cow punchers. Had no work for them all. Paid a bunch of them off and left. I come in one evening. I had been scouting Sandia Indian Ridge. The boss was at corral said Steve tomorrow you get ready. I want you to go to Nogall Camp. That was about 20 miles from head-

WEST OF THE PECOS 107

quarters. I will send another cowboy to help you. The next morning I begin to get ever thing ready. Loaded up the buck- board with chuck and some corn for my ponys to eat. I carried three of my best ponys. I had some good ponys. The boss told one of the cowboys to take the chuck and horse feed for me. I saddled one and packed one when we got ready to start I tied one pony to the other tail and pull out. The boss said Steve I will see you in a few days.

Well we made it to the camp all right. It was a lonesome looking place. No one hadn't stayed there for five or six months. Had some good corrals. Unloaded my chuck and horse feed and I put my ponies in the trap. Had a good trap. And looked ever thing over. The cowboy brought my stuff for me. He stayed all night with me. He started back the next morning after he left I saddled up and scouted around to spot things. I carried my gun. No one left the house without earring his gun. I saw bobcats, panthers the first day out.

I had been there about a month. One morning I wanted some fresh meat. I rode about a mile or so. I rode up on a tall hill not much brush and taken out my field glasses. Looked around. I saw didn't know what. After a while I could tell what it was. A cougar killing a young burro. The rest of them burros was giving him a hard time. I didn't find me a young deer. The next day I went by where the cougar killed that little feller. Didn't eat nothing but the hindquarters.

Some time in December was snow on the ground. My horse began snorting and raising cain. I grabbed my gun and opened the door. Was a panther. He run behind some brush. Did Shoot — when you shoot you hafta[,] you don't know who are around. Well the boss sent another cowboy down to help me. Was bothered too much. Some time I would come in somebody had come by and cooked and eat but always wash the dishes. Was long after this cowboy come down to help me was a feller rode up about sunrise a pretty clean looking guy. He had two sixshooters on and a Winchester buckled on his saddle and riding a good pony. I asked him down and fixed him something to eat. Didn't talk much. In fact nobody didn't talk much. He asked how far was to the Scabeae Ranch. I told

108 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

him what I thought. You could tell he wasn't a tenderfoot. It scared that old boy [who] was helping me. After he left he asked me do you know him. I said no. When someone come up you don't say anything but hang around. You can't tell who they are or what they want.

A while before we went to the headquarters two Sandia Indians come up to a spring where we got our water. I started down there. Button said are you going down there. Yes. I went down they was getting a drink. We are out of beef. Well we will find one. Kept my eye on them. Didn't go far. Found a stray. It was fat. I said there [is] a good one. The old chief killed it with his bow and arrow and taken its bowels out and got two sticks and taken rawhide and tied the sticks together and put the beef on them sticks and tied the beef and pulled out. If you stayed you had to be good to the Indians.

The boss sent the buckboard and we went back to the headquarters and the wagon started in a few days. It was the spring of 1912. When the wagon started the spring work the grass was good and the ponies was fat and salty. The wagon was out nearly three months marking and branding and holding fat cows and steers. Pulled in and we held them cows and steers in a short time we left for Romeo, Colorado. Some of the cowboys hadn't been to town in 9 months. I hadn't seen a female but Mexican or Indian. Well we travelled very slow. Slaughter said take your time. Wanted them in good shape. We was on the road nearly 30 days. We had quite a bit of trouble. Gave 3 fat cows to the Indians so we could get through their country. We finally reached Romeo and turned the cattle over to the one [who] bought them.

(To be continued)

PRINTING IN NEW MEXICO BEYOND SANTA FE AND TAOS 1848-1875

By JACKSON E. TOWNE*

A CCORDING to some unpublished notes in the Douglas C. ./\ McMurtrie Manuscript Collection at Michigan State Uni- versity, a 27-page pamphlet entitled Catecismo Popular de la Doctrina Democratica, by Ramon Francisco Gamarra, was printed at Las Cruces some time between 1847 and 1853 with the imprint "Impreso en la Oficina del Fronterizo." The pam- phlet is undated and McMurtrie, one of the great authorities on the history of printing in the United States, felt that "the internal evidence allows considerable latitude in choosing a date. . . ."

McMurtrie tells us that "about 1852 there appeared an- other pamphlet, lacking imprint and undated, which resem- bles the El Fronterizo pamphlet so closely in its typography that it almost certainly came from the same press. This item is entitled La Politica de Belzebu y su Reverso. McMurtrie found no information regarding a newspaper called El Fronterizo at Las Cruces prior to 1874, or about the estab- lishment of a press prior to the Civil War. The Borderer, started in 1871 by Jeremiah V. Bennett and continued by him until his death in 1876, McMurtrie noted as having been "generally . . . considered the first newspaper in the south- ern part of New Mexico." However, a first issue of the Mesilla weekly Times for October 18, 1860, is held by both the Hunt- ington Library and the New York Historical Society. The Huntington also has a copy of the Mesilla Miner of June 9, 1860. This item, preceding the Mesilla Times, changed to it after one issue.

For its fourth foothold in New Mexico (if Las Cruces actually was third in point of time, as McMurtrie definitely ranked it) , the press became active in the old town and ulti- mate metropolis of the state, Albuquerque. Here Colonel Richard H. Weightman, who had gone to Washington as a

* Professor of Bibliography, Michigan State University.

109

110 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

senator under the proposed government of 1850, started a little paper called Amigo del Pais in 1853 and conducted it for a few weeks, according to the Rio Abajo Weekly Press for January 20, 1863.

About 1860, Theodore S. Greiner began the publication in Albuquerque of a weekly paper called the Review. This is recorded in the History of New Mexico, its Resources and Peoples, Volume I (Los Angeles, 1907), on page 470. After two years Greiner sold out to Hezekiah S. Johnson, who started the Rio Abajo Weekly Press on January 20, 1863. Under several changes of ownership and with a return in 1870 to the name Review, this paper survived for more than ten years, when it was merged with a younger publication named the Democrat.

Hezekiah Johnson had lived in New Mexico since 1849, and before founding the Rio Abajo Weekly Press had appar- ently had some previous newspaper experience, for in his salutatory he says : "this is not the first time we have pre- sented ourself to the New Mexico Public." The salutatory goes on to announce the appearance of what was frankly a business enterprise for its founder : "The subscriber pays us his subscription; we furnish him with the best and most accurate news the market affords. . . . The merchant, or other individual, pays us a certain price for a certain space in our columns for advertising; we publish his advertisement. These are plain business transactions" . . . with no "beati- fied transcendentalism" about "repugnance" to the "almighty dollar."

After Albuquerque the next point at which a press began operations was Mesilla, a town adjacent to Las Cruces. The Bancroft Library at the University of California has a copy of the first issue of The Mesilla Times, showing that publica- tion began on October 18, 1860. The American Guide Series for New Mexico summarizes :

In July, 1861, Lieutenant Colonel Baylor of the Confederate Army, after capturing Fort Fillmore with little resistance, made his headquarters at Mesilla, proclaiming himself military governor and Mesilla the capital of the new territory of Ari-

PRINTING IN NEW MEXICO 111

zona, which included all of New Mexico south of the 34th parallel, a part of Texas, and all of Arizona, Nevada and California. After August, 1862, when the Confederates fled before the California Column under General James H. Carle- ton, La Mesilla was made headquarters of the Military District of Arizona under the United States.

La Mesilla was on the west side of the Rio Grande until 1865 when the river changed its course. The walls of the adobe house, which held the courtroom in which Billy the Kid once stood trial, still stand on the corner of the plaza. The main in- terest of the town, aside from its special charm and mellowed quality, is the privately owned Billy the Kid Museum, that con- tains . . . relics. . . . Other items include relics said to be of Maxi- milian and Carlotta of Mexico . . . rare maps, old branding irons, swords, guns and blankets.

Next, at Elizabethtown, in Coif ax County, Scranton and Aken started the Elizabethtown Lantern in 1869 ; in the same year this paper was sold to William D. Dawson and became the Railway Press and Telegraph. McMurtrie found a refer- ence to this paper in a Colorado journal, the Colorado Miner, in which the editor wrote sympathetically of the editor of "the only paper published at Elizabethtown, New Mexico ... in a furious rage," because the people were displeased with their paper. Elizabethtown is a ghost mining town today with a population of less than 150.

Finally, at Las Vegas and at Cimarron newspapers were started in 1870: the Las Vegas Mail; and at Cimarron the Press and the News, which were merged in 1875 into the News and Press.

From the care with which McMurtrie traced and pub- lished every shred of evidence regarding the printing activi- ties of Padre Martinez of Taos (in the New Mexico Historical Review and elsewhere) , we can only conclude that the fol- lowing from the American Guide Series on the Cimarron News and Press is wholly apochryphal :

The paper, housed in a warehouse used as the Indian Agency Headquarters, was said to have been printed on the press brought to New Mexico by Padre Antonio Jose Martinez and first used by him in 1853 to print school books, religious propa- ganda, and a Taos paper, El Crepusculo (the dawn). It is re-

112 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

lated that one evening Clay Allison and some of his cohorts, angered by an item in the newspaper, battered in the door of the building, smashed the press with a sledge hammer, and finally dumped the type cases and office equipment into the Cimarron River. Not satisfied, Allison and one of his men went back to the plant next morning, found a stack of the previous day's papers, and went from bar to bar, selling the papers at 25 cents a copy.

NOTES FROM MANUSCRIPT

By DOUGLAS C. MCMURTRIE

Oliver P. Hovey and Edward T. Davies, on September 10, 1847, began the publication at Santa Fe of a newspaper with the title Santa Fe Republican, with the first leaf of each four- page issue printed in English and the second leaf in Spanish. We have found a statement to the effect that the printing equipment for this enterprise came from Missouri,70 and it is interesting, in this connection, to quote the following article from a St. Louis newspaper in November, 1846 :71

"A Printing Office for Santa Fe. — We noticed at the Type Foundry of A. P. Ladew, yesterday, a number of boxes marked for 'Santa Fe Army/ On inquiry we learned that he had just filled an order from Gen. Kearney for a complete printing establishment on Government account. The Quarter- master will forward immediately, press, type, fixtures, ink, paper, &c. &c. — a full supply of every thing necessary to start a newspaper at once, and do all the job work required. As Mr. Ladew's establishment is equal to any of the kind, either east or west of the Alleghenies, we doubt not that we shall see, in the course of a few months, as good printing done in Santa Fe as in St. Louis. This printing establishment is necessary there, that the orders of Gen. Kearney, the ordinances, regu- lations, &c., may be distributed among the people. It may be considered a new mode of carrying on war, but as the design is to 'conquer peace/ paper bullets may effect as much in Northern Mexico as leaden or iron ones. At all events, the typos in the army will find employment when the press reaches them."

70. R. E. Twitchell, Old Santa Fe, p. 286.

71. St. Louis Daily Union, November 6, 1846, page 3, column 2.

PRINTING IN NEW MEXICO 113

Because of the difficulties of transportation, it was ten months from the filling of this order by Ladew's typef oundry in St. Louis to the appearance of the first issue of the Santa Fe Republican. With the establishment of the new press, the most colorful and romantic chapter of New Mexican printing history came to a close. Typography was immensely improved technically under the new regime, but in comparison with what Baca produced with his battered types it cannot but seem to us somewhat uninteresting and commonplace.72

The Santa Fe Republican (the title of its Spanish section was El Republicano) continued under Hovey & Da vies until April, 1848, when Davies withdrew and Oliver P. Hovey be- came the sole publisher. The paper was somewhat irregular in its issues, skipping a week or two now and then ; in Feb- ruary and March, 1848, five weeks passed with no issue of the Republican. Rather unique among the many peculiarities of early newspapers was the haste of the Republican to attain the appearance of age. Number 22 of volume 1 appeared on March 18, 1848 ; the next recorded issue in any file is number 25, on April 22, but this issue is numbered in volume 2. Number 44 of volume 2 is reached on October 15, but the next issue (after the omission of a week) is volume 3, number 45, on October 29. For a time then the paper appeared only every other week. An elaborate New Year's greeting, in Spanish, from Oliver P. Hovey to the readers of El Republicano (no. 48 in the Bibliography) , an issue of April 28, 1849, and an extra dated August 8, 1849 (no. 54 in the Bibliography) complete the record of what is now known of the Santa Fe Republican.73 However, we encounter Oliver P. Hovey again in 1860, when he was the territory's public printer, and Ed-

72. It might be noted, in passing, that the types brought to New Mexico under the new regime seem to have been inadequate for printing Spanish. To judge from speci- mens of the printed work, the fonts lacked most of the accented letters required for correct Spanish typography.

73. There is no known file of the Republican which is even approximately complete. The Henry E. Huntington Library has 14 issues, extending to November 25, 1848, and the extra of August 8, 1849 ; the Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, has 5 issues, including v. 1, nos. 1, 4, 5, and 6, and a duplicate of an issue which is also in the Huntington file; the Historical Society of New Mexico has 2 issues, both of which are in the Huntington file; and the Library of Congress has the issue of April 28, 1849 — the latest regular issue recorded.

114 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

ward T. Davies reappears in connection with the next news- paper in the territory, the New Mexican.

The New Mexican (with a Spanish section entitled El Nuevo-Mejicano) is known to have begun on November 24, 1849.74 It was established by Edward T. Davies, one of the founders of the Republican over two years earlier, in part- nership with William E. Jones, as Davies & Jones, editors and proprietors. Its prospectus, published in the first issue, declared that in matters of politics and religion it would "maintain a strict neutrality, regarding partizanship as ut- terly unnecessary and a barrier to the general good of our Territory." But it promised to advocate "the views enter- tained by the people of New Mexico, in Convention assem- bled, for the purpose of urging upon Congress the immediate formation of Supreme Civil Government" — to take the place of the hybrid military-civil government under which the territory then existed.75

Besides the first issue, two extras of El Nuevo Mejicano are known, one dated June 18 and the other July 4, 1850.76 These appeared under the names of Ceran St. Vrain as pro- prietor and publisher, and of J. Houghton and T. S. J. John- son, editorial committee. Beyond these dates the career of the first New Mexican at Santa Fe remains at present unknown.77

New Mexico was finally organized as a territory of the United States by an Act of Congress of September 9, 1850, which went into effect with the inauguration of the new terri- torial government on March 3, 1851. Almost immediately thereafter — presumably on April 12, 1851, the Santa Fe

74. The Historical Society of New Mexico has a copy of v. 1, no. 1. The Union List of Newspapers (1937) also records a copy of this issue in the University of Illinois Library and one in the Wisconsin Historical Society. The Union List reports that the New Mexican began as the New Mexican Review, "1848 — Nov. ? 1849," but we cannot verify this earlier title. Other issues recorded by the Union List under the title of the New Mexican belong to another paper of much later origin.

75. See the note on no. 52 in the following Bibliography.

76. We record these from copies in the possession of Mr. Thomas W. Streeter, Morristown, N. J.

77. The New Mexican begun at Santa Fe about 1863 by William Henry Manderfield and Thomas Tucker seems to have nothing in common with its predecessor except the title. However, the daily evening New Mexican and the weekly Niievo Mexicano, pub- lished currently at Santa Fe, claim descent from their namesakes of 1849.

PRINTING IN NEW MEXICO 115

Weekly Gazette, the first really successful newspaper in the territory, made its first appearance. The earliest issue now located, no. 6, of May 17, 1851, had a Spanish section entitled Gaceta de Santa Fe and was published by William E. Jones (one of the founders of the New Mexican), with James L. Collins & Co. as proprietors. Extant files of the earliest years of this paper are quite incomplete, and its history is therefore somewhat sketchy at the beginning. From the earliest known issue there is a gap in the record to January 24, 1852, eight months later. At this date the paper was published and edited by William G. Kephart,78 with James L. Collins & Co. still the proprietors. But we know that Kephart joined Collins at some time in 1851, as is shown by the imprint on no. 70 in our Bibliography.

There is another gap of nine months in the files of the Gazette to the issue of October 23, 1852, which names W. G. Kephart as publisher but does not mention Collins. Two weeks later, Kephart was editor with William Drew as publisher, and the Spanish section became La Gaceta Semana Aria de Santa Fe. Kephart appeared as publisher again, in place of Drew, on May 21, 1853, and on the following September 3 J. L. Collins was editor and the name of Kephart disappeared from the newspaper records. At the end of 1853, on December 24, Collins was succeeded by W. W. H. Davis as editor, and imprints of 1854 and 1855 record "J. L. Collins & W. W. H. Davis, printers/'79 although the name of Collins did not appear in the Gazette in those years.

In 1856, James L. Collins was again the editor of the

78. Twitchell, Old Santa Fe, p. 366, relates that: "In 1851, the Presbyterian Mis- sionary Union sent Rev. W. G. Kephardt to Santa Fe. He was more of a politician than a missionary. He soon identified himself with newspaper work, became the editor of the Santa Fe Gazette, and espoused the anti-slavery cause." We note that in all its occur- rences in the newspaper and in the imprints of 1851-1853 the name of this missionary- editor is spelled "Kephart."

79. William Watts Hart Davis was not a practical printer. Born in Massachusetts in 1820, he came to New Mexico as a lieutenant in the 1st Massachusetts Infantry during the Mexican War. He was United States attorney at Santa Fe in 1851 and later secre- tary of the territory and acting governor. He served in the Civil War as colonel of a Pennsylvania regiment and died at Doylestown, Pa., in 1910, in his ninetieth year. Among other works, he wrote El Gringo; or, New Mexico and Her People (New York, 1857), a colorful description of the territory as he found it in the early days. (Twitchell, Old Santa Fe, p. 368, footnote.)

116 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

Gazette, beginning February 23, when the name of Davis ceased to appear. Collins was joined by David J. Miller on May 23, 1857, but at the end of that year, on December 5, after a lapse of four weeks during which publication was suspended, a new beginning was made with volume 1, number 1, under Samuel M. Yost as editor. David J. Miller joined Yost on August 25, 1858, but another change occurred on February 5, 1859, when the paper appeared with Hezekiah S. Johnson as editor. Augustus De Marie succeeded Johnson on November 19, 1859, and there was then another suspen- sion of publication until May 8, 1860, on which date a second new start was made, this time with volume 2, no. 1, under James L. Collins as publisher with John T. Russell as editor. Under other changes of ownership and editorial direction, the Santa Fe Gazette continued to appear until 1869.80

During the period here under investigation, the suprem- acy of the Gazette at Santa Fe was disputed only once. In the year 1857 the Bibliography shows five titles with the imprint "Printed in the office of the Democrat," or its Spanish equiva- lent. This paper presumably began on August 6, 1857, to judge from the only issue of it which has yet been found, volume 1, number 9, of October 1, 1857.81 In this case we seem to have to do with a paper which had its main title in Spanish, El Democrata, with an English section under the title The Democrat. The issue in question was edited by Miguel E. Pino and was published "in the house of Nicolas Pino, corner of Calle Principal and Callejon, west of the Plaza, Santa Fe, New Mexico." But it contains an announcement in Spanish, over the name of Hezekiah S. Johnson and dated September 30, 1857, to the effect that Johnson, at the request of many of his personal and political friends, had consented to become editor of El Democrata and would begin his duties as such as soon as Miguel Pino had concluded his present contract as

80. The Gazette suspended publication on a number of occasions besides those noted. It missed 18 weeks in 1855, 17 in 1856, 9 in 1857, 7 in 1858, 17 in 1859. It seems to have been especially irregular in the summer months of those years.

81. A copy of this issue is in the National Archives (Records of the Department of State), Washington, D. C.

PRINTING IN NEW MEXICO 117

public printer, which would be in the following November or December.

An interesting feature of Mr. Johnson's announcement was his assurance that a subscriber to El Democrata, which would come to him every two weeks for the sum of "dos pesos cuatro reales" (i.e., $2.50), would enable his children to ac- quire a love for reading, be instructed in matters concerning their obligations to the human race, broaden and enrich their minds in everything that pertains to human excellence. But in spite of these splendid incentives, the placid Spanish- speaking New Mexicans evidently were not moved to sub- scribe to El Democrata in sufficient numbers to insure its success. Except for what is here recorded, we know nothing more at present of this newspaper.

WESTERN SILVER AND THE TARIFF OF 1890 By H. WAYNE MORGAN*

A GROUP of far western senators known as "Silver Repub- licans" gained national influence and political importance in the last decade of the nineteenth century. They were, by and large, men of intellect and political ability, committed to the causes of the west, the foremost of which was the free coinage of silver. In the forefront of this group of congress- ional leaders stood Henry Moore Teller, "The Defender of the West," who spoke for Colorado in the United States senate for 30 years, and whose words carried such conviction and earnestness that none denied his sincerity even as they disagreed with him. Second in importance and first in volu- bility was William M. Stewart, who represented Nevada in the senate for 30 years. This tall, silver haired silverite, the "Moses of the West," resembling nothing so much as a bib- lical prophet, went on many a good crusade and lent his eloquence and zeal to the silver movement with a fervor that matched and sometimes exceeded Teller's. These two men were the best known far western silver leaders of the decade, but they were joined then and later by other talent: Edward O. Wolcott of Colorado; John P. Jones of Nevada; Fred Dubois of Idaho ; Frank Cannon of Utah ; and others.1

In an age of fierce party strife and dramatic electioneer- ing they cast their lot with the Republican party despite its constant wariness of their pet shibboleth, free silver, and its final rejection of the doctrine in 1896. They might quarrel with their eastern brethren on the silver question, but they adhered to the historic principles of the Republican party, and to none more strongly than the protective tariff. Though it was often said that the west had no interest in the tariff, the judgement is not borne out by the facts.2

* 1023 Westholme Avenue, Los Angeles 24, California. Professor of History, University of California.

1. Teller was a senator from 1876 to 1882, and 1885 to 1909 ; Stewart from 1864 to 1875, and 1887 to 1905 ; Wolcott from 1889 to 1901 ; Cannon from 1895 to 1899 ; Jones from 1873 to 1903 ; and Dubois from 1891 to 1897.

2. Cf. James Ford Rhodes, History of the United States From the Compromise of 1850 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896, Volume VIII (New York, 1920), 355.

118

SILVER AND TARIFF 119

At first glance it may seem strange that the western states should be interested in a protective tariff which was allegedly devised for eastern manufacturing interests. Their relative isolation and lack of diversified economic development seemed to belie their interest in tariff protection. The reasons for their support of silver are patent — it was their basic industry — but their reasons for adhering to the tariff are not far to seek. The very fact that their economies were undeveloped and isolated swung these states behind the flag of protection and made their arguments in favor of the tariff seem logical ; how else could they prevent the undermining of what eco- nomic progress they had made except through protection? Foreign competition in wool, hides, and mineral ores would greatly reduce their incomes.3 It was for these interests, as well as silver, that the western legislators fought in Congress.

The turbulent fifty-first Congress of 1889-1891, the "Bil- lion Dollar Congress" of Czar Tom Reed which concerned itself with legislation on the three great issues of the day — tariff, trusts, silver — found the westerners ready to break with their party unless favorable silver legislation was adopted, but extremely reluctant to abandon the tariff pro- tection which meant so much to their constituents.

The western silverites went to the sessions of the fifty- first congress with grim faces ; for once they were united in their determination to secure legislative relief for the de- pressed silver industry which meant so much to their section.4 But even as they talked of silver they thought of the tariff. In numbers and eloquence they had "a very decided advan- tage in tariff legislation," John Sherman remembered.5 One source of influence was their threat to block the passage of the McKinley tariff bill unless they were rewarded with sat- isfactory silver legislation. It was rumored that they were willing to disrupt the party if necessary. They had waited

3. Western interests petitioned Republican leaders from other states as well as their own representatives. Cf. C. T. Stevenson to John Sherman, September 25, 1890 ; John Sherman Papers, Library of Congress.

4. Fred Wellborn, "The Influence of the Silver Republican Senators, 1889-1891," Mississippi Valley Historical Review, 14 (March, 1928), 462.

5. John Sherman, Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Cabinet and Senate (New York, 2 vols., 1895), II, 1084-85.

120 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

long enough for remedial silver legislation and had only seen deepening economic troubles in the west. Now they were desperate and determined.

While there were doubts about the lengths to which the westerners were willing to go in blocking the passage of a tariff bill in return for a silver bill, their adherence to the tariff was well known. Stewart never denied that he was a protectionist and with characteristic vigor and verbosity he answered many letters from constituents and critics who at- tacked the pending tariff bill in 1890. "I do not think that the country is suffering from protection ; on the contrary, I be- lieve that our protective tariff, although defective in many respects, is all that saves the country from ruin," he wrote one critic.6 In response to demands from constituents, Stew- art worked for protective duties on wool, mineral ores and other western products even before the tariff bill was sent to the senate.7 Teller, then and later while the bill was being debated, supported protective duties on ores.8 To the people of their states, the westerners justified protection on the grounds that while it benefitted the manufacturer and pro- ducer, it also benefitted the laborer with higher wages — the classic protectionist argument.9 While the House Ways and Means Committee held hearings in the early spring of 1890, the westerners, especially Stewart, did their best for protec- tion by assisting witnesses, bringing discreet pressure to bear, and making it clear that they stood for protection. In doing so they made it equally clear that their votes for the tariff would be secured at a price, and never ceased to remind their eastern colleagues that they held the balance of power in the evenly divided senate.

While debates on the tariff unfolded in the House, the Senate turned to silver. Stewart was confident that adequate

6. William M. Stewart to Q. R. Cooley, February 17, 1890; William M. Stewart Papers, Nevada Historical Society, Reno, Nevada.

7. Stewart to Thomas Nelson, April 15, 1890 ; to W. G. van Home, February 17, 1890 ; Stewart Papers.

8. Congressional Record, 51st Cong., 1st Sess., 9122ff.

9. Stewart to Hugh A. Teel, January 21, 1890 ; Stewart Papers. The argument was potent in Nevada, where competition from cheap Mexican labor was fierce.

SILVER AND TARIFF 121

remedial legislation would be passed.10 It was the understand- ing among silverites, rightly or wrongly, that Harrison had pledged himself to silver prior to his election in 1888.11 This supposed assurance, plus the fanaticism and real economic distress which motivated the westerners drove them on. Speaker Thomas B. Reed insisted that the silver delusion was temporary and that it would be dispelled as soon as prosperity showed its face in the west. Senator Stewart denied this. "Speaker Reed is mistaken ; the excitement of the West is not temporary. It will last as long as contraction continues, and the people will have relief or know the reason why."12 Though they talked constantly about the poverty of the "friends of silver," the westerners kept up a steady stream of correspondence and maintained strenuous speaking sched- ules that compensated for any lack of funds.13 "Keep up the agitation," Stewart wrote a constituent. "It is the agitation from the outside that affects Congress."14 Thus did they strengthen the image of their power, power that would place them in an excellent bargaining position if all else failed.

The debates in the Senate on the silver question revealed the stresses and strains at work within the Republican party in 1890, and as the days and weeks passed it became evident that once the tariff was passed by the House and sent to the Senate it would become the object of bargaining. Though the Senate seemed likely to pass a free coinage measure — which it did on June 17, 1890, by a vote of 42-25 — any such bill would either die in the House or be vetoed by President Har- rison. As early as January, Harrison had made it clear to Teller that he would veto any free coinage measure, and western hopes for free silver fell accordingly ; the silverites

10. Stewart to John A. Thompson, January 4, 1890 ; to T. B. Baker, January 4, 1890 ; Ibid.

11. George Roth well Brown (ed. ), Reminiscences of Senator Wittiam M. Stewart of Nevada (New York, 1908), 293.

12. Stewart to H. B. Kelly, March 11, 1890 ; Stewart Papers.

13. Cf. Stewart to L. H. Weller, February 3, 1890 ; Ibid.

14. Stewart to William D. Marvel, February 3, 1890; Ibid. In the same letter he wrote: "The pressure from outside is becoming strong and the feeling inside [Congress] is that something must be done."

122 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

then looked more to compromise but prepared to fight a hard battle.15

It was with all this in mind that they faced the tariff bill, which was sent to them after passing the House as a strict party measure on May 21, 1890. The Bill was commit- ted to the Senate Finance Committee, awaiting disposition and debate, which now depended more and more on the stand taken by the westerners. The silverites at once prepared to use the tariff as a blade by which a suitable compromise might be turned on the silver question. But the silverites were not without their own troubles. Some of the western senators were from newly admitted states and were unsure of their status within the party. Lacking the tenure and prestige of Teller and Stewart, they hesitated to disrupt the party and fall from grace by opposing passage of administration spon- sored legislation. That would anger the eastern and mid- western party leaders, who made it clear to the westerners that they must obey party discipline or face the prospect of an empty cupboard when patronage was passed out.16 To kill time and solidify their lines, as well as to display their strength and importance to the Republican leaders, the sil- verites voted with the Democrats to delay debate on the tariff bill.17

Delay was a potent weapon in their hands, for as long as the tariff was suspended, eastern interests were unsettled and more and more pressure would be brought to bear for a compromise on the silver question so that other legislation could be passed. The importance of this was not lost upon the westerners ; Stewart was heard to say that "there will be no tariff legislation this session unless a silver bill is passed."18

How much of this western talk was bluff and how much was sincere no one can say. That the westerners were hard

15. James A. Barnes, John G. Carlisle: Financial Statesman (New York, 1931), 219-220.

16. Elmer Ellis, Henry Moore Teller, Defender of the West (Caldwell, Idaho, 1941), 190.

17. Washington Post, July 8, 1890.

18. Quoted in Barnes, John G. Carlisle, 186. Wolcott, acting for himself and Teller, made it clear that the tariff would suffer unless silver legislation was passed. Matilda Gresham, Life of Walter Quintin Gresham (Chicago, 2 vols., 1919), II, 638.

SILVER AND TARIFF 123

pressed cannot be denied; their constituents flooded them with mail in favor of a silver bill, and their personal commit- ments to the silver cause were such that they may well have thought it worth the sacrifice of party favor and the tariff to secure adequate results. So intransigent a position, however, had its drawbacks ; should they maintain it, they might attain nothing in the end, and destroy party unity as well. As the heat of summer descended upon Washington with no relief in sight and amid rumors that Congress would be in session forever, the Senate settled wearily to its task.

Free coinage was obviously doomed because of adminis- tration opposition, and the "sound money" element in the House, but compromise was still possible. If free coinage could not be passed, the amount of silver to be purchased monthly under the proposed purchase plan might be in- creased in a manner acceptable to both houses and the Presi- dent. The westerners, plagued by heat, party pressure, and criticism, held their ground for the best possible compromise measure. Confusion and rumor mounted in the newspapers as the compromisers made their rounds. It was said that Har- rison, worried over the delay of tariff bill, called the west- erners to the White House, together with McKinley and Reed, and finally offered to sign a measure providing for the free coinage of American silver only in return for western support of the McKinley bill. Stewart and Jones of Nevada supposedly agreed; Reed and McKinley reluctantly agreed to steer the measure through the House ; but the plan was upset by Teller and Wolcott of Colorado.19 Similar stories drifted through Washington during June and July, but all were emphatically denied by the alleged participants. "No such interview ever occured or the equivalent or the like of it," Reed wrote later with characteristic bluntness. "I will add that I never at any time heard even a rumor of such a proposition, nor of any- thing that could give rise to such a remarkable story."20 McKinley denied with equal vigor that he had ever partici-

19. Edward O. Wolcott to Thomas B. Reed, March 15, 1894; copy in Henry M. Teller Papers, State Historical Society of Colorado, Denver, Colorado. Wolcott himself denied the story in the letter transmitting the charge.

20. Thomas B. Reed to Edward O. Wolcott, March 16, 1894 ; copy in Ibid.

124 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

pated in any such deals, implicitly or explicitly. "The so- called interview with President Harrison I never heard of until the letter of Mr Ezekial which you enclosed," he wrote. "The whole story is without foundation or truth. . . ."21 In view of his already announced opposition to free silver of any kind, it is unlikely that Harrison made any move toward such an agreement. He realized that the cards were his to play; all the westerners could hope to gain was more generous purchase terms in the silver purchase plan.

By late June the crucial moment had come. The silver men realized that further alienation of eastern Republicans would be fatal, lest they in turn refuse to pass any silver legislation at all, even if it meant failure of the tariff. The eastern in- terests, for their part, were willing to compromise with silver and the west to pass the tariff and other legislation. In the end a compromise was reached among the senators who were most concerned with the problem, for the westerners would not proceed until they were assured of relief. A bill in hand was worth more to them than two in the hopper, and only after they were assured of the compromise Sherman plan of July 14, 1890, would they proceed.22 The westerners recog- nized that their victory had not been won for silver but for parliamentary dispatch and to facilitate administration legis- lation. "That is why the Republicans yielded not to free coin- age, but to what they thought was a lesser evil, what they thought would answer the purpose of satisfying the Silver Republicans and secure their votes," Teller said years later.23 Western pressure was indeed responsible for the compromise which took form under the guidance of John Sherman, whose name adorned the bill despite his insistence then and later that he would gladly never have supported it.

21. William McKinley to Henry M. Teller, March 17, 1894 ; Ibid. McKinley, himself a convinced bi-metallist, voted against free coinage in the House of Representatives where he was chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, and next to Reed, the most influential Republican leader.

22. Ellis, Henry Moore Tetter, 192 ; Thomas F. Dawson, Life and Character of Edward O. Wolcott (New York, 2 vols., 1911), I, 210; EfHe Mona Mack, "Life and Letters of William M. Stewart," (Unpublished dissertation, Ph.D., Berkeley, 1930), 222-23. Teller was the least satisfied of the silverites with the resulting compromise.

23. Congressional Record, 54th Cong., 1st Sess., 4561 ; April 29, 1896.

SILVER AND TARIFF 125

In fact, the compromise — or some compromise — was ac- ceptable to eastern and midwestern politicians, for their con- stituents had also been smitten by the silver siren. Moreover, many of them were sincere bi-metallists. Harrison and his Secretary of the Treasury, William Windom, had seen the writing on the wall and were willing to support some meas- ure favorable to silver.24 While the administration supporters would not accept free coinage, despite the Senate's willing- ness to adopt such legislation, they sought to prove the sin- cerity of their bi-metallism by compromising on the Sherman plan, which called for the monthly purchase of 4,500,000 ounces of silver by the issuance of United States Treasury notes, which in turn, so the silverites hoped, would bring monetary inflation and a rise in the price of silver.

Once assured of favorable silver legislation and convinced that they had done as well as they could, the westerners joined the regular Republicans and assisted in bringing the tariff to the floor for debate. Once committed to the compro- mise the westerners adhered to the bargain and voted duti- fully for the McKinley bill. Stewart was active on behalf of his interests, and was busy in committee room and corridor, listening to visitors and gathering information. One of the cardinal principles of the McKinley bill as passed by the House was free sugar, a measure designed largely to reduce the revenue. The beet sugar growers of Nevada and the west rushed to Stewart; the Senator's head was seen to nod; he agreed. Free sugar would ruin the beet growers. Free sugar appealed especially to farmers and workers who felt that a tax on sugar was a tax on their tables. "The sugar question is in a bad way," Stewart wrote a constituent. "The farmers of the West have got an idea that it was a tax upon them without any benefit, which is an absurd idea. Now of all times we need a duty on sugar."25 As finally passed, the act pro- vided a bounty for domestic sugar growers in lieu of tariff protection.

24. Robert F. Hoxie, "The Silver Debate of 1890," Journal of Political Economy (September, 1893), 535-587.

25. Stewart to L. L. Robinson, June 19, 1890 ; Stewart Papers.

126 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

Debate on the tariff in the Senate began in late July and moved forward with the heat at a snail's pace. Stewart was active on behalf of wool, ore, and other interests. He rose several times during the debate to defend the protective prin- ciple ; the tariff was not a tax, he insisted in reply to standard Democratic charges. If it brought higher prices in the begin- ning, it brought higher wages and greater productivity in the end, while prices ultimately declined.26 When Senator Gray insisted that the nation's prosperity was due to free trade within the country, Stewart cornered him with the assertion that such free trade was maintained by protection, which kept out foreign competition.27

On the whole, the silverites spoke little during the long tariff debates, which consumed so much time and temper in the hot weeks of late summer, and they seemed unruffled by the interminable delays which prevented voting on the meas- ure. Teller opposed all attempts at closure on debate, spon- sored by Nelson Aldrich and other party leaders anxious to expedite business.28 It was doubtless a blessing that the sil- verites did not speak, for when one of them arose the chamber generally emptied. They sang but a single song — f ree silver — and no matter what the subject at hand, it came in time to a history of the silver movement. Stewart, darkly clad, his motions accented by a flowing white beard, could speak end- lessly upon the subject. Teller spoke with more authority and greater precision, but his monologues were quite as extensive. The Founding Fathers were called forth to testify; figures poured forth like the water from the rock which Moses struck.

Yet for all their verbiage, there were grains of wheat in the chaff of the westerners' speeches, especially those con- cerned with tariff protection. The tariff was a canon of faith as well as a party principle with them no less than with their eastern counterparts. The rates accorded them on wool, hides, and ores were crucial to the economic development of their states. With silver depressed, they could ill afford lower duties

26. Congressional Record, 51st Cong., 1st Sess., 9337.

27. Ibid., 9127.

28. See Teller's remarks on August 4, 1890, in Ibid., 8105 ; Ellis, Henry Moore Tetter, 193.

SILVER AND TARIFF 127

on their other products. To choose between gold and the tariff required the wisdom of Solomon and the dexterity of David. ". . . I do not yield to any member of this body in my devo- tion to the protective system," Teller declared during the debates. "I believe in it. I believe it is essential to the pros- perity of the American people."29 The long efforts at compro- mise on the silver question pursued by the westerners is eloquent testimony to their unwillingness to abandon their party principles and especially protection except as a last resort. Their final decision to do so came only after soul searching that reduced Teller to tears in the Republican na- tional convention in 1896. Their failure in that election was to prove to many of them that they could not survive outside the Republican party.

Still the tariff debates went on though party leaders and business interests pressed for action. Delay was now charge- able to the Democrats. By late July, 1890, Stewart thought that the tariff bill would be passed in a month or six weeks.30 September came and the debates and debaters began to run down. There was a rush to pass the tariff, complete unfinished business and get home for the pending congressional elections in November. Stewart spoke not only for his exhausted col- leagues but also for an enervated public when he wrote : "Both houses are tired out, anxious to get away, and nothing can be done until the tariff bill is disposed of, and then it will be difficult to keep them together on any other important busi- ness."31 The westerners, along with many regular Republi- cans, had their private doubts about the McKinley tariff, but faithful to their pledge, they voted for it. "Upon my judge- ment I would never have voted for the McKinley Bill," Teller later admitted frankly.32 The bill was passed and became law with Harrison's signature on October 1, 1890. Congress ad- journed and the harried legislators departed to explain the fifty-first Congress to their constituents.

Would the silver men actually have forced the defeat of

29. Congressional Record, 51st Cong., 1st sess., 8105.

30. Stewart to F. A. McDermid, July 26, 1890 ; Stewart Papers.

31. Stewart to C. C. Goodwin, September 2, 1890 ; Ibid.

32. Congressional Record, 54th Cong., 1st Sess., 4561-62.

128 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

the tariff in order to attain silver legislation? The final an- swer to the question will never be known, for their movements are shrouded. That they were grimly determined to attain success for silver was amply evident then and later on ; but that they would have disrupted the party, created a stalemate, thrown away their party influence, and abandoned the tariff to which they were as fully committed as the easterners is not so evident. The hopelessness of passing free coinage legisla- tion after Harrison's stand became clear swung them more and more to compromise. Their threat was no doubt as potent as the possibility of their carrying it out, for the party's con- trol of the Senate as well as the tariff hung in the balance. This, as well as the willingness of many eastern and mid- western Republicans to compromise on a silver purchase plan led in the end to a solution which, by no means permanent or even palatable to all westerners, at least delayed the evil day of reckoning.

The role of the westerners in the great tariff debates of 1890 was that of orthodox protectionists ; their adherence to the doctrine was never questioned. The dilemma they faced was a possible choice between silver and the tariff ; ultimately they had parts of both and were permitted to eat a portion of their cake and have it too. The tariff question, like its silver counterpart, was by no means dead ; half the coming decade would be consumed by these two issues, and the tariff ques- tion was not finally settled until passage of the ultra-protec- tionist Dingley bill of 1897. But as they made the long journey home to face their constituents in the fall of 1890, the western silverites could proclaim their adherence to protection, and could still, in that sense at least, consider themselves orthodox Republicans.

[Territorial New Mexico was also interested in tariff protection for silver. Editor.]

THE GERMAN JEW

AND THE COMMERCIAL REVOLUTION

IN TERRITORIAL NEW MEXICO

1850-1900

By WILLIAM J. PARISH (concluded)

Actually inter-faith marriages must have been very few in number. After all, the Jews comprised less than one-half of one per cent of the population and a much smaller propor- tion than this could be classifiable in the adult, male, single stock variety. They were opposed, too, by a formidable num- ber of Indian-Spanish and Spanish-Indian folk classifiable as maidens and senoritas. It would be embarrassing to all concerned if we were to assume any significant fusion of cultures in such an imbalance of the sexes. In a listing of forty-four marriages involving Jewish merchants, less than thirty per cent were inter-faith and only sixteen per cent in- ter-cultural. Among the seventy per cent of intra-f aith mar- riages, more than two-thirds were with native-born girls, daughters of Jewish merchants — usually from the eastern part of the United States. (See Table II.)

TABLE II

Birth and Marriage Summary of 44 Male Jewish Merchants in New Mexico between 1850 and 1900

Place of Birth	Num- ber	Spanish	Indian	Heritage of Wife White Gentile U. S.	Jewish-born Germany Unknown
Germany	27	4	1		13	7	2
France	2				2
Poland	2				1	1
Russia	1			1
U. S.	10			4	6
Unknown	2	1	1
Total	44	5	2	5	22	8	2
Percent	100	11	5	11	50	18	5

It was not through mixed marriages that the Jew made his significant intercultural influence felt. It was rather

129

130

NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

Locations with

Jewish Merchants

(1850-1900)

New Mexico

Santa Fe . . •

Las Vegat '

THE GERMAN JEW 131

through his penchant for seeking out business wherever it could be found, his ability to create economic opportunities for large numbers of the less fortunately situated people, and his willingness to assume social and political leadership.

His penchant for seeking business wherever it could be found is another way of saying that he held a minimum of cultural inhibitions in dealing with anyone in any walk of life with methods and terms that showed acute sympathy for the habits and modes of life of different groups of people. His ability to create economic opportunities for the less fortu- nately situated served to crack, at least, the cultural barriers of conditioned minds — barriers that in the long run can never stand immutable against the probing force of commerce. His willingness to assume social and political leadership was part of his intuitive fear of social and economic instability which has cultivated within him over centuries a sensitive social consciousness.

The fact that wherever there was hope for commerce in New Mexico, there was most likely to have been a German Jewish merchant — usually the dominant trader — certainly holds more significance than merely that of a ubiquitous business man. The Jewish pueblo trading post; the Jewish sutler; the Jewish storekeeper in almost every settlement; the Jewish sedentary merchant of the cities who sat at the peak of the business hierarchy ; the Jewish drummer peddling his way through every village and town and as often as not to every ranchhold ; in total these businessmen had both so- cial and economic influence far beyond their numbers.

The goods he possessed or commanded, and the under- standing and sympathy that came with his cosmopolitanism, brought easy entrance to every door. His solid education and his acuteness in its use made it second nature for him to exert leadership in family and community problems. Solo- mon Floersheim, while traveling the countryside in the col- lection of sheep accounts, became widely known as "Doctor" because of his commonsense application of a minimum of medical knowledge.147 All these merchants were scribes for a population that was more than half illiterate. Any serious

132 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

family problem from sickness to divorce or murder to burial was as likely as not to produce a call to the man who had helped them so many times in so many ways before. The domi- nant position that these merchants held for so many years, and their direct and rather intimate relationships with all segments of the economy, suggests the probability of their more than casual influence on the peaceful mingling of Span- ish, Indian, and American cultures.

Although trade has long been recognized as a powerful force in the mingling and enriching of cultures — who in the history of the world has a more glorious accomplishment in this regard than the traveling Jew of the ninth century A.D. and before ? — one aspect of this phenomenon has seldom been emphasized. This is the compulsion that expanding trade brings economies to accept the talents of men with a lessening of emphasis upon social status — or upon racial, religious, or cultural differences. Economic lead is a strong force in short- ening the social lag. A study of the Charles Ilf eld records has thrown some teasing lights upon this premise.

During the 'nineties in New Mexico, some concern was being expressed for the influx of Los Arabes, a Middle-East- ern gypsy-like people who had come to the United States along with the new waves of immigration from central, southern, and eastern Europe. With pack on back they trudged from place to place trading, principally in sheep. They were centered at first in the Puerto de Luna area where they came in contact with a number of Charles Ilf eld's parti- darios. They were alleged to have had tendencies toward sharp practices. Max Nordhaus, Ilf eld's brother-in-law and competent general manager, wrote Hugo Goldenberg asking the names of the Arabs in that area that he might warn them not to buy any of Ilfeld's mortgaged sheep.148 A month later Nordhaus was buying sheep from Los Arabes.1™ His relation- ship with these people became closer and resulted in his rent- ing to one of the families an Ilf eld storeroom on Bridge Street in Las Vegas. It is interesting to note that when the Ilfeld brothers of Albuquerque presented an applicant who sought to rent these storerooms (presumably because he would be

THE GERMAN JEW 133

TABLE III

A Tabulation of Jewish Merchants in New Mexico (1845-1900)

	1845- 1850- I860- 1870- 49 59 69 79	1880- 89	Total 1890-Individuals 1900 1 Involved
Albuquerque	1 2 11	49	33	62
Alcalde	1			1
Amizet			2	2
Anton Chico		3		3
Bado de Juan Pais			1	1
Bell Ranch		1	1	1
Bernalillo	3	4	5	8
Casa Blanca			1	1
Catskill			1	1
Cebolleta	1 I			1
Cerrillos			4	4
Chamita		2	2	3
Chaperito	2	1	1	4
Cimarron	1			1
Clayton			5	5
Cleveland		2	2	2
Costilla	2 3	1	1	3
Cubero		2	2	2
Deming		5	1	5
Domingo			1	1
Dona Ana	1	1		2
Earlham			1	1
El Cuervo		6	1	6
Endee		1		1
Fairview		1		1
Fort Bascom	1	2		2
Fort Sumner	3		1	4
Fort Union	1	1		2
Fort Wingate	1			1
Galisteo		1		1
Gallup		3	1	4
Georgetown	2	1	1	2
Grants		1	1	1
Guadalupita		1	1	1

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NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

TABLE III (Continued) A Tabulation of Jewish Merchants in New Mexico (1845-1900)

	1845-1850-1860-1870- 49 59 69 79	1880- 89	Total 1890-Individuals 1900 1 Involved
Hillsboro		1		1
Jemez (Hot) Springs		1	1	1
La Belle (Taos)			2	2
La Cinta		1		1
Laguna	1 3	3	3	3
LaLuz (Otero)		1		1
Lamy		1		1
Las Colonias	1	1	1	2
Las Cruces	1 13	15	3	22
Las Vegas	2 10 26	47	35	82
Liberty		1	5	5
Lincoln	1 1	2		4
Los Alamos (San Miguel)		1	1	1
Las Conchas		1		1
Los Lunas	225	2		8
Magdalena		3	3	3
Marguerita (San Miguel)			1	1
Mesilla	1 1	2		3
Mimbres		1	1	1
Mora	2 7	6	2	10
Ocate	2	1	4	6
Pecos			1	1
Peiia Blanca (Bernalillo)			1	1
Pefiasco	1 1			2
Peralta	2		2	4
Pinos Altos	1 1			1
Puerto de Luna		2	3	5
Raton		3	7	10
Red River			3	3
Rincon (Dona Ana)		1		1
Rio Puerco	1	1		1
Rociada			1	1
Roswell		8	8	12
Sabinal (Socorro)		2		2
San Antonio		2		2

THE GERMAN JEW 135

TABLE III (Continued) A Tabulation of Jewish Merchants in New Mexico (1845-1900)

Total

1845-1850- 1860-1870- 1880- 1890-IndividuaIs 49 59 69 79 89 1900 * Involved

San Ignacio	1			1
San Juan	1 2	1		4
San Marcial		2		2
San Miguel	1			1
San Pedro		5	3	5
Santa Fe	8 16 32 30	28	33	85
Santa Rita		1		1
Santa Rosa			2	2
Sapello	1			1
Silver City	11	10		16
Socorro	1	14	3	14
Springer	1	3	4	7
Taos	1263	3	2	12
Tecolote	3	1		3
Tularosa		1		1
Wagonmound		1	3	3
Watrous	1	3	1	5
White Oaks		6	4	6

Total— 87 centers 9 25 65 147 278 213 514

Number of centers recorded

each decade 2 7 16 33 61 53 *

1. By observation, the sample obtained for the 'nineties is not as full as for earlier decades.

a more orderly and socially desirable occupant — an issue that had been raised by Meyer Friedman with Nordhaus on an earlier occasion),150 Nordhaus replied that the Arabs had been tenants for years and "we do not think it advisable to put them out/'151 Many of Los Arabes became steady ten- ants of New Mexico and the progenitors of several of our prominent, present-day families.

The economic freedom of the frontier that turned into social freedom for these people as they proved their worth, may be seen in another and more exceptional case in which

136 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

Charles Ilf eld unhesitatingly played a part. One of this mer- chant's confidential agents, who was used as a go-between in cattle and sheep dealings where price and quality were sub- jects for bargaining, was Montgomery Bell, a Negro who seems to have begun his New Mexico days as stable manager for the Santa Fe Railway's Montezuma Hotel at Las Vegas' Hot Springs. Ilf eld was building a hotel there about the same time and perhaps it was then that he became acquainted with Bell. Montgomery Bell acquired his first capital, evidently, from the goat business at Lamy in association with the On- derdonck family there, and through cattle and sheep ranch- ing at Los Tanos. He became a lender of small and large sums of money throughout northeastern New Mexico, bought a two-story home that is still a landmark off the northwest corner of the Old Town Plaza in Las Vegas, and retired to the business of being a capitalist. Charles Ilf eld early recog- nized the ability of Montgomery Bell, who has been described by A. T. Rogers as "a man of great probity," and showed no hesitancy in making clear to all who would do business with the mercantile firm, Ilf eld's confidence in and respect for this Negro citizen of New Mexico.152

Charles Ilf eld and Max Nordhaus were the most success- ful German Jewish merchants in the Territory, but it is not likely that they were atypical in their promptness to accept abilities wherever and in whatever bodily case they could be found. The nature of Ilfeld's business and the nature of the man caused him to operate on the broadest economic and social base. His balancing of imports and exports, each in- volving a wide variety of goods and opportunities, afforded him the luxury of shifting his efforts easily from less produc- tive to more productive activities. The result was to encour- age social and economic associations that were productive to people in all walks of life. There was nothing unusual in the variety of able friends that Charles Ilf eld had gained in this manner. The same could be said of the Spiegelbergs, the Staabs, the Jaffas, and the other Ilf eld brothers.

Ilfeld could command the same loyal response from Stephen Elkins, Senator from West Virginia and former

THE GERMAN JEW 137

delegate from New Mexico to Congress, as he did from his trusted agent and friend, Montgomery Bell — most probably an ex-slave. H. L. Waldo, Solicitor for the Santa Fe Railway, was a close friend and frequent aid in business matters, but no closer than Alexander Grzelachowski, the ex-priest, fondly known throughout the Territory as Padre Polaco, who, like Montgomery Bell, was often used by Ilf eld as an intermediary in livestock dealings. There was Thomas Catron who seemed willing enough to help with national and extra-New Mexico problems. The prestige of Wilson Waddingham, of Bell Ranch fame, was useful. The Territorial reputation of Pat Garrett, killer of Billy the Kid, was of frequent aid to Ilf eld in business matters in southern New Mexico. There was Richard Dunn, the Yankee from Maine, who, between per- sonal adventures in alcohol and partnerships, would manage capably the Ilf eld enterprise while Charles went off to New York City to the auctions and the opera. Wherever Ilfeld was, thousands of pounds of his freight were entrusted to re- spected Spanish-speaking majordomos who, with full respon- sibility, conducted their cargos across lonely land. This was in contrast to the corporate railroad employees who worked by the hour and not by measures of self -accountability. These and many others represented a great variety of non-Jewish agents and personalities who extended Ilfeld's normal range of Jewish-merchant and merchant-banking associations. The interdependence of all who took part in this institutional sys- tem was deeply felt by each participant.

To Charles Ilfeld, the differences between these indi- viduals were factually clear enough but, in the deeper view, one was as valuable as another. Each possessed singular tal- ents. All these men, as long as they produced responsibly — and this was the sine qua non — were free to pursue economic opportunities unimpeded by social restrictions. Ilfeld was typical of the German Jewish merchant who held hegemony over a mercantile system that gave impetus to these forces.

The influence of the Jewish merchant was great, too, through his enriching of frontier life. In the urban centers he was likely to be the leader in social affairs. If he was not

138 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

always the beau of the ball, he often was the most entertain- ing musician. Of one gathering in Santa Fe, Howard W. Mitchell, in his 1877 journal, described his pleasures that led him to comment that "the few worthwhile people in Santa Fe are nearly all Jews" and that the excellent music had been furnished chiefly by Jews.153 Dramatic, literary, and reading clubs were recipients of the active support of the Jewish mer- chant. The Territorial newspapers are full of his cultural contributions and participations.

An economic and social leader could not have avoided the call of community responsibility and, fortunately, the Jew was willing to expend his energies in this direction too. The beautifying of the Old Town Plaza of Las Vegas came as a result of the driving force of Frank Kihlberg with the strong support of the almost solid square of Jewish merchants fac- ing the oval.154 Some of these merchants, including Charles Ilf eld, led a temporarily successful campaign to unite the old and new towns.155 In Santa Fe it was Zoldac Staab who, with the principal backing of Jewish merchants, raised the funds to build the new La Fonda Hotel when the railroad came.156 Albert Grunsf eld gave the momentum to the founding of the Commercial Club in Albuquerque.157 It was Charles Ilfeld, through his New York State political connections, who brought the crucial influence to name Las Vegas as the re- union center for the Rough Riders. It was this merchant, too, who seems to have made the necessary approaches to bring Governor Theodore Roosevelt to the first gathering in 1899.158

Political positions, elected and appointed, were held in rather substantial numbers by the German Jewish merchant. The first Territorial Auditor,159 as well as an early Territorial Treasurer160 and a Secretary161 were the highest rank al- though a second generation son, Arthur Seligman, became governor of the state162 to duplicate similar achievements elsewhere of Moses Alexander of Idaho163 and Simon Bam- berger of Utah.164 Many were members of the Legislature and a goodly number served as County Commissioners. Henry Jaffa became the first Mayor of Albuquerque165 and he was followed within five years by Michael Mandell.166

THE GERMAN JEW 139

The advent of the German Jew to New Mexico was singu- larly fortunate. At the time a near-vacuum of commercial leadership was being threatened. The excitement that had accompanied the sporadic departures of caravans from Mis- souri to plod along the storied Santa Fe Trail into the capri- cious markets of New and Old Mexico, had calmed to the humdrum of regular deliveries. The merchant-adventurer, in the order of things, was choosing to settle down in his older and more comfortable Eastern haunts. If it had not been for the German Jew who took the place of this traveling mer- chant, one can speculate that the commercial revolution would have moved at a slower pace. Furthermore, one can be certain that the amalgam of commercial trade would not have possessed the same adhesiveness in its intercultural attractions.

There would have been, of course, the German Protestant who most likely would have assumed commercial leadership though he still would have come later and in much fewer numbers than his Jewish countryman. Along with him would have appeared the Canadian- and the United States-born merchant, as well as the Irishman who seldom was a mer- chant. With these individuals we can envisage the establish- ment of similar large mercantile houses in the more important urban centers. It is not so easy, however, to assume that under such leadership the villages and minor towns would have gained the necessary economic strength to serve as substantial supporting satellites to the dominant urban centers. Nor is it easy to picture the peddlers and drummers tramping the semi-arid land or beating the sparsely spotted brush for the last fanega of business from provincial Spanish and Indian settlements. Rather, one is inclined to believe there would have been more commercial contentment with greater tendency to accept than to ferret out the trade.

It is almost certain there would not have been present in the same degree the appreciation for and adaptability to the stark landscape with its dusty and, in some eyes, dirty people. For instance, the typical traveling merchant of earlier days would have found sympathy with the recorded thoughts of

140 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

Lt. Henry M. Lazelle as written in his diary in 1857 during the campaign against the Apaches. In rising one morning and in throwing open the flaps of his tent to look out on south- western New Mexico, he thought in marvelled cynicism: " [this] deformed and wretched fetus of creation. This ante- deluvial surface, belonging to an era of a thousand ages below the famous old red sandstone deposits, and which seems but a half finished work from the mighty hand of Jehovah, thrown aside in utter disgust at its worthlessness."167 His comments, too, concerning the people he had seen throughout New Mexico were no different than many a judgment of other visitors. The "indolent worthlessness of their population, and the cursing idleness and superstition of the whole de- graded Mexican, or rather, Spanish-Mexico-Indian-Negro race — Incapable of further advancement and totally uncon- scious of their present degraded position."168

The Englishman, George Frederick Ruxton, in New Mexico in 1846, gave his impressions of the people of Socorro as "dirty, mean, lazy, beggardly." 169 Typical, also, of trav- elers' responses was Mitchell's comment on the little settle- ment of Tecolote which he described as "shockingly impure" — "almost purely Mexican."170 One can not read the diaries and other firsthand impressions of the early Territorial per- iod of New Mexico without knowing these quotations to be fairly representative of the views of those who came from a more ordered western civilization ; that is, if we except the more hopeful outlook of the German Jew.

This immigrant merchant, from Solomon Jacob Spiegel- berg on, seized upon this land as a place where the breadth of his services would find demand ; where the very meanness of the economy would offer opportunity for material services ; where the minority and majority groups could be led in sym- pathy and not exploited in contempt. This new settler en- visaged an expanding economy that should bring freedom of views and a minimum of revulsion to those whose success would come in spite of obvious distinguishing characteristics. This man who had grown to manhood in the expanding in- dustrial economy of Germany and who had seen freedom at-

THE GERMAN JEW 141

tach itself to all as the spreading demand for talents took hold ; who had seen this happen in spite of the racial theories of Friedrich List, or the anti-Semitic railings of Richard Wagner171 — found New Mexico a peculiar complex of eco- nomic and cultural forces that promised far more than the merely adventurous or the smug could see.

When the world-wide depression of the 'seventies brought a definite reaction against the Jews in Germany and else- where in Europe, the German Jew in New Mexico was as- suming strong leadership. In the difficult 'eighties and depressive 'nineties when an economic collapse again had hit the western world, the pogroms against the Jew in Russia violated all conscience. At the same time the German Jew in New Mexico was carrying an economy (not entirely alone) upon his back with the credit he extended and with the faith he displayed in the native population of the countryside.

Yet the leadership he manifested transcended the com- mercial success of his undertakings. When Erna Fergusson, acute interpreter of people and things in Territorial New Mexico, who is also the granddaughter of the pioneer mer- chant Franz Huning, was asked who there may have been in Albuquerque who would have been capable of bringing the people together in amicable settlement of a threatened Cath- olic-Protestant quarrel over the education of the community's children, she quickly answered: "Why, of course, it would have been Louis Ilfeld."172 If this question, involving any other serious community problem, had been posed in Santa Fe, the answer would have evoked the name of Abraham Staab. In Las Vegas, the names of Marcus Brunswick, Charles Ilfeld and others would have been close to the tip of the community tongue. In Roswell, Henry Jaifa, formerly of Albuquerque, would have stepped forward. In Las Cruces it would have been Henry Lesinsky. And thus would the re- sponse have been in town after town, and in village after village, as the German Jew proved his mettle through the most valued of all human attributes — a social conscience buttressed with economic effectiveness.

NOTES

147. Interview: Milton Floersheim of Roy, N. M., in Albuquerque, Oct. 19, 1953.

148. Charles Ilfeld Company records, op. tit., letter, Feb. 18, 1896.

149. Ibid., Mar. 24, 1896.

150. Ibid., Sept. 25 and Oct. 9, 1897. This involved the desire of Friedman to rent a house occupied by George Maloof and owned by Teodoro Casaus whose family were large sheep raisers southeast of Puerto de Luna.

161. Ibid., May 4, 1898.

152. Various letters in the Charles Ilfeld Company records, op. cit. ; Letter from A. T. Rogers, Sept. 22, 1952, Las Vegas; Interview, Karl Wertz, Sept. 4, 1952, Las Vegas.

153. Mitchell, op. cit.

154. $1,400 was raised by subscription from Old Town merchants to beautify the Plaza although the project had general support as indicated by the Committee members : Frank Kihlberg, President, George J. Dinkel, Secretary, Jefferson Raynolds, Benigno Romero, Andres Dold, and Charles Ilfeld. Las Vegas Daily Optic, Feb. 22, 1881.

155. "Chas. Ilfeld and many others are pressing for incorporation of Las Vegas." Las Vegas Gazette, June 24, 1882. Successful incorporation took place June 26, 1882, by a majority vote of 685. Las Vegas Daily Optic, April 19, 1884. Other references in June 24 and 30, 1882. Section 85, Chap. 38, Article 13 of the Compiled Laws of N. M., 1884, which evidently was inspired to passage by enemies of incorporation of East and West Las Vegas into one city, disincorporated Las Vegas. Las Vegas Gazette, Mar. 27, 1884 and Las Vegas Daily Optic, Apr. 11, 17, and 19, 1884.

156. Account book of the Santa Fe Hotel Building Company, 1880-1881, First National Bank of Santa Fe. Six Jewish merchants subscribed $10,200 — Zoldac Staab, $5,000, Noa Ilfeld $1,000, Julius Gerdes $500, Spiegelberg Bros. $2,000, A. Spiegelberg $1,000, and Seligman Bros. $700. Total of all subscriptions was $28,700. Charles Ilfeld arranged for the contractor, John Wooten, and formed a partnership to build the hotel — Romero, Blanchard, and Ilfeld. Each made a profit of $78.33 upon the closing out of the joint venture. Charles Ilfeld Company records, op. cit., Ledger G, pp. 579 and 602 ; Journal, 1882-1884, p. 311 ; Letters, May 31, June 22, and Aug. 6, 1881.

157. Illustrated History of New Mexico, p. 475.

158. Charles Ilfeld Company records, op. cit., letter to N. A. Elsberg, 105 East 57th, New York City, May 17, 1899.

Dear Nat :

Last Sunday I requested you by wire to use your influence with Governor Roosevelt to have Rough Riders Reunion held in Las Vegas. Today I am glad to report to you, that our town has been decided upon and now have another request to make of you. You can no doubt realize that our burgh will put in quit [sic] an expense in preparing and carrying out a program suitable for the occasion and we are therefore anxious to make sure of the Governors presence at the scene. We fear that without him the affair would be a fizzle, and would like to have him declare himself in some way either through you or still better to the Committee in charge of the Reunion as to the probability of his appearance. I think your influence and pull with the Governor is great enough to secure his declaration & I would appreciate very much if you would make use of your good graces in the matter in our behalf & come out with the Governor & stay with us some time.

Chas Ilfeld

Nathaniel A. Elsberg, son of Albert Elsberg, formerly of Santa Fe — a distant cousin of the Ilfelds— was New York State Senator from 1899 to 1906, representing the 15th district and was president of the National Republican Club, 1922-1924, and was a power in Republican party affairs, particularly at the State level. Obituary, New York Times, June 5, 1932, as reported by the New York Public Library.

142

THE GERMAN JEW 143

159. Eugene Leitsendorfer, Auditor of Civil Government under Kearny. Appointed Sept. 22, 1846. Twitchell, op. tit., Vol. II, p. 214.

160. Samuel Eldodt, Treasurer of the Territory, 1895, under Governor Wm. Thorn- ton. Illustrated History of New Mexico, p. 421 ; under Gov. Miguel Otero, 1898-1899, Reports of the Territorial Treasurer.

161. Nathan Jaffa, Secretary of the Territory under Governor Wm. J. Mills (1909- 1911).

162. Died in his second term. Served 1931 through 1933. He was the first native born Governor of the State of New Mexico not of Spanish or Mexican ancestry. Bio- graphical sketch, New Mexico Historical Review, Vol. 8, No. 4, Oct. 1933, pp. 306-316.

163. 1915-1918.

164. 1917-1921.

165. Albuquerque City Directory, 1896, p. 73.

166. Ibid.

167. "Puritan and Apache: A Diary," New Mexico Historical Review, Vol. 23, No. 4, Oct. 1948, p. 295.

168. Ibid., p. 280.

169. These adjectives are those of Paul Horgan and represent a succinct and accu- rate paraphrase of Ruxton's two-page description of his December 15, 1846, impressions of Socorro (The Great River, Vol. II, Rhinehart & Co., Inc., 1954, p. 744. Also see Leroy R. Hafen, Editor : Ruxton of the Rockies, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1950, pp. 174-175).

170. Mitchell, op. cit.

171. Lowenthal, op. tit., pp. 264 and 302.

172. As she stated in a speech before the Albuquerque Kiwanis Club, Jan. 28, 1959.

January 14th, 1960

Dear Dean Parish :

* * *

It is suggested in your article that he [Solomon Jacob Spiegelberg] came to New Mexico with Col. Doniphan's regiment with which he went on to Chihuahua ; that he subsequently returned to Sante Fe [sic] with the regiment and received an appointment as sutler and "established his general merchandising firm. The date is generally thought to have been 1848 * * *." The date is what interests me. My knowledge on the subject is, of course, solely based on what my father told me of his father. My father was ordinarily a most accurate man and what he told me was that his father had arrived in Baltimore in 1838 apprenticed to a rela- tive whose name I no longer remember and with whom my grandfather got along not at all, since in the very year in which he arrived, he set out by himself peddling his way westward. At this time, according to my information, my grandfather was fourteen years of age, having been born in Hanover, Germany in 1824. From 1838 to 1841, grandfather peddled his way west and in the latter year, arrived in Sante Fe where he settled down.

This is, of course, seven years earlier than the date mentioned by you on page 315 and while it is only based on family history, it is my guess that the earlier date is likely to be more accurate than the later for a number of reasons which I think may be of interest to you.

144 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

First, I happen to have my grandfather's citizenship papers. They were dated March 27, 1852. They state that my grandfather had made the necessary declarations two years before; had resided in the U. S. for five years and in the territory at least one year. General Kearny de- clared New Mexico to be under U. S. Military Government on August 15, 1846, though it was not until September 9, 1850 that Congress declared New Mexico to be a territory of the U. S. If Solomon Jacob Spiegelberg made his declaration of citizenship two years before, it must have been no later than March 27, 1850 which was while New Mexico was still under military government, from which I gather that the territory was regarded as U. S. property and that when the citizenship papers say that my grandfather "resided in the U. S. five years," it is referring to his residence in New Mexico from at least March of 1847.

Standing by itself, this perhaps would not throw much light upon the subject, but it is also the fact that the family tradition was that my grandfather was one of the first non- Spanish white men to settle in New Mexico at the time that it was Mexican, which would go back before August, 1846.

Finally, it is hard to believe that Solomon Jacob Spiegelberg achieved the success he did if he opened his first store in 1848 rather than some time around 1841. 1 say this because he 'married in 1856 at the age of thirty-two, at which time he was already a most successful busi- ness man. I say this with confidence because I have portraits of my grandfather and grandmother painted shortly after their marriage, and they were done by one of the best known portrait painters of his day in Germany.

It is also a fact that after his marriage in 1856, except for occasional trips, my grandfather established his home in New York where all of his children were born between 1857 and 1868-9.

I recognize that he brought his brothers to this country (the last and youngest of whom, Willi Spiegelberg, who is mentioned on page 315 and elsewhere, got to Sante Fe in about 1872), but nonetheless, it seems amazing to me that within a space of eight years, he should have been as successful as the record apparently indicates he was, and it is my belief, based as I say only on what I have been told, that his perma- nent domicile in New Mexico was from 1841 to 1856 rather than from 1848.

The second matter which came as a great surprise to me was your sentence on page 315, which I quote:

"The Spiegelberg brothers, Bernard, Elias, Willie, Emanuel, Levi and Lehman (in addition to Solomon J. Spiegelberg), to- gether with their nephew, Abraham, a New Yorker by birth, one by one dropped into town to add to the manpower of the firm."

THE GERMAN JEW 145

I would really be delighted to learn the source material for the quoted sentence for two reasons. As far as I know, and I don't say that my in- formation is necessarily conclusive, Solomon J. had only four brothers, all of them known to me, named Emanuel, Levi, Lehman and Willi, and all of whom at one time or another got to Sante Fe. Where did you find Bernard and Elias? I don't for a moment say that they may not have existed, but I can honestly say that if there were such Spiegelbergs, they were greatuncles of mine and in the last sixty-two years that I have been about, I have never heard of their existence.

Equally puzzling to me is your reference to Abraham, a nephew born in New York. I have heard about him but only when I got to Sante Fe in 1955 when I learned that he had died only a few years be- fore, having been quite well known in that city. I would be delighted to learn if you know who his father was because I don't know, even though I should, never having heard of him until five years ago.

I mention these things only because I have always wanted to know more about my grandfather's activities in New Mexico and you have done a great deal to fill that gap. In addition, I cannot close this letter without saying that I have never read any article, the approach of which is more friendly to the efforts of the Jews in early New Mexico and it is obvious that you have a warm and friendly feeling for these worthy people in addition to a scientific approach.

I trust that you will accept this letter in the wholly friendly spirit in which it is written and if possible, though a little late, answer my questions which were triggered by your fascinating article.

Yours sincerely, George A. Spiegelberg GASrlek

Feb. 7, 1960 Dear Mr. Spiegelberg :

* * *

First off, I am delighted that you took the time to write so fully on information you possessed that would not have been available to me. The unfortunate part of my research on the early German Jew in New Mexico is the extent to which I have been forced to rely on secondary sources. Many errors may well show themselves in time. This is the reason I am pleased that my good friend, Frank Reeve, editor of the HISTORICAL REVIEW wanted to reprint my article with footnotes. The extent of secondary sources will be apparent and specific facts may not be taken as the final word. The tone of the work, however, grew out of many thousands of letters I was privileged to read in the Charles Ilf eld Company records which served to check many of the references on Ger- man Jews I found elsewhere. These records, however, did not begin until 1865.

146 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

I found the name of your grandfather written both as Jacob Solo- mon and Solomon Jacob. Because he was always known as Jacob, and because my information on him was sketchy anyway I did not try to run down details. It was thoughtless, indeed, that I did not write to you. I am most grateful that you have corrected this error and I shall see if the NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW will print much of your letter as an appendix to the remainder of my article in its next issue.

Your reasoning on your grandfather's tenure in New Mexico cor- roborates some of my own. I was unable to find proof that he established himself prior to 1848 or that he had been in New Mexico before Col. Doniphan's regiment arrived. I have a suspicion he had traded on the Santa Fe Trail before this at least to the extent to have been familiar with this part of the country. Yet I do not know. His name never ap- pears in any of the caravans that have been pored over so often.

Most of the successful German Jews in New Mexico gained eco- nomic independence soon after arrival. Although I, too, believe your grandfather had opened his store before 1848 — I doubt seriously more than a year or two before — he could well have accomplished all you credit him with by 1856. The Staabs, Seligmans, Beuthners, Gusdorfs and Ilfelds also rose rapidly. Charles Ilfeld came almost penniless in 1865 and by 1874 had bought out his partner, Adolph Letcher, and had returned to Germany to visit his future wife whom he married in this country. It may have been somewhat more difficult for your grandfather to gain a foothold in the 'forties and early 'fifties but he also had some advantages in having less competition.

... I can not say with finality that you have put your finger on another error but I am almost willing to say this is so. My notes do not shed light on a Bernard Spiegelberg. I have one other source to check but I strongly suspect that this name crept in and stayed there only because I was too familiar with that first name and so many other German Jewish families in New Mexico had it. There was Bernard Seligman and Bernard Ilfeld in particular. I am very embarrassed but most grateful to you.

Elias Spiegelberg was accidentally killed in Santa Fe on January 16, 1879 according to Will Keleher in his book "Violence in New Mexico."

Abraham Spiegelberg has, on occasion, been referred to as another brother but apparently this is not true. In Vol. 39 of EL PALACIO, a correction to the article in Vol. 38, cited has this to say: "father of Abe was cousin of five brothers" Spiegelberg. The earlier article had said: "Solomon Spiegelberg and his son 'Abe' arrived Santa Fe 1840's and established merchandising business." I am writing these from sketchy notes and perhaps the quotes are not verbatim.

* * *

If you have no objection I would like to ask the HISTORICAL REVIEW to read your letter and print all or parts as that magazine wishes. I

THE GERMAN JEW 147

regret deeply that I did not think to write to you when I was so pressed for bits of information on the early history of these pioneer families.

Very sincerely yours, Wm. J. Parish

February 16th, 1960 Dear Dean Parish :

Thank you for your letter of February 7th in answer to mine of January 14th. Near the end of your letter, you asked permission to print all or a part of my letter to you of January 14th and you, of course, have that permission.

You say in your letter that you suspect that my grandfather had traded on the Santa Fe trail before establishing his store in Santa Fe and though I did not mention the fact in my prior letter, it is part of our family history that he did operate a caravan route between Santa Fe and Albuquerque, though so far as my information goes, there is no indication whether he did this before, with, or after the establishment of his store in Santa Fe.

I believe that I sent you some time shortly after I met you in Santa Fe, an enlarged copy of the advertisement of his store in the form of a hand bill dated July 4th, 1851.

The statement in your letter of February 7th that an Elias Spiegel- berg was killed in Santa Fe on January 16, 1879 I also find interesting. I would most seriously doubt if he could have been one of the original brothers since it is most unlikely that had he been, that I would never have heard of his death since it surely would not have been a matter likely to have been overlooked by the survivors in the family and I feel quite sure would have been reported to me by one of them since it is supposed to have occurred only eighteen years before I was born and at a time when my grandfather and his four brothers were all alive.

With personal regards,

Yours Sincerely, George A. Spiegelberg GAS:lek

March 2, 1960

Prof. Frank D. Reeve, Editor

* * *

Dear Sir :

Volume 35, No. 1 of the REVIEW contains an article on "The German Jew" in which I question the following statements :

Page 14, last paragraph, lists "the Lohmanns," identified in foot- note 101 as Martin and Oscar of Las Cruces, among the Jews of New Mexico. I am quite certain that this statement is in error. My family never referred to the Lohmans as Jews and Mrs. Fred Lohman, still living here at 96 years of age, concurs. So far as I know, their name was

148 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

always spelled with one "n" and Lohman Avenue in Las Cruces is so spelled.

In the preceding paragraph on page 14, the writer omits mention of the first of my family to come to New Mexico: Julius Freudenthal, who settled first in Belen for reasons unknown to me, about 1840. I understand that there was a deed on record in Belen. Pierce Rodey in- formed me of the existence of such a deed, but a search I made at Los Lunas revealed that the earliest deed book (prior to No. 1) had been mis- placed or lost.

The implication that Henry Lesinsky was the first of my family to come to Las Cruces is correct. The date of his arrival is about 1854. My father, Phoebus Freudenthal, came here as a boy of 13 in 1869. But I believe the article is incorrect in stating that Isador E. Solomon* went from Las Cruces to found Solomonville. Actually, he went from Las Cruces to Clifton to work for his relatives who had started copper min- ing in Arizona. Later, he was sent out to locate a supply of mesquite from which to make coke for the company's smelting operations. He located the needed mesquite at Pueblo Vie jo on the Gila River, and it is this community that is now called Solomonville.

Your article makes no mention of Adolph Jacoby, brother-in-law of my father, who first founded a business in Paraje, now called Colorado, Dona Ana County, N. Mex. Adolph Jacoby later bought my father's store in Las Cruces when my father finally left New Mexico in 1890 to go to Solomonville where he founded the Solomon Commercial Company.

Very truly yours, L. E. Freudenthal

* Ref : History of the Clifton-Morency Mining District by James Col- quhoun (privately printed).

March 8, 1960 Dear Mr. Freudenthal :

Your letter to Professor Reeve is very much appreciated. I am particularly embarrassed by my failure to catch the misspelling of Lohman when I read the proof. This is one of those errors that are inexcusable. My own notes show one "n."

Regarding the reference to Jewish extraction. I regret that I did not know how easily this might have been checked. This was the only name used for which I held any doubt but this was dispelled by the fact that there are Jewish families named "Lohman" and that the prominent Jewish family names "Frohman" and "Lehman" are similar. Also the Lohmans referred to had followed so closely the pattern of the early Jewish settlers in St. Louis and Las Cruces — even to the meat market — that I did not check as I should have done. Please extend my explana- tion to Mrs. Fred Lohman and express my apology for this mistake.

I had not noted the name Julius Freudenthal — American Jewish

THE GERMAN JEW 149

Archives (Jan. 1954, p. 63) records a father of Sam Freudenthal with- out mentioning his name. The elder Freudenthal left Germany in 1848 and Sam, who was born in Sag Harbor R2, came to New Mexico in 1878. Was Julius an uncle or relative of Sam?

"Isador Solomon (who) went on from Las Cruces to found Solomon- ville, Arizona" was not meant to indicate this was the name of the original town although such an interpretation might be made from the wording. Again the American Jewish Archives (Jan. 1954, p. 63) de- scribes the earlier town of Pueblo Vie jo taken from a biography of Isadore Elkan Solomon by his grandson A. I. Ramenofsky (1949) .

Your reference to Adolph Jacoby is good to know. I had no refer- ence to him.

Such a study as I have made runs the risk of many oversights and mistakes of fact. Except for the Ilfeld records, secondary sources must be relied upon. It is, therefore, most gratifying to have informed persons send in addenda and corrections. Thank you very much.

Sincerely Wm. J. Parish Dean WJP/ic

2718 Morrow Rd., NE., Albuquerque, New Mexico January 29, 1958 Dr. Jacob R. Marcus, Director American Jewish Archives 3101 Clifton Avenue Cincinnati 20, Ohio Dear Mr. Marcus :

I met with Rabbi Shor of Temple Albert, here in Albuquerque and Abraham Shinedling relative to sending some old papers to your organ- ization for review. In the course of conversation your October 1956 issue of the American Jewish Archives (Vol. VIII, No. 2) was shown to me.

Page 82 and 83 reference is made to two of my Uncles, Nathan Bibo and Solomon Bibo. Sorry to advise you that information therein on Page 83 is incorrect. Solomon Bibo was a brother of Nathan Bibo, not his son.

Rabbi Fireman (spelling?) of El Paso was working recently on the Bibo family's early history here in New Mexico, and I sent him some information. Among other matters I asked that he not publish his final report without giving me a chance to check some of the information he had received from the National Archives in Washington. I have been in the Archives in Washington doing work for the Acoma Tribe of Indians and saw the file there and examined same carefully, which relates to the Investigation on the Grazing Lease my Uncle had with the Acoma Indians. I have the original copy of that lease and know quite a bit

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about the facts relating to complaints against my uncle, so unless all issues are properly explained, the entire matter would reflect against my family. I would like to review information sent you

very truly, Arthur Bibo Mr. Louis Rittenberg, Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, 920 Riverside Drive New York, New York. Dear Mr. Rittenberg:

I trust I have your name spelled correctly as it was given to me in not too legible writing.

Your Encyclopedia UJE Vol. 8 was shown to me the other day at Temple Albert, by Rabbi David Shor, and on page 179 column 2 is some information about my family, Bibo Family. I found numerous errors and thot I would call your attention to same. Simon Bibo was mar- ried to a Spanish woman from San Mateo, New Mexico by the name of Ramona Candelaria. Solomon Bibo was married to a member of the Acoma Tribe of Indians, her name was Juana Valle. Solomon became Governor of this Acoma Tribe in 1885 and 1886. This will correct the error you have in the book. Should you care for additional information on these early settlers, there were seven brothers and three sisters who came here from Germany starting in 1869 — I will be glad to give same to you.

very truly, Arthur Bibo

ERRATA

Vol. 35, Jan. 1960, No. 1

p. 10 "Jacob Solomon Spiegelberg" should read "Solomon Jacob Spiegel- berg." Letter, George A. Spiegelberg, New York City, Jan. 14, 1960.

p. 11 There was no known brother named Bernard Spiegelberg. Mrs. Willi Spiegelberg furnished the information that two brothers and three sisters remained in Germany. Hester Jones, op. cit., Note 45.

p. 14 "Lohmanns" should read "Lohman."

p. 23 The marriages of Solomon and Simon Bibo, as reported in the Jewish Encyclopedia and repeated here, should have been reversed. "Simon Bibo was married to a Spanish woman from San Mateo, New Mexico by the name of Ramona Candelaria. Solomon Bibo was married to a member of the Acoma tribe of Indians, her name was Juana Valle. Solomon became Governor of this Acoma tribe in 1885 and 1886." Letter from Arthur Bibo to Mr. Louis Ritten- berg, Jan. 29, 1958. Interview, Arthur Bibo, Albuquerque, Feb. 23, 1960.

Book Reviews

The Hispanization of the Philippines: Spanish Aims and Filipino Responses, 1565-1700. By John Leddy Phelan. Madison, The University of Wisconsin Press, 1959. Pp. xi, 218. Illustrations. $4.00.

In the Hispanization of the Philippines the author pre- sents a case study of the conflicts and fusion of cultures in a fringe area. His book provides an excellent illustration of the successes and failures of Spanish colonial policy in its ap- plication to specific local conditions. The dual motive which inspired the Spanish conquerors — the desire for both spirit- ual and worldly profit — created problems never completely solved in any part of Spain's empire overseas, but it is to her credit that the struggle to achieve an equitable compromise between economic and religious incentives continued.

By 1565 the Spanish authorities, with decades of colonial experience behind them, were in a mood to learn from earlier mistakes. Under the influence of the Dominican theory of conquest by pacific means, they hoped to avoid the excesses which had hitherto characterized their initial impact with the native races. In this the Philippine enterprise was partially successful, but the old problem of satisfying the economic needs of the conquerors without injustice to the conquered remained. As Mr. Phelan points out, there was a great gulf between protective legislation emanating from Spain and the possibility of enforcing it in so remote a possession under local conditions of which the lawmakers were insufficiently cognizant. This stumbling block existed throughout the em- pire, but one of the advantages of regional studies is the opportunity to analyze governmental theory and practice within a more circumscribed framework and so help to il- luminate the general problems of Spanish colonial social history. Regional historians should not proceed as if their area were isolated on an island in space and time. Neither should they make facile assumptions on the basis of general

151

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theories of colonial administration and fail to take into account the inevitable modifications in practice under the pressure of circumstances. Mr. Phelan's ethno-historical ap- proach avoids these pitfalls and his work has wider implica- tions than the title may suggest. Students of Southwestern history will find some interesting parallels in the problems and behavior of the ruling Spanish minority in their attempts to impose their way of life in a physical and cultural en- vironment totally different from the one they found in New Mexico. It would be hazardous to make too much of such comparisons, but, perhaps because both areas were on the very fringes of Christendom, the process of acculturation followed similar lines in many respects. Moreover, when both disappointed the Spanish dream of gold and glory, the pros- elytizing motive was strong enough for them to be main- tained at heavy expense to the Crown; their strategic importance as a curb to the ambitions of other empire build- ers was a later development.

Mr. Phelan writes unpretentiously and well, with due respect for his source of material and its limitations. In addi- tion to several illustrations from sixteenth and seventeenth century works, there is a short glossary, an appendix with maps showing the centers of missionary activity, a biblio- graphical essay and list of sources, and a useful index.

University of New Mexico ELEANOR B. ADAMS

Prudent Soldier, a Biography of Major General E. R. S. Canby, 1817-1873. By Max L. Heyman Jr. Glendale, Cali- fornia : The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1959. Pp. xv, 418. Notes, bibliographical note, maps, index.

This handsome if pedestrian biography of Edward Rich- ard Sprigg Canby, graced by fine laid-paper and all the other qualitative features which for long have been associated with the Clark editions, presents the life of the "prudent" Union soldier who commanded the Department of New Mexico when Sibley's Confederate force invaded the territory in

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1862. As a whole, however, Canby was more outstanding as a military administrator than as a field commander, and even the fifty-page chapter on his career in New Mexico is largely concerned with Canby's promulgation of martial law and other problems of administration. It was the general's claim to fame as an honest, efficient administrator that the biogra- pher stresses as the central theme in his study. The reader who reads this "life" objectively may also conclude, perhaps regretfully, that Canby was an archetype of the punctilious, unimaginative military bureaucrat who still inhabits the re- cesses of the Pentagon or manfully puzzles-out orders at some far-flung base.

After graduation from West Point in 1839 (Canby was thirtieth in a class of thirty-one) , there were routine assign- ments in the early 1840's : duty at regimental headquarters in Florida and patrols against the Seminoles, garrison duty on the Canadian border, a recruiting detail in Buffalo, then the Mexican War. With Scott's army in Mexico, Canby re- ceived citations "for active and zealous performance of his duties," and as a brevet Major began his career as a military staff officer. During the next decade he was in California on service with the Adjutant General's office, or travelling else- where from post to post on inspection tours. Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and as second in command, he marched with the Tenth Infantry in the Utah Expedition. In August, 1859, he took over the command of Fort Bridger ; a year later he lead his unsuccessful expedition against the Navajos in New Mexico Territory, and on June 11, 1861, became com- mander of the Union forces in the New Mexico Department.

The discussion of military operations in New Mexico dur- ing the Civil War in this biography contains less than is to be found in the studies by Kerby, Colton or Keleher, but this is understandable since Heyman's stress is upon Canby's ad- ministrative career. He accepts Canby's own interpretation of the Valverde battle — that the misbehavior of the "green" New Mexico troops caused the federal defeat there, and agrees with the usual appraisal that Canby not only saved his

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forces after the battle but executed a strategic defense plan of his own which adequately contained the Confederate ad- vance into the territory. This strategy included Canby's call upon the Governor of Colorado Territory for troops, the de- struction of supplies in the Rio Grande towns (a modified "scorched earth policy"), the movement from north and south upon the Confederate troops with Albuquerque as the point of convergence, and the pressure applied to Sibley's force at Peralta which resulted in their disastrous retreat from New Mexico. Several important questions on Canby's generalship are not discussed. For example, was Canby moti- vated by any subjective attitudes in his failure to press the retreating troops of his brother-in-law (Sibley) after the Peralta skirmish? As a military administrator in the Depart- ment of New Mexico during the early years of the Civil War Canby exerted unusual efforts to raise funds, provide sup- plies, and keep order (he invoked martial law) , but like many another official he underestimated the citizens of Spanish descent in the region.

When the New Mexican campaign of 1862 was over, Canby was called to duty in the Adjutant General's Office in Washington where he continued to ingratiate himself into the favor of such martinets as General-in-Chief Halleck and the Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton. He carried out several assignments, such as a command in New York City in connec- tion with the draft riots, and then, elevated to the rank of Major General of Volunteers, he became commander of the Military Division of West Mississippi after the Banks Red River Expedition fiasco of 1864. In Louisiana, Canby concen- trated the troops in defensible positions, sent a force under General Gordon Granger to assist Farragut against the forts which guarded Mobile Bay, and, after much delay, finally moved into Mobile on April 12, 1865. In administering his Di- vision, Canby attempted to enforce trade regulations and dealt with the "unionists" of Louisiana who were attempting to reorganize State government there. Both in the Gulf area during the war and as a department commander after the war

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in Texas, the Carolinas, and Virginia, Canby was a devoted executor of others' policies. He was upright, discreet yet firm, and totally lacking in obstreperous initiative which might prove to be embarrassing to his superiors. Without the Dan- tonian fury of most Radicals in that era, he was nonetheless able to run with the Radical pack. If he was not "the great reconstructor" that the New York Tribune called him, he stood up staunchly against the passive resistance with which the conservative southern whites met his literal enforcement of the reconstruction statutes.

His many abilities notwithstanding — in spite of his mas- tery of military orders, reports, correspondence, and records, his disciplinary excellence, and his level-headed judgment — Canby was not a great general in the field. His personal brav- ery and devotion to duty were unquestioned ; but he lacked the imagination and dynamic resiliency which make com- manders great. He was never able to override obstacles pre- sented by the conditions of battle; he never seized upon forlorn hopes and turned them into golden opportunities. At the Battle of Cerro Gordo he was confused in the chaparral and, panting from exhaustion, reached the crest of El Tele- graf o after the fighting was over. In his expedition against the Navajos he found that the rough country made pursuit impracticable. The "condition" of his troops made it inad- visable to strike the Confederates again after Peralta. Tor- rential rainfall was responsible for his failure to push ahead more rapidly in the action against Mobile. Even in the melo- dramatic finale of his career in the lava beds, he met his death while caught between the intransigent will of Captain Jack of the Modocs and his rigid orders from Washington.

There is evidence of hard work in this volume. The author combed the army's command papers and the Adjutant Gen- eral's files in the National Archives ; he examined manuscript collections in the Library of Congress and elsewhere, also West Point records, the volumes of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, and many other printed sources. It is an odd inaccuracy that after using the Nathaniel

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Prentiss Banks manuscripts in the Essex Institute library, the "fighting politician's" middle name should appear as Preston.

University of New Mexico GEORGE WINSTON SMITH

The Civil War in the Western Territories: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. By Ray C. Colton. Norman : The University of Oklahoma Press, 1959. Pp. ix, 230. $5.00.

Mr. Colton has set out to prove a thesis dear to the hearts of true Southwesterners : that there was a Civil War west of the Mississippi as well as east of it. He proposes to redress the historian's neglect of the vast western stage of that con- flict by giving us a factual blow-by-blow account of the mili- tary movement of Confederate and Union armies in the four territories of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah during the war years. He is also interested in the effects of these campaigns upon Indian affairs and political develop- ments within each territory. The narrative is accompanied by useful, simplified maps of the various battles and marches, and by pictures of the leading military and political figures of the Southwest.

In seeking out the motives for Confederate interest in the Mountain West, the author feels that the vague Southern dreams of a corridor to the Pacific and the creation of a sym- pathetic southwestern confederacy coincided with the very practical needs for military supplies stored in western forts, the gold and silver to be had from Colorado and Arizona mines, and the support of Indian allies in the war against the Union. But Mr. Colton's real interest — and the central focus of the book — is the exciting military campaign which began with Colonel Baylor's and General Sibley's invasions of New Mexico in 1861 and 1862, and ended with the unex- pected defeat of the cocky Confederates at Glorieta Pass. He calls this complex and uncertain battle, in which both sides cautiously claimed a victory, the "Gettysburg of the West." And as in so many other Civil War histories the Confederate side of the campaign (incorrectly described on the dust

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jacket as the "campaign up the Colorado River") comes more alive and seems more heroic and tragic than the Northern efforts to contain the irrepressible Texan invaders. The north- ern preparations at Fort Union are given in some detail, how- ever, and the actual battle at Glorieta is impartially viewed from both sides.

This reviewer is in agreement with Mr. Colton's general thesis that the West's role in the Civil War needs more atten- tion. He also appreciated reading a clear and factual narra- tive of the detailed troop movements, skirmishes, and battles along the Rio Grande, and the precise chronicle of General Carleton's occupation of Confederate Arizona. Nevertheless, he was sorely troubled by the author's extreme reluctance to go beyond — either in fact or by interpretation — the standard printed accounts in Hollister, Whitford, and Keleher, and by a too steady reliance on the venerable but by now some- what outdated Bancroft. One leaves the military chapters of this book still wondering why Major Isaac Lynde made the disastrous decision to abandon Fort Fillmore; or whether General Sibley was drunk and fear-ridden at Valverde; or why General Canby was so suspiciously cautious when Union victories seemed so easily within his grasp; and finally, whether it was Chivington or Captain William H. Lewis who deserved the most credit for the outcome at Glorieta Pass. Perhaps these are unanswerable questions, but the reader is left feeling that the author did not get "inside" of his chief protagonists. Similarly, the role of Chivington in the Sand Creek Massacre and the consequences of this affair are treated so guardedly that the uninitiated reader might never guess that this sorry affair started a general Indian war, unseated a governor, split Colorado politics, and held up Colorado statehood for a dozen years.

The author concludes with a summary of Indian troubles and political developments within the four territories. While he dramatizes rather successfully the significance and scope of the Indian troubles by running a horrifying statistical commentary on the number of settlers killed and wounded and the scores of skirmishes and battles which took place, he

158 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

tells the political story so briefly that nearly all of the excite- ment and complexity surrounding territorial politics — par- ticularly in New Mexico and Colorado — are missed. What Mr. Colton has done is to present us with neither a definitive scholarly work nor a popularized romantic account. Nor do I believe that either of these was his aim. His book might best be called a "brief introduction" to the Civil War in the western territories for those who, like himself, have become interested in the Southwest through years of study and travel. If such an introduction is intended to whet the appe- tite for a fuller history of this little known side of the Civil War, then he has succeeded in doing just that.

Yale University HOWARD R. LAMAR

The Fighting Parson: The Biography of Colonel John M. Chivington. By Reginald S. Craig. Los Angeles : Western- lore Press, 1959. Pp. xv, 284. $7.50.

John M. Chivington did not earn the sobriquet "The Fighting Parson/' as one might surmise, engaging Confed- erate invaders in New Mexico. Instead he won that title battling for the Lord in border Kansas during its "bleeding" time. Nevertheless, he upheld his reputation as a fighter at Apache Canon and Glorieta Pass in March, 1862, only to have it spoiled at Sand Creek two years later.

Colonel Reginald S. Craig, lawyer-soldier, has prepared a lucid, easily read account of this Methodist minister from Ohio, whose assignments in Illinois, Missouri, and Nebraska eventually brought him to Denver as presiding elder of the Rocky Mountain District just before the outbreak of the War between the States.

Chivington's part, as major and then colonel of the First Colorado Volunteers, in helping to repulse the Confederate invasion of New Mexico is well known to aficionados of New Mexican history, and the author presents nothing new for them on this subject. If anything, as a biographer, he fails his hero, recapitulating the entire campaign rather than centering his attention upon Chivington's role in it. More-

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over, the lack of a tactical map of the Apache Canon and Glorieta Pass engagements handicaps the reader somewhat ; while the research on that phase of the tale makes this part the weaker of the two main sections of the book.

It is in his defense of Chivington's actions in the Sand Creek Affair that Craig really shines, for it was to this end that the work was primarily written. Had Chivington had Craig as his advocate during the hearings which followed that event, he would probably have a better reputation than he currently has.

The author, somewhat unfairly, blames the Indian for all the troubles that led to the so-called massacre. He reveals an alliance of sorts among the Plains Indians and points out that the Indians at Sand Creek were not the ones with whom any purported truce had been made, and that they were by no means unarmed and helpless when attacked by Chiving- ton's forces. A pitched battle which lasted all day ensued and the killing of women and children together with the alleged atrocities committed by Chivington's men was not nearly as extensive as contended, nor was it within Chivington's power to prevent entirely such incidents from occurring.

It is Craig's thesis that the Sand Creek Affair was used by the anti-state forces of Colorado to defeat the move for its admission into the Union; that this was abetted by the enmity of Colonel E. W. Wynkoop and the jealousy of S. F. Tappen, formerly lieutenant colonel of the First Colorado Volunteers, who presided over the court of inquiry (Chiving- ton was never court martialed) .

After a careful examination of the testimony, the author shows rather conclusively that the preponderance of evidence is against Sand Creek being termed a massacre ; that Grinnell and other historians have given credence to statements of prejudiced parties, overlooking their motives and the coun- terstatements of more reliable witnesses ; and that Chiving- ton's conduct, before, during, and after the assault, was correct.

Craig includes a superfluous chapter on the final quelling of the Cheyenne, in which Chivington had no part, and con-

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eludes the Chivington story with a recital of how, after being ostracized by church and country, he was accepted and hon- ored again by most of his Denver neighbors.

Now, in this seventeenth in the "Great West and Indian" series of the Westernlore Press, Colonel Craig will undoubt- edly succeed in vindicating Chivington in the eyes of the nation as well.

Los Angeles Valley College MAX L. HEYMAN, JR.

Army Exploration in the American West, 1803-1863. By Wil- liam H. Goetzmann. New Haven : Yale University Press, 1959. Pp. xx, 509. Illustrations, maps, bibliography and index. $6.50.

Although the terminal dates given in the title of this new book on western exploration indicate a span of six decades it is, in the main, devoted to the life of the United States Army Corps of Topographical Engineers, 1838-1863. In the Army Reorganization Act of 1838, the Topographical Engi- neers were accorded a status equal to the regular Corps of Engineers and were placed under the direct supervision of the Secretary of War. From then until March of 1863, when the organization was legislated out of existence, its men and officers charted the American West earlier discovered by the mountain men. Their work was much the same as that of the "Pathfinder," Fremont, in that frequently they covered a ter- rain that was by no means terra incognita. If the men of the Corps were not discoverers, they were chroniclers, and what they left behind was fact, not folklore. Here was their great contribution.

In an early and important chapter, the author describes the work of John C. Fremont, whom he calls the "most fa- mous of all the Topographical Engineers." The Southwest next comes under close scrutiny in a chapter entitled "The Mexican War Reconnaissance." Here the reader again en- counters Fremont, and along with him some of the other "names" of the Corps, such as Lieutenant James W. Abert (son of J. J. Abert, head of the Corps) and Lieutenant Wil-

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liam H. Emory, whose reports would be widely read. Out of the war came the first large-scale assignment of the Topo- graphical Engineers, the Mexican boundary survey, and a three-volume report compiled by Emory. Following the boundary survey chapter, Professor Goetzmann offers one entitled "Exploring the New Domain, 1838-1853," in which he discusses the efforts of the Corps to locate suitable travel routes across the recently acquired empire. A natural out- come of this examination was an interest in possible rail- road routes, and this question is the subject for another well done chapter. The concluding section of the volume is devoted to the wagon road program (so well treated in Professor W. Turrentine Jackson's earlier study, Wagon Roads West) , the Mormon War of 1857, and troubles with the Sioux during the Fifties.

Except for a few minor points, readers will find little to criticize in this study. It is well written; in some sections quite excitingly so, and the over-all result is more than satis- factory. In a place or two there are sentences subject to mis- interpretation. For example, in referring to the Dunbar- Hunter expedition of 1804 (p. 34), the author states that Thomas Jefferson was anxious to learn more about the west- ern boundary of Louisiana and he "determined to send an exploring expedition up the Red River, which ran toward the West." The source of the river lies to the West; it runs east and then southeast. Or, in referring to Jedediah Smith's travels in 1829 (p. 51) , he speaks of Smith as having "pene- trated as far north as the present Canadian border before joining his partner, David Jackson, somewhere north of Flathead Lake in what is now northern Idaho." If he means that Flathead Lake is in present Idaho, there will be strong objections from Montanans. Smith and Jackson could meet west, or even northwest, of Flathead Lake and still be in present Idaho, but not north. In another instance (p. 37), he refers to one of the explorers "floating first up the Mis- souri River." To have done so would have been to defy the laws of gravity.

Mention must be made of the fine maps, so often missing

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in works of this kind. In addition to smaller reproductions of numerous maps by the explorers, there are fourteen well executed maps distributed throughout the text in appropriate locations. Then, as a real dividend, there is a back-cover enve- lope filled with large reproductions of maps by G. K. Warren, J. C. Fremont, and F. W. von Egloffstein. Such an inclusion speaks well for the publisher, most of whose colleagues ruth- lessly ignore such necessities on the grounds of economy at a time of rising costs. Along that line, it should be remarked that the entire design of the book is one of excellent taste carried out in every detail. The reviewer runs no risk in pre- dicting that the book at once will go down as a "standard" in the field of western history.

University of Colorado ROBERT G. ATHEARN

The Spanish Element in Texas Water Law. By Betty Eakle Dobkins. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1959. Pp. xiii, 190. Illustrations, Maps, Index. $5.00.

Texas, with its rapidly expanding population, industrial- ization, and agriculture, is faced with an acute water prob- lem. Since Texas' demand for water is ever increasing and the state's water supply is limited, it is obvious that an effec- tive conservation and equitable distribution program will soon be necessary. Industrial and municipal water demands have greatly accelerated within the past few decades, but irrigation is the water glutton of the state. It accounts for approximately 85 percent of the state's total water consump- tion. One of the major facets of this water problem in the sub-humid areas of the state is the right to appropriate the surface waters from the perennial streams which cross these arid regions.

One of the fastest growing agricultural areas in the United States is the lower Rio Grande Valley. By 1950 irri- gated farms covered most of the four counties located in the southern tip of Texas. Between 1939 and 1950 the acreage under irrigation in the lower Rio Grande Valley had more than doubled, for it was during this period that approxi-

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mately 364,000 additional acres of arid land were opened to cultivation by irrigation. As a result of the recent Texas drought, it is evident that the region already has under irri- gation the maximum number of acres which the Rio Grande River can sustain under present conditions. The Falcon Dam will furnish a limited water reserve for lands now under cultivation during periods of drought, but it will not support any further expansion of cultivation. There is approximately one million additional acres of land in the area which could be placed under cultivation if an adequate supply of water for irrigation could be obtained. Much of this additional acreage is covered by recognized Spanish Land Grants, which are fully protected under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

In order to protect the investments and correlative rights of all the inhabitants of the lower Rio Grande Valley, an equitable program for the equitable distribution of the exist- ing water supply is necessary. Texas has adopted the Com- mon-Law doctrine of riparian rights, which provides that every proprietor has a natural right to use the water which flows in a stream adjacent to this land for irrigation pur- poses. If the courts continue to follow the riparian rights rule, all undeveloped tracts abutting the river in the lower Rio Grande Valley could eventually be opened for cultivation. If this happened there obviously would not be sufficient sur- face water available to irrigate all the valley lands, and the tracts located down river would be deprived of the water which their owners had previously appropriated.

In 1956 the State of Texas took the initiative, in an effort to solve the lower Rio Grande Valley water dilemma, by insti- tuting suit against the Hidalgo County Water Control and Improvement District No. 18. At the time of the institution of the suit, Texas was in the deathly grip of a seven year drought and the waters behind the Falcon Dam were rapidly being depleted. Texas asked the Court to grant it authority to regulate the distribution of the water of the Rio Grande. The litigation involved the conflict between rights of the riparian proprietors and prior appropriators and the right of the State to regulate water in the interest of the public

164 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

welfare. In an effort to separate the question of what water rights appertained to Spanish Land Grants from the main issues involved in the case, the court severed the cross action filed by the Valmont Plantations from the main suit.

District Judge W. R. Blalock handed down the decision in the case State of Texas et al. vs Valmont Plantations et al. in May, 1959. The court held that "when the Government of Spain made the original grants of land in question in this case, that such grants did not, as an appurtenance thereto, carry with them a right of irrigation upon the lands in- volved," but that under the rulings of Texas Supreme Court, Judge Blalock had no alternative but to hold that all lands abutting on the Rio Grande had a riparian right of irrigation. Both sides in the case have perfected appeals to the Texas Su- preme Court.

Realizing the importance of this decision to the people of Texas, Betty Eakle Dobkins undertook the laudable task of writing the history of water rights appertaining to the more than 10,000,000 acres of Texas land whose title originated in grants made by the officials of Spain. The author in a clear and readable style traced the development of water law from its origin up to the present time. With well-documented au- thority, she has compiled a great deal of evidence tending to show that the Spanish and Mexican Governments followed the prior appropriation rule of water law, instead of the Common-Law rule of riparian rights.

It is indeed unfortunate that The Spanish Element in Texas Water Law was published before the appeal in the Valmont Plantations case was decided by the Supreme Court of Texas, for that decision will undoubtedly settle many of the conflicting and complex theories concerning Texas water law appertaining to Spanish Land Grants. However, one of the motives which prompted the publishing of this scholarly work was to call attention to the fact that the Common-Law rule of riparian rights is not adaptable to the conditions found in the sub-humid Southwest. Even if the Court does not concur with the author's findings concerning all facets of the long discontinued and complex Spanish water law sys-

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tern, Mrs. Dobkins' work will continue to be an invaluable tool to those interested in promulgating a more realistic and workable water law for Texas.

Wilco Building, Midland, Texas J. J. BOWDEN

The True Story of Billy the Kid. By William Lee Hamlin. Caldwell, Idaho : The Caxton Printers, Ltd. 1959. Pp. xiv, 364. 29 plates. $6.00.

While this book adds little new to the sum of our factual knowledge of the Lincoln County War, it tells the story clearly and understandably. And it has the virtue of omitting the mass of incredible legend which has been building up ever since the imaginative Ash Upson so embroidered and fat- tened his Authentic Life of Billy the Kid, by Pat F. Garrett. An illuminating foreword by Caroline Davis, with an intro- ductory note as well as a prologue by the author, set the stage for the reader's better understanding of the Lincoln County War. Not content with merely refurbishing previously pub- lished accounts, Mr. Hamlin had the advantage of personal interviews with Governor Otero, George Curry, George Coe, Amel Blazer, and Lucian Dutra, for a better "feel" for the events he describes. One might wish that the author had also talked with Chauncey Truesdell, Billy's schoolmate at Silver City, and perhaps other who knew something of the boy during his formative years.

The illustrations are the familiar photographs plus two somewhat less well known group photographs purportedly including Wm. Bonney. The appendix presents photographic reproductions of several pertinent letters and documents from the Indiana Historical Society Library. One might wish that the author had included here a document most revealing of motives and methods, District Attorney Rynerson's letter of February 14, 1878, "Friends Riley & Dolan . . . shake that McSween outfit up till it shells out and squares up and then shake it out of Lincoln." Incidentally, the dust jacket of this volume illustrates the killing of Olinger, the buildings shown in the background bearing little relation to Lincoln as

166 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

it actually was; such standardized movie-set backgrounds seem to be the rule with the illustrators of Western books ; it is difficult to understand why so distinguished a publisher as Caxton would not trouble to achieve some semblance of authenticity in dust jacket illustration.

A conscientious searcher for truth such as Mr. Hamlin is confronted with a frustrating task in weighing the conflict- ing evidence. Memories of old-timers, no matter how sincere, are not always reliable through the haze of passing years. And in the case of the Lincoln County War, he who reviews the old newspaper files must realize that factionalism was so violent that even newspaper accounts were frequently slanted or completed distorted.

If the author be accused of being overly laudatory of the Kid, it must, nevertheless, be conceded that he is more than gentle in his portrayal of Rynerson, Dolan, and the others who opposed Billy and his friends. Quite properly omitted are such unsupported and unlikely yarns as that of Billy's heroic exploits in Mexico, his rescue from jail of someone name Segura, and his attack on and almost single-handed defeat of twenty or more bloodthirsty Indians in an unidenti- fied mountain canyon. Unfortunately, however, also omitted are Billy's two first publicly recorded crimes: The Arizona Citizen reported the killing of F. P. Cahill by Henry Antrim, alias Kid, at Camp Grant, Arizona, in August of 1877 ; and the Mesilla Independent of October 13, 1877, reported the theft of three horses by Henry Antrim and others from Pass' coal camp in the Burro Mountains.

The author states frankly that "this book is not presented as a history of the territory . . . nor as a historical ro- mance." However, the title, "The True Story of Billy the Kid," may well betray the reader into accepting the work as com- pletely definitive and factual. It has the virtue of being better documented than most — though such documentation may tend, for many readers, to lend validity to the whole, includ- ing the fictional and the suppositions of the author. The climax of the fighting at the McSween house is described in dramatic detail — how Beckwith killed McSween and how

BOOK REVIEWS 167

Billy then taunted Beckwith for poor marksmanship and proceeded to kill Beckwith. Unfortunately, this account devi- ates from that told by surviving witnesses under oath at the Dudley Court of Inquiry. Andrew Boyle, Joseph Nash, Jose Chavez y Chavez, and others with fresh memories of what they had recently witnessed, agreed that McSween remained within the building after Billy and some others had escaped ; that Beckwith was killed by someone hiding in the chicken house ; and that when McSween was killed his body fell on top of Beckwith's corpse. Readers familiar with the facts may question the accuracy of the statement that Billy counted Harvey Morris as one of his "nine fighting men." Morris was a tubercular youth recently arrived to "read law" in Mc- Sween's office. And, of course, the firing of the building was first undertaken, not from the northwest corner, but at the northeast corner where the fire was discovered by twelve- year-old Minnie Shield. It would be pleasant to believe that the Rev. Dr. Ealy performed the funeral services over the body of his friend McSween. But Dr. Ealy's diary fails to mention this in its accounts of his day-by-day activities ; in fact, he records leaving Lincoln on the morning of July 19 and remaining at Fort Stanton until he was taken to Las Vegas July 22. Mr. Hamlin follows, in general, the conventional story of the killing of jailer Bell. Respect for surviving fami- lies of participants may have deterred him from relating the more plausible account accepted by Maurice Garland Fulton and others who enjoyed the confidence of old Lincoln citizens. Incidentally, Mr. Hamlin has Gauss throw Billy a file to the front porch of the court house, while Godfrey Gauss's own written statement is that he had run to his room in the back yard of the building and then, through a window in the court house, tossed Billy a prospector's pick. Billy's friend Brown signed his name "Henry," not "Hendry." And why change Milnor Rudulph's name to MacDonald Rudolph? There were no wings in the Pete Maxwell house ; the building was a per- fect rectangle. The Tunstall store is described as being built with an angle in front conforming to a bend in the street; at least one old photograph shows that the present angled

168 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

wing had not been constructed when the picture was taken long after the Lincoln County War. L. G. Murphy is identi- fied as a major marching across the Arizona desert with the California Column. War Department records show him as a Sgt. Major in the U. S. Regular Army some time prior to the Civil War, and that his Civil War service was entirely with the New Mexico Volunteers. By all accounts, including Gen. Lew Wallace's letter of instruction to Bonney, the Governor's interview with Billy was at the house of John B. Wilson ; and it is difficult to see how the story is improved by changing the place of meeting to the Ellis Hotel. Trivial matters? Per- haps, but enough to warn the reader not to accept the title "TRUE Story" too literally.

Although as a source of accurate and detailed informa- tion the book offers no serious challenge of Wm. A. Keleher's scholarly and factual Violence in Lincoln County, its omis- sions and occasional deviations from documented and ac- cepted fact should not prevent it from being recognized as certainly one of the better of the Billy books.

Chicago 11, Illinois 1000 Lake Shore Drive R. N. MULLIN

1S[ew Historical 'R

Palace of the Governors, Santa Fe

KANSAS CITY MO. PUBLIC LIBRARY

JUL7 I960

July, I960

Editors FRANK D. REEVE PAUL A. F. WALTER

Associates

PERCY M. BALDWIN GEORGE P. HAMMOND

FRANCE V. SCHOLES ELEANOR B. ADAMS

ARTHUR J. 0. ANDERSON

VOL. XXXV JULY, 1960 No. 3

CONTENTS

Page

Frank Bond : Gentleman Sheepherder of Northern New Mexico 1883-1915

Frank H. Grubbs 169

Navaho-Spanish Diplomacy, 1770-1790

Frank D. Reeve 200

West of the Pecos (continued)

E. L. Steve Stephens 236

Book Reviews 257

THE NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW is published jointly by the Historical Society of New Mexico and the University of New Mexico. Subscription to the REVIEW is by membership in the Society — open to all. Dues, including subscription, $5.00 annually, in advance. Single numbers, except a few which have become scarce, are $1.00 each. For further information regarding back files and other publications available, see back cover.

Membership dues and other business communications should be addressed to the Historical Society of New Mexico, Box 1727, Santa Fe, N. M. Manuscripts and editorial correspondence should be addressed to Prof. Frank D. Reeve, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, N. M.

Entered as second-class matter at Santa Fe, New Mexico PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, ALBUQUERQUE

FRANK BOND AND HIS SON, FRANKLIN

NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

VOL. XXXV JULY, 1960 No. 3

FRANK BOND

GENTLEMAN SHEEPHERDER OF NORTHERN

NEW MEXICO

1883-1915

By FRANK H. GRUBBS*

1. Introduction

SANTA FE had always been the commercial center of north- ern New Mexico, but after the republic of 1821 succeeded the viceroyalty, trade in that area began to build up. From an annual value of $15,000 in 1831 to about $1,750,000 in 1846, this overland trade eventually developed its own his- torical heritage and became known as the "Santa Fe Trade." Since under the new administration merchants were per- mitted to bring their merchandise from the east, the effort involved in supporting this tremendous supply system be- came significant in itself, employing over 5,000 men, 1,500 wagons, and more than 17,200 horses, mules, and oxen. This uniquely American supply line was fed from Westport Land- ing, near Kansas City, from merchandise received by steam- boat from St. Louis, then the gateway to the prairies. Pack trains of Pittsburg wagons which were popularly known as prairie schooners were supported by a number of merchants who banded together in the spring for protection against hostile Indians, and upon their midsummer arrival in Santa Fe these merchants would sell their goods in bulk to the traders. By the early part of the nineteenth century this method of transportation was largely supplanted by rail

* Master of Business Administration Thesis, College of Business Administration, University of New Mexico, 1958. 6106 Bellamah Ave., NE, Albuquerque.

169

170 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

transportation from the eastern markets, but the same prin- ciple prevailed.

A similar trade developed between Santa Fe and Mexico ; American goods were carried south to Mexico and exchanged for Mexican goods which were carried back north. Fre- quently, rather than ship goods to Mexico, large herds of sheep were driven to Mexico and traded for goods to be shipped to Santa Fe. Since Santa Fe was near high moun- tain waters above 7,000 feet, some thought was given to expanding this trade in local goods from sheep to ice which was an important product of Santa Fe and could be shipped throughout New Mexico, Arizona, the western half of Texas, and the northern half of Mexico.1

This expanding merchandise market in the Southwest was by no means the only lure for ambitious and aggressive young men who could couple a willingness to gamble their future on their own hard-headed abilities to an innate spirit of adventure and pioneering in an area that even to this day has been marked as a land of opportunity. The material symbol of the Southwest from which this attraction ema- nated was the sheep. The power of sheep during the nine- teenth century in New Mexico is unmeasurable. The sheep is said to have

rendered the Territory possible for three centuries in the face of the most savage and interminable Indian wars that any part of our country ever knew. He fed and clothed New Spain, and made its customs if not its laws. He reorganized society, led the fashions, caused the only machinery that was in New Mexico in three hundred years, made of a race of nomad savages the foremost of blanket weavers, and invented a slavery which is unto this day in spite of the Emancipation Proclamation.2

Herds of sheep on the order of half a million were not uncommon in New Mexico during the early nineteenth cen- tury, and many were imagined to have been much larger. The Spanish governor, Baca, has been credited with nearly

1. W. G. Ritch (ed.), Santa Fe: Ancient and Modern (Santa Fe: Bureau of Immi- gration, 1885), p. 30.

2. Charles F. Lummis, The Land of Poco Tiempo (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1952), p. 14.

FRANK BOND 171

two million head of sheep; El Guero (The Blond) Chaves, the first governor under the Mexican republic, has been credited with a million ; and Don Jose Leandro Perea is re- puted to have owned over 200,000 which were kept in flocks of about 2,500 each.3 In order to save trouble, Don Jose put his flocks in the charge of renters, called partidarios, who took care of the flocks during the year, paid all the expenses, replaced any losses, and received half the lambs and wool.4 This unique partnership arrangement gave employment to large numbers of natives and not only facilitated the amass- ment of several large fortunes but also actually made possible the workings of the early sheep economy itself. In addition to Baca, Chaves, and Perea, other families had wide interests in sheep, among which were the Armijos, Lunas, and Oteros who reportedly held sheep interests in the order of a quarter of a million sheep each by 1880.5

In 1859 George Giddings introduced the first purebred Merino sheep into New Mexico from Kentucky.6 During the period from 1876 until 1880 the introduction of Merinos oper- ated to improve the quality of the flocks in New Mexico, and the quantity of these sheep available was increased vastly due to the influx of sheep from California during the great sheep drives. The intrepid spirits who drove sheep during this fan- tastic time included Colonel Stoneroad, Robinson, Clancy, Zuber, Booth, and McKellar. Some picture of the vision re- quired can be seen in the financial risks necessary to support these drives which took about seven months to complete, often with losses of 35 per cent from the death of sheep enroute.

Wool, not mutton, was the chief object of sheep raising, and the wool clip rose from 32,000 pounds in 1850 to 493,000

3. Edward Norris Wentworth, America's Sheep Trails (Ames, Iowa: Iowa State College Press, 1948), p. 113.

4. Charles F. Lummis, A New Mexico David (New York: Scribner's, 1934), p. 26. The size of these early flocks and the rental paid to the patron may have been somewhat embellished in the course of time by enthusiastic natives recalling the old days. Later information based on early records does not indicate flocks being in existence of nearly this size, and there may be some discrepancy in the rental rates of 50 per cent on wool and increase, for nothing like that appears in later years.

5. Wentworth, op. tit., p. 114.

6. Ibid., p. 237.

172 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

pounds in 1860, 685,000 pounds in 1870, and a thumping 4,000,000 pounds in 1880.7

It is doubtful that Frank Bond, as he grew toward man- hood on a farm in Argenteuil County, Province of Quebec, Canada, where he was born on February 13, 1863,8 gave a great deal of thought to these considerations. However, after he married May Anna Caffal and assumed the responsibilities of his own household, the opportunities in that distant land to which his older brother, George Washington Bond,9 mi- grated began to be revealed. There is no indication that merchandising or sheep and wool husbandry were a major part of his native background, but it is likely that the pastoral flavor of his birthplace at least communicated some famili- arity with the subject to him.10

The adaptability of the Bonds to new lines of business, changes in the economic balance of their interests, and their conservative yet bold and forward-looking policies suggest a background somewhat more sophisticated in tone than that which is usually associated with an agrarian heritage, but it was doubtless the simple farm influences that developed the eventual character of these brothers who both by statement and conduct exemplified a set of moral, business, social, and ethical standards that were and have been rarely equalled.

The Bond name never blazed across the history books in the same orbit as that of Solomon Luna, Thomas Catron, Don Roman Baca, and others. They never managed to become involved in range wars with the cattlemen. They arrived too late for serious difficulties with Indians. Politics was anath-

7. Charles F. Coan, A History of New Mexico ( Chicago : The American Historical Society, Inc., 1925),!, 389.

8. Ellis Arthur Davis (ed.), The Historical Encyclopedia of New Mexico (Albuquer- que : New Mexico Historical Association, 1945) , p. 1634.

9. Frank Bond's name was Franklin and he occasionally signed it that way even though he did not like to be called Franklin. However, not one single reference is ever made to G. W. Bond's middle name in the entire collection of Bond papers nor in the historical literature. John Davenport of Espanola recalls that it was Washington.

10. It is interesting to note that the "dean in perpetuity" of the Boston wool trade was named George W. Bond. He filled a principal role in preparing the schedules that formed the basis of the Tariff of 1867, and his greatest fame emanated from his contri- butions to standard methods of wool grading. All efforts to link this Socrates of the National Wool Growers' Association to Frank and George Bond have failed, but the intriguing thought remains that this patriarchal old gentleman may have had some influence on the Bond sheep and wool activities that contributed so much to the development of northern New Mexico.

FRANK BOND 173

ema to them both, and they did not participate in any of the great sheep drives. Indeed, it was their desire to avoid all publicity; and even though their influence was felt strongly in public matters, this same influence was usually exercised without becoming publicly involved. They were interested in the Sheep Sanitary Board and the Republican Party, but in both cases, while taking active roles, they were content to let others hold the titles.

The influence of George and Frank Bond nevertheless spread rapidly across the entire northern half of New Mexico and much of southern Colorado with a notable lack of fan- fare, but the business complex which they fashioned and molded so carefully served New Mexico well and contributed importantly to the early economic growth of that area.

Since this system included not only intricately interlocked corporate organizations but also numerous joint venture ar- rangements for buying and selling wool and sheep, and various combinations of both, several ways of unfolding their story are open. The one chosen as being the most straight- forward and the least likely to introduce unnecessary confu- sion to a complex problem is centered around the various natural divisions of enterprise that may be associated to- gether because of geographical location or corporate unity. The highly fluid activities in sheep and wool are discussed in connection with the particular merchandise establishment to which it was the most closely related since that is the way in which the brothers, Frank and George Bond, undoubtedly thought about them. In fact, the tenor of their correspond- ence indicates that the various activities were in many in- stances thought about more in relation to the location than with respect to the corporate-partner concerned.

2. G.W.Bond&Bro.

From their earliest beginnings, the Bond interests in New Mexico had their diocesan seat in Espanola, New Mexico, and for about forty-two years the activities of this large merchandising and sheep organization were directed from that northern New Mexico community.

174 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

Frank Bond arrived in Santa Fe in September of 1883 * and later recalled :

The plaza had board walks and balconies overhead, full of saloons and a wide-open town, gambling going on in most of the saloons if not all of them, and Motley's dance hall was going full blast. ... I recall the drive in the four horse stage to Espanola, the driver quite picturesque in his blue shirt, broad-brim hat, with buckskin on the seat and knees of his trousers. The country seemed to me to be a perfect desert, and the people we met, with their few burro loads of wood and sacks of grain in tanned buffalo sacks, seemed so poor that I was by no means very favorably impressed with my new home.2

His brother, George, had arrived in New Mexico previ- ously and after having worked as a timekeeper for the D. & R. G. Railroad, went to work for Sam Eldodt, who oper- ated a general store in Chamita.3 Frank Bond joined his brother in Chamita the afternoon of the same day he arrived in Santa Fe, and just two weeks later they bought out a very small mercantile store operated by Scott and Whitehead, who had come into Espanola with the D. & R. G. Railroad as bull- whackers and spent three years there in the mercantile business.4 Bond recalled that Espanola at that time was "a quiet little town then comparatively to what it had been in the railroad building days, when it was really wild and wooly having eighteen saloons, in which they drank and gambled."5 The original business was thus established in Espanola in 1883, and although the very earliest records have now been lost in fires, it is generally understood that financial support of this embryo empire was arranged by way of a loan from the boys' father, G. W. Bond of Beech Ridge, Quebec.6

The business was operated as a co-partnership with the brothers sharing equally in the profits even though the part- ners' investments were never equal and in 1894 had even

1. Frank Bond, "Memoirs of Forty Years in New Mexico," Paper read before the Ten Dons, Albuquerque, New Mexico. [Published in NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW, 21 :340-349. October, 1946. F.D.R.]

2. Ibid.

3. Interview with John E. Davenport, Espanola, New Mexico, June 1, 1957.

4. Bond, loc. cit.

5. Bond, loc cit.

6. Interview with Stuart MacArthur, Wagon Mound, New Mexico, April 27, 1957.

FRANK BOND 175

diverged to the point where George Bond's investment was almost six times that of Frank Bond's.7 No written record of the partnership agreement exists, and indeed there may never have been one. However, when the partnership was dissolved in 1911 a formal dissolution agreement was prepared.

The earliest balance sheet of the G. W. Bond & Bro. Com- pany is undated, but it does reflect the condition of the busi- ness within the first seven years and certainly as of no later than December 31, 1890. Several observations may be made from an examination of this first balance sheet, shown in Table 1, particularly when it is viewed in connection with data for subsequent years.

That the Bonds were not unaware of the possibilities for expansion of their activities into southern Colorado is ap- parent from the fact that at this early date an account was maintained in the Pueblo, Colorado, bank and a considerable investment in property had already been made in Walsen- burg.8 Certainly this movement to include southern Colorado as well as northern New Mexico within the sphere of activi- ties did subsequently develop into an important reality.

TABLE 1

BALANCE SHEET OF G. W. BOND & BRO., ESPANOLA, AS OF DECEMBER 31, 1890, OR EARLIER

Resources

Merchandise $13,780.82

Cash— Santa Fe Bank 12,232.54

Pueblo Bank 1,975.55

Bank Accounts 10,265.68

7. Records of G. W. Bond and Frank Bond in the Bond Papers (Frank Bond Col- lection, University of New Mexico Library, Albuquerque). Much of the financial data, numbers of sheep, dates, places, events, and sequences of events were obtained by the collection, analysis, and comparison of information found in a number of books, docu- ments, notations, and otherwise unidentifiable memoranda. More precise citation of authority is impractical. In many cases it has been possible to verify the accuracy of figures by tracing them to accounts located in other parts of the state, and in other cases the conclusions drawn from combining fragments of information in miscellaneous nota- tions have been independently verified ; other attempts at cross-verification have been inconclusive or even contradictory. Such anomalous conditions are either discussed in the text or fully disclosed by appropriate footnotes.

8. The Walsenburg property appears to have been disposed of in 1893, but the bank account in Pueblo was continued.

176 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

Bank Collection Account 1,536.63

Espanola Property 1,626.55

Walsenburg Property 4,070.95

Total Resources $45,488.72

Liabilities

Accounts Payable $ 611.21

George Wm. Bond (Canada) 11,399.65

G. W. Bond $13,905.39

Profit 5,680.32

19,585.71

F. Bond 8,211.83

Profit 5,680.32

13,892.15 Total Liabilities $45,488.72

The principal object of the original business was the sale of merchandise; and in a community which had just settled down from the wild and wooly days that accompanied the advent of the railroad, the economic opportunity for a gen- eral merchandise line in the hands of capable and honest operators must have been unsurpassed. Although it is almost certain that there were some dealings in sheep and wool at an earlier date by the Bond brothers as individuals, no indica- tion of such activities appears on the books of the company until 1893 when an investment in sheep of just over $500 appears. A year-end wool balance first occurred at the end of 1897 of about $1,100, and while the sheep balance in 1893 may reveal the earliest sheep activity, the 1897 wool balance merely indicates the first year in which there was a carry- over of unsold wool.9

Thus, by 1890, from what Frank Bond described as a "very small investment in merchandise"10 which they bought from Scott and Whitehead in 1883, there was now almost $14,000 worth of merchandise on the shelves, and the busi- ness had netted over $11,000 in profit in a single year.11 By 1890, also, the amount due to George William Bond in Beech Ridge, Quebec, was $11,399.65. If the original loan from

9. Records, loc. tit.

10. Bond, op. cit.

11. Records, loc. cit.

FRANK BOND 177

their father was $25,000,12 it is not unreasonable to conclude that during the first seven years of business the principal could have been reduced by $13,600, thus lending some cre- dence to the $25,000 unsupported estimate.

In the following year, 1891, the merchandise investment jumped from $13,780 to $30,666 and then climbed to $44,000 by the end of 1905. In 1906 the Bond and Nohl organization began to carry on the general merchandise activity, and therefore the merchandise investment was no longer carried by G. W. Bond & Bro. Company. Table 2 shows the year-end investment in merchandise for the period from 1890 through 1905, the last year of mercantile activity by G. W. Bond & Bro. and a year in which total sales amounted to $137,000.13

TABLE 2

G. W. BOND & BRO. MERCHANDISE INVENTORY

(dollars in thousands)

Year	Amount
1890	$13.8
1891	30.7
1892	22.8
1893	29.2
1894	30.4
1895	32.6
1896	29.0
1897	48.8
1898	39.1
1899	33.9
1900	30.7
1901	31.0
1902	33.9
1903	31.9
1904	32.2
1905	43.9

Before continuing a discussion of the G. W. Bond & Bro. Company, it is necessary to have an understanding of the concern's general organizational development over the period

12. This is the figure mentioned several times in interviews as being the amount of the original loan, but it is always indicated to be founded on hearsay.

13. Records, loc. cit.

178 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

of years it existed. After its establishment in 1883 as outlined above, it operated substantially without change until 1905 when George Bond moved from Wagon Mound14 to Colo- rado.15 The partnership continued unchanged, but there now existed two separate and distinct offices, one in Trinidad, Colorado, and the other in Espanola, New Mexico. While the latter was physically represented by a general merchandise store, it is likely that the former included only office space in George Bond's home. The Espanola business, of course, con- tinued with the operation of the store. The major investments carried by the Espanola and Trinidad branches are shown in Table 3 and reveal the general type of activity at each location.

While both branches operated extensively in sheep and wool, investments in land and purely financial ventures were generally conducted in Trinidad, while expansion funds gen- erally came from Espanola. Actually, however, there appears to have been no hard and fast rule as the loans were shifted freely back and forth between Trinidad and Espanola as the situation demanded. In addition, Espanola advanced money to Trinidad, and vice versa, as well as going in together on wool ventures. These various operations will be examined more closely.

TABLE 3 G. W. BOND & BRO. INVESTMENTS*

Espanola Trinidad

Merchandise Inventory

Bills Receivable Bills Receivable

G. W. Bond & Bro., G. W. Bond & Bro. Wagon Mound Mercantile Co.

a. The investments shown are not all-inclusive nor are they applicable to any one year. They are selected from various years to illustrate differences over a longer period of time.

14. Infra, chap. iv.

15. George Bond's movements are difficult to trace accurately. One interesting but completely unsubstantiated story relates that the firm went broke shortly after it started in 1883 and that George Bond found it necessary to return to the employ of Sam Eldodt in Chamita until about 1885 when the Bonds, armed with fresh capital from Canada, re-established the Espanola business. More reliable conclusions, however, drawn from the fragmentary information available indicate that he left Espanola and went to Wagon Mound in about 1893 and remained there until 1904 or 1905 when he moved to Trinidad, Colorado. It also seems that he spent some time in Encino during 1905, but since he apparently left his wife in Trinidad this was probably just long enough to get the Encino business started. In 1911 he appears to have moved to Boise, Idaho.

FRANK BOND 179

Sheep Sheep

Trampas Grant Beck Grant

Real Estate Real Estate

Cash Cash

Accounts Receivable

Brown & Adams Brown & Adams

Bond & Nohl Co.

G. W. Bond & Bro., Trinidad

Tome Grant

Wood River Ranch

Wool Wool

Mitchell Lakes Reservoir Co. Land at Nunn, Colorado Laramie-Poudre Reservoir & Irrigation Co.

In 1906, the general merchandise activities were taken over in Espanola by the Bond and Nohl Company, thus leav- ing G. W. Bond & Bro., Espanola, to operate as a part of the brotherhood partnership in the same manner as Trinidad, concentrating most of the effort toward sheep and wool while Louis Nohl managed the store.

In 1911 the partnership was dissolved, as discussed below, and the name of G. W. Bond & Bro. disappeared from the New Mexico scene as an entity, the brothers holding invest- ments together and singly as individuals. Frank Bond con- tinued to do business as an individual or sole proprietor after this time, and since there was no company name with which to identify this period of activity, it is discussed in Chapter III under his own name.

Soon after the original organization of G. W. Bond & Bro. in Espanola, credit extension was begun. Indeed, it was a prerequisite to success, becoming more and more important as the sheep rental side of the business developed the need for extension of credit to the partidarios. By the end of 1890 the open accounts totalled $10,265.68 with a merchandise in- ventory of less than $14,000. The following year the accounts more than doubled, and by 1898 the book accounts amounted to $54,685.18, conservatively stated.16 In 1906, open accounts on the Espanola books from individuals and firms amounted

16. Records, loc. cit.

180 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

to $64,561.87 and Bills Receivable had grown to the enormous figure of $178,002.75. By the end of 1907, however, Bills Re- ceivable had dropped to $58,000 and the open accounts were off to less than $1,600 in Espanola. After 1906, the open book accounts thus became practically non-existent (there never were any in Trinidad) due to the fact that these accounts were in connection with the store which by now operated under the name of Bond & Nohl. Secured receivables, in the form of notes and mortgages, were a major form in invest- ment, however, particularly in Trinidad where by the end of 1908 they totalled over $314,000, the important items of which are listed in Table 4.

TABLE 4

G. W. BOND & BRO., TRINIDAD SECURED RECEIVABLES*

Notes of Camfield & Shields and Iliff & Thorpe $161,000

Colorado-Arizona Sheep Co., chattel mortgage on sheep 32,000

Lewis Kern, chattel mortgage on sheep and trust deed on

property at Windsor, Colorado 15,000

G. W. Bond & Bro. Mercantile Co., Encino 33,180

Manuel Paltenghe and A. MacArthur note in

payment for stock at Wagon Mound 21,000

W. A. Dunlavy, Willard, New Mexico 12,000

a. Note appearing on statement for January 7, 1909. Records, loc. cit.

Since there appears on the 1890 balance sheet something over $4,000 representing an investment in Walsenburg prop- erty and since it dropped off the statement at the end of 1893, this investment may have been, and probably was, in the nature of land speculation. However, the original $1,600 in- vestment in Espanola property was supplemented in 1891 and was carried at about $4,300 for a number of years, evidencing additions in 1895 and subsequent periods. By the turn of the century, investment in buildings, stores, and warehouses in Espanola had reached almost $15,000. In 1906, however, both the real estate investment and $3,400 in furniture and fix- tures dropped from the G. W. Bond & Bro. statements, due no doubt to the advent of Bond & Nohl and the cessation of any real estate requirement for the G. W. Bond & Bro. busi-

FRANK BOND 181

ness. Real estate investments for selected years are shown in Table 5.

TABLE 5

G. W. BOND & BRO. REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT FOR SELECTED YEARS

(dollars in thousands)

Year	Espanola	Trinidad
1900	$15.4	$
1901	15.4
1902	15.6
1903	15.6
1904	15.6	6.6 »
1905	11.0	6.6
1906	0.0	0.0

a. The real estate on the Trinidad accounts covered the property for the G. W. Bond & Bro. store at Roy, New Mexico. Infra, chap. iv.

The extent of wool trading the very earliest years of the G. W. Bond & Bro. Company is obscure inasmuch as only balance sheet data are available. Wools were usually con- signed or sold to the eastern commission house of Brown & Adams in the fall and so year-end wool balances are mislead- ing and do not reflect the year's activity in that commodity. In fact, the only year-end investment at Espanola of signifi- cant size was $93,000 at the end of 1906 which represented wool on hand and wool sold subject to draft.17 Some unsold wools were occasionally on hand at year's end in Trinidad, but at Espanola the wools were generally sold by the end of the year.

Advances on wools were not shown on year-end state- ments and therefore provide no clue to early activity in this commodity. These loans against future wool deliveries were usually made in the late spring or early summer and were directly offset against wool sales in the fall. However, by 1893, ten years after the founding, the wool business had grown to some proportion and the Bonds were buying all the wool in that part of the country.18

17. Records, loc. cit.

18. "I recall the panic of 1893, the banks would not loan a dollar. We bought all the wool in our country at six cents per pound and sold it for six and a half cents, in fact

182 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

Wool operations were generally divided into two areas. Wool profits accrued from the sale of fleeces received as rent from partidarios to whom flocks were mortgaged, and income was also derived from the purchase of wool clips from local owners and growers and their subsequent sale in the eastern wool markets. This purchase and sale of wool from sheep not owned by the Bonds was generally referred to as the handling of "outside" wools. Both the wool received as rent and the wool bought from outside growers were similarly sold to the commission merchant who worked with the Bonds in three different ways. The wools could be consigned to the commis- sion merchant who sold the Bond wool; or if the eastern merchant had more confidence in the market than did the western buyer the western buyer could buy local wools in the name of the merchant and sell to him at a profit, a method of operation rarely chosen by the Bonds. The third way in which the merchants worked with the Bonds was a joint account arrangement under which the merchant put up money along with his client to finance the purchase of wool, thus sharing the risk between them.19

The first specific indication we have of G. W. Bond & Bro. outside wool activity is not impressive. The 1901 fall wools were sold through Brown and Adams with a final loss of $1,868.20 Bond knew that he had paid too much for them but felt that he had been bound to buy it from his customers, not only out of his sense of responsibility toward them but also to protect his sources of wool and thus insure them for better years.21 In the following year, 1902, Frank Bond stated, "We do not expect to handle very much [wool] this year, on ac-

we had it sold before we bought it ; otherwise we could not have handled it. We had no competition. Wool was so low in price that the Arizona wool growers were unable to get enough for their wool to pay the freight and the shearing charges. Those fine Arizona ewes sold under the hammer at 50 cents per head. We were forced to take ewes in pay- ment of accounts at one dollar per head which was full value for them. This price seems ridiculous now when ewes are selling at ten and twelve dollars per head. During this panic of 1893, most of the merchants had to remit the currency for their groceries which they bought in Colorado, as the wholesale grocery dealers were afraid the banks would break before the checks would be paid. Conditions were bad in New Mexico, but I doubt very much that we had anything like the suffering they had in other states ; in fact I am sure we didn't." Bond, loc tit.

19. Interview with G. A. Anderson, Boston, Massachusetts, July 17, 1957.

20. Letter Book No. 6, April 23, 1902, and April 25, 1902.

21. Ibid., April 23, 1902.

FRANK BOND 183

count of the present high prices which are being paid by Gross-Kelly & Co. The growers have their ideas quite elevated."22

In later years, all wool shipped to Boston was scoured,23 but in 1903 the wools were still being shipped in the grease24 and Brown and Adams sold 557,646 pounds of wool at a loss of almost $10,000.25 These wools were from widely scattered points — Tres Piedras, Ft. Garland, Del Norte, Pagosa Springs, Walsenburg, Lynn, and Cacharas — and had been bought and sold on a joint account with Fred Warshauer in Antonito, Colorado, with whom the loss was shared equally.26 The next year, 1904, was considerably brighter on the wool side, and the $50,000 profit reported from Trinidad was largely a result of the 1904 wool clip.27 The wool business did well also in 1905 when the profits from the spring wools were just over $25,000.28 The years 1906 and 1907 were again poor, and George Bond in Trinidad wrote off $25,450 to cover losses in those years.29

There must have been some buying and selling of sheep during the very early years of the G. W. Bond & Bro. business, although it was probably of not enough significance to record. The earliest evidence we have was at the end of 1893 when $561.64 was reflected as a sheep asset.30 The investment in sheep grew steadily from that time onward until by the close of 1900 there were $36,238 invested in sheep, and the herds on rent numbered over 18,000 head.31 In 1904, George Bond in Trinidad had over 24,000 sheep on rent,32 and the following year another 17,000 were on rent near Espanola.33 The year-

22. Ibid., June 5, 1902.

23. Interview with G. A. Anderson.

24. Letter Book No. 6, June 27, 1903.

25. Ibid., August 1, 1903.

26. Infra, chaps, iii and vi. The partnership with Warshauer with respect to wool trading is discussed more fully in connection with Frank Bond's activity after the G. W. Bond partnership was dissolved. The Bond-Warshauer sheep trading and sheep feeding partnership is discussed in connection with the Bond & Nohl Co. with which it was more directly concerned.

27. Records, loc. cit.

28. Ibid.

29. Ibid.

30. Ibid.

31. Ibid.

32. Ibid.

33. Ibid.

184 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

end sheep investment is shown in Table 6 for the years 1893 through 1910.

The year-end sheep balances are, however, somewhat mis- leading in that they do not entirely represent the cost of sheep on hand. Rather, they represent the net investment since sales were credited directly to the sheep accounts and can there- fore produce a rather severe understatement of assets. Thus, in 1907 the Trinidad accounts carried a zero balance when in fact there were 14,993 sheep on rent and income from sales

TABLE 6

G. W. BOND & BRO. SHEEP INVESTMENT (dollars in thousands)

Year	Espanola	Trinidad	Total
1893	$ 0.6		$ 0.6
1894	2.6		2.6
1895	6.7		6.7
1896	9.6		9.6
1897	11.9		11.9
1898	20.6		20.6
1899	29.7		29.7
1900	36.4		36.4
1901	44.5		44.5
1902	46.8		46.8
1903	26.8		26.8
1904	24.9	$38.2	63.1
1905	37.4	30.3	67.7
1906	40.9	28.3	69.2
1907	48.1	.0	48.1
1908	...	...	. . .
1909	69.2	.0	69.2
1910	84.5	.0	84.5

had reduced the net account balance to the point where the sheep were all profit.34 Therefore the rate of flock increase probably exceeded that indicated by the balances shown in the accounts.

Another caution is in order here for neither do these balances entirely represent the sheep on rent. In addition to

34. Ibid.

FRANK BOND 185

rented flocks, the cost of some lambs purchased for subse- quent resale were also included as well as ewes and lambs contracted for future delivery. The earliest positive indica- tion of sheep on rent appeared in 1895 when the account was detailed to show that a portion of the sheep were out on rent. Similarly, the earliest indication of winter sheep feeding was in 1902 when $17,500 worth of sheep were on feed in Ne- braska with C. B. Reynolds.35

Certainly, a great deal of buying and selling of sheep and lambs was normally carried on during the year, at least until after the formation of Bond & Nohl which then assumed this activity, and in May, 1902, 45,000 ewes and wethers were offered for sale to A. Staab in Santa Fe.36 In June, 1903, 15,- 000 wethers had been contracted for July delivery and 10,000 had already been sold for shipment in September.37 Alto- gether, G. W. Bond & Bro. expected to buy and turn more than 100,000 head of sheep that year.38

In 1893, G. W. Bond & Bro. invested funds in the amount of $27,000 in the new store at Wagon Mound which had just been established and was struggling along on an investment by the partners of only $4,300.39 In addition to the Bonds' personal investment maintained in the Wagon Mound busi- ness, the partnership of G. W. Bond & Bro. maintained a continuing investment in that branch although no profits on the investment were returned to G. W. Bond & Bro. Com- pany. The investment in the Wagon Mound store by the Espanola business is shown in Table 7 below.

TABLE 7

G. W. BOND & BRO.

WAGON MOUND INVESTMENT

(dollars in thousands)

End of Year Amount

1893 $26.9

1894 .. 32.8

35. Ibid.

36. Letter Book No. 6, May 81, 1902.

37. Ibid., June 8, 1903.

38. Ibid.

39. Records, loc. cit. The Wagon Mound store, called the A. MacArthur Company at a later date, is treated elsewhere. Infra, chap. iv.

186 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

1895 40.4

1896 47.0

1897 47.0

1898 48.4

1899 48.3

1900 47.1

1901 47.3

1902 50.0

1903 53.2

1904

1905 53.3

1906 53.3

1907 57.5

1908 . .

1909 0

1910 0.0

A comparison of the Wagon Mound liabilities with the Espanola investment reveals a perplexing condition. The latter, as shown in Table 7, indicates an investment in the Wagon Mound business all the way through 1907 at the end of which there is indicated an investment in the Wagon Mound business of over $57,000. However, the former show no liabilities whatsoever to the Espanola partnership after 1903. This anomaly is completely inexplicable. It was a firm practice to present the assets and liabilities of the various companies in a very conservative manner, valuing the assets with due consideration to possible bad accounts, depreciation on capital plant, and reduction in value of merchandise. To have purposely overstated the assets of G. W. Bond & Bro., Espanola, while understating the liabilities of G. W. Bond & Bro., Wagon Mound, would have been unthinkable. Neither is it probable that the Wagon Mound liability was misclassi- fied since for the year 1905 the total liabilities and net worth were only $62,000 — hardly more than the $53,000 investment of the Espanola business — and there were $30,000 of capital stock included in those liabilities and net worth. It is unlikely, either, that there may have been an error in bookkeeping since the situation existed over a period of several years.

While speculating on bookkeeping errors, it is of interest to note that in 1906 the books were out of balance by $10,- 680.34 which it was necessary to "plug" in order to force a

FRANK BOND 187

balance.40 In the light of Frank Bond's continual emphasis on meticulous attention to business, it is history's loss that his remarks to the unfortunate bookkeeper on that occasion were not recorded.

With the establishment of an office in Trinidad, the in- vestment in the Beck Grant and the Esteros Ranch was trans- ferred from the Wagon Mound books and was carried as a Trinidad investment until it was sold in 1907.41

The Trampas Grant also represented an important Bond investment during the years from 1903 through 1907 and is treated separately elsewhere.42

A private land claim known as the Tome Grant in Valen- cia County became the subject of considerable interest in 1909. In July of that year George Bond, then in Trinidad, Frank Bond in Espanola, Eugene A. Fiske, a Santa Fe attor- ney, and Ireneo L. Chaves, of the same city, joined in an effort to buy this property. The Bonds supplied all the funds needed, including not only the purchase money with which to buy the grant but also salaries and expenses for both Chaves and Fiske. Chaves was paid one hundred dollars a month and expenses and devoted his entire effort to finding and contact- ing the owners of interests in the grant. He secured on behalf of the Bonds an interest from each of the owners in return for which the Bonds were to settle ownership questions by suits in partition or to quiet title on their property. In addi- tion, he obtained powers of attorney permitting the Bonds to sell the owners' remaining interest. Chaves spent a great deal of time tracing genealogies on every party owning any interest in the grant, and he was empowered to purchase for the Bonds all the acreage he could at a price of twenty-five cents an acre.43

Fiske, for his part, handled all the legal work connected with bringing suits in the District Court and even taking them to the Supreme Court of the Territory if it became necessary. He examined titles obtained by Chaves, prepared

40. Records, loc. cit.

41. Infra, chap. iv.

42. Infra, chap. vii.

43. Contract between George W. Bond, Frank Bond, Eugene A. Fiske, and Ireneo L. Chaves, July 17, 1909, Bond Papers, loc. cit.

188 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

all the legal forms required, and in addition rode herd on Chaves who was inclined to prolong his salaried employment by operating at something less than top speed. Fiske received fifty dollars a month and expenses from the Bonds.44

The Bond brothers' responsibility in the four-way part- nership was to furnish all the money, including that neces- sary to buy the grant; they in turn were to receive title to the parcels of land. However, they were bound to sell the grant as soon as possible at a price of not less than three dollars an acre (purchased for twenty-five cents an acre) and, after recouping their advance expenditures they were to divide the profit equally between the four parties.45

Chaves did field work collecting the genealogies and con- tracts for over a year and in due course actually did amass data on a considerable number of family trees.46 While the exact number of parties concerned is not revealed, Fiske had 1,500 contracts printed for Chaves' use.47 The entire opera- tion was kept as quiet as possible for other financial interests were eyeing the possibility of investing in parts of the grant, Fiske cautioning Frank Bond that "Neil B. Field is after that interest, and he will of course make more strenuous efforts to get it if he finds that suit to partition the grant has been commenced."48

The records through 1915 do not reveal how much, if any, of the project was completed, and correspondence on the subject is strangely lacking. The investment in the Tome Grant was not divided when G. W. Bond & Bro. was dissolved, and at the end of 1912, Frank Bond's own interest was just $2,700.49 This undoubtedly covered only legal fees and sal- aries, but since this item does not appear again after 1912, and in the absence of any other evidence, it can be assumed that the project was given up, at least insofar as Frank Bond was concerned. George Bond's remark, made after a tour of

44. Ibid.

45. Ibid.

46. Letter of Ireneo L. Chaves to G. W. Bond & Bro., September 16, 1909, Bond Papers, loc. cit.

47. Letter of Eugene A. Fiske to G. W. Bond & Bro., October 2, 1909, Bond Papers, loc. cit.

48. Ibid., June 20, 1910.

49. Records, loc. cit.

FRANK BOND 189

the Tome Grant in 1910 is indicative of their diminishing interest in it. He wrote : "The Tome Grant does not look a bit good to me. ... I believe that this will be a good piece of land to let somebody else have when it comes to be sold."50

At the end of 1903, G. W. Bond & Bro. carried an invest- ment of $3,978.27 in the C. L. Pollard Company,51 but after that year this investment was not carried by the G. W. Bond & Bro. partnership.

In 1906, the Bonds made an important investment in the Mitchell Lakes Reservoir Company at Larimer, Colorado. This outlay amounted to $67,722.54, and at the end of that year Frank Bond stated that they believed they could turn the property for $100,000 if they so desired. It appears that they did in fact do so for this investment only appears once. This expenditure must have impressed both George and Frank Bond for the same sum was included in both the Espanola and Trinidad statements at the end of 1906.52 It is not per- fectly clear from the record whether this investment was in the form of stock or real estate or both, although there is some evidence that it at least included 4,320 acres of land;53 neither is it recorded what the final selling price was nor the exact date of sale. However, the following year George Bond in Trinidad paid $332.64 to the Union Pacific as a down pay- ment on two and one-half sections of land at Mitchell Lakes and arranged, curiously enough, for eight more payments to be made on this particular parcel of land, the total cost of which was to be $828.72.54 In 1908 this Mitchell Lakes land was sold to Myron H. Akin for $3,500 which was to be paid in November, 1909.55 The deeds were placed in escrow with the First National Bank of Fort Collins, Colorado, pending settlement.56

In 1907, George Bond also invested $10,000 in a section of land east of Nunn, Colorado. This was supplemented sub- sequently by investments in ranch property bought from Vie- so. Letter of G. W. Bond to Frank Bond, May 25, 1910, Bond Papers, loc. cit.

51. Successor to Biggs, Pollard, and Graves, Infra, chap. ix.

52. Records, loc. cit.

53. G. W. Bond to F. Bond, January 20, 1903, loc. cit.

54. Records, loc. cit.

55. Ibid.

56. Ibid.

190 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

tor Stuart and by the beginning of 1911 their investment in Colorado ranches had grown to $12,499.37.57 The Nunn prop- erty was by the end of 1909 worth $40 an acre, but it was not sold and was finally left as undivided property when the partnership dissolved in 1911. The Victor Stuart ranches were sold to the Laramie-Poudre Reservoir & Irrigation Company for the amount of the investment, producing no profit or loss.58 As late as June, 1910, however, the transac- tion had not been consummated, the property having been neither paid for nor deeded, and the papers were still in the hands of Judge Julius C. Gunter.59 Both the Mitchell Lakes property and the Victor Stuart ranches were still under op- tion to Akin and the Laramie-Poudre Reservoir & Irrigation Company respectively at the time the G. W. Bond & Bro. partnership ended.

During the period that George Bond resided in Trinidad, Colorado, his inclinations led him to drift away from sheep and wool and to engage more and more in other types of investment activities. These proclivities eventually led him to settle in California and pursue this type of business to the exclusion of the work he began with his brother in Espanola and Wagon Mound.60

In line with this type of investment activity, there was generated in about 1907 an investment that became highly complex, figured in a case before the Supreme Court of the United States,61 and possibly even contributed in an indirect way to the death of a man.

The genesis of this matter is somewhat obscure due to the fact that George Bond regularly cleaned out his files and destroyed all his old records.62 However, the story that can be pieced together from the remains of Frank Bond's files indicates that in 1907 the Bond brothers, in partnership with Jesse Harris and Myron Akin, purchased the Mitchell Lakes

57. Ibid.

58. Ibid.

59. Ibid.

60. His son, Clarence Bond, still operates the investment business of G. W. Bond and Son in Santa Ana, California.

61. Many years later the Bonds carried a case in which they were direct litigants to the United States Supreme Court.

62. Letter from Clarence Bond, May 28, 1957.

FRANK BOND 191

Reservoir Company each taking a one-fourth interest. The company was reorganized, becoming the Laramie-Poudre Reservoir & Irrigation Company mentioned above, and own- ing land and ditches near Ft. Collins, Colorado.63 G. W. Bond & Bro., Trinidad, invested $14,000, of which $4,000 were in bonds of the company and the remaining $10,000 an outright loan.64 By January, 1908, the loan was becoming shaky and was expected to become a loss unless they could get the plant themselves and make it pay out.63 The entire transaction was financed by the Bonds ; and they accepted a note from Akin, Harris being extended an open loan of over $18,000 which by January, 1908, was about equally uncertain as to collecti- bility. Frank Bond, and presumably each of the others, re- ceived stock from the Laramie-Poudre Company with par value of $25,000 each.66 The general effect of these transac- tion was to give the Bonds an investment in stock for their investment in land.

Sometime between January and May, 1908, the Bonds acquired full ownership of the Laramie-Poudre Reservoir & Irrigation Company and then sold their entire holdings in the concern to The Empire Construction Company, repre- sented by D. A. Camfield, President, and S. H. Shields. To consummate this transaction, G. W. Bond & Bro. accepted from Camfield and Shields on May 2, 1908, their note for $161,284.78, due in two years at the Capital National Bank of Denver, and bearing interest at 6 per cent, payable semi- annually. The Bond holdings for which this note was ex- changed consisted of the items shown in Table 8.67 The note was secured by 1,500 shares of Laramie-Poudre stock, forty- three bonds with a face value of $500 each, and $10,802.95 in scrip which, along with the note itself, were placed in Judge Julius C. Gunter's personal safety box in the Capital National Bank.68

The sale transaction was handled by Judge Gunter, and in return for his services he was to receive $10,000, to be

63. Interview with John E. Davenport.

64. Records, loc. cit.

65. G. W. Bond to F. Bond, January 20, 1908, loc. cit.

66. Ibid.

67. Letter of G. W. Bond to Julius C. Gunter, May 18, 1908, Bond Papers, loc. cit.

68. Ibid.

192 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

paid $1,000 in cash and the rest when the note was paid in full.

On November 2, 1908, J. R. Thorpe and W. S. Iliff gave the Bonds a note for $15,255.39, also due on May 2, 1910, in partial payment of the Camfield & Shields note. Neither the Camfield & Shields note nor the Iliff & Thorpe note were paid on the due date, and the long collection process began. A

TABLE 8

INTEREST IN LARAMIE-POUDRE RESERVOIR & IRRIGATION COMPANY SOLD TO CAMFIELD & SHIELDS

Amount due on stock $131,512.04

Scrip 10,802.95

Interest on scrip 108.03

Bonds ($21,500 at 85) 18,275.00

Interest 182.75

Open account 251.00

Interest 2.51

Cash March 26 100.00

Interest .50

Cash April 20 50.00

Total $161,284.78

$10,000 payment was made in July and smaller payments, plus interest, were also received later in that year, so that by the end of 1910 the balance was down to about $117,000. Similar payments were received from Iliff & Thorpe, and by the end of the same year the unpaid balance of their note was about $7,000. However, at this point payments ceased altogether, and three years passed without even an interest payment.69 Messrs Camfield and Shields had by this time fallen on bad times, and in 1914 Camfield died suddenly as a result of his financial worries.70 However, thanks to an alert insurance agent named John A. Carter, Judge Gunter saved the day. Carter had quietly warned the Judge that Camfield's life insurance policy was about to lapse, and so Gunter, mov- ing swiftly, had obtained an assignment of it in behalf of the Bonds shortly before Camfield's untimely death. The pro-

69. Letters of G. W. Bond to Frank Bond, August 15, 1910, September 12, 1910, December 8, 1910, Bond Papers, loc. cit.

70. Letter of Julius C. Gunter to G. W. Bond, December 15, 1914, Bond Papers, loc. cit.

FRANK BOND 193

ceeds of this life insurance paid the interest to date and re- duced the loan balance to $101, 000. 71 Prior to his death, Cam- field had attempted to improve Bond's collateral position by giving the deed to his residence property and $9,000 more in Laramie-Poudre bonds.

Meanwhile, Judge Gunter was also having a difficult time collecting the Iliff & Thorpe note. As the Colorado statute of limitation was about to bar further collection action, Gunter moved in April, 1916, to make further collections, and he succeeded in getting J. R. Thorpe and W. S. Iliff each to pay him ten dollars in cash plus a $1,000 National Fuel Company bond. This reduced their balance to $7,682.01 by April 15, 1916.72

After Camfield's passing, Gunter encountered consider- able indifference on the part of Shields who stoutly main- tained that he was broke after surrendering $50,000 par value bonds of the Greeley-Poudre Irrigation District.73 They were credited against the note for $16,400. The Greeley- Poudre Irrigation District gave rise to a dispute between Wyoming and Colorado over the waters of the Laramie River which finally went to the Supreme Court of the United States,74 and this dispute undoubtedly was the reason, in part at least, why the bonds were valued so low. In addition, Gunter foreclosed on the remaining collateral which con- sisted principally of Laramie-Poudre bonds and scrip, so that on February 11, 1916, the balance due on the ill-starred Cam- field & Shields note was down to $68,006.82. After this time, no further trace of this investment appears among the Bond records, and its ultimate fate is unknown.

Beginning in 1906, G. W. Bond & Bro., Espanola, pro- vided considerable financial support to the newly-established Bond & Nohl Company in Espanola above and beyond the capital stock of the company. By the end of 1909 this invest- ment had grown from $40,000 to over $150,000 and at the end of 1910 amounted to $177,000, Trinidad supplying an- other $40,000.75

71. Ibid.

72. Ibid., April 26, 1916.

73. Ibid., May 1, 1916.

74. Ibid., June 27, 1916.

75. Records, loc. eit.

194 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

When G. W. Bond & Bro. was first established, the liabili- ties (other than the note to G. W. Bond, Canada) started off on a modest basis and generally remained so until after the turn of the century when the bills payable, both at Espanola and at Trinidad, began to run well into five figures ; but since the note from Canada varied in size from year to year and was also included in the bills payable, no accurate estimate of this type of liability can be made.

Profitwise, George and Frank Bond did well almost from the start. In 1890, the first year for which we can see the profit record, they netted over $11,000, divided evenly be- tween the partners. There was a poor year in 1893 and total profits were just over the $3,500 mark, but the business im- proved so that 1905 produced a profit of almost $48,000, comprised of the elements tabulated in Table 9. In 1906, the next year, profits were still $39,000 at Espanola alone, even with the loss of the merchandise activity which had been turned over to Bond & Nohl. Of this figure, $25,000 was from wool. The 1907 slump dropped the net profits to $9,000.76 The

76. Ibid. Recalling this dismal year, Frank Bond later wrote : "The Roosevelt panic, 1907 was a bad one too in our business, that is, trading in sheep. We buy and advance a dollar a head, and we contract to the feeder and he advances us a dollar per head. These feeders don't have their own money to operate, but in those days borrowed generally from their local banks which were necessarily small banks. They came on to receive their sheep (the panic occurred in the fall). Not knowing that there was a panic, they gave us their checks and drafts on their banks, quite a number of these were turned down, and the result was we had to appeal to our banks for help, as there was no other way to do except to carry these sheep for those feeders until they were fat and sold on the market. The Major [R. J. Palen] surely proved a loyal friend to us during this cataclysm

"I recall during this trouble having received word that one of these drafts for $18,000.00 had been turned down. I took the train from Espanola to see the Major at Santa Fe. I was feeling bad when I left home but when I got to Santa Fe the agent handed me two wires when I got off the train advising me of two other drafts for different amounts being turned down. By that time I was sick ! I could not find Major Palen, and did not see him until late that night, at least it seemed long to me. He told me he would see us through, but to not use the bank for any more than we had to. I still had quite a number of sheep to receive and pay for. I recall going up to Servilleta to receive lambs from a bunch of our old customers. I told them about the panic and the position we were in, that we could borrow the money to pay for the lambs, but if they did not need all the money we would appreciate it if they would wait until the lambs were marketed next spring. One of the biggest men spoke up at once and said he did not need a cent, and I could keep all his money, and there was not one but left part of his money with us. One man who was not there, had one of his neighbors deliver his lambs, and as I could not talk to him personally, I mailed him a check for his in full. He wrote me back at once enclosing me the check, and said he understood I was giving out my notes in pay- ment of lambs as all his neighbors had told him, and he would be glad to have a note instead of the money. I never forgot how those Mexicans stood by me in our time of need." Bond, op. cit., pp. 19-21.

FRANK BOND 195

year ended December 31, 1908, however, told a different story. The Bonds celebrated this twenty-fifth anniversary year with a profit that only fell slightly short of $100,000.77

TABLE 9 G. W. BOND & BRO. PROFITS FOR 1905

Item Amount

1904 fall wools $14,278.16

Lambs and wethers 9,930.86

Rent on sheep in Colorado 2,141.09

Wool Rent 5,254.44

Interest 1,575.40

Merchandise 14,740.78

Total $47,916.73

Profits for the years under surveillance are summarized in Table 10, and the normal practice was to divide them evenly between George and Frank Bond. However, in 1900 Louis F. Nohl became the second Bond protege, following A. MacArthur into the system and moving in the same pattern. In that year the Bonds arranged for Nohl to receive 5 per cent of the profits on merchandise, George and Frank Bond dividing the remainder. Then in 1902, Justin McCarthy be- came the third new member of the family. Nohl and Mc- Carthy were each given 5 per cent of all the profits from the business, including that from merchandise, wool, and sheep.78 This arrangement produced an income of $433.28 each in 1902, $1,436.66 each in 1903, and continued until sometime in 1906 when Bond and Nohl Company was organized, mov- ing Louis Nohl into the new organization.79 McCarthy had al- ready moved on into the Taos store two years previously.80

77. Records, loc, cit. The combined profit from Espanola and Trinidad that year was, more precisely, $98,939.36.

78. Ibid.

79. Infra, chap. vi.

80. Infra, chap. ix.

196 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

TABLE 10 G. W. BOND & BRO. NET PROFITS

(dollars in thousands)

Year	Espanola Trinidad	Total
1890	$11.4	$11.4
1891	11.4	11.4
1892	24.1 a	24.1
1893	3.5	3.5
1894	16.7*	16.7
1895	15.5	15.5
1896	6.7	6.7
1897	18.6	18.6
1898	14.8	14.8
1899	19.8	19.8
1900	12.2	12.2
1901	15.3	15.3
1902	8.7	8.7
1903	28.7	28.7
1904	62.5 $ 9.9	72.4
1905	47.9 48.7	96.6
1906	39.5 22.5	62.0
1907	9.0 ...	...
1908	46.0 52.9	98.9
1909	29.9 31.6	61.5
1910	25.2

a. These profits were calculated from the difference in investment account balances at the end of the respective years and as such may be subject to error due to undisclosed withdrawals during the year.

By 1910, George Bond was spending considerable time in San Diego, California,81 and his investment interests were spreading more and more away from New Mexico. He left Trinidad in about 1911 and moved to Boise, Idaho, still later moving to California. Although the brothers continued for many years to consult each other constantly on any impor- tant business move, it was now becoming more and more apparent that the only real tie that George Bond had in the New Mexico stores was in the nature of stock investment rather than an interest in active management. However, active management of the stores and the various joint ven- tures in sheep and wool, especially the latter, were Frank

81. Letter of G. W. Bond to Frank Bond, September 12, 1910, Bond Papers, loc. cit.

FRANK BOND 197

Bond's life blood. During the time they were in close geo- graphical proximity, their partnership arrangement was a natural one, but by 1910 the mercantile side was being handled by a separate corporation and their community of interest had diverged to the point where the G. W. Bond & Bro. Company was an unnecessary complication. Thus, a de- cision was made to dissolve the partnership.

One of the outstanding characteristics of this successful team of brothers was that they were always prepared to meet the needs of a changing economic environment in a dynamic way. Sensitive to the times, rarely a year went by without consideration being given to establishing a new enterprise or to seizing an opportunity, and they were equally ready to reorganize their fallibility and consider closing a business that seemed to have been a mistake or no longer worthwhile. They likewise were eager to move on to new creations of business after the last one was on its feet, operating success- fully, and producing a profit.

Following this philosophy then, June 6, 1911, saw the final close of business for the G. W. Bond & Bro. Company after almost twenty-eight years of successful operation.

In general, there was an even division of the assets whereby Frank Bond was assigned all of the assets originat- ing at or through the office of G. W. Bond & Bro. at Espanola ; G. W. Bond was assigned all the assets originating at or through the office at Trinidad. Also, Frank Bond assumed all the debts and obligations originating through the Espanola office and George assumed those originating from Trinidad. A statement was prepared as of May 27, 1911, reflecting a partnership profit that year of $32,937.25, mostly from sheep, and the division of proprietary interests resulted in G. W. Bond receiving $227,220.82 and Frank Bond receiving $115,647.47. Table 11 shows the division of notes receivable held by the partners.

As the bills receivable were divided so also were the evi- dences of indebtedness of the company to others. George Bond assumed a $5,000 note owing to George William Bond in Quebec, and Frank Bond assumed the notes shown in Table 12. In addition, Frank Bond assumed a contingent

198 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

liability in that it was agreed that although George had taken over the Camfield & Shields note, if there should be any loss resulting from it the loss would be equally divided between them.

TABLE 11

DIVISION OF NOTES RECEIVABLE a AT DISSOLUTION George W. Bond*

A. MacArthur, Wagon Mound $ 6,360.00

M. Paltenghe, Wagon Mound 3,180.00

Lewis Kern, New Windsor, Colorado 6,850.32

Camfield & Shields "1 _

Iliff & Thorpe ) Denver 98'444'37

F. D. Carpenter, Montrose, Colorado 2,121.69

J. P. Van Houten, Shoemaker, New Mexico 30,273.33

Thomas P. James, Des Moines, New Mexico 7,503.34

Bond-McCarthy Company, Taos 7,740.00

G. W. Bond & Bro. Mercantile Company, Encino 4,815.15

Juan Paltenghe, Wagon Mound 719.60

G. W. Bond & Bro. Mercantile Company, Encino 5,104.16

G. W. Bond & Bro. Mercantile Company, Encino 5,041.67

G. W. Bond & Bro. Mercantile Company, Encino 5,377.74

Total $183,531.37

Frank Bond

Bond & Nohl Company, Espanola $ 6,005.74

Louis F. Nohl 8,635.52

Leandro Martinez 2,040.67

Louis F. Nohl 2,033.00

E. S. Leavenworth 6,532.50

Levi A. Hughes 5,220.00

Edward Sargent 3,528.19

Fred Caffall 2,317.86

E. S. Leavenworth 5,079.17

F. R. Frankenberger 1,858.32

Warshauer-McClure Sheep Company 14,274.10

B. A. Candelaria 9,253.33

Justin H. McCarthy 5,532.78

Bond-McCarthy Company, Taos 6,043.67

Fred Warshauer 40,171.11

Total $118,525.96

a. Including interest.

b. These notes were physically located in the custody of Judge Gunter in Denver, in the First National Bank of Trinidad, in the Boise, Idaho, State Bank, and in G. W. Bond's desk in his home.

FRANK BOND 199

TABLE 12 NOTES ASSUMED BY FRANK BOND AT DISSOLUTION

Item Amount

Max Martinez $ 2,030.67

Antonio J. Garcia & Brother 3,419.14

Josefa Serna 1,547.78

G. W. Bond, Canada 14,147.20

Total $21,144.79

After the division of property, there remained undivided property belonging one-half to Frank Bond and one-half to George Bond which consisted of the following items :

1. Cabra Springs ranches lying near the Beck Grant.

2. Sheep rented to George Gonzales of Roy, New Mexico, 2,854.

3. Four notes of $2,500 each from W. A. Dunlavy, May Dun- lavy, and F. E. Dunlavy.

4. Land adjacent to Mitchell Lakes, optioned to Myron Akin.

5. Victor Stuart ranches optioned to Laramie-Poudre Reser- voir & Irrigation Company.

6. One section of land east of Nunn, Colorado.

7. Interest in Piedra-Lumbre Grant.

8. Interest in Tome Grant.

9. Warrant account.

10. Bond & Warshauer accounts.

11. Brown and Adams accounts.

All these provisions for the dissolution of the G. W. Bond & Bro. partnership left George Bond with considerable in- vestment paper and Frank Bond with most of the sheep and wool interests, the latter owning 37,296 head of sheep on rent while George Bond only had slightly more than 8,300.82 In addition, Frank Bond took the full interest in the ranch property at Wood River, Nebraska, which had been acquired in 1909 at a cost of $65,000 and where sizable winter feeding operations were conducted.83 Frank Bond's personal net worth at this time was over a half million dollars.

(To be continued)

82. Miscellaneous papers and agreements concerning dissolution of the partnership, Bond Papers, loc. cit. It should be remembered that these flocks of sheep represent only those owned by the brothers as individuals and do not include the various flocks in which they had varying degrees of interest by virtue of their ownership of the several stores which also ran sheep.

83. Records, loc. cit.

NAVAHO-SPANISH DIPLOMACY, 1770-1790* By FRANK D. REEVE

FOR a period of a half century, from the 1720's to the 1770's, the Navahos and their Spanish neighbors lived at peace. The former wove blankets and baskets, cured skins, and raised corn, squash (pumpkin) and melons with the aid of rain fall that watered the canyons of their country. The durable goods were used in trade with the Pueblos in the Rio Grande Valley, the Spanish, and other folks to the north, west and south. The Navahos had acquired the sheep and horse, and managed to retain a few of the latter despite the occasional thefts of their neighbors, the Utah Indians, who lived north of the Rio San Juan.

During this era of goodwill, the Franciscan missionary labored to convert them to Christianity, but failed to achieve any solid results. The mid-century having passed, a westward movement of the Spanish from the Rio Aba jo penetrated Navaholand. Ranchers slowly acquired land grants between the Rio Puerco of the East and Cebolleta Mountain topped by Mt. Taylor, and around the base of that geographical land- mark on the northwest and southwest sides. The prior rights of the Navahos to the land were recognized by Spanish legal procedure, and there was no protest on their part against this encroachment of the white man that came increasingly close to their haunts around Cebolleta Mountain. To all outward appearance their only concern was with the Utah Indians to the north.1 In the 1750's this became a serious matter.

Contemporary estimates of the number of Navahos ranged from 2,000 to 4,000, men, women, and children. Either figure implied sufficient fighting strength for protection, but their habitations were scattered in the canyons of the Prov- ince of Navaho near the Rio San Juan as well as Cebolleta Mountain far to the south, so the story of a Ute attack as

* A. G. I. — Archive General de Indias, Sevilla, Spain ; A. G. N. — Archive General y Publico de la Nacion, Mexico ; B. L. — Bancroft Library, Berkeley, California ; F. L. O. — Federal Land Office records, Santa Fe, New Mexico (There is a microfilm copy in the Coronado Library ) .

1. For a detailed story, see Frank D. Reeve, "The Navaho-Spanish Peace: 1720's- 1770's." NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW, 34 :9-40 (January, 1959).

200

NAVAHO-SPANISH DIPLOMACY 201

related by Juan Joseph Lobato in 1752 may have a large measure of truth :

I am enclosing the printed Franciscan almanac which they brought. When you understand the reason, your lordship will have sufficient cause to appreciate the fine strategy of the Navaho Apaches and to laud the worthy actions of friendship of the Utes. The case is as follows: The Utes attacked the penoles of the Navajos with such force that the Apaches [Navaho] found the action bloody for them; some were killed, others captured, with no danger to the Utes, who strove for a complete victory by closing in to reach the top of the mesa. Then the Apaches came out, after stacking their arms, carry- ing a wooden cross above which was this almanac on a pole. They told the Utes: "The great chief of the Spaniards sent you this letter and the cross and ordered you to be our friends." (A matter worthy of admiration!) Thereupon those who be- fore were lions became lambs, surrendered their arms, and received the cross and the false letter.2

It seems rather remarkable that the fighting Utes would have been tamed so readily, but the Navahos had long been familiar with the symbolic meaning of the cross due to their contacts with the Spanish, and the Utes of course had long enjoyed diplomatic and commercial ties with the Spanish. So the maneuver of the Navahos was not without reason, and the result not beyond the realm of possibility.3 The strategem however did not afford them permanent protection from the wrath of the Utes, whom they stirred into action, because of the chronic condition among the Navahos whereby their right hand did not know what the left hand was doing.

On a comparative basis, the Navahos should have been interested in maintaining peace. They were a pastoral and farming people, and had much to lose in case of invasion. The Utes on the other hand lived primarily by the chase, trading skins for other commodities (particularly horses) with the

2. Lobato to Governor Cachupin, San Juan de los Cavalleros, August 17, 1752, in Alfred Barnaby Thomas, The Plains Indians and New Mexico, 1751-1778, p. 117. Albu- querque: The University of New Mexico Press, 1940. Audiencia de Mexico, 89-3-S.

During the period of Navaho peace, the other frontier Indians were very trouble- some in New Mexico. For examples see El Conde de Revilla Gigedo to Marques de Ensenada, Mexico, June 28, 1753. Ibid.

3. When the Navahos sought peace with the Spanish in 1706, they came to Santa Fe bearing a large white skin painted with a cross. Cabildo of Santa Fe, "Certification," February 23, 1706. A.G.N., Provincias Internas 36, exp. 5, f456v.

202 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

Pueblos and the New Mexicans. They were especially inter- ested in the horse, and no doubt were not above stealing a Navaho animal when the opportunity was at hand. The presence of a few restless souls among the latter also was a latent source of mischief making.

Within a year or two after the peace of the Cross, a major episode was recorded between these two peoples :

The greater part of the native Apaches of the Province of Navaho to the west of New Mexico have abandoned it and taken shelter at Cebolleta, close to the pueblo and mission of Laguna, and in the mountain and vicinity of Zuni, fleeing from the war by which the Utes seek satisfaction for the in- jury done to them by the Navahos, who did not carry out in good faith the friendship that had been arranged between them through my offices. Therefore the malice of the Navahos taking advantage of the simplicity and confidence of the Utahs, they assaulted some Utah ranches and robbed them of what they had. For this vile traitorous action, the Utahs have so frequently made war on the Navahos and punished them that they have caused them to flee from the Province.4

Governor Tomas Veles Cachupin (1749-1754) tried to take advantage of the ill-fortune of the Navahos by offering them asylum in permanent settlements in the Rio Aba jo, but the fugitives were not yet prepared to surrender their way of life in the mountains and mesas of Navaholand.5

Some Navahos had earlier settled in the Cebolleta region from their northern homeland, and others now migrated westward, if not earlier, toward the Canyon de Chelly, a one-time homesite of the people of Moqui.

The abandonment of the Tsegi [Chelly] Canyon by the Pueblos is accounted for by the changing conditions of deposi- tion and erosion of its streams. In the thirteenth century, or shortly thereafter, the region became barren and the inhabit- ants abandoned it, perhaps in favor of regions like the Hopi Country, less affected by this environmental change.6

4. Copy of instructions of Tomas Velez Cachupin to his successor, Francisco Marin de el Valle, August 12, 1754. A.G.N., Prov. Intern. 102, f276. This document has been translated and published in Thomas, op. cit.

5. Ibid.

6. Ralph L. Beals, George W. Brainerd, and Watson Smith. "Archeological Studies in Northeast Arizona," p. 158. Berkeley and Los Angeles : University of California Press, 1945. (University of California Publications in American Archeology and Eth- nology, vol. 44, no. 1. )

NAVAHO-SPANISH DIPLOMACY 203

A later re-entry into this region by these western pueblo folk occurred in the early eighteenth century and a mingling of the two peoples took place. The Navaho absorbed some more Pueblo blood and benefited from peach trees introduced by the westerners.7 Whether the Pueblos were there to wel- come the Navahos or vice versa is not clear at the moment, but the better version is that the former situation was the actual one.

Navaho legend implies that the migration from dinetah, or Province of Navaho, to Chelly might have occurred before 1680, but it more clearly supports the history of a post-1680 movement.8 Evidence of Navaho occupancy in Canyon de Chelly is found in three ancient sites and dates their arrival after the mid-eighteenth century :

Near the Spider Rock Overlook in Canyon de Chelly, three groups of Navaho hogans, dated 1758, 1766, and 1770 respec- tively, were found during the summer of 1941. These dates confirm the Navaho occupation of Canyon de Chelly in the middle of the eighteenth century. With the exception of a six- sided hogan, and a possible four-sided one, the other structures were of the common forked stick type found in early Navaho sites.9

The insubstantial quality of hogan construction on the early Spider Rock site, the absence of sheep bones in the refuse,

7. J. Walter Fewkes, "Hopi Ceremonial Frames from Canon de Chelly, Arizona," American Anthropologist, n. a., vol. 8, no. 4 (1906) "Preliminary Report on a Visit to the Navaho National Monument," Washington, 1911 (Bull. 50, Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution) "Prehistoric Villages, Castles, and Towers of Southwestern Colorado." Washington, 1919 (Bull. 70, Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution ) .

8. Father Berard Haile to F. W. Hodge, n. d. American Anthropologist, n. &., 19:151 (1917).

9. Wesley R. Hurt, Jr., "Eighteenth Century Navaho Hogans from Canyon de Chelly National Monument," American Antiquity, 8 :99 (July, 1942).

"It is noticeable that the year 1758 is the year of the last tree-ring date of Navaho occupation in Largo Canyon, a part of the dinetah area." Ibid., p. 97, citing Van Valkenburg 1941).

Another "digging" in Canyon de Chelly: "Although a few sherds of Navaho pottery were scattered on the site area, they were entirely lacking in the excavations. Sherds of an unreported type reminiscent of Zuni and Acoma wares were found both on the floor and on the refuse area. In addition, a ware identified by Mr. Watson Smith as post- Sikyatki Polychrome was found only on the floor. These sherds probably date from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries." D. L. De Harport, "An Archeological Survey of Canyon de Chelly: Preliminary report for the 1951 Field Season." El Palacio, 60:23 (January, 1953).

204 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

and the lack of fortifications10 indicate that the earlier ar- rivals were poor but had no further fear of attack from the hostile Utes.

Their poverty could be attributed to losses suffered at the hands of their northern enemies and in part to a drought in the year 1748. An Indian who had resided in the Province of Navaho for over a year arrived in Taos with a story of Navaho loss of crops. This forced them to draw heavily on their livestock, cattle and sheep for subsistence. As a result, some families were left destitute.11 Their migration, there- fore, whether westward to Canyon de Chelly or southward to Cebolleta Mountain, was marked by a sad lack of worldly goods, a situation that they managed to overcome in the course of a quarter century or less. In the year 1786 they numbered

seven hundred families more or less with four or five persons to each one in its five divisions of San Matheo, Zebolleta, or Canon, Chusca, Hozo, Chelli with a thousand men of arms; that their possessions consist of five hundred tame horses ; six hundred mares with their corresponding stallions and young; about seven hundred black ewes, forty cows also with their bulls and calves 12

The first two sites mentioned in 1786 were the old familiar ones that the Navahos had occupied for a goodly number of years. The last three named are in the new homeland (the Chuska mountains) to the northwest from Mt. Taylor. Span- ish relations with the Navahos during the second half of the eighteenth century were largely confined to the Cebolleta area group. The old northern Province of Navaho passed into history as a region of activity in the joint affairs of the two people. The Navahos in the Chelly area were too far west to become an important factor in Spanish affairs for some time after their migration to that locality. Diplomacy became the

10. Hurt, op. cit.

11. Governor Codallos y Rabal, "Statement," Santa Fe, July 20, 1748. R. E. Twitchell, The Spanish Archives of New Mexico, II, no. 494. The Torch Press, 1914.

12. Pedro Garrido y Duran, "Report," Chihuahua, December 21, 1786. Alfred Barnaby Thomas, Forgotten Frontiers . . . , p. 350. Norman : University of Oklahoma Press, 1932. "This account is condensed and extracted from the official reports of the governor of New Mexico to which I refer," P. G. y D.

NAVAHO-SPANISH DIPLOMACY 205

art, therefore, of conciliating the Cebolleta Navahos ; when fighting broke out, they bore the brunt of Spanish anger.

At the opening of the decade of the 1760's, the Cebolleta Navahos were still living in peace which the Spanish nour- ished with a prime item in diplomacy, namely tobacco.13 But as the decade ran its course, symptoms of pending trouble appeared. Thirteen residents of the settlement at Los Que- lites, at the junction of the Rios San Jose and Puerco, peti- tioned the Governor for a grant of arms for protection against enemies. They advanced the plea of poverty for the request, and promised to return them when asked to do so or when they were able to buy their own arms. Only five escopetas in fair condition, four lances, and two pounds of powder were supplied in January, 1765.14 The worry of these settlers could have been due to the Apaches from the south- west rather than the Navahos at this particular time. In the words of Governor Pedro Fermin de Mendinueta (1767- 1778) :

The Comanche nation invades and attacks these [Rio Grande Valley] settlements by all routes, and the Apache from the west to south. Although on the northwest the Utes and Navahos live, these two nations are not always peaceful, and while they may be, the Comanches, because of this, do not re- frain from attacking along the routes of their habitation.15

That is, by way of Taos or the Chama Valley. The Navahos were peaceful at the time of the above requests for arms by the people of Los Quelites, but about a decade later they fell from grace.

13. Governor Valle to Fortillo y Urrizola, Santa Fe, May 10, 1761. A. G. N., Prov. Intern. 102, f 141v.

14. New Mexico Originals, PE 48. (Bancroft Library). The place was named the "new settlement of San Raphael and San Francisco of Quelitos [Quelites]." It was located on the west bank of the Rio Puerco of the East just below the junction with the Rio San Jose. Miera y Pacheco map (1776) ; United States Department of War, De- partments of the Missouri, map (1873). The Rio San Jose as it approaches the Rio Puerco flows through Apache Canyon. Ibid., which is the route of the present-day rail- road. The University of New Mexico has a microfilm of these documents.

15. Mendinueta to Bucareli, March 26, 1772. A. G. N., Historia 16, f226v. This document has been translated by A. B. Thomas in NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW, 6 :27, but his translation "are not ever peaceful," should read "are not always peaceful."

Mendinueta took office on March 1, 1767, and was relieved of office on May 15, 1778. Ibid., 6 :24 note.

206 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

The renewed trouble with them was like adding fuel to a sizable fire, so the picture in general presented by Governor Mendinueta in 1772 was not overdrawn. The position of the Spanish along the whole northern frontier of New Spain, and not least in New Mexico, was a matter of serious discussion in high governmental circles. The Marques de Rubi, experi- enced soldier on the frontier, had vigorously recommended that a second presidio in New Mexico be established at Rob- ledo with a detachment of sixty men. The site was at the southern end of the Jornada del Muerto. This presidio would afford better protection for the Rio Abajo and the El Paso district against the inroads of the Apaches. In addition, he recommended that the former pueblos of Senecu, Socorro, Alameda and Sevilleta be reestablished for additional de- fense, an idea in Governor Cachupin's mind when he toyed with a plan to locate the refugee Navahos on those old pueblo locations.16 Rubi's proposals were never carried out.

The influx of refugees from the Province of Navaho into the Cebolleta Mountain area increased the likelihood of trouble with settlers who had gradually penetrated the Navaho country with their formal land grants and livestock. It was only a matter of time when some stock was stolen. The settlers complained to the Governor and military action was finally adopted to end the trouble, but that only increased the extent of the conflict, especially so because some of the settlers were entirely dependent upon their stock for a livelihood. The scarcity of water limited the possibility of raising grain, and they traded stock for bread.17

The conflict broke out in the spring or early summer of 1774. Governor Mendinueta reported under date of Septem- ber 30 that

16. Gov. Cachupin discussed the problem of hostile Indians and defense again at the close of his second term of office, 1762-1767. Cachupin to Croix, Jalapa, April 27, 1768. A. G. N., Prov. Intern, 103.

Alfred Barnaby Thomas, "Antonio de Bonilla and Spanish Plans for the Defense of New Mexico 1772-1778," C. W. Hackett, ed., New Spain and the Anglo-American West, p. 197. Lancaster, Pa., 1932. This item is the report on the northern frontier situation prepared by Antonio de Bonilla in 1776. With the introductory essay by Thomas, the general situation is quite clear. The Spanish document is in A. G. N., Historia 25, fl!6v.

17. Eleanor B. Adams and Fray Angelico Chavez, eds., The Missions of New Mexico, 1776, p. 254. Albuquerque: The University of New Mexico Press, 1956. This publication contains the detailed Report on the Missions made by Fray Francisco Atanasio Domin- guez and additional documents relating to the Report.

NAVAHO-SPANISH DIPLOMACY 207

Against the Navaho tribe, which up until the present has continued making war, two expeditions have been made by the militia and Indians of the Jurisdiction of Albuquerque, Laguna, and Queres. On these they killed twenty-one bar- barians and seized forty-six individuals, men, women, and children, two of whom, after being baptized, died. Our people lost four killed and thirty-one wounded. In the different at- tacks which in this time they have committed, they have killed six Indians and wounded two and stolen and killed some cattle and horses. They have been pursued four times, and of these they were overtaken and deprived of the stolen property on three occasions.18

This same year, the attacks of the Apaches from the southwest and the Comanches from the east enhanced the difficulties of the situation.19 And again in October, on the fifth of the month, a large party of Navahos struck at some ranches near Laguna, killing four people, taking two cap- tive, and killing some sheep. The Alcalde gathered a body of men and pursued the marauders, killing two of them; but twenty-two of the avengers were wounded in the fighting.20 In November, the Navahos attacked near Zia pueblo, killing one shepherd and capturing another. On the sixteenth they captured a boy near Laguna, and on the twenty-sixth of De- cember stole thirteen sheep near the same place. This last exploit was carried out by two Navahos under cover of dark- ness. Pursuit followed on the first and third of these three actions. The last one was an all-out effort with disappointing results.

A body of 100 Pueblo Indians, forty-three militiamen, and two squadrons of soldiers, pursued the enemy to a strong- hold. There

18. Mendinueta to Bucareli, Santa Fe, September 30, 1774. Thomas, The Plains Indians, p. 173. Prov. Intern. 65, exp. 10, f6.

19. The Gila Apaches made three forays against the Jurisdiction of Albuquerque and Laguna. They killed a settler and stole some animals. Pursuit resulted only in re- covery of two animals abandoned by the Apaches.

On the afternoon of August 18, about 100 Comanches raided the Albuquerque district when the bulk of the militia were out chasing the Navahos. These marauders killed two settlers, three Indians, captured four shepherds, killed 400 sheep, and took a few horses.

Mendinueta to Bucareli, op. cit.

The Governor in this report stated that there were scarcely 250 men with arms to supplement the eighty presidials at Santa Fe.

20. Mendinueta to Bucareli, Santa Fe, October 20, 1774. A. G. N., Prov. Intern, 65, exp. 10, fll.

208 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

they found a branch of this nation fortified in a tower built upon an almost inaccessible mesa, being the only one that had a very steep ascent. The summit was defended with stone breastworks on both sides whereby they could hurl insults (ofendian) without being seen; to this was added the fact that our forces were too far distant from the water supply for the horses. Consequently it was not possible to remain in that position. Notwithstanding these circumstances, our troops established a blockade and fought for a period of twenty-four hours, trying repeatedly to overcome the ob- stacles of the ascent to attack the defenders. But due to the advantageous situation of the defenders, every effort was in- effective, and the attackers got what was offered, that within a certain time, as stipulated, the chiefs would come with the captives, who are in their possession, to the Pueblo of Zuni to establish peace. With this proposition accepted by our side, they withdrew with one soldier and three militiamen slightly wounded.21

The experience of the Spanish in assaulting this fortified place on Big Bead Mesa at the north end of Cebolleta Moun- tain was a repetition of the experience of the expedition that Captain Roque de Madrid led against them in 1705, and the results were about the same. Any understanding with the enemy that the Spanish on this later attack arrived at in regard to peace, proved to be another will-o-the-wisp. The Governor's letter of March 30 scarcely had time to reach its destination before he was ready to report more troubles.

On the 19th and 24th of the same month [April], five Navajos who were found with three horses that they had stolen were captured by the Indians of Jemez and Cochiti. On the 3rd of the current month [May], some of this nation stole some mares and horses from the neighborhood of the Pueblo of Santa Clara. They were followed by the Indians, who were unable to overtake them.22

Again in the month of August, 1775, the Governor sent a story of sorrow to Chihuahua :

21. Mendinueta to Bucareli, Santa Fe, March 30, 1775. Prov. Intern. 65, exp. 10, f36v. In reporting this action, Mendinueta also informed the Viceroy that since his report of October 20, 1774, there had been five invasions by the Comanches, eight by the Gila Apaches, and the three already mentioned by the Navahos.

22. Mendinueta to Bucareli, Santa Fe, May 12, 1775. Thomas, The Plains Indians. ... p. 179. Or A. G. N., Prov. Intern. 65, exp. 10, f 12v.

In this same month of April, the Gila Apaches carried off thirty animals from Albuquerque and Bernalillo. Pueblo Indians failed to overtake them. Ibid.

NAVAHO-SPANISH DIPLOMACY 209

Thieves from the Navaho Apaches have come on six occa- sions to steal cattle and horses from the pueblos of Xemas, Sia, San Yldefonso, the district of Abiquiu, and the jurisdic- of Albuquerque. Each time they were pursued by the settlers and Indians. In one attack the latter killed two Navahos and a woman and retrieved the loot stolen from the Xemes Indians. On another occasion the Navahos were only deprived of the theft by the San Yldefonso Indians. A Navaho was killed by the lieutenant of Abiquiu, another one wounded, and the ani- mals which they were driving off gotten back ; the rest escaped over bad land. The lieutenant of Albuquerque, following those who had stolen some of the horse herd, overtook them, re- captured the horse herd, killed three of the enemy, and took some women and children prisoners. He came out of the action with three militiamen wounded.23

The struggle in the early 1770's drove in the frontier line of settlements and settled down to a war of attrition. The Navahos, and probably the southwestern Apaches to some extent, expelled the settlers from their ranches in the Cebo- lleta region. The frontier pueblo of Acoma almost reached the point of abandonment due to disease and war. And in the valley of the Rio Grande a number of settlers decided to move southward to safer regions.24

The events of those years lived long in the memory of the people who suffered and of their descendants. Jose Mateo Duran, if memory served him right, recalled at the extraordi- nary age of 108 that he had been born in a Rio Puerce settle- ment on September 21, 1762, and lived there for sixteen years. Then the settlers all left, "being compelled to do so on account of the hostilities of the Navaho and Apache Indians, who were continually massacring men, women and children at that place. The government sent a force of men to escort the settlers to safety to another residence in the Rio Grande val- ley."25 And also abandoned was "Navajo, which is 11 leagues

23. Mendinueta to Bucareli, Santa Fe, August 18, 1775. Ibid., f!9.

On July 26, the Gila Apaches stole the horse herd from Laguna pueblo. On the 27th, they invaded the Belen-Tome district, killed fifteen persons, and took ten animals. Pur- suit failed in both cases. Ibid., f 18v.

24. Adams and Chavez, Missions, pp. 195, 277.

25. F. L. O., Report 49.

J. M. Duran probably erred a bit in his dates. Dominguez reported the abandonment of the settlements in the year 1774 which seems correct in the light of other evidence. Adams and Chavez, Missions, p. 254.

210 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

from the mission [Albuquerque] in the same direction as Rio Puerco ... It is called Navajo because it belonged to Navajo Apache Indians. It was abandoned at the same time as said Rio Puerco."26 And, as Morfi stated a few years after these events, "four leagues from the pueblo [of Sia] at the spring which they call the Holy Spirit, there were formerly large estates [haciendas] but today ruined." Or, in more detail, "abandoned ranches, such as San Diego, Lagunitas, the Garcias at Guadalupe, the Montoyas at Cabezon, Mestas' Ranch, Ventana, Nacimiento, etc." The farm lands at Cebo- lleta were appropriated by the Navahos to the loss of the Laguna Indians. Likewise at Encinal where Spanish ranchers had located. Writing of Cebolleta, Morfi remarks: "The In- dians of Laguna and the Apache Navaho were accustomed to plant at Cebolleta. Today, according to Jose de la Pena, the Navaho occupy it."27

In a war of attrition, the frontier foes were bound to win in the long run unless assistance was extended to the Province by the central government or the situation could be resolved by diplomacy. The actual loss in Spanish man power in the war was not great, but the Province would have been in dire straits without substantial aid from the Pueblo fighters. Nor were the Navahos suffering any serious loss in man power because they received some strengthening from the Moqui,28 either through peaceful intermarriage or capturing women and children. At any rate, there was no apparent decrease in

Ramon Baca, born in the settlement of San Bias on the Rio Puerco, gave testimony similar to that of J. M. D.

Nutrias, south of Belen, and Carnue in Tijeras Canyon, east of Albuquerque, were abandoned in 1772. Ibid.

26. Ibid., p. 254.

27. Descripcion geografica del Nuevo Mexico, escrita por el R. P. Fr. Juan Agustin de Morfi Le[c]tor Jubilado, e hijo de esta Provincia del S.to Evangelio de Mexico. Ano de 1782. Documentos para la Historia del Nuevo Mexico. Historia 25, f 108v. Translated in Thomas, Forgotten Frontiers, which must be used with caution. Hereafter referred to as Morfi, Descripcion geografica.

28. Anza to Croix, January 17, 1781. Thomas, Forgotten Frontiers, p. 241.

"The Navahos and Utahs have killed, captured and robbed the Moquinos, and are at war with them at present." Dominguez-Escalante to Mendinueta, Zuni, November 25,

1776. A. G. I., Guadalajara, 104-6-18.

Surveying the general frontier problem, Spanish military judgment concluded that the Apaches alone had about 5,000 fighting men, the largest groups being the Lipanes (in Texas), the Navahos and the Gila Apaches; and that they were interlocked through blood relation, alliance, and close friendship. Junta de Guerra, Monclova, December 11,

1777. Ibid., 103-4-18.

NAVAHO-SPANISH DIPLOMACY 211

their numerical fighting strength in the eighteenth century. On the score of weapons and subsistence, the New Mexi- cans on more than one occasion throughout their history had been forced to appeal to the central government for assist- ance. The time was now ripe for extending it again, especially in replenishing the supply of horses. The number of arms in the Province was not abundant, but not dangerously low. The poverty of the people, of course, was the main reason for whatever deficiency existed in this matter.29 Governor Mendinueta was of the opinion that scarcely 250 men were equipped with arms, aside from the presidials at Santa Fe, as of the year 1772, although he was not too pessimistic on this point. A few years later he wrote :

the resident population is not so bad off in regard to arms which number about 600 guns and 150 braces of pistols in fair condition in the whole kingdom. But it is not so in re- gard to horses. Because of the wasteful destruction of colts by the enemy, the resident population does not have saddle horses for defense. Consequently the Province needs, if you wish to aid it, 1,500 horses at the royal expense and not at the expense of the residents who are, in short, poor, afoot and harassed by the enemy. It is impossible to interest them at prime cost, or on the contrary [for them] to recover from their desolation.so

An inventory of military equipment in the first adminis- tration of Governor Cachupin does not reveal in comparison any significant change in the following quarter century. In 1752 the Province had 1,370 horses, 388 guns and fifty-three pistols. There were 3,400 persons, but only 676 heads of families. Some of the older boys were no doubt eligible for military service, but at the most this was a very small body

29. The Pueblos and Navahos "devote themselves peacefully to cultivating their lands and to the care of some cattle and sheep from which the increase is so high that it is a rare year that they do not drive 2,000 head for sale to the Presidios of the Line, besides other effects as hosiery, fresadas and woven goods." Informe de Hugo de O'Conor sobre el estado de las provincial internets del Norte, 1771-1776, p. 106. Ed., Enrique Gonzalez Flores and Francisco R. Almada. Mexico, D. F., 1952.

Hugo O'Conor's analysis of frontier conditions was a matter of controversy. See A. B. Thomas, Teodor de Croix and the Northern Frontier of New Spain, 1776-17 83. Norman : University of Oklahoma Press, 1941.

30. En la Junta de Real Hacienda, Mexico, October 26, 1775. A. G. N., Prov. Intern. 65, exp. 10, f24v. The Governor of New Mexico was cited when the Junta drew up its report.

212 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

of men to draw upon for defending the Province. These fig- ures do not include the El Paso district; only the region from Tome on the south to Taos on the north. In addition to this force, the Pueblos numbered 2,174 men. They were much better off in horses, owning 4,060. They had a few lances and swords, but their chief weapon was the bow and arrow.31 Both Spanish and Pueblo used the lance, especially the former.

In reply to the plea for help from New Mexico, the central government did not overexert itself, although this Province had more than a local interest to them ; it was looked upon as a protective outpost for the main frontier region from Sonora on the west to Texas on the east. 1,500 horses were finally promised to be distributed among the people; but of this number only 1,047 animals were actually sent and they were partly a gift from wealthy men.32 The quantity of help no doubt reflected a mild feeling of irritation toward the frontier settlers. Viceroy Bucareli judged that the last series of depre- dations in New Mexico by the Navahos were petty thefts, and perhaps many would be avoided if the residents of the Prov- ince "lived with less abandon and carelessness in a country where danger must always be feared on account of the ene- mies that surround it."33 The "abandon and carelessness" mentioned probably referred to the New Mexicans' practice

81. A. G. N., Prov. Intern,, 102, exp. 3, fl.

Antonio Bonilla, in his study of the situation, believed that "It cannot be denied that in the province of New Mexico (not including the pueblo of El Paso and its old missions) there is an abundance of men, both Spaniards as well as Indians, very fit for war, but lack of arms and horses make them useless." Thomas, "Antonio Bonilla," p. 195. Or A. G. N., Historia 25, fl!9. Bonilla also wrote that the Navahos' skillful use of firearms and successful attacks "have made them unconquerable." Ibid., f!24.

I do not know how many firearms the Navahos had acquired. They could not have secured them from trade with the Pueblo Indians because the latter did not possess them.

32. Mendinueta to (Bucareli?), Santa Fe, September 4, 1776. A. G. N., Prov. Intern. 103, f282. Croix to Joseph de Galvez, Arispe, December 23, 1780. A. G. I., Guadalajara 277 (103-4-19).

33. Bucareli to Galvez, Mexico, August 27, 1776. A. G. I., Guadalajara 516 (104-6-18). Bonilla recommended military training for the New Mexicans ! : "teach them the

use of firearms, which really in general is unknown in these lands." Thomas, "Antonio Bonilla," p. 203, or A, G. N., Historia, 25, f!25. A rather surprising statement at first glance, but the Spanish certainly did not have powder to waste, so they probably never fired a gun unless against Indians. Those with any real training would have been the presidials.

NAVAHO-SPANISH DIPLOMACY 213

of living scattered on their farms and ranches34 rather than in compact groups a-la-pueblo Indian, a point that became seriously considered by the government in the 1780's. Mean- while, so far as the Navahos were concerned, they drifted into another but short period of peace with the Spanish and pueblo folk.

There is no evidence at hand to indicate that the Navaho leaders ever went to Zufii in keeping with the agreement that marked the failure of the Spanish to capture their stronghold in the midwinter assault of 1774, but otherwise the fight was influential toward peace. On September 22, 1775, two Navaho chiefs arrived at Laguna with two captives. In keeping with orders, the Alcalde took them to Santa Fe for talks with the Governor. The parties exchanged two cap- tives and the Governor expressed his desire to remain at peace with them provided they reformed their behavior. Sub- sequently, the Indians released eleven captives.35

For the next five years an uneasy truce existed between the two parties. The Navahos sowed their fields as usual, cared for their sheep, and traded with their neighbors.36 Their peace and prosperity was attested by Vizente Troncosa who visited them in the spring of 1778. His host was Antonio el Pinto who was to play a prominent and at times annoying part in the relations of his people with the Spanish. The homes of El Pinto and his people on Cebolleta Mountain "were located on a plain which begins at the edge of the

34. "a congregation of dissident, discordant, scattered people, without subordination, without horses, arms, knowledge of their handling and governed only by caprice!" Bonilla, Historia 25, f 125.

35. Mendinueta to Bucareli, Santa Fe, December 1, 1775. A. G. N., Prov. Intern. 65, exp. 10, f40. Also see "Extracto de las ultimas noticias de Provincias Internas," Mexico, February 25, 1776. A. G. I., Guadalajara, 104-6-17.

Two Navaho families (thirteen persons) were taken into the fold of the Church and became residents in the pueblo of Zuiii. The missionary wished that God would move others to follow this good example and thereby abandon their troublesome way of life. Mendinueta to Bucareli, Santa Fe, May 12, 1775. Ibid. This letter is translated in Thomas, The Plains Indians, p. 180.

36. Mendinueta to Bucareli, Santa Fe, June 5, 1776. A. G. N., Prov. Intern. 103. Bucareli to Galvez, Mexico, August 27, 1776, op. cit.

There was some belief in military circles that the general campaign launched against the Apaches was the reason for the Navahos making peace. But Mendinueta was positive to the contrary, and attributed the peace to punishment meted out to the Navahos by New Mexicans. The general campaign did not penetrate the Navaho country. Mendinu- eta to Bucareli, Santa Fe, August 12, 1776. A. G. N., Prov. Intern. 103, f304.

214 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

mountain ; to reach it one must climb a very steep hill." The laborious climb ended, he received a hospitable reception and spent a day visiting with leading dignitaries who came from the nearby rancherias of Guadalupe and Cebolleta. Outside the circle of officials in conference, the young men and women gathered around, seeking to hear and to see what was going on.37

In October of the following year, Fray Andres Garcia journeyed to Cebolleta to buy some fat sheep for his needs at Zufii. He also planned to check on rumors that many Mo- quinos had moved into Navaholand. This proved to be un- true,38 but the Moquinos did present a problem for the next governor of New Mexico, just as they had been for many of his predecessors.

Thus, when Juan Bautista Anza (1778-1788) took the oath of office at Chihuahua on August 8, 1778, the Navahos were at peace, a happy state of affairs that continued for some time after his arrival at Santa Fe. However, the state of the province was unsatisfactory, and the Apaches and Comanches were troublesome. Any plans therefore to solve the frontier Indian problem in New Mexico required atten- tion to all three groups.

The Apaches were the major problem. They not only in- vaded the region of the Rio Aba jo from the southwest, but were troublesome all along the frontier line that extended from Tucson on the west to El Paso and points beyond. A continuation of their activities incited the restless elements among the Navahos to once more cause trouble because a main route of invasion lay past their neighborhood, or just to the east of the pueblos of Laguna and Acoma. Along this line

the Apaches enter continuously to rob and kill as far as the center of this province. Through it also they have a clear and pernicious communication with the Navaho nation with whom the Apache nation made a close alliance in the last war it had with us. This nation, although small, possesses a very rugged land to the west of this government in a recess which the three

37. Vizente Troncosa, "Report," Santa Fe, April 12, 1778. A. G. N., Prov. Intern, 65, exp. 10, f28.

38. Fray Andres Garcia to Anza, Zuni, November 3, 1779. A. G. N., Historia 25, £297.

NAVAHO-SPANISH DIPLOMACY 215

pueblos referred to, Acoma, Laguna, and Zuni, form. The latter establish their frontier against the Gilas but leave open highways for Gila incursions and communications. For this reason each day sees the Navaho nation becoming more sus- picious of ourselves and I consider them (not without reason) as a hidden enemy.39

Governor Anza first turned his attention to the Moqui who were in distress due to a prolonged drouth. It was thought advisable to transfer them to a new home in the valley of the Rio Grande, but the project was hampered by Navaho intrigues. Former Governor Mendinueta had long advised against the use of force to accomplish the end because it might not only irritate the Moquinos, but also cast a shadow of renewed fear over the Navahos and even the Utes. If all three of these groups should be scared into an alliance for mutual protection, they would be capable of causing as much harm as the Gilas to the southwest, so it was believed. The proper approach, therefore, was through the agency of missionaries supported with a supply of gifts.40

There was little chance of a three-fold Indian alliance against the Spanish, but there was sufficient evidence to war- rant a feeling of uneasiness toward the Navahos. Fray

39. "Governor Mendinueta's Proposals for the Defense of New Mexico, 1772-1778," NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW, 6:37 (January, 1931). Translated by A. B. Thomas from A. G. I., Guadalajara 276.

In January 1776, the Apaches captured a young herdsman and twenty animals. They were pursued by militiamen from the Rio Puerco, but heavy snows and the poor condi- tions of their mounts made it impossible to overtake the Indians. Bucareli to Galvez, August 27, 1776, op. cit. In the winter of 1779 the Apaches attacked Jarales and Belen. They wantonly lanced 1,500 sheep, 280 cows, killed 24 men including the Alcalde, "who was a valiant officer of the militia," and captured some others. Croix, "Statement," A. G. I., Guadalajara 271 (103-4-13).

The names and locations of the numerous bands of Apaches are listed in Hugo O'Con6r, "Calidad de Indies que hostilizan la Frontera," July 22, 1777. A. G. I.. Guada- lajara 516 (104-6-18). Published in O'Conor, Informe, see note 29 above.

Details of Comanche raids on the Rio Abajo in 1775, on May 26, 1777, August 27, 1777, and June, 1778, are noted by Fray Atanasio in Adams and Chavez, Missions, pp. 143, 154.

40. Mendinueta quoted in Croix to Galvez, February 23, 1780. Thomas, Forgotten Frontiers, p. 143.

". . . after long discussion in the king's council, the northern region was amputated from the viceroyalty and placed under a single military government to be known as the Commandancy-General of the Interior Provinces of New Spain. For the office of com- mander general, Charles III appointed Teodoro de Croix on May 16, 1776, in recognition of his long services and more recently for the distinguished merit displayed as castellan of the port of Acapulco.

Thomas, Teodoro de Croix, p. 17.

216 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

Andres was delegated to bring back the Moquinos who had expressed a willingness to be transplanted, and he returned to the Valley in March with seventy-seven who were distrib- uted among the pueblos for the time being. More could have been brought back if the Navahos had not intimidated them. Because of this action and due to some minor robberies re- cently committed, the Governor was incensed enough to give strong expression to his feelings : "What happened was that the nation. excused their bad conduct with insubstantial pre- texts. I learn it is not reformed so that I intend to strike terror among them and their allies, the Gila. . . ." And he also determined to visit Moqui himself to complete the project for their transplantation.41

Anza departed on September 8, 1780. He had received assurance that forty families were willing to abandon their homes for new ones, but his mission was a failure. On arrival, he learned that the forty families had left for Navaholand to await him there, confident that their neighbors to the east would alleviate their suffering temporarily. "In this belief they had put themselves in the power of the Navajo, but these barbarians had committed the crime of murdering all the men and making prisoners of the women and innocent chil- dren. This lamentable event was learned through two of the former who had succeded in fleeing and returning to their country/'42

This horrendous tale is hard to believe, but the source of information is valid enough. More important, it strengthened the notion in Spanish minds that the Navahos would be a stronger foe to contend with if hostilities again broke out because their overall strength was growing with the addition of Moquinos to their numbers, either through an occasional foray against those people or by such an act of violence as Anza recorded. Since they had been enemies before, "it is to be presumed," the Governor wrote, "that they would aspire to be so again, when they realize their strength, as is proved in every Indian tribe which considers itself numerous."43

41. Anza to Croix, May 26, 1780. Ibid., p. 223.

42. Anza, "Diary of Expedition to Moqui." Ibid., p. 232.

43. Anza to Croix. January 17, 1781. Ibid., p. 241.

NAVAHO-SPANISH DIPLOMACY 217

En route to Moqui, Anza encountered a party of Navahos on the Rio Puerco of the East and took advantage of the opportunity to urge them to continue in the path of peace, giving them along with the advice a bit of tobacco, a common practice in meetings with Indians. His friendly overtures were repeated when leading an expedition down the Rio Grande to Sonora in the November following his western jaunt. At Santo Domingo, two Navahos in company with a Gila woman sought to exchange a young Spaniard, a native of El Paso, for a little girl recently taken prisoner by the New Mexicans. The Governor was agreeable to the proposal so the exchange was effected, and he continued on his journey, having taken some precaution to conceal his purpose from the visitors who could readily turn informers.44

But these brief meetings and courtesies with a few Nava- hos did not conceal the fact that minor annoyances had been committed by other members of that scattered people. And more important, the annoyances were attributed to the influ- ence of the Gila Apaches with their northern kinsmen. "In May of 1780, induced by the Gilenos, the Navahos, who enter the province in peace, stole from different districts thirty horses and a greater number of sheep." And again in July they "continued their hostilities by stealing six horses from Acoma, and killing three Indians from Zuni and Pecos."45 In January of 1783, additional thefts were reported. Marauders stole nine animals from the Queres Pueblos on the ninth of January, although they finally lost out when the owners re- covered their stock. And again, when they raided the Abiquiu region on the second of March, their thefts were recovered by the residents who had promptly pursued them.46

The real shock came when, on March 15, Anza learned

from a Navaho that the Navahos of Encinal, Cebolleta, and San Mateo had set out to join the Gila Apaches in order to at- tack the Presidio at Janos. This news appeared certain, like- wise the attack, and in this view I have given Governor Anza

44. "Diary of Expedition to Moqui." Ibid., p. 229. Anza, "Diary of Expedition to Sonora." Ibid., p. 197.

45. Croix, Report to Galvez, Arispe, March 23, 1781. A. G. I., Guadalajara 271 (103- 4-13). And Croix, "Extracto," Arispe, March 26, Ibid.

46. Croix to Rengel, Arispe, February 24, 1783. A. G. I., Guadalajara 518 (104-6-20).

218 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

the most seasonal counsels to force the Navahos to break the alliance and friendship with the Gilefios or to hold them re- spectful [toward us] in case that he does not carry out the first."4?

In other words, the proposal was for peace through diplo- macy, even to the point of appeasement in the modern mean- ing of that word, which presumedly meant toleration of minor depredations. And since minor depredations continued to take place,48 and were never acceptable to those individuals immediately injured, it was essential that diplomacy be tried. The immediate goal was the breaking of the alleged alli- ance between the Navahos and the Gila Apaches in prepara- tion for another all-out drive against the latter which was planned for the spring of 1784. Governor Anza was instructed in letters of December 1783 and January 1784 to accomplish this

by all means possible, inciting the Navajos to declare war on the other, warning them to this end, that if they continued vio- lating the good faith with which they are countenanced in that province, not only would they be denied the protection which was dispensed them, but that they would be persecuted at the same time until they were destroyed and driven out of the country which they occupy. From this would follow the loss of their possessions and they would see themselves reduced to live in the hills a poor and wandering life which the Gilas and the rest of the enemies of this province lead.49

This was indeed a serious threat, but if the Navahos can be credited with any judgment at all, in the light of past experi- ence they could take it with a grain of salt. Spanish arms had not proved too terrible so far. But the denial of protection

47. Neve to Galvez, "Acompana Extracto y Resumen de Novedades de Indies Ene- migos," Arispe, January 26, 1784. A. G. I., Guadalajara 519 (104-6-21).

The Spanish had of course more than once expressed the suspicion that the Navahos mingled with the Gila in depredations, despite the fact that they had a fixed abode and property which was open to attack. This serves to strengthen the idea that only a few of the Navahos were the troublemakers who allowed themselves to be persuaded by their southern kinsmen. See Croix, "Ynforme," Arispe, October 30, 1781. Guadalajara 108-3- 24, f83. Published in A. B. Thomas, Teodoro de Croix.

48. On June 7, 1783, eleven beasts, probably horses. Both Navaho and Gila were accused of this act. On September 9, the Navahos took fifty-five animals from Jemez and Zia pueblos. Ibid. Phelipe de Neve to Galvez, Arispe, January 26, 1784. Audiencia de Guadalajara, 519 (104-6-24).

49. Rengel to Galvez, August 17, 1785, Thomas, Forgotten Frontiers, p. 258.

NAVAHO-SPANISH DIPLOMACY 219

also implied that the Spanish would turn the Ute warriors against them, which was more realistic and not to be taken lightly by the Navahos. The idea of using the Utes did not originate at this moment, but had played a part in Spanish thinking on Navaho affairs at least for a decade.

Governor Mendinueta had followed this policy in the closing years of the last major struggle with the Navahos. By letter of June 20, 1774, he

explained to your excellency that I was working towards mak- ing the Utah nation our ally and that I would remain neutral if war should break out between them and the Navahos so that with the Navahos it would require less action and be more easy to bring it [the Navaho Nation] to observe its obligation, which in effect I carried out in as much as on the eleventh of last November they [Utes] came to make their annual ex- change of skins, and at that time they informed me that they had begun the war and had one encounter with the Navahos in which they killed many individuals

and captured five boys.50

The initial move by Anza to break the Navaho support of the Gilas did not produce marked results. The Alcalde Mayor of Laguna led an expedition into the Gila country in October, 1784, and penetrated as far as the headwaters of the Rio San Francisco. A few Navahos accompanied him, but he sus- pected that others had warned their kinsmen of his approach. At any rate, the Gilas were not at home.51 The Navahos may have engaged in similar activity again, but on the whole much remained to be done by the Spanish toward changing the Indian political situation. This led Rengel to reiterate the instructions to Anza in February of 1785.

The Governor proceeded to adopt sterner measures. He forbade the Navahos to pass south of the Rio San Jose. To put

50. Mendinueta to Bucareli, Santa Fe, March 30, 1775. A. G. N. Prov. Intern. 65, exp. 10, f37v. "In order to curb the Navahos, no better expedient has been found than that of protecting ourselves with the arms of the Yutas, and it is sufficient that they may declare war for the Navahos to desist from what they do to us, notwithstanding the fact that in the midst of peace they do commit small robberies and are accustomed to mix in the incursions of the other Apaches who cannot subsist without robbing because of the great sterility of the country where they live." Croix, "Ynforme," Arispe, October 30, 1781. Op. tit.

51. Rengel to Marques de Sonora (Jose de Galvez), March 2, 1786, Chihuahua. A. G. I., Guadalajara, 521 (104-6-23). This included a resume of enemy hostilities from August 1784 to the end of October 1785 for New Mexico.

220 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

teeth into this measure, the region south of the line was patrolled by a body of forty men under the instructions to seize any Navahos encountered and to bring them to Santa Fe for suitable punishment. He also forbade all trade with them.

As a result of this action, forty-six Navahos, among them seven of their chiefs, presented themselves on June 5 to the Alcalde Mayor of La Laguna, indicating that they had de- termined to set out on the 12th on a campaign against the Gilas. For this purpose they asked him to aid them with eighty of our Indians. Their request with our compliments acceded to, they set out on the 16th, numbering one hundred and twenty horse, thirty foot, and ninety-four Indians from the pueblo who went to reenforce their detachment and witness their operations. It was noted that among the first were five chiefs of major popularity and those who had contributed most to the treason of their nation.

They had two clashes with the Gilas, and claimed to have inflicted far more punishment than they had received. "On their return on the 25th, the governor ordered them rewarded opening to them as a sign of appreciation, and as a stimulus to the continuation of similar acts, commerce and communica- tion with the pueblos of the province which he had before closed to them."52

After this they made two other campaigns with less impor- tant results, with the virtue of having inspirited the Navahos more with the desire for war which that governor was trying to keep alive. To him later fourteen leaders presented them- selves in Santa Fe, two of them chiefs and among them one very famous called Antonio, who because of the authority of his vote had suspended for a long time the rupture with the Gilas, and the very one who personally had been seen with his people in the camp of these enemies before Janos [Sonora]. Fourteen accompanied the Alcalde Mayor of La Laguna; and Antonio, confessing to the governor his infidelity and past alli-

52. Rengel to Galvez, August 17, 1785. Thomas, Forgotten Frontiers, p. 260. There is some discrepancy in details about this Navaho venture, but it does not mar the sig- nificance of Anza's accomplishment. In a later communication, the expedition departed on the 13th with 150 Spanish and Pueblo warriors, and ninety-four Navahos. Rengel to Marques de Sonora (Jose de Galvez), Chihuahua, March 2, 1786. A. G. I., Guadalajara 521 (104-6-23).

Meanwhile, in March, some Navahos raided the Albuquerque district. They killed two persons, stole twenty-seven horses and killed twelve others. Pursuit followed ; three horses were recovered at Los Quelites. Ibid.

NAVAHO-SPANISH DIPLOMACY 221

ance, asked pardon and promised him that as much as he had been opposed to us, before, he would be devoted and faithful in the future.

In return for aid then promised on the next campaign, the Governor agreed "to furnish to each one of the auxiliaries who presented himself an almud of pinole, mounts to carry them, and two head of cattle for the groups, because Antonio had indicated to him that without this aid they could not subsist the length of time reguired on" the expedition.53

In the campaign of August, only thirty Navahos accom- panied Lieut. Jose Maldonado, and for only ten days. But they did make a joint foray with some Utes against the Gilas, and also aided the Alcalde Mayor of Zuni with three trackers. Meanwhile, the appetite of Rengel for results had only been whetted, not satisfied, and he was willing to pour more sup- plies into the Province as part of a concerted plan for a knock- out blow at the Gilas. To this end, he promised to send horses, mules, and 200 firearms to equip the militia and Navahos for the campaign. And he urged Anza not to relax the effort to keep the allegiance of the Utes and to incite the Navahos against the Apaches ; in other words, "to oblige both to the fulfillment of the word which they had given to your lordship of aiding you in the war because of the benefit that may result to them by living in the shelter of these settlements and enjoying their commerce. . . ,"54

In the summer of 1785, Rengel rejoiced at Governor Anza's claim that the Navahos had broken their alliance with the Gilas, but the rejoicing was only fainthearted. The few-

53. Rengel to Galvez, August 17, 1785. Op. cit.

July 15, 1785, fourteen Navahos, including four captains, appeared before Anza, offering to continue making war on the Gilenos. On the 27th, the captain and six men from the Rancheria of Guadalupe made the same offer. Rengel to Marques de Sonora, Chihuahua, March 2, 1786. Op. cit.

54. Rengel to Anza, August 27, 1785. Thomas, Forgotten Frontiers, p. 267. Rengel to Anza, January 18, 1786. Ibid., p. 266.

At the end of February, 1785, Anza had negotiated a treaty of peace and alliance with some Comanches. The Utes, apprehensive of their own security in the light of this development, accused the Governor of double-dealing, but he promptly made a similar agreement with them. Otherwise, they had been at peace with the Spanish for a decade. Relations with these two tribes can be studied to a considerable extent in Thomas, Forgotten Frontiers.

More mounts for the militia were needed "because those no longer exist which, bought by the royal treasury in the years of 1778 and 1779, were sent for the same pur- pose by order of the king." Rengel to Galvez, August 17, 1785. Ibid., p. 261.

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ness of Navaho warriors who appeared for the several forays indicated that their support was also only faint hearted. The trouble was believed to lie in divided counsels among these potential allies, and the particular group of dissidents was thought to be the band of Captain Antonio, alias El Pinto.

Notwithstanding, the series of attacks to which your lordship refers, and the reflection which you make, establishes that although these Indians know well the advantages of having us as friends and the ruin which would come to them by obliging us to declare war upon them, this does not yet save them from fear of the Gilas and the repugnance they feel in sacrificing to our friendship the ancient ties of kinship and alliance which they have maintained with them. In this opinion, Captain An- tonio fortifies and assures them because he is the one who has been most opposed to the Spaniards and has made himself respected among the others because of his great riches, and large number of relatives and partisans. Thus the body of the nation balancing itself between the influence of this chief and its own interest, the effects of both impressions have been seen without their having come to a decision at this time.55

In view of the suspicions held concerning Antonio El Pinto, the Spanish authorities turned to a present-day inter- national political maneuver popularly called a "fifth column." Another chief was to be stirred into action as a rival to El Pinto. Cotton Negro was tentatively considered, but the final choice fell upon another by the name of Don Carlos. The basic purpose of course was to instill into the minds of these people the concept of unity and responsibility of leadership. The lack of these concepts was an important factor in the diffi- culty of arranging permanent or even temporary peace be- tween the two foes. Since the Navahos, or any other people for that matter, could not change their beliefs and way of life overnight, the Spanish policy was doomed to failure. The proposed alternative was extermination of the Navahos, and that was a task too that lay beyond Spanish power.

In preparation for this major diplomatic move, Rengel forwarded in the winter of 1785 some presents for the meri- torious Navahos: some scarlet cloth, some colored bayetta

55. Rengel to Anza, August 27, 1785. Ibid., p. 266. Rengel to Anza, January 18, 1786. Ibid., p. 269. Rengel to Galvez, February 4, 1786. Ibid., p. 264.

NAVAHO-SPANISH DIPLOMACY 223

(baise), long sheathed knives and bridles; the latter item probably for the few horses that might have to be given to the leaders. In addition he sent two large and one small medal. The bust of his Majesty was stamped on one side and on the other a crown of laurel with the words Al Merito. The large medal was intended for a chief of all the Navahos, and the small medal either for a secondary Navaho or Comanche chief. The other large medal was intended for the top Coman- che leader. A colored ribbon enabled the medal to be worn around the neck. They were understood to be "insignia of authority and honor."56

Anza was instructed to accompany the lure of honor and prestige with a show of force, traditionally the fifth ace in the game of diplomacy. Arms and ammunition could be sent to the pueblo of Laguna and vicinity "as if to threaten them [Navaho] with some hidden design against them if they do not decide shortly, or to reassure them against the terror they have of the vengeance of the Gilas."57 In keeping with his instructions, Governor Anza arranged a meeting with the Navahos for March 22, 1786, at the crossing of the Rio Puerco of the East southwest of Sia Pueblo.

On the appointed day, only the Alcaldes of Laguna, Zuni and Jemez and one Navaho met with the Governor. The other Navahos had been kept away by a rumor that the real purpose of the meeting stemmed from an order to exterminate them that supposedly had been brought with the annual spring caravan from Chihuahua, so they had fled to the mountains when the Alcaldes called at their several rancherias to notify them of the Governor's instructions. The flight at least was real ; the rumor was without foundation. The Navahos were indeed suspicious of Spanish motives as the latter had in-

56. Ibid., p. 270f.

Governor Anza had previously asked for four canes with silver points and an equal number of medals for Antonio and three other chiefs who had visited him in Santa Fe in the spring of the year. Rengel to Anza, August 27, op. tit., pp. 261, 268. But Rengel had only sent medals to be distributed as above, although he did say that he might send more medals and the canes in his letter of January 18, 1786. Op. cit., p. 271.

57. Ibid., p. 272. "the Navajos are not entirely resolved to break with the Gilas, although they do not refuse it, knowing our friendship is more useful to their interests than that of the latter ; but they might wish to enjoy the one without losing the other. This being incompatible with our principles, it is necessary that they decide." Rengel to Conde de Galvez, February 4, 1786. Ibid., p. 264.

224 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

ferred long before this meeting. However, the Governor's intentions were still achieved. The lone Indian promised to find his people and return with them in two or three days. He was as good as his word, and about eighty Navahos came with him; a small turnout in comparison with their total numbers, and a good indication of their disunity.58

The Governor succeeded in his plan in-so-far as surface indications proved it. These Navahos promised to be ruled by one governor, and Don Carlos (not Cotton Negro) became the recipient of the large medal. In view of the scattered nature of Navaho living, Anza decided that a sub-ordinate chief should be appointed and the honor, symbolized by the small medal, was conferred on Don Joseph Antonio, not to be confused with Antonio alias El Pinto, the troublemaker. The two official "chiefs were sons of the two old men most friendly to the Spaniards." Individuals regarded at the time as captains of rancherias were left untroubled in their posi- tions except the ones who had a reputation for opposing the Spanish. This proviso without doubt applied to El Pinto, and it may be that he was arrested at this particular time. At any rate, he was lodged in the calaboose at Santa Fe at some un- specified date.

The Navahos having been organized in the political sense, agreed to the following :

1. That they maintaining as they proposed the required subordination and fidelity, the protection of the king would be sought and declared in their favor.

2. That to bring about the declaration of war against the Gilas one of the chiefs named with only Navajos and the in- terpreter should set out on a campaign at the will of the governor at the end of July of this year, so that besides their performance in the past year, the enemies might have this new proof that the Navajos were now moving frankly and volun- tarily against them.

3. That from the people who might not be inclined in this expedition, that chief should hold out those whom he might

58. While the Cebolleta Navahos were getting into a mood to dicker with the Spanish, their kinsmen to the north could be committing mischief. For instance, they stole some animals in the Abiquiu region. The local official organized a pursuit and managed to kill one Navaho and recover twenty-two horses. Rengel to Marques Sonora, Chihuahua, March 2, 1786. A. G. I., Guadalajara 521 (104-6-23). The incident of course happened many weeks before Rengel's report.

NAVAHO-SPANISH DIPLOMACY 225

consider fit to go as auxiliaries with the monthly detachments of troops ; this reenf orcement he fixed right there at thirty in- dividuals each month; for these individuals the Navajos ac- cepted with much gratitude the aid of horses and supplies dispensed by the Commandancy-General.

4. That from the moment the council was dissolved they should go down to occupy their old camps to plant their seeds, and that, concerning the security which the governor guaran- teed them in conserving and sustaining them in that situation, they could proceed to build sod huts.

5. Lastly, that for these ends proposed and to prove their acquittance, they received and assured on their part the life of the interpreter offering to be directed by his advice.

To strengthen the seriousness and importance of this agreement in the minds of the Navahos, two Comanches in the Governor's party stepped forward and exhorted them to be faithful to the agreement, otherwise they would suffer not only the wrath of the Spanish but also that of their allies, the Comanches.59

In order to make the new understanding more workable and to avoid future trouble, Anza proposed that he appoint a person to reside among them with the title of Interpreter. The Navahos assented to this, and suggested that the member of their party who was then interpreting be selected for the permanent job. The Governor agreed, settled upon him a monthly salary of eight pesos, and supplied the necessary equipment — a horse, arms and other supplies. Months later, beginning January 1, 1787, he was named on the military rolls in order to regularize the payment of the salary. At that time also a second Interpreter was provided to serve on cam- paigns; Interpreter number one was expected to reside among his people and serve as a listening post for the Governor.60

The Navaho leaders were surprisingly prompt in complet- ing part of their bargain. They were obligated to report the terms of the agreement to the rest of their nation for ap- proval. On March 30, Don Carlos and the Interpreter ap- peared in Santa Fe and reported that their people were

59. Pedro Garrido y Duran, in Thomas, Forgotten Frontiers, p. 345ff.

60. Ibid., 347. Urgarte to Anza, October 5, 1786. Twitchell, Spanish Archives, II, No. 943.

226 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

carrying out the agreement ; that is, they were returning to resume planting operations. It required more time to conform to the full understanding. Again, on June 8, Don Carlos, Don Joseph Antonio and the Interpreter visited the Governor and reported that they had visited all the Navaho rancherias from Cebolleta to the Chuska Mountains. Everywhere their people had agreed to the terms of the March treaty in-so-far as it applied to them. There was just one trouble spot in the person of Antonio El Pinto. But they had dealt with him in a way that no doubt pleased Anza and was quite in conformity with modern democratic principles, if that is not stretching the point too far. They had deposed him as a chief ' 'because of certain suspicions that he had given us [the Navaho] of his restlessness and infidelity."61

El Pinto's stubborn reluctance to go along with Anza's wishes had already led to his imprisonment at Santa Fe. At the time of the April visit of his associates to see the Gover- nor, he had been released by Anza with the delegation vouch- ing for his good conduct in the future. He took his leave for home "with affectionate display of love and gratefulness, to which I [Anza] replied in kind, and with strong advice con- ducive to his new life. . . ." 62 But this pretty picture did not reveal the whole of the truth.

There was a gap in the understanding between the Navaho and the Spaniard concerning proper conduct, and the latter was prepared to take sterner measures than imprison- ment to fill the void. Scarcely six months later Urgarte con- cluded to advise Anza that "If previous facts justify this concept [of unreliability], your lordship will search for the most secure and prudent means of destroying this individual or exiling him from his country without which the complete pacification of this nation will never be secured."

In civilized pueblos [communities] [Urgarte added], dis- gruntled individuals are not lacking. With much more reason

61. Pedro Garrido Y Duran, op. cit., pp. 348-50.

The visit to all the rancherias had been delayed because a party of Gilas stole a Navaho horseherd. "As far as the salines of Zuni, the Navajos followed without over- taking them. One of these enemies who presented himself at the rancheria of Encinal with the same accustomed confidence as before, they strangled at once." Ibid., p. 349.

62. Concha, "Informe," June 26, 1788. Prov. Intern. 65, exp. 5, fll.

NAVAHO-SPANISH DIPLOMACY 227

they could be among the barbarians who never have known the rules of obedience or the bridle of laws. Likewise, although the Navajo may have manifested to your lordship the greatest submission and universal conformity to the method of govern- ment which your lordship has imposed upon them, I will not be surprised if many others remain rebels who, because of their known domiciles have been or still are distant from the others without possession which may oblige them to prefer a tranquil spot to an ambulant and liberty-loving life, may attempt to use force to maintain their independence. Your lordship being justly suspicious of all of these will oblige the good chiefs of the nation to make them come into their rancherias, using arms against them in case of opposition until reducing them and compelling them to their duty.63

Urgarte wrote with greater truth than he realized.

With political arrangements out of the way, and El Pinto at large, Governor Anza turned his attention to carrying out the long planned expedition against the Gilas with the aid of his new allies, the Navahos and Comanches. Rengel had forwarded in the spring caravan the necessary equipment in the form of 200 carbines, 400 horses and 20 mules. These mounts were not for the regular soldiers ! They were to be used by Pueblo and allied warriors, and only for the duration of a campaign. In addition, 1,000 pesos was sent northward for other expenses. The supplies were accompanied with in- structions to employ Navahos equal in numbers to the rest of the fighters drawn from the militia, settlers and Pueblos.64 If not too optimistic about the employment of Navahos, dis- appointment was certainly in store. When Salvador Rivera set forth in July from El Paso to scour the mountains north- ward toward Socorro, he led a troop of only twenty Navahos and twenty-two Comanches as against sixty other men.65 Otherwise, the proportion of allies was high.

To further strengthen the new ties between the Navahos and Spanish, trade was reopened in June at the request of

63. Urgarte to Anza, October 5, 1786. Twitchell, Spanish Archives, II, No. 943. Don Jacobo Urgarte y Loyola, distinguished soldier and administrator, succeeded

Rengel as Commander-General of the Internal Province on October 6, 1785, and held the post until 1790. Thomas, Forgotten Frontiers, p. 384, note 102.

64. Rengel to Anza, January 18, 1786. Ibid., p. 269.

65. Pedro Garrido y Duran specified 26 Navahos, 37 presidials, 90 militiamen, 60 Pueblos, and 22 Comanches in Rivera's command. Thomas, op. cit., p. 319.

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Don Carlos when he visited Anza in Santa Fe. They were also given permission to attend the summer fair held with the Comanches where they hoped to dispose of their blankets which had already become well known in the eighteenth century as a quality article. "The reciprocal trade and com- merce between the mentioned three nations [Navaho-Ute- Comanche] and the residents of New Mexico is one of the most essential and adequate means for clinching them in our friendship."66 This friendship held broader horizons for Urgarte than mere trade. He even dreamed that Christian- izing them was not beyond the realm of possibility, or organ- izing them into formal settlements a-la-pueblo Indians, all conducive to intermarriage and thereby creating the firmest of all links between two people, a fusion of blood.

The system of barter had long been abused to the dis- advantage of the Indians unless emphasis is placed upon psychological satisfaction. If a white man traded the colored plumes of a tropical bird, costing him the equivalent of ten dollars, for goods worth $500, he made a handsome profit to say the least. If the Indian were equally satisfied, then judg- ment on ethical grounds will be colored by the standard followed in judging. Since the tariff established in 1754 had become out of line with the change in values that had taken place through the years, a new one was drawn up to assure equity.

In order to forward these desirable ends, whether results would be remote or not, the Commander-General favored better treatment for the Navahos, both in trade and in gen- eral relations with the Spanish people. Justice and fair deal- ing should be the ideal and practice. The Navahos should be encouraged to seek the former when wronged by appealing to the white man's judiciary, the Alcalde or the Governor ; in the market place sharp practices should be curtailed by fair-trade regulations ; and the poor should be assisted when in need. Urgarte envisioned the pueblo folk trading in the Navaho rancherias at stated times and under regulations yet to be framed, including the tariff of prices.

66. Galindo Navarro (Assessor), Chihuahua, September 4, 1786. Prov. Intern. 65, exp. 4, f3v. Garrido y Duran in Thomas, op. cit., p. 350.

NAVAHO-SPANISH DIPLOMACY 229

Although this method [he believed] , curbing free dealing, would produce in other circumstances and with other nations some ill feeling which would hold back the progress of com- merce, it is here a bridle necessary for containing the greed of the more enlightened party until the universality of experience in our heathen neighbors may place them in position to under- stand their interests and know how to appreciate the produc- tions of their country and of their industry, to establish by themselves the equilibrium of values in their goods with what they need from our hand.67

He was indeed an eighteenth century dreamer of Utopia — but a product of the Enlightenment.

The Commanding-General also adopted measures for the further strengthening of political ties in the fall of 1786. The mounting costs of diplomatic and military relations with the frontier people led to the earmarking of 6,000 pesos annually "for all the extraordinary attentions of" New Mexico. He also dispatched for the general and lieutenant general of the Navahos * 'legal titles which I augment with two hundred pesos salary to the first, and one hundred to the second, each year, to be paid them in effects for their use. . . ,"68

The high hopes of the Spanish officials that they had broken the Navaho alliance with the Gilas, and that the for- mer would settle down as peaceful neighbors and allies in time of war, were often dampened in the months following the Spring meeting at the Crossing of the Puerco, but they were never completely destroyed for a number of years. As Urgarte explained to Galvez, "I shall not be surprised that, even though the body of the nation [Navaho] have main- tained themselves in the undertaking to campaign against the Gila in our behalf, there may be at the same time separate rebellious groups who may continue treating with them and

67. Urgarte to Anza, October 5, 1786. Twitchell, Spanish Archives, II, No. 942. Urgarte's instructions to Anza concerning the Comanches revealed a policy similar to that adopted toward the Navahos. In addition, he proposed that Apaches under four- teen years of age held captive by the Comanches should be ransomed ; adults could be killed ; there should be a gratuitous return of Christian captives ; children of the chiefs could be sent to Mexico City for education : "the same is to be understood with respect to the Utes, and Navajos if it is possible." Urgarte to Anza, October 5, 1786. Twitchell, Spanish Archives, II, No. 943.

68. Ibid., II, 942. Prov. Intern. 65, exp. 1, f46. I assume that by legal title he meant some kind of an official paper indicating the appointment and the office of the new Navaho leaders.

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raiding different settlements where they believe they may not be discovered/' If only a few indulged in such nuisance tac- tics, their own leaders could restrain them. But if large numbers once again assumed their former maurauding, "which would not be foreign to their false and inconstant natures/' then the final break between the Navahos and Gilas would have to be achieved by force, drawing heavily upon the Ute and Comanche allies for this purpose.69 Urgarte, en- lightened statesman that he was, could face reality and act accordingly.

There was some small indication that a few Navahos had not accepted the general understanding in full faith, but all told the defections were not serious. A few of them raided Abiquiu and the Rio Aba jo in September and October of 1787.™ A more serious charge was made by friendly Apache informants that the Navahos had attacked Arispe in company with the Gilas in July of 1786, the very time when Rivera was seeking hostiles in the mountains west of Socorro. But specific proof of this accusation was never furnished. On the contrary, Urgarte received nothing but refutations of the charge as late as December. "Nevertheless," he said, "I am suspending judgment until seeing the results of the inquiry entrusted to the governor" of New Mexico.71

The one Navaho who continued in the ill-favor of the Spanish was El Pinto. They suspected that he was the weak link in the chain of friendship and alliance forged around the Navahos, a suspicion that had existed since the accusation

69. Urgarte to Marques de Sonora, Chihuahua, December 21, 1786. Ibid.

70. Urgarte, Arispe, January 14, 1788. Twitchell, Spanish Archives, II, No. 990.

71. Urgarte to Marques de Sonora, December 21, 1786. Thomas, op. cit., p. 344. Urgarte also indignantly wrote, "Everything fits into the perfidious character of those Indians, and is very well in accord with their distinguished malice. . . ." Of course he was weighing Navaho behavior against the white man's concept of moral behavior, or legal for that matter ; whereas the two peoples were on different planes of what consti- tuted right and wrong. This attitude of the white man toward the Navaho carried on long after Urgarte and his contemporaries had ceased to be worried about the problem. Doubt is cast upon Navaho participation in Gila raids this year by the lack of any such accusation in the Instructions issued by Galvez in August of 1786. "Documentos His- toricos de la Nueva Viscaya," Historic, 11. Nor was there any positive information as late as December in the hands of southern officials of any Navaho raid on the southern frontier, although Antonio el Pinto had been seen at Janos in early 1783.

And Urgarte to Concha, Arispe, January 14, 1788. Prov. Intern. 65, f24.

NAVAHO-SPANISH DIPLOMACY 231

that he had been observed among a group of hostiles on the southern frontier in 1783. Several months or maybe a year after his release from prison in Santa Fe in April of 1786, he was again picked up and kept in custody. He had started for Isleta with three other men and a woman to trade in the belief that peace reigned and trade relations had again been restored. He was correct in his understanding of the situa- tion, but was not aware of his own status in Spanish eyes. Conforming to orders, Francisco Lovera, Alcalde of Laguna, arrested El Pinto and took him to Santa Fe. His companions were promptly released, but they followed their leader to Santa Fe where they received assurances that El Pinto would be well treated, so they returned to their homes. El Pinto denied that he had been hostile to the Spanish, and claimed that enemies had brought false charges against him.

In the course of time, the Spanish-appointed General of the Navahos and his Lieutenant, along with a varying number of followers, made repeated trips to see the Governor about El Pinto's release. On November 1, 1787, they were once more in Santa Fe for the same purpose. But the Governor was not yet ready to yield to their request because of plans for another campaign against the Gilas. Whether or not the charges of defection since the peace treaty could be proved against El Pinto, it was a matter of prudence to keep him under control for the time being. So the prisoner remained in custody until April 4, 1788. He was then accompanied home by Vizente Troncoso, already a familiar figure among the Navahos.

Troncoso not only accompanied El Pinto, but also made it a point to visit the leading men in the rancherias of Guada- lupe and Cebolleta. They were very expressive in rendering thanks for the release of their associate, but the New Mexi- can's real mission was of a more serious nature. Once more an attempt was made to strengthen the general policy en- visioned over two years before; Troncosa urged upon the Navaho leaders that they "strictly observe total separation in intercourse and commerce with the Gilenos and moreover they should foment and encourage the declared war and hostilities against this common and obstinate enemy. . . ."

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They agreed to this, and also promised to be responsible for El Pinto's conduct.72

Meanwhile, in the fall of 1787, Governor Fernando de la Concha (1787-1794) had roundly scolded the General of the Navahos, Don Carlos, for dragging his feet in not living up to the agreement to furnish a monthly contingent of fighters for action against the Gilas. It had had some effect, so the Governor claimed when the campaign of September was launched, because the Navahos were present in more reason- able number. In December, the Navahos engaged in two skir- mishes with the Gilas. In the first one they invaded Gila territory and seized forty-nine horses. The southerners in turn attacked the Navahos and captured nine horses, but they suffered the loss of a captain. Finally, in the month of May, 1788, the Gilenos stole the horse herd of the Guadalupe Navahos, including in the number the four horses of the Interpreter, Francisco Garcia.73

These several episodes brought joy to the Spanish au- thorities. They really believed in the summer of 1788 that the break between the Navahos and the Gilas was clear and final. And more important, the three major frontier people were at peace with the Spanish, sometimes cooperating to- gether in forays against the Gilas. But efforts were not neg- lected to maintain the favorable situation, and rewards were offered for military assistance. In June, the Navahos and Comanches were offered "a horse with bridle and two large knives" for each Apache prisoner brought to Santa Fe,74 in keeping with the general instructions that had been formu- lated nearly two years before (October 5, 1786) . In the cam- paign launched in August, the Governor left Laguna with a small body of men, including Antonio El Pinto and nineteen other Navahos. Fifty-three Navahos appeared at Laguna for

72. Vizente Troncoso, Report to Concha, Santa Fe, April 12, 1788. Prov. Intern. 65, exp. 5, f!5. Concho to Urgarte, Santa Fe, November 10, 1787. Ibid., exp. 3, fll.

El Pinto apparently had been well treated in Santa Fe. The Governor spent over 18 pesos on clothes for him on March 27, 1788. A. G. N., Prov. Intern. 103.

73. Concha "Informe," Santa Fe, June 20, 1788. Prov. Intern. 65, exp. 5, f!2. Concha to Urgarte, Santa Fe, November 10, 1787. Ibid., exp. 3, fll.

74. Concha to Urgarte, Santa Fe, June 26, 1788. Prov. Intern. 65, exp. 6, f2. The Navahos received a few presents at rare intervals. In January they were given twenty fanegas of wheat and twelve of corn. In April twenty Navahos and a chief received a donation of cloth, metal buttons, cigars, and knives. Prov. Intern. 103.

NAVAHO-SPANISH DIPLOMACY 233

the undertaking, but only twenty were retained in order to reduce costs.75

The presence of El Pinto from the Spanish point of view clinched the matter of the separation of Gila and Navaho. Many had doubted the wisdom of releasing him from prison, but now he was high in favor. The Navaho assaults on their kinsmen and former friends, the Gilas, had brought reprisals. El Pinto had risen to the actual leadership of his people, that is, the portion of Navahos who had really come under the influence of the Spanish (although the Spanish authorities spoke in terms of the whole nation) . He was outstanding in efforts for the defense of their homes. In the fall of 1788, he directed the construction of stone forts to ward off invaders, and was forward in volunteering for campaigns. In short, his status had undergone such a change that he was credited with being a man of extraordinary talent. Governor Concha finally concluded that he should be given the title of General that had long been held by Don Carlos. The latter had fallen into the descriptive classification of a weak leader. If a change were made in the command, his feelings could be assuaged with the title of "retired" general.76

For the next several years the situation was fairly satis- factory to the Spanish authorities. Their Indian allies, the Comanches, Utes, Navahos, and even the Jicarilla Apaches, occasionally visited Santa Fe, a few at a time, and received gifts while enjoying the hospitality of the Governor. For the year 1789, the cost of entertaining visitors amounted to 5,906 silver pesos. The Comanches were the most expensive, cost- ing 4,248 pesos. Expenditures for the Navahos amounted to 842 pesos, the Utes 416, Jicarillas 320, and a few southern Apaches (not the Gilas, of course) 80 pesos.77 The following year, Navahos called on the Governor several times. A cap- tain and twenty-two followers arrived on June 22. They received some indigo, cloth, a bridle, smokes, hatchets, and

75. Concha, "Diary," Prov. Intern. 193, exp. 2. Translated and annotated in NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW, 34:285-304 (October, 1959) by Adlai Feather.

76. Concha to Urgarte, Santa Fe, November 12, 1798. Twitchell, Spanish Archives, II, No. 1022. Concha, "Informe," Santa Fe, June 20, 1788. Prov. Intern. 65, exp. 5, f9v. I do not know whether or not a formal change was made in the generalship of the Navahos.

77. J. N. Chavez, "Memorandum," Santa Fe, December 31, 1789. Prov. Intern. 103.

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some knives. On July 8, a leader and three associates arrived. On September 15, a party of eleven came for a visit and on November 12 the usual captain with nine followers were in the capital.78

In the winter of 1792, the Utes and Navahos combined against the Comanches and raided one of their camps in the eastern buffalo country when the men were absent. The Comanches promptly retaliated against the Utes. In order to strike at the Navahos it was necessary to cross through the heart of the Spanish-Pueblo country. The Governor did not want intra-Indian friction at any time, and least of all did he want the Navahos stirred up in general, so he arranged for a meeting of leaders from both sides in Santa Fe to patch up the quarrel.79 But the more sorrowful event occurred a year later when El Pinto was killed by a raiding party of Gila Apaches. They attacked the Navaho rancheria of Guada- lupe and killed him with an arrow. A party of twenty-five Navahos, with two Jemez Indians and the Interpreter, over- took the raiders in the San Mateo Mountains, but no punish- ment could outweigh the death of El Pinto. In the words of Pedro de Nava, he was a fine person, obedient to the Spanish authority; he in turn had received respect and obedience from his own people, and moreover he had been an implacable enemy of the Apaches, "circumstances," Nava mourned, "that would never be found in another person."80

The closing years of the nineteenth century marked an- other era of good will between Navaho and Spanish. The friction over use of land in the Cebolleta area came tempo- rarily to an end. In keeping with the terms of peace arranged by Governor Anza, the Navahos had returned to their old planting fields, and arrangements were made whereby New Mexican pastors could move their stock into acknowledged Navaho territory, the one understanding being that the stock should not be permitted to range on the Indian farm land. The dire poverty of the New Mexicans in the decade of the 1770's, largely owing to losses suffered in war with frontier

78. Ibid.

79. Prov. Intern. 10S.

80. Letter to Pedro de Nava, Santa Fe, November 19, 1793. Twitchell, Spanish Archives, II, No. 1266.

NAVAHO-SPANISH DIPLOMACY 235

foes, gave way to a measure of prosperity. The Navahos like- wise were enjoying to a much greater extent the fruits of their toil. From the viewpoint of a distinguished soldier and close student of frontier problems, the Navahos "were at another time the enemies of the Spanish. Today they are faithful friends, and are governed by a general named by the Governor. They suffer some annoyances from their coun- trymen the Chiricahua and Gila Apaches who mark the southern limits for the Navaho.81

Underneath the surface, however, of this era of good feel- ing were basic problems that could not be solved in the life- time of any one individual or governmental administration. The notion that the Navahos had acquired responsible gov- ernment was unsound, and the effort to reconcile Navaho and Spanish interests in land around the Cebolleta region was doomed to failure. Consequently, the era of peace finally came to an end and the old problems were reborn, except for one. The Navahos no longer were a keen source of worry to the central Spanish authorities in dealing with the Gila Apaches. They were to be a Provincial problem.

81. El Teniente Coronel Don Antonio Cordero, "Noticias relatives a la nacion Apache que en Ano de 1796 extendio en el Paso del Norte." Documentos Historicos sobre Durango, mss. 93 (B. L.). Concha, Relation, Santa Fe, May 1, 1793. A. G. I., Mexico, 89-6-23. Letter to Pedro de Nava, Santa Fe, July 15, 1795. Twitchell, Spanish Archives, II, No. 1335.

Other documents of general interest for these last years are Fernando de la Concha, "Informe, 1787-1788," Prov. Intern. 254. And Concha, "Advice on Governing New Mexico, 1794," translation by Donald E. Worcester, NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW, 24:236-254 (July, 1949).

WEST OF THE PECOS By E. L. STEVE STEPHENS

(Continued)

Before we got there we learned was a big blowout going on there. We asked the boss how about staying a few days. I will ask Slaughter. We got everthing turned over and we was eating dinner. Slaughter and the men he sold to come up. They come over to the chuck wagon and got them some coffee. Slaughter stepped out among us cowpunchers and said we will stay here three days and take in the wild west show and see the gals and the men [who] got the cattle gave all us punchers a pass to the show. They asked are any of you going to enter in the show? We might. When we started I put my good boots in my bedroll and wore my good hat. We went to town and got cleaned up. Most of the boys stopped in to get a drink. I will be at a barber shop. You all come on down.

We got cleaned up and went to the big blowout. Was a big bunch of cowboys and cow girls there. Some of the boys en- tered in calf roping that night and they got a little money after the show that night we went to the dance. Had a good time and the girl Goldie I rode against in Trinidad in 1905 she showed me a swell time. She was married but she didn't tell me until the next day. That was all right too. I asked her was her Dad here. He will be here tomorrow. I want to see him. Steve you can go to work for Dad. Are you boys going to enter in the bronc riding? Maybe. The Indians put on a big war dance. We went to it. By that time nearly day light.

Well the next day we went to the show ground. Some of the boys entered in the calf roping. One in the bull riding. Two of the boys and myself entered in the bronc riding. We taken off a little money when the show was over for the night. We went to the dance. Ever thing went off very nice and had good time. The gambling dens and thugs and rustlers didn't start any trouble. Too many cowboys there. Well, the third day was coming up and that was the last day for the wild west show. All us boys taken a hand in the show. Some roped

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calves, some in steer riding, some in bronc riding. That was a big day. We all went to town. Two of the cowboys got strayed off and didn't come to the wagon that night. The next morn- ing the boss sent me and two other boys. Go and look for them. They just got in the wrong dive and the gals and their hubbies got what money they had and called the law and put them in jail. We found them in jail. We paid their fine and we went to the wagon and we started back to the ranch. We was ten days on the road. We made it in.

It was getting late in the fall and getting cold weather. We didn't do much the rest of the winter. Just scouted and rode the gaps in the mountains. Well spring about here. Get- ting things ready to start to work. The grass are fine and the horses are fat. Won't be long the show will start. For a few days we are going to have several new cowboys this cow work. We have some fun. Ever time we get some new cowboys we round up the cow ponies [,] well the chuck wagon pulled out one morning. It was in May 1913. We are going to work country we haven't worked in a long time and we will have it a little rough. I am a little afraid we are going to work Painted Cave country. Ever thing there but white men.

We had been on the road two days when another cow out- fit joined us going up there. The morning of the third day I started out to help the horses rangier to round up the horses. A wild cat jumped up and scared my old pony. He whirled and went to bucking and fell down and throwed me but I held to the bridle reins. We finished Painted Cave country south of Bluewater and went back to La Bajada country, Bill Stub- blefield, Brand XIT. That east of Cochiti Indian Pueblo coun- try. That was not so bad but seen it better. Lost several horses in that work but that nothing new. Well we finished that work and pulled in to the ranch for the winter. We had a hard winter. So cold and snow. All the cowboys left but four of us[,] even the cook went to town for a month. We was about out of beef to eat. It was clear one morning. I said to the boys how about me and Jack go and get a fat calf. Or a buck deer. We found a fat deer about five miles from the ranch. By that time it was snowing. We killed him. Didn't know just how we was going to get him into the ranch. We decided we just carry

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his hindquarters so we wrapped the hindquarters in our slickers and tied on the back of the saddles and pulled out for the ranch. Them old ponies tried to buck all the way to ranch. We rode up to the ranch house and I started to get off and my old pony throwed me off and sprung- my wrist and the boys soaked it in vinegar and wrapped it in brown paper. In a short time I was all right. We made it through the winter all right.

Well the spring of 1914 was here and we begin to get ever thing ready to send the first wagon to town for chuck for the cow work. While the freight wagon was gone us cow punchers gathered the cow ponies. In about that time the cow- boys was dropping in to work. Well, the freight wagon got in and the old cook come with it. The old devil was gone all winter and us boys had to cook. We told him we ought to run him off. We was glad to see him. He sure was a good cook. He was the same cook that got after that old boy with the butcher knife. He got their in time to fix our supper and sure was good.

The wagon started 3 or 4 days but some of the new cow- boys didn't know the boss didn't have any gambling. Some was playing poker and the boss come up. Boys we don't allow gambling with this outfit. One said the wrong thing and he got run off. The spring of 1914 the chuck wagon left the ranch for Barr Canyon where we started the cow work. That was a little better country to work in. Not much trouble. We got through in Barr Canyon and moved north to Turkey Canyon. Work and mark and branded the calves. We was about to finish this fall work. The chuck wagon pulled into the ranch. It was getting a little cold weather.

We had been in several days. I told the boss I wanted to go home. He said Steve you can if you want to. When you get ready you come back. I never did go back. I begin to get ready to leave. I was lost. I had lost the best friend I ever had. My old dun pony died. He carried me through lots of tight places. When we get in a tight place I would lie down and he would too. Just like buring a brother to me. The boss said Steve I will carry you to town and you can take the stage coach there. I put my bedroll and my saddle in the buckboard and left for

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town. I told the boys I would see you. We left for town. Taken us a day and a half to go to town and I had to wait three days for the stage coach to get in. I got on that stage coach when it left for Bernalillo and made it to that raw hide town and stayed there over night and part of the next day. I left there for Albuquerque.

I stayed there a few days and I run in to a man by the name of Miller. And got to talking to him and he knew my brothers in Texas. He asked me where have I been. I said north west of here. He told me he had leased a grant [town- ship] close to Blue Water, 70 miles south west, Brand was ML and was going to move some cattle out there from Texas. I asked him if he ever run any cattle in this country. He said he hadn't and he asked me how long had I been in this coun- try. I told him 12 years. We went and had supper together. He asked me where I was staying. I told him that the place I was staying at. We was walking up the street and dropped in a saloon. Us have a drink. I never drink. You can't drink and stay in this country very long.

He asked me my name. I said Steve. He looked at me. I had seen him when I was a young lad. He was a middle age man when I was a lad. We went to the hotel. Go through a door there was a dance hall. There was several gals in there. Some was dancing and we set down. Was looking on. One come over and set down. She said us dance. He danced and drink a bottle of beer. I danced a few sets and bought a few bottles of beer. Them gals said don't you drink? I said no. We will buy you some wine. One went and got a bottle and handed it to me. I turned up like I was drinking but never drink a drop. Every time I got a chance I poured it in the spittoon. I didn't drink with any stranger. We went to the hotel.

The next morning I got up before Miller did and went and got me a cup of coffee and then I went back to the hotel and Miller was up. We went and had breakfast. He said Steve I want you to work for me. I said where. He said here at Blue Water. I asked how much are you going to pay. He told me I never said any more about that until late that evening. I said when do you want me to start to work. Right now. I said

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when are you going to ship some cattle out here. Just as soon as I get back to the ranch in Texas. The next morning we went back to the ranch southwest of Blue Water. Miller got a man with a buckboard to carry us and chuck out to the ranch. We made it 0. K. We unloaded and I looked around. Things looked very good. Grass was fine. Was an Indian [Zuni] reservation near by. No horses belonged to the outfit. Miller said had to buy some ponies. The man brought us out to the ranch. I talk to him about some ponies He told me we could buy some ponies from the Indians.

The next day my friend the Indian Chief, Gray Eigal, and two other Indians come over. We asked them to get off and stay awhile. So they did. So we talked a while and I asked the chief if he had any ponies he would sell. He nodded his head. How many I said. 3 or 4 good ponies. I will bring over tomorrow. So the next day he come over and brought ten ponies. The man brought us out said to Miller and me you can buy them ponies for about ten dollars a head. We bought 4 head. I asked chief what he wanted a head. He said fifteen a head. I said chief we are going to be neighbors. We are going to give you 20 dollars a head. So Miller paid him the money and chief said come to see big chief. I patted him on the back.

After chief left, Miller said Steve what did you give him more than asked. I said Mr. Miller that will save you thou- sands of dollars. You have got to get along with them people. After they left I decided I would try them ponies out. Was good looking ponies. One of them bucked me off. Was salty pony. They made good cow ponies. In a day or so Miller left for Blue Water to take the train back home to ship some cattle out. He shipped four hundred cows and calves out here. While I was waiting for them to arrive I scouted the range to spot the water and everything and went by to see the chief and the other Indians to see how ever thing looked like and look the Indian gals over. I didn't stay very long. The chief asked me to come back. I will. You come over. Had to make friends with the Indians.

Well the cattle come in to Blue Water, and I met them. There I saw the chief and I will be over early in the morning

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and bring 5 or 6 with me to help you. We got them unloaded and drove to the ranch. The chief left 4 of his men to help me to get the cattle located on the range. I told Miller these Indian boys was going to help me for a few days. All right Steve, anything you do is all right with me. I see you can get along with them Indians. When we got the cattle located I saw the chief to come over in a day so he come over and I gave him a fat calf for him letting his boys helping me. Chief and his people was a friend of mine. I found out later the other outfits couldn't stay on this ranch for the man was running the ranch run some of chief men out one time.

Fall was coming on. I was scouting on east side of the ranch. I knew was a Spanish settlement on San Jose creek valley. I decided I would ride down and look it over. I rode up where a man pulling corn. I told him where I was staying and he told me his name. We talked a while and he said us go and get a drink of water. I tied my horse. That was up my alley. I wanted to see if they was any girls down there. I saw some good looking girls but they was like a mule with a net fly after him. Shy. I didn't stay long. We went back where he was pulling corn. I untied my pony and started to leave. He said you come back to see us. We have a dance. I thanked him and I said you come over and bring your family to see me. I am batching over there. He said I will. I said to myself maybe I can get a toe holt.

Well, cold weather come on and I needed some chuck and horse feed. I sent into the store where I traded and the store sent me a load out. About the middle of Nov. I saw that Spanish man and he said come over Thanksgiving evening. We are going to have a big dance and supper. About noon I got cleaned up and started over and got about a mile from the ranch. My old pony got buggered at a bob cat. Jumped up and went to bucking and bucked under a tree and tore my coat and my shirt. But I went on anyway. I got there they met me at the gate. We went to the lot and I unsaddled my pony and put him in the lot and feed him. We went to the house. I meet his folks and several others. Some could talk good English. Was [n't] long was a large crowd there. I had never seen so many girls. Was long until the music started.

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I didn't take hand for a while. Let them Mexican boys get with their girl friends. It would [n't] do to take one of them boy ['s] girl friend[,] to many Mexican boys there.

The Mexican boys just have one real girl. I got them spotted. One good looking senorita setting over next to the wall. She hadn't danced but one set. I seen she didn't have a boy friend there. I walked over and said us dance. All right. We danced one set and the music stopped for a few minutes and we went and set down. She was like a young mule. Was shy. Was another girl come and set down by us and begin talking. I would talk back. Was long she began to get a little tamer. About that time the music started. This first girl said us dance. She asked me my name. I said Steve. She told me her name. She knew where I worked. That set was over. I said I was going to dance with that girl we was talking to. We danced that set. She would show you a good time. I didn't dance the next set. Midnight supper was ready. That first girl I danced with come over and said us go and eat[,] one of the old men turn thanks and we eaten. They put on a feast. I am telling you I never seen any one take a drink, dance all night. It snowed all night.

Next morning everybody was leaving out to go home. This gal said come to see me. I said you come to see me. One of her brothers hit me up to work for me. If I need anyone I will come and see you. I figured that would give me a chance to see the girl. Way things turned out I could go over. I sent the boy word to come over. I want to see him. He come over. I got the word you sent me. Well the girl come with her brother. I was gone but I come in just before sundown and rode up the corral. I saw a man at the house. They started down where I was. Then I knew who they was. I unsaddled and we went to the house. I told him what I would pay him by the month. By that time it was after dark and it sure was snowing. I would ask you to stay all night but what would your folks think? Daddy said you may not be at the ranch when we get there. You all don't start back if you can't get back before sundown. Well that put me to thinking where am I going to bed down that girl. I had my bedroll and Miller had a bed.

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Well any way we started supper. The boy and the girl jumped in and we got it ready and we sed down and eat. But I was thinking what I was going to do with the third one. We washed up the dishes. Miller always carries a folding cot with him. Was a little closet he put his stuff in when he comes out. I looked in it and it was in there. I taken some blankets off my bedroll and some off Miller's bed and fixed the coat[,] Miller and my bed was in the room where the stove was so I fixed the cot in there to. We set around and talked until 10 or 11 and it was still snowing. I told the girl she could sleep in Miller's bed. The boy slept on the cot. I said gal I haven't got no pajamas but I have got some long handles you can sleep in. She said what that: I got a pair out. She said we call them long drawers. She said I believe I will sleep in them. Well me and the boy went in the other room until she got in bed. Well me and the boy went to bed.

Next morning I got up about five and started a fire in the cook stove and put the coffee pot on. Was long that boy was up and the girl was up. She washed her face, Can I use your comb. I said Yes. By that time the coffee was ready. We set down and drink coffee. I got up to start breakfast. She said what do you want me to do? I said you can get the steak ready to cook. I had a beef hanging on the side of the house. She sent her brother to cut some off. I had to mug her a little. I made sourdough bread. She got the steak ready and she cooked it. She was a jam up cook. After we eat I said to her brother we better go and feed the ponies. When we finished feeding and got back to the house she had cleaned up the kitchen and making up the beds.

The snow was about a foot deep. Went and saddled up and the boy and girl started home. I went part of the way with them. I told the boy when it cleared up you come over and bring your bedroll. In a few days he come over and I put him to work and he made me a good hand. Ever week or two his dad would come over to see how we was getting along. When we got caught up with the work we would go over to see his folks and see the girl. She was a swell looking and neat as a pin.

It was about time to start marking and branding. I rode

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over to Reservation to see the chief and the rest of Indians. The chief and some of his boys could come over and help me when I started to work. Chief said any time you get ready you let me know. The spring of 1915 around the first day I was ready to go to work. I let the chief come over and some more Indians helped me until I got through branding. When we got the cattle set down the chief and his boys getting ready to go back to reservation he said we are going to have a war dance. I said I will furnish the beef. In a few days they come over to get the beef. Chief said come over tomorrow.

The next day come. I cleaned up and went over and stayed all night. I sat around and watched them dance. Was several Indian girls there. I talked to them and had a good time. But I kept my eye on them young Indian boys. Jealous if a white boy talked to them girls very much. I knew they was that way before. I went over there for I had been to Indian reser- vations and dances before I came here. The next morning about sunrise I left for the ranch. I saddled up my pony. The chief shook my hand and said we glad you come over and come back. I thanked him and rode off. The boy was working for me was waiting for me the evening before. I told him he could go and see his folks but he beat me back to the ranch. I was half asleep when I started to get off my pony. He bucked me off and bunged my knee up. I could walk that scared that boy. He helped me to the house and didn't have a darn thing to put on my knee. The boy said Mr. Steve you lay here on the bed and I will go and get something to put on it. Was sure hurting but I didn't tell him.

It was big as two knees when he got back. His daddy and my girl friend come back with him. They jumped in and soaked my knee in hot water and salt and then they wrapped it up. We are going to carry you home with us. So my wife can doctor you. I couldn't go for I couldn't stand for it to hang down. The old man sent the girl back home and told her to come back in 2 or 3 days. The girl come back with some more dope. I was better. I could let my leg hang down in a few days I could ride some. They sure was good to me.

Was behind with my work. Fixing some gaps in moun- tains getting ready for winter. We got caught up before the

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snow begin to fall. One Sat. evening I let the boy go home and come back Sun. evening. I was fixing supper when he come in. He said Mr. Steve going to have a big dance and supper at my uncle's. I asked him when. He told me it was a month off. I was ready to move some cows and calves to another pasture. I said we have got lots work by then. We will try and make it. He said I will get daddy and sis to help us. I said your daddy had his own work to do. It two fire [far] for them to come over and go back ever day. I was one [on] the east side and the old man seen me on a ridge driving some cows he sent a man to cut me off and tell me to come down to the corn field. He wanted to see me. I went down where the old man was. When are you going to move the cows. I told him when. He said I will be there and bring some help. You bring a bedroll I said. It late. I better go.

The evening before was to start the old man come and the girl come over. Me and the boy had been gone all day and [did not] get in until sundown. The girl and her dad had supper ready when we got in. We eat and cleaned up the kitchen and set around the fire a while and fixed the beds. Got up early next morning. The girl and myself got break- fast. Her dad kindly made up the beds and the boy feed the horses. When it got about sunrize we pulled out. Had good luck finding the cows and calves. Was in Cisco Canyon. We carried them and put them where I wanted them. And went into the house and cooked supper. Didn't have any dinner. I sure was hungry. But we had a pot of beans that girl put on that morning. Well we eat supper by dark it was trying to snow. But it didn't snow much.

Next morning we pulled out early but we fixed us a bite to eat and carried it along. We got through for the day. Going to the ranch house the pony the old man was riding got scared and turned back into a tree and hurt his leg and we left him at the house next morning. He didn't like that much. With good luck we will finish that day. We finished that day. We got through and went into the ranch about sundown. He was cooking supper. I said dad how are you ? All right. Not much sore. That good I said. The next morning they was getting ready to go home. He said I don't want any pay. He said

246 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

wouldn't take it. I gave the girl ten dollars. She said I don't want the money. I said if you love me you will take it. Well they pulled out for home.

In a week me and the boy had the cattle located and we was about out of beef. We went up on Barr Canyon and found one with its mother so we drove them in the next morning. We butchered it. I told the boy to go and get a pony. We hung half of the beef on the side of the house at the ranch. The boy said where are you going to put this other? I said on that pony. We had to blindfold that old pony to tie the beef on him. We pulled out with the beef. We got about two miles from the ranch. The old boy said Mr. Steve what are you going to do with this beef? We are going to carry it to your folks. Don't you say anything when we get there about the beef. When we rode up his mother and sister met us at the yard gate. His dad was at the barn feeding his stock. He had been gathering corn. He come to the house. We better take this off this pony. We taken it off and carried the beef on the back porch. Still the old man didn't know what it was. I told Mick [,] that the boy's name, I didn't know just what his name was. Anyway he unwrapped it. The family was proud of it. Mike's mother said I will cook some for supper. The mother and the girl jumped in and fixed supper. Was long they had it ready. The old gent said Steve us go to the barn while they getting supper. He wanted to show me his hogs and every- thing he had at the barn.

Was long his wife called John supper's ready. That was the first time I ever heard his name. We went to the house and got ready for supper and we set down at the table. The old man had a black book in his hand and he opened this book and put his hand on it then returned thanks. We ate supper. The old man said Mr. Steve us go in by the fire and smoke. After we left out Mike's mother told him to go and carry our horses to the barn and unsaddle them and feed the ponies. We talked an hour or so. I said boy, we better go. It was trying to snow but it wasn't cold. The old lady and the old man said you all are going to stay over night for you all horses are at the barn and unsaddled and fed. Well we stayed over night. Was long a bunch of boys and gals come in and brought their music

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with them. We had a good time. We had danced 2 or 3 sets. The boys come over where I was. We don't care for you danc- ing with our girls. Thanks, boys. For Mexican boys are jealous of their girls. I didn't want to get into trouble with them Mexican boys. The boys and girls showed me a good time. No drinking at that old man's place. Well about mid- night them gals and boys went home.

The next morning Mike and I went to the ranch. When we got ready to leave the boy's mother brought the biggest sack she could find full of cookies. I said thank you. We can duck them in coffee. We made it in with the cookies. We changed horses and rode up to what was called Panther Can- yon and riding up the canyon our horses begin to snort and buggered. I looked up. There was a panther laying on a bluff nearly over us. We turned back. The boy said kill him. I said we are to close. If I didn't kill him he would kill one of us or both of us. We rode a little way and we turned around and I shot him but didn't kill him. Broke a front leg. Are you going to follow him up? I said no, he could be hid and he might jump on one of us. We rode on up the canyon a way and found a calf just been killed by some wild beast. We went on around to the ranch. And we unsaddled and went to the house and found some one had been there and eat but didn't clean up the dishes. We cooked and eat and washed the dishes.

Didn't sleep much. The bobcats screamed and fought all night close around. We just got up and fixed breakfast and drink our coffee and eat. And saddled up our ponies and left for reservation to help the chief of Zuni Indian. For he had been helping me work the ranch cattle. Was late when we got back to the ranch. The winter was here and snowing. Was now about the middle. I told Mike the boy was working for me if it kept this up we can't make the dance Thanksgiving night. This boy are working for me one of his uncle girls are going to get married Thanksgiving night and have a big dance and supper. It warmed up a little a few days before then. The snow was two feet deep in the canyon we went up. In the evening we started over to take in the dance. The boy was working for me his old pony he was riding fell off a bluff. Could see the snow had it covered up. I got him out.

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Bruised him some. We went on to his Dad's and stayed there to go to the dance. Talked to the old folks and the girl. We eat supper. Was long was a bunch of boys and girls coming in for the dance. About eight o'clock the priest come in and they had prayer service and married the boy and girl. It was a swell wedding. And the dance got started. Was a large crowd there. I was the only white person there. I felt a little funny.

The dance went on fine until after supper. A while before supper was four Mexican boys come in the house but they didn't dance. Before supper we all eaten but I don't know if they did or not. I didn't see them. Was a large crowd there. The music started and some went to dancing. I and some others was standing close to the door talking and them Mex- ican boys come in. I kept my eye on them I knew one had a gun on for I had seen it. One of them went over and asked a girl to dance with hem. She didn't want to. He walked away. A boy and this girl went to dancing and danced close to this boy. Asked the girl to dance with him. He stuck his foot out and tripped the girl then the little thing started. The boy [who] asked the girl to dance with him started to pull his gun. I pecked him on the head. One of this four boys got bunged up pretty bad. Was a Mexican law there and carried them off. When everything got settled down we went back to dancing. The rest of the night we had a good time.

About daylight everybody was leaving out. Everyone was gone but a few boys and girls and we eat breakfast after a while Mike and I left for the ranch. I asked Mike did he know them boys. He said I have seen them a few times. They live down the river about 15 miles. This girl's folks did live down there but moved up here. I could figure the rest out.

I didn't have much to do that day. The next day we went over where we moved the cattle. Looked around. It was late in the evening when we got back to the ranch. Everything looked funny. The horses was in the corral with the gate shut. I said Mike did we leave the horses in the corral ? He said no. I turned them out and closed the gate. We unsaddled and fed the ponies and went to the house and started supper and set down and eat. And was washing the dishes. I heard spurs

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rattle. I thought I buckled my gun on. I couldn't see anything. Mike said Mr. Steve what are you doing with your gun on? We finished putting the dishes up and went in by the fire and I pulled my gun off and laid it on the bed close by.

I had pulled my boots off. A man jerked the door open said, Don't move. You won't get hurt. He said howabout something to eat? What we had cooked I told Mike to put it on the table. He stood up and eat. When he finished eating he said boy put all that bread and that meat in a sack. Mike did and he taken our gun and said boy put that sack on the table. He picked up the sack and backed out the door. When I get on my horse I will leave your gun on the ground. After he left we went and got our gun. Mike said he was a hard looker. I said Mike several of them kind[,] just hold your head and play their game safe. You may get the drop on them soon. That's a great life if you don't weaken, I said to Mike.

Well, spring about here. The grass are getting green. The spring of 1915 I got word from Mr. Miller he would be out in a few days. I went ahead and got things ready to mark and brand the calves. I got some cowboys to help me and I got Mike's father to do the cooking. We had been working 2 days when Mr. Miller got to the ranch. He told me to hold all the steers. He had sold them. We finished marking and branded and delivered to San Ysidro and laid over three days for us boys to get some clean socks and some to get a few drinks and see the girls too. And take the dances in. For one boy that was Mike and myself hadn't been to town in eight months. We was rusty. We cut our hair with the mule shears and shaved with our pack knives. That no lie either.

We got back to McCarty's in time to take the wild west show in. For three days all us boys but one taken a part in the show. Some roped calves. Some in bull riding myself and two other boys in bronc riding. I got bucked off the first day. The rest of the boys all right. We went to the dance that night and had a good time. I seen three old cow pokes I first seen in 1906 in Pueblo, Colo., at a big wild west show. We stayed there three days. The last night we was there we all went to town. We went in a saloon. Some was dancing with

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the girls and drinking too much. We all went to the wagon but two. We couldn't find them when we got ready to go to the wagon. The next morning three of us boys rode up and got off and tied our ponies to the hitching pole and looking around. I said yonder come a law. We are looking for two boys. Have you got any boys in your jug? We went with him to the jail. They was in jail for fighting. We paid their fine and got them out. They didn't have a dime. They said we god rolled. Them gals and pimps got our money. That what the fight started over.

We pulled out to the ranch. We was six days getting to the ranch. We had to wait for a creek to rundown so we could cross. Along in November Mr. Miller come out and brought a man with him to buy the cattle and take up his lease. So Miller sold out to him so he wanted me to work for him. I will until spring. For the same pay I am drawing now and let me keep my hand, I have now. I told Mr. Miller I was going to keep two of the best ponies we got off the Chief Indian. Miller told Jones we are going to keep two of the ponies. We put a tally brand on them we kept. Jones lived in Kansas City. He went back home. We had a very cold winter. I got one of my feet frozen in February. Mike my boy was working for me said Dad had some medicine. He would go and get Dad. He can fix you up. So he did. Was but a few days I could walk.

Early in the spring Mr. Jones came out from K. C. Every- thing was all right he said. When are you going to begin branding? I said in about a month. He said I will send a man out to take care of the tallying and run the iron. I said you better send a whole crew with him. In about 2 weeks I got some of my Indian friends and my Mexican friends to come over and help me. We was through branding when that joker got out to the ranch. He got a man to bring him out that night. He asked me when are we going to brand. He said to me he has come out to run the branding. I said you have to wait till next year for I have done branded. He got mad. I did too. He started to get up out of the chair. I knocked him down. I said get up for a little the wild cats would sandpaper your bones. You better be careful you not in K. C., Mo., now.

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The next morning I made coffee and fixed some breakfast. This dude didn't eat much. He said would you catch me a horse. Mike and myself had a pony here we didn't ride unless we felt lucky. I caught this pony for our new boss. He saddled this pony up and he got on the pony and we rode out the gate a little ways from the gate. This old pony fell apart and bucked our new boss off. He got up and said have you got any more horses. No that's your mount. That's the only one. I said you and I are going to town. We went in the store where I done all my trading for the ranch. I asked him to get hold of Jones in K. C. Mo. for me and he sent Jones a telegram while we was waiting I said us go and get a cup of coffee and a bite to eat. He was still puffed up. What do you want with Mr. Jones. You wait and see. We went back to the store. A tele- gram was there. I will be there in 3 days.

He come out. I told him I had quit. I paid Mike what he had coming. I saddled one and packed the other one. I left for Blue Water. I reached Blue Water the next day. Stayed around there a few days. I left there and travelled east and southeast for several days. Reached San Felipe. Was an old fort. Stayed there a few days for my ponies to rest up and myself. I was offered a job with a big outfit but they didn't pay enough.

I left there for Stanley. Thought maybe I would work for a man I had seen several times in 1905 and 1906. I rode in to Stanley late one evening and put my ponies in an old stage coach yard and fed them. And walked up in town and went in a cafe to get a cup of coffee and a bite to eat. Was a bunch of gold miners in there. I set down at a table close to the door. I got through eating and paid the girl. She said some girls in the back dancing. I had done seen them in there. Too many odds in there for one man. I went out and up the street to a hotel where all the cow men holed out. Wasn't long after that they had a gang fight in that cafe. One man got killed.

I stayed all night in the hotel. Never seen a man I knew. Everybody looked me over. The second day in Stanley I walked down to the cafe where the fight was the night before. It was in bad shape in the back where the girls stayed. Every-

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thing tore up. Gals had black eyes. Pimps was gone. I fooled around town all day. Never seen anyone I knew. Went back to the hotel. Was a few cow men come in. Nobody I knew. A nice dressed man came in and registered and set down by me. Went to talking to me. I never said much yes or no. Are you wanting to work. If the job suits me I might work, I said. Where are your ranch? He told me. He said what are your name. I said Steve. He said Miller is my name. Are you any kin to 101 Miller. Yes I am.

I went to my room to go to bed. There was a woman's clothes hanging in there. Well I don't know where she is. I pull my gun off and put it under my pillow and pulled my boots off. The door opened. I am in the wrong room she started to close the door. I said, Hey, gal, you better get your clothes. You might need them. I can't wear them. I went to bed after a while. In the next room I heard someone talking. The woman said she went in the wrong room.

The next morning I went and got me a cup of coffee and went back to the hotel. I seen that woman in the lobby. Miller said to me, are you going to work for me. I will come by the ranch are on my route if I don't change my route. One morn- ing decided I would leave town. I went by a cafe and drop in for a cup of coffee before I pulled out. I steppen in the door and set down at the table. I spied Hackberry Slim. I hadn't seen him since 1906. I never said anything. He saw me and come where I was. I seen him get up and start over. I never looked at him. Went ahead drinking my coffee. He set down. I glanced up at him. He said Steve how are you? We had a big bull session. Where are you going to Ray's LS ranch. I said where are you? Still at the circle Diamond? I am run- ning the wagon. Know you are going out with me. I went out with Slim. I never did tell him I would work for him.

We got to the ranch late one evening. The cook put the supper on the table. Slim and I eat. They was 4 cow punchers working there at that time. I never had much to say yes or no. They looked me over. I played a little green. I heard one say wonder if that feller going to work here. Next morning before day break the cook hollered, shook the boss and his cow poke and myself gathered around the table. We all got our coffee.

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I waited until all them cowboys set down so I would know where to sit down. We got through eating them buttons went to the lot. Hackberry and I went down to the lot. The horse wrangler came up with the ponies. The boss begin to catch the ponies for the cowboys. I was standing at the fence look- in over. Hackberry caught a good looking dun pony. He said Steve you can ride this one. That was the first time he called my name. All them guys looked at each other. We all got saddled up. I climbed on this dun. He humped up and wanted to buck but I held him up and would [not] let him buck.

We were gone nearly all day. We all had come in. We were sitting around waiting for supper time. The cook hollered chuck. We eat. One of the boys got a deck of cards out and they gathered around a table. Asked me do you want a hand. I don't believe I will play. I set down on my bedroll. One said to me, don't you play poker. I said maybe, that's a man's choice. About that time Hackberry came in. One said to Hack- berry that guy won't play poker with us. I was getting enough of his smart remarks. I was getting ready to smoke a skunk out of a hole.

Next morning we all saddled up. Slim sent some one way and the rest the other way. We scouted the country that day. We came in a little early to get the freight wagon ready to send to town for chuck. The next day I told the boss I was going to town with Jack. He drove the freight wagon. Slim said all right. The next morning we got off for town. We were three days going to town. We reached town and put the mules in the wagin yard and went up in town to get some coffee. We fooled around town the rest of the day. About sundown we went back to feed the mules. That man was running the old stage coach wagon yard I worked with him in 1907 on the Arizona line. He said Steve do you want a good job. Was an old man wanted a hand. He is going to move to town. I said maybe.

Jack and I went to town to eat supper. After a while the wagon yard man come up in town. We got together and went around to the hotel where all the cow men holed out when they are in town. This man was in the hotel. This yard man made me acquainted with him. He said to him you might get

254 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

Steve to work for you. I will see you in the morning. I will come to the hotel early in the morning-. We taken in all the gambling places and all the dance halls. Was a tough bunch come to town that evening. Was pay day with them. Get drunk and puke it off at the poker table and the girls. It was a rough night. Jack liked to play poker. He was getting the money oif them drunks. About that time a big fight started back in the dance hall. When everything settled down Jack and I went to bed.

Next morning I got up early. Jack and I went to the cafe to get a cup of coffee and a bite to eat. Jack went to the yard and I went to the hotel to see my man. He was in the lobby waiting for me. I asked him how big was his ranch. He told me talking to him a while. I would go to work for him. He said Steve we will go to the ranch in a few days. I said Mr. Long I am going and get my ponies and my bed roll. I will be gone a week. The next day Jack got his wagon loaded and we left for the ranch. We made it to the ranch and I saddled one and packed the other one. About that time Slim come down. Steve you better stay and work for me. Now Slim if I stay would be trouble with that feller. I won't take anything else off him. I mounted my pony and rode off.

It taken me two days to ride into town. I put my ponies in the wagon yard. The next morning I went up the cafe to coffee up and eat. I went to the hotel to see Long. He had gone to eat. I fooled around on the street. I seen him coming up the street. We met. He said we will leave in two days. We got ready and left for his ranch. He was in a buckboard. I rode with him and led my ponies. We were two days going. Got to his ranch the second evening. The next day we rode around some. Mr. Long stayed a week with me. I got every- thing spotted. He had one cowboy there. He told me I will need another hand this winter Steve. You send the wagon into town after chuck and horses feed.

It was fall about a month I sent this cowboy to town after chuck and horses feed. He didn't like it much for me to tell him. Was an Indian reservation lay in northwest of the ranch not too far off. I went over to get acquainted with them. They made me welcome some was like a mule when a

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nat flies around. Shy. I didn't stay long. The chief asked me back. I told him to come over. He said he would. The freight wagon was gone five days. I come in late one evening. It looked like it was going to rain. We unloaded the wagon and fixing supper. Was a noise down about the lot. I buckled my guns on and went out in the yard. Was a panther after a burro colt. It was dark. I couldn't see much. I shot at the wild beast and killed the colt's mother. That winter the panthers and cougars like to taken us in. The ranch headquarters was between the ruins of old Fort Union [ ?] and the Church of the 12 Apostles built 300 years ago.

One cold night two men rode up. Their hair and beard was long. One come in one door and the other one come in the other door. One said hand me your guns. We are hungry. The man was working for me he was at the stove. One of these men said to him, fix us something to eat and don't be long about it. We had a pot of beans cooked and had a pan of bread cooked. The boy cooked some meat. He put it all on the table. They stood up and eat. Kept there guns in there hands and they dropped our guns and rode off. We got the guns and went back to the house. This old boy said maby that's all for the night. I said maybe.

This old boy was scared. He said he never slept much between the panthers and cougars and outlaws. I don't like it. You will if you stay here long enough. I believe I will go back to K. C. Well, I carried him to town and he left for K. C. I had to find me another cowpuncher. Come a big snow that night. We got there I had to stay there three days. I seen several cowboys but didn't like there looks. I was in a liquor joint and a cafe drinking a cup of coffee. Was a clean cut Mexican cowboy. I give him the nod and he came over where I was. I talked to him a while. I found out where he lived. Not too far from the ranch. We fooled around town. He asked me my name. I said Steve. We eat supper. He said Mr. Steve come and go with me to a big Mexican dance. I said maybe. I better not go. I might have to back out the door. It will be all right for you to go with me. So I went with him. I never taken in part for a while.

This Mexican boy I went with and some others come over

256 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

where I was. Come on we want to show you a good time. The girls were very nice to me. I danced and had a good time. Some was getting a little drunk. I kept my eye on them and did not dance with their girls. Two many odds against me. About one o'clock everybody went home. This boy I went with he dated a girl. Walked her home. She had a sister and I walked her home. She was like a bronc pony. Keep on pet- ting them and they will get tame. So you can put a hackamore on them. Well me and this Mexican boy went to town. He said Mr. Steve did you have a good time. Yes, I did. I went to the hotel and went to bed.

The next morning I went to the cafe to get a cup of coffee. Wasn't long this Mexican boy come in. We drank coffee and eat. I hadn't told him I would give him a job. The next day we started to the ranch. The first night we stayed at a camp. I had stayed there before. We made it late the second day. Everything was there but my donkey colt. Next morning I looked for my donkey colt and never did find him.

In about a month Poncho my Mexican boy was working for me wanted to go home and see his Mom and Dad and his girl friend. They lived about 15 miles east of the ranch in Rio Puerco Valley. I said Poncho, you can go in about a week. We have got some work to do the next few days. We got our work caught up Friday morning. We was drinking coffee and I told Poncho this evening he could go home and come back Sunday evening. So he did. He said he had a good time. My Mom and Dad said for you to come over. They wanted to see you. My Daddy said going to have a big wedding and dance and supper Thanksgiving night for us to come if we can. I said maybe if we can.

(To be continued)

Book Reviews

The Rampaging Herd: a Bibliography of Books and Pam- phlets on Men and Events in the Cattle Industry. By Ramon F. Adams. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1959. Pp. xix, 463. $15.00.

"Like all bibliographies, this one is far from complete," so the author states. Among items omitted are books on cow- boy songs, poetry, dairying, cattle diseases, breeding "and such subjects" except that the last two categories have a few representative items. All states west of the Mississippi River have listings except Louisiana, Iowa and Minnesota — Arkansas has one.

During the years of labor on this publication, the author traveled from coast to coast visiting libraries and book shops, but he does not mention any depositories in the northern Plains states, the Pacific Northwest, Nevada, Utah and New Mexico.

The Arizona listings include reports of Territorial gover- nors from 1881 to 1911 with few exceptions, but none are listed for Colorado or Montana and only one for New Mexico. It may be that those for Arizona are important in the annals of the cattle history, but surely there is comparable informa- tion in similar reports for other territories that had a sig- nificant part of the range cattle industry. However, the em- phasis in this bibliography is apparently on scarce items, although their location is not given for the benefit of the reader. Perhaps one more abbreviation could have been added to some lines (without increasing the bulk of the book) for identification of the depository.

This bibliography will not be a weighty factor in research on the range cattle industry, since archival materials and cattle company papers are the foundation, nevertheless it will lead the searcher to an occasional item that otherwise would escape him; and for booklovers, their eyes may be brought to bear on many heretofore unknown publications. This is the strength of the book and the justification for years

257

258 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

of tedious work devoted to its preparation for publication. The University of Oklahoma Press did a meticulous job of printing and indexing.

University of New Mexico F. D. R.

The Early Inhabitants of the Americas. By Harry Errad Stafford. New York, Washington, Hollywood, 1959. Pp. 492.

In this lengthy work (492 pages) author Stafford pur- ports to tell of the early peoples of the Americas as well as their subsequent developments and status. A considerable amount of archaeology, ethnology, and linguistic evidence is included.

First and foremost the main sources which Stafford uti- lizes are the fundamental interpretation of the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon. Historian Stafford utilizes these two sources verbatim and without any attempt of translitera- tion or interpretation. The author traces all of the earliest American inhabitants from three major migrations which according to the Book of Mormon took place prior to the coming of Columbus. The first of these alleged migrations moved from ancient Mesopotamia in 3097 B.C. following the debacle of the Tower of Babel. These tribes of peoples are known usually as Jeredites. Author Stafford also identifies this first presumed migration with Toltecs of Mexico and the Mound Builders of Eastern North America.

The second migration also starting from the region of the Holy Land but coming the long way around by way of the South Pacific was made by the Nephites and Lamanites; while a third group moved from Jerusalem and made the long voyage by way of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. In the third group was the tribe known as Mulekites.

The Mormon idea that the redskin American Indians came from the Lamanites is pursued by author Stafford as is many another detail of Mormon pre-history, such as the battle between the Nephites and the Lamanites which sup- posedly took place on Hill Cumorah in New York State 420 A.D.

BOOK REVIEWS 259

Also following precedents of other authors who used these religious sources, Stafford professes contempt for the Dar- winian theory of evolution and the scientific explanation of the beginning of man. The author takes the fundamentalist view that the Genesis was a matter of 1,656 years before the Deluge. To support this view the author quotes from the Mayan book, The Popul Vuh and Mexican writings.

In his later discussions on the natives of South and Cen- tral America and the United States and other groups in the New World, Stafford makes frequent mention of his original sources. After the question of the original migrations of peoples to the Americas is settled to the author's satisfaction, he moves on to a discussion of various groups of American Indians, both modern and near modern. A considerable amount of linguistic evidence is intermixed in the account. There are also fragments of tribal history and United States history. Modern natives of South America are largely ne- glected, and the various linguistic groups of the United States and Canada are emphasized. In the latter portion of the book the author goes to considerable trouble to try to demonstrate that legends of white gods are evidences of the former light skinned migrants from the Holy Land.

Even if the reader accepts the fundamentalist viewpoint of the Old Testament there are a number of errors in this work. The archaeology is at fault as for example the state- ment that the Mound Builders were the first inhabitants of the area of the United States. The author goes on to say that the Hohokam followed the Mound Builders and were a branch of the Jeredites. Such statements are untenable from any point of view and there are many others of the same sort.

Linguistic information is also misleading and erroneous. Stafford states categorically that the Salishan group was at one time the largest linguistic group in the United States. There is no evidence to support this whatsoever. Many lin- guistic groupings are ignored or other distributions errone- ously stated.

Needless to say it is not necessary to postulate fallacious information of this sort even from Biblical sources. The story of creation as told in the Old Testament (actually there are

260 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

two stories of the creation in the Old Testament) was told in language which could be understood by the people of that day. Jesus, himself, spoke in parables to get his point across. In modern scientific terms the same story may be told in a manner which is in accord with all the archaeological and sci- entific data which we now possess. Archaeological reports, linguistic evidence, dating by radioactive carbon methods and many other sources of authentic information are now available to the most casual student. All of this scientific data together tells an understandable and valid story of the earliest Americans and the later American Indian tribesmen which is at considerable variance with the contents of this book.

University of New Mexico FRANK C. HIBBEN

The Indian Journals, 1859-62. By Lewis Henry Morgan. Edited, with an introduction by Leslie A. White. Illustra- tions selected and edited by Clyde Walton. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1959. Pp. 229, 16 color plates, 100 illustrations, index. $17.50.

In May 1859 Lewis Henry Morgan, motivated by the ne- cessity of collecting first-hand material for his study of kin- ship systems, set upon his first venture into western Indian country, a visit to the frontier territories of Kansas and Nebraska. This journey, repeated in the summer of 1860, was followed by expeditions in successive years to the Hudson's Bay area, and up the Missouri river to the Rocky Mountains. During the course of his trips Morgan not only compiled schedules of kinship terms for the memorable Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family, but kept extensive journals recording the results of his investigations among the various Indian tribes and his impressions of fron- tier life. The observations of this pioneer anthropologist, edited and annotated by Leslie A. White, contribute a unique perspective to the literature of the American frontier. The value of this handsome publication is enhanced by the re- markable illustrations assembled and edited by Clyde Wal- ton. Through drawings, photographs, and magnificent color

BOOK REVIEWS 261

prints, the frontier world which met Morgan's eyes — town and budding- city, forms of transportation, animal life, mis- sionaries, traders, government agents, travelers, and above all, the Indians — is recaptured for the modern reader.

Kansas Territory, on the fringe of white settlement at the time of Morgan's visits, was in the process of achieving normal frontier conditions after a period of virtually open warfare over the slavery issue. A few decades earlier, a num- ber of eastern Indian tribes had been removed to this remote territory ; these tribes, together with indigenous inhabitants of the area, offered a fertile field for Morgan's inquiries. At the same time, observations of the contemporary reservation scene stimulated his long-standing interest in the future of the American Indian and in the practical problems of Indian adaptation to a white-dominated world. The journals record the interaction of missionary, government agent, trader, and Indian; though not a captious critic, Morgan had frequent occasion for caustic comment on weaknesses in the adminis- tration of Indian affairs.

Like many other travelers, the author was impressed by the distinctive flora and fauna of the west. The vast reaches and rich soils of the prairie aroused his enthusiasm, although he was quick to contrast the potentiality of the environment for Indian and white systems of exploitation. Indeed, his thesis that the technological equipment of the pre-horse In- dian would have prevented effective utilization of the prairie antedated similar conclusions which were standard among American anthropologists until recent years. Morgan's con- cern with the environment-technology relationship is marked by a number of journal entries, reflecting the importance assigned these variables in his scheme of cultural evolution.

Of plains animals, the buffalo in particular fascinated Morgan ; he was assiduous in seeking information about the habits of the animals, and Indian and white methods of hunt- ing them. His report on the presence of a police system for the large scale buffalo hunts of the "half breeds" of the Pem- bina-Fort Garry region is of special interest for its bearing on problems of diffusion in the plains area. The exercise of police functions by warrior societies of northern Plains In-

262 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

dian tribes during communal hunts is well known ; Morgan's note suggests that further research with reference to the direction of borrowing would be profitable.

The western journals offer an unusual opportunity for vicarious participation in the field observations of a pioneer anthropologist. Morgan, clearly, was a conscientious field worker : he notes the conditions under which particular in- formation was gathered, evaluates his sources carefully, records materials which conflict with his theories, and seeks confirmation of data by further inquiry when possible. He was alert to any situation which promised to contribute to his research; introduced to the uninhibited "Indian fashion of drinking whiskey" by his interpreter and informant, he advised moderation, but when his counsel was disregarded, wrote: "It opened their hearts and tongues and I got with readiness and ease what at another time it would be hard to draw out of a Kaw Indian" (p. 33) .

The journal of the final expedition reported in this vol- ume, which was also the author's longest, reports data gath- ered on a steamboat voyage up the Missouri to the Rocky Mountains. Covering ground traversed earlier by noted west- ern pioneers, Morgan's trip nonetheless was highly produc- tive in a scientific sense. However, notebooks for this period also provide a glimpse of Morgan in a role other than that of scholar and researcher, as he writes of recurrent anxiety over the serious illness of a young daughter. The Indian Jour- nals conclude on a note of personal tragedy, with the author recording the news of sudden deaths of both daughters of the Morgan family.

In addition to editing and annotating the volume, Profes- sor White has contributed an introduction setting forth the major details of Morgan's life and work, sketching condi- tions in the western territories at the time of the latter 's journeys, and indicating the principal features of the jour- nals themselves. The University of Michigan Press has pro- vided a technical setting worthy of the editorial care lavished upon the journals; binding, printing, and reproductions of illustrations are uniformly impressive. University of New Mexico HARRY W. BASEHART

BOOK REVIEWS 263

Dictionary of the American Indian. By John L. Soutenburgh, Jr. New York : Philosophical Library, Inc., 1960. Pp. 462. $10.

The purpose of this dictionary is to provide a handy source of information on the Indians of the United States area. But it fails to fulfill this useful purpose. The compila- tion follows no discernible plan of including or excluding particular types of data. The names of most Canadian Indian tribes are omitted, but a few, for no apparent reason, are included. Even the coverage of tribes in the United States is not systematic : among California groups the Kato are as- signed an entry but the related Wailaki and Mattole are not. The entries also include a scattering of general terms (e. g., hunting, languages, maize), names of Indian chiefs, place names, and many Indian words (e. g., Ds'ah, "Navaho for the basin sagebrush/') ; items of the latter type, it seems to me, are an obvious waste of space in a dictionary containing less than five thousand entries. Worse still, the information dis- pensed is confused and so full of errors that it would be impractical to attempt corrections in a review. Even the writ- ing is careless : under the entry "Languages" one encounters, "Many of the languages are similar in sound to those who speak Scotch."

The book is cheaply printed and contains no illustrations ; I am unable to understand why the price should have been set at ten dollars. The reader who wishes information on American Indians is advised to save his money and to con- tinue using John Swanton, Indian Tribes of North America, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 145, 1952.

University of New Mexico STANLEY NEWMAN

A Fitting Death for Billy the Kid. By Ramon F. Adams. Nor- man: The University of Oklahoma Press, 1960. Pp. 310, 9 illustrations, index. $4.95.

This book is no book for the casual reader seeking diver- sion or entertainment. But for the serious seeker-after-truth in the career of Billy the Kid, it is unquestionably one of the most valuable and important works which have appeared.

264 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

With painstaking thoroughness the author dissects and evaluates practically all of the noteworthy books and articles on Billy the Kid which have been published since his death, as well as the more significant newspaper items which ap- peared before and shortly after he was killed.

In separating fact from fiction the book is well docu- mented. But even more important, in those matters where past accounts are divergent and evidence conflicting, Mr. Adams shows discerning judgment in selecting the more rea- sonable and credible.

The prologue contains a capsule resume of what the au- thor considers the true facts which highlight the young out- law's career. This, in the opinion of this reviewer, is the most accurate which has appeared, though some students of source material may question Mr. Adams' conclusions on certain details : the statement is repeated that Billy killed Beckwith, though the preponderance of testimony indicates that Bonney had left the scene well ahead of the almost simultaneous deaths of Beckwith and McSween ; and the statement that the Kid, in escaping, disarmed Bell may be challenged by those who, like Maurice Garland Fulton, have been inclined to ac- cept the statement of Judge Lucius Dills that Bell's pistol, fully loaded, was found on his body.

This volume is a worthy companion to the four previous works which have established Mr. Adams as a dependable authority on many phases of Western frontier lore. It will probably never be a "popular" book, but it is a must for any- one seriously interested in the whys and wherefores of the tremendous accumulation of lurid legend which has been built up around Billy the Kid, vicious juvenile delinquent — and Billy the Kid, brave boy, much maligned.

1000 Lake Shore Drive, Chicago 11, Illinois R. N. MULLIN

^Mexico

Historical f¥(eview

Palace of the Governors, Santa Fe

KANSAS FUEL

n 6 """ '

October, I960

Editors FRANK D. REEVE PAUL A. F. WALTER

Associates

PERCY M. BALDWIN GEORGE P. HAMMOND

FRANCE V. SCHOLES ELEANOR B. ADAMS

BRUCE T. ELLIS

VOL. XXXV OCTOBER, 1960 No. 4

CONTENTS

Page The Pueblo Rights Doctrine in New Mexico

Robert Emmet Clark 265

Viva El Key!

Eleanor B. Adams 284

Frank Bond : Gentleman Sheepherder of Northern New Mexico 1883-1915 (continud) Frank H. Grubbs 293

West of the Pecos (continued)

E. L. Steve Stephens 309

Notes and Documents 327

Book Reviews . 336

THE NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW is published jointly by the Historical Society of New Mexico and the University of New Mexico. Subscription to the REVIEW is by membership in the Society — open to all. Dues, including subscription, $5.00 annually, in advance. Single num- bers, except a few which have become scarce, are $1.00 each. For further information regarding back files and other publications available, see back cover.

Membership dues and other business communications should be ad- dressed to the Historical Society of New Mexico, Box 1727, Santa Fe, N. M. Manuscripts and editorial correspondence should be addressed to Prof. Frank D. Reeve, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, N. M.

Entered as second-class matter at Santa Fe, New Mexico PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, ALBUQUERQUE

NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

VOL. XXXV OCTOBER, 1960 No. 4

THE PUEBLO RIGHTS DOCTRINE IN NEW MEXICO By ROBERT EMMET CLARK *

ON MAY 6, 1955, an amended complaint was filed in the District Court for San Miguel County that eventually produced the decision in Cartwright et al. v. The Public Service Co. of New Mexico, 66 N.M. 64. 343 P.2d 654 (Sep- tember 3, 1959) . Cartwright was joined by about 100 surface water users from the Gallinas River, including the State In- sane Asylum, in this action. The plaintiffs alleged interfer- ence by the defendant with their prior appropriative rights. During the early course of the proceedings the water users were permitted to amend their pleadings to conform to the proof. The Town of Las Vegas, a municipal corporation, was also granted leave to intervene in the case. After hearing the case the trial judge, on April 23, 1956, made findings of fact and prepared conclusions of law upon which he rested his decision in favor of the defendant Public Service Company.1 The District Judge found as a fact that the Town of Las Vegas and the City of Las Vegas were successors in interest to the Mexican pueblo (known as Nuestra Senora de las Dolores de Las Vegas) established under Mexican law on April 6, 1835. The court found : 2

* Professor of Law, University of New Mexico.

1. The Public Service Company of New Mexico is a private corporation and is not a governmental or public corporation such as a ditch company or conservancy district. It is a private corporation publicly regulated. In other words, it is a public utility. The defendant here should not be confused with the Public Service Commission (N. M. STAT. ANN. 1953, 68-4-1 et seq through 68-10-1 et seq), a statutory public utilities commission.

2. The Supreme Court reproduced in full the District Judge's findings and conclu- sions, 343 P.2d 654 at 655-659. There are a total of 25 separate findings of fact and 6 separate conclusions of law. However, formal requirements of statements of jurisdiction and other matters partly explain their number.

265

266 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

That the laws of the Republic of Mexico in force at the time the pueblo of Nuestra Senora de Las Dolores de Las Vegas was established, and continuing in force to the time of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, provided that Mexican coloniza- tion pueblos should have a prior and paramount right to the use of so much of the water of streams or rivers flowing through or along or beside such pueblos as should be necessary for the use of such pueblos and their inhabitants, and for the continued use of such pueblos, and their inhabitants by reason of in- creased growth and size and use. (my emphasis)

The grant was confirmed by Congress in 1860 and a pat- ent issued.3 The term pueblo in this context had and has nothing to do with rights of Indians.4 The term pueblo means town. The Indians who were discovered by the early Span- iards living in towns were called pueblo Indians which dis- tinguished them from the nomadic Apache, Comanche and Navajo.

The District Court found that the Gallinas River was the sole source of supply for the pueblo and its successors, the town and city of Las Vegas; that in 1880 the Agua Pura Company, a private corporation, received a 50 year franchise properly granted by the County Commission of San Miguel County; that this franchise carried the right to distribute the municipal water supply to the town and city and that The Public Service Company is the successor to the Agua Pura Company.

The court also found that water rights of the city and town were not litigated in the Federal equity case entitled U. S. v. Hope Community Ditch,5 which began in 1920 and

3. 12 Stat. 70, Section 3 of the Act of Congress, June 21, 1860. See 343 P.2d 654 at 663 : "The Section of the Act of 1860 confirming the Las Vegas Grant is in the same language,' except for the claim made, as that confirming the other Mexican grants by the same Act."

4. There is some confusion on this point that is found in the briefs. See Amicus Brief of City of Albuquerque (in opposition to motion for rehearing) at page 11-12 where the idea of Indian rights is refuted. Indian rights and titles are a field apart. The point under discussion concerns colonization pueblos and not the confirmation of Indian rights. Indians have available additional constitutional, treaty and compact safeguards. However, the question of priority between Indian claims and pueblo rights is not part of this discussion even though, as will appear obvious from the later discussion, the claims of towns under the pueblo rights doctrine to large supplies of water may threaten to impair existing Indian uses, e.g., if Albuquerque were to establish a pueblo right, the effect on the Rio Grande at Isleta Pueblo would no doubt result in action by the Indians to find out who has a prior legal right.

5. No. 712, Equity, U. S. District Court for New Mexico (1933).

WATER RIGHTS 267

ended in 1933 with a decree that adjudicated water rights on the Pecos and its tributaries.

The District Court reached these conclusions of law :

The Town and City of Las Vegas had and continues to have paramount rights to Gallinas waters dating back to 1835 that are superior to Plaintiff's appropriative rights.

The Public Service Company is diverting and distributing this water supply for the proper purposes of municipal needs and may continue to do so.

The Hope decree is not res judicata as to the legal question raised by the case, i.e., the issue of pueblo rights was not cut off by the Hope Decree.

On the basis of the facts as found and these conclusions of law, the District Court entered judgment dismissing the Plaintiff's complaint.

The Plaintiff appealed this decision to the New Mexico Supreme Court. Briefs were filed as usual by both sides and by others not parties to the litigation. These were not ordi- nary briefs. They were the work of a large number of lawyers and they filled many pages. Both the State of New Mexico through the Attorney General and the City of Albuquerque filed amicus curiae6 briefs because of the great public ques- tions involved. Two irrigation districts, the Interstate Stream Commission and the State Engineer joined in the State's amicus brief. The court heard extended oral arguments. The case was under consideration until December 12, 1958, when a 3-2 decision was handed down which affirmed the trial court. Subsequently a rehearing was sought and more briefs were filed. On June 1, 1959, the court reaffirmed its original stand in a one paragraph opinion and denied the motion for a rehearing. The two dissenting judges filed another long dissenting opinion. Thereafter following the mandate there were three additional motions filed — for another rehearing, to recall the mandate and a motion for a five judge court to hear the new motions, Justice Sadler having retired. On Sep- tember 3, 1959 the court denied all of the motions. Under

6. An "amicus curiae" is not a party to an action and does not legally appear for anyone, but is merely a friend of the court whose sole function is to advise or make suggestions to the court.

268 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

authority of earlier cases the justices declined to call in an- other judge to break the existing tie. This meant that the original opinion stood. The two dissenting justices filed an- other dissenting opinion. The majority and dissenting opin- ions cover 42 pages in the printed reports.

The Supreme Court framed the appeal in the context of three questions :

Did the Hope decree bar the present assertion of pueblo rights?

Did some of the plaintiffs have water rights superior to any pueblo rights because they were prior in time and were based on allegedly older appropriation rights ?

Is the New Mexico court entitled to apply the pueblo rights doctrine as developed and recognized in California?

The nature and effect of the Hope degree, although ex- tremely important to the decision, is of special interest to lawyers. This decree, entered in the United States District Court in 1933, provided the grounds for a later petition by the New Mexico State Engineer in February, 1960 which is discussed in the Federal Court sequel to the State Supreme Court decision being examined here. The plaintiff water users in the main case claimed that the defendant corporation and the town of Las Vegas could not assert pueblo rights in 1955 because the town's rights had been adjudicated by the Hope equity proceeding. The defendant, on the other hand, con- tended that the Hope decree had no application because the town and city of Las Vegas had not participated in the pro- ceedings and no water rights as to them had been adjudicated. The Supreme Court interpreted the record to show no appear- ance or any participation by the Town or the City. Thus, the court concluded, the Town and City were not barred by the principle of res judicata from asserting pueblo rights in the present proceeding. (Res judicata applied in this context means that no water rights had been litigated and new claims could be made.)

The plaintiffs who claimed as heirs under the title of Luis Cabeza de Baca asserted rights that were alleged to go back to 1821, or before the pueblo was founded in 1835. The court's

WATER RIGHTS 269

statement on this point is somewhat misleading:7 "This be- comes known as the claim of the Baca heirs under whom some, if not all, of the plaintiffs claim. Plaintiffs' sub-point B, under Point I, is apparently that the Heirs of Luis Cabeza de Baca filed a conflicting claim to the Las Vegas Grant." Actually the plaintiffs were claiming under an early priority confirmed by the Hope decree and thus they were claiming rights under the community grant. The Supreme Court made it clear that "The record abundantly establishes that the Con- gress of the United States confirmed the Las Vegas Grant8 as a valid Mexican grant to the Town of Las Vegas." In this manner it is clear that the plaintiffs were claiming from the same source as the municipality. The patent to the grant was issued in 1860. No conflicting claims were recognized at that time. The court referred to an earlier decision9 that said that a grant by Mexico under conditions that were properly shown did not need legislative confirmation. In effect they recognized judicial confirmation of a grant.

The applicability of the pueblo rights doctrine is the sub- ject of primary interest. It is the part of the decision with important ramifications. The court concluded that the doc- trine was applicable in New Mexico and the Plaintiffs' claims were held to have been properly dismissed by the trial judge. The court said : 10

This leaves for final determination of the three basic questions listed near the beginning of this opinion, viz., the question of whether the doctrine of Pueblo Rights was prop- erly recognized and applied by the trial court in disposing of this case. It should be enough at this point in our opinion, without setting out all the facts pertinent to the question, to say the learned judge did recognize the doctrine and apply it to the facts found, thereby upholding the doctrine in its relation to the rights of the Town of Las Vegas, the City of Las Vegas and the defendant, respectively, in and to the waters of the Gallinas River under said doctrine.

7. 343 P.2d 654, 663-665 (1959).

8. Stat. 71, Sec. 3 Act of Congress, June 21, 1860.

9. State ex rel State Game Commission v. Red River Valley Co. 51 N.M. 207, 182 P.2d 421 (1947).

10. Cartwright v. Public Service Co., 343 P.2d 654, 664-669.

270 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

It is not surprising that a doctrine such as the Pueblo Rights arose when we consider the fact that these colonization pueblos to which the right attached were largely, if indeed, not always, established before there was any settlement of the sur- rounding area. Thus it resulted that there had never been any prior appropriations or use of water of the river or stream, nor any allotment of lands, by the Mexican government prior to the establishment of the Pueblo.

[3] It is the claim of plaintiffs (appellants) that consti- tutional and statutory provisions touching the use of water is contrary to the Pueblo Rights doctrine and that it can find no place in our jurisprudence. They fail, however, to point out in what respect this is true. This Court has long recognized that we have followed the Mexican law of water rights rather than the common law. In Martinez v. Cook, 56 N.M. 343, 244 P.2d 134, 138, we said : "Particularly, we have never followed it in connection with our waters, but, on the contrary, have followed the Mexican or civil law, and what is called the Colorado doc- trine of prior appropriation and beneficial use."

We see nothing in the theory of Pueblo Rights inconsistent with the doctrine of prior appropriation and beneficial use. The Town of Las Vegas was granted a water right by the Mexican government in 1835.

It is an admitted fact that the doctrine of Pueblo Rights as we understand and all the parties argue it is well recognized in the State of California. The parties agree that the question has not been determined in the State of New Mexico, although both parties seek to gain some comfort from two New Mexico cases which mention the doctrine. They are the cases of State ex rel. Community Ditches v. Tularosa Community Ditch, 19 N.M. 352, 143 P. 207, and the case of New Mexico Products v. New Mexico Power Co., 42 N.M. 311, 77 P.2d 634. In neither case was any position taken by the Court on the doctrine. In the Tularosa Ditch case the Court merely referred to it and said the right could not be sustained under the facts of that case because Tularosa was founded long after the territory was ac- quired by the United States and had never been a Mexican pueblo. In the New Mexico Products Co. case, supra, we re- ferred to the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in United States v. City of Santa Fe, 165 U.S. 675, 17 S. Ct. 472, 41 L.Ed. 874, where it was held that Santa Fe was never established by the Spanish or Mexican government as a pueblo and therefore could not claim pueblo rights. We did not in either of the cases mentioned hold that the doctrine of Pueblo Rights was not applicable in New Mexico, but only that, under the facts before us, neither Town had such rights ... in State

WATER RIGHTS 271

v. Tularosa Community Ditch, supra, . . . We said [19 N.M. 352, 143 P. 215] :

"At first the plan for the establishment of these pueblos was for the King of Spain, in each case by special ordinance, to provide for the foundation of the pueblo, and to set apart for the use of the pueblo and its inhabitants a certain area of land, and to prescribe in the ordinance the rights of the pueblo and its inhabitants to the use of the waters flowing to those lands. * * * And, further, it was also at this time provided by the King, by general ordinance, that thereafterward the provisions and rights granted and the general plan followed in the foundation of the pueblo of Pictic should be followed in the foundation of any new pueblos in the jurisdiction of the commanding general of the internal Provinces of the West, of which California, Ari- zona, New Mexico, and Texas constituted a part. * * * And this pueblo right to the use of water, or the right of all the inhabi- tants in common within the jurisdiction of the pueblo, was su- perior to the individual rights of appropriators, and also su- perior to the right of the riparian proprietors, through whose fields the stream ran."

As already stated, however, neither this case nor that of the New Mexico Products Co. v. New Mexico Power Co. may be cited with any justification by any party to this suit as sus- taining a position taken by this Court on the Pueblo Rights doctrine.

* * * *

[4] (And) in California the priority of right in a coloniza- tion pueblo to take all the waters of a non-navigable stream for the use of its inhabitants on an expanding scale necessary for the benefit of its inhabitants was early recognized and enforced. Hart v. Burnett, 15 Cal. 530; Lux v. Haggin, 69 Cal. 255, 4 P. 919, 10 P. 674 ; Vernon Irrigation Co. v. City of Los Angeles, 106 Cal. 237, 39 P. 762; City of Los Angeles v. Los Angeles Farming & Drilling Co., 152 Cal. 645, 93 P. 869, 1135; City of San Diego v. Cuyamaca Water Co., 209 Cal. 105, 287 P. 475; City of Los Angeles v. Pomeroy, 124 Cal. 597, 57 P. 585; Hooker v. City of Los Angeles, 188 U.S. 314, 23 S.Ct. 395, 47 L.Ed. 487; Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

It was as early as 1789 that the King of Spain established the Town of Pictic in New Spain and gave the settlement pre- ferred rights to all available water from which evolved the doc- trine of Pueblo Rights. 1 Kinney on Irrigation and Water Rights 996. And as shown by the quotation from Kinney in State v. Tularosa Community Ditch, supra, the King decreed that thereafter the general plan followed in the foundation of

272 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

the Pueblo of Pictic should be followed in the foundation of any new pueblos in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

* * * *

[6] We are unable to avoid the conclusion that the reasons which brought the Supreme Court of California to uphold and enforce the Pueblo Rights doctrine apply with as much force in New Mexico as they do in California. A new, undeveloped and unoccupied territory was being settled. There were no questions of priority of use when a colonization pueblo was established because there were no such users. Water formed the life blood of the community or settlement, not only in its origin but as it grew and expanded. A group of fifty families at the founding of a colony found it no more so than when their number was multi- plied to hundreds or even thousands in an orderly, progressive growth.

And just as in the case of a private user, so long as he proceeds with due dispatch to reduce to beneficial use the larger area to which his permit entitles him, enjoys a priority for the whole, so by analogy and under the rationale of the Pueblo Rights doctrine, the settlers who founded a colonization pueblo, in the process of growth and expansion, carried with them the torch of priority, so long as there was available water to supply the life blood of the expanded community. There is present in the doctrine discussed the recognizable presence of lex suprema, the police power, which furnishes answer to claims of confisca- tion always present when private and public rights or claims collide. Compare, Middle Rio Grande Water Users Ass'n v. Middle Rio Grande Conservancy Dist., 57 N.M. 287, 310, 258 P.2d 391. So, here, we see in the Pueblo Rights doctrine the elevation of the public good over the claim of a private right.

Public Service Company does not own the pueblo rights of said City and Town, as the trial judge viewed the matter. His findings, conclusions and judgment so reflect and affirm. It merely acted as the agent and instrumentality of said City and Town in enabling their inhabitants to enjoy to the fullest extent the pueblo rights inaugurated by the King of Spain. Yet, even he, the King, but bespoke a fact of life as ancient as the hills when he became author of the Plan of Pictic. Water is as es- sential to the life of a community as are air and water to the life of an individual. It is frequently mentioned as the "life blood of a community." It is precious. It is priceless. A com- munity, whether corporate or not, possessing such an indis- pensable right can neither sell, barter, exchange, or give it away. Either this is so, or the supposed benefaction of the King

WATER RIGHTS 273

of Spain in anugurating the Plan of Pictic became in reality an obituary instead. Water is essential to life. Without it we perish.

Furthermore, we can no more ignore the Pueblo Rights doctrine as a major issue in this case than could we with pro- priety decline to entertain this appeal. It is raised both by de- fendant's answer and the "further, separate" and affirmative defense of intervenor filed in the cause, and so recognized by Judge Brand in his letter to all counsel under date of Janu- ary 30, 1956, and the judgment itself. Either the court and all counsel at the pre-trial conference misapprehended what the major issue was, or it projected itself as such surely and unmistakably.

We think the trial court was correct in sustaining the claim of defendant and intervenor under the Pueblo Rights doctrine. Other collateral questions are argued but they either are resolved by what we have said, found to be without merit, or unnecessary to determine. . . .

It will be so ordered.

The dissenting opinions11 are both technical and policy oriented. The dissenters question the applicability of the Pueblo Rights doctrine on constitutional, historical, pro- cedural, jurisdictional and public policy grounds.

Their first main point is that the pueblo rights question was not properly before the court since the Town of Las Vegas did not assert such rights. The community was merely an intervenor. Thus the Public Service Company was assert- ing a right which was not its property. The dissent stresses that the Public Service Company is merely a carrier and dis- tributor of water under a franchise with the community, and even though the pleadings in the case state that the utility is "the instrumentality of the intervenor" it is not the owner of the community's water rights. The utility could not assert any title or ownership to the "pueblo water rights" because its rights are those obtained from its predecessor, The Agua Pura Company, which had its 1881 priority adjudicated by the Hope decree. This contention of the dissenters is sup- ported by the records of the State Engineer's office and other documents in the case. The dissenters believe that the sole issue before the court was whether the Public Service Com-

11. They cover about 26 printed pages.

274 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

pany was using more than the 2,600 acre feet allocated to the Agua Pura Company and in which, the dissent says, the com- munity may have also had an interest. This amount was re- confirmed by the State Engineer in 1950. On this basis the dissent concludes that the Hope decree is res judicata be- tween the plaintiffs and the Public Service Company, i.e., the assertion of pueblo rights by the Public Service Company at this time is barred by established legal principles.

The dissent also expresses the view that the only possible way the Public Service Company may assert pueblo rights is as Trustee for the Town of Las Vegas and its inhabitants.12 But here the dissent directs attention to the fact that the town was a party in the earlier Hope adjudication. It did not file an Answer in the proceeding or make a claim at that time but there was an appearance by the Town's lawyer in these words quoted in the opinion : 13 "I also appear for the Town of Las Vegas, and consumers of water of the Town of Las Vegas, in the event it becomes necessary to appear for said parties by reason of any adjudication of the title to the water between them and the Agua Pura Company as to the water rights of the consumers of the Town of Las Vegas."

The dissent's construction of these words differs from the view of the majority and is of course a crucial element in the decision. The second dissenting opinion, filed after the second motion for a rehearing was denied, re-emphasizes that the Agua Pura Company's rights were adjudicated in the Hope decree and since the Public Service Company could not have greater rights than it received from its predecessor, its pres- ent rights cannot be greater than those received under the decree.

Moving on to a consequence of the majority decision, the dissent declares that it "will cast a cloud on all stream rights in the Pecos stream system, to say nothing of what will hap- pen to the Rio Grande water rights as shown by briefs herein of amicus curiae."14 The dissent states that "the Doctrine of Pueblo Water Rights as enunciated by the California courts

12. Dissent page 672.

13. Dissent page 673.

14. Dissent page 674.

WATER RIGHTS 275

should not be followed and declared to also be the law of New Mexico."15 The dissent expresses the view that the new doc- trine is California doctrine made necessary by demands for an adequate city supply for Los Angeles and is not the old pueblo rights doctrine.16

There is a sharp criticism of the majority's statement of history to the effect that : 17 "A new, undeveloped and unoc- cupied territory was being settled. There were no questions of priority of use when a colonization pueblo was established because there were no such users."

The dissent quotes from a case decided by the New Mex- ico Supreme Court in 1892 which recites facts clearly showing that in 1819 a grant was made to one Antonio Ortiz in the area of the Gallinas river.18 This record indicates that the Gallinas area was not unoccupied territory.

The old question is raised of whether the Las Vegas area was part of Texas and not subject to the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.19 This treaty with Mexico was required to recognize only vested rights. If there were any water rights existing at that time they were what in law are called contingent rights based on Mexican Law. It was this theory that the California courts and the California legislature molded into the Califor- nia pueblo rights doctrine. No such evolution of legal doc- trine took place in New Mexico. In fact, the court has twice refused to apply this doctrine : "On two prior occasions this Court has carefully desisted from expressing an opinion that the pueblo rights doctrine applied in New Mexico."20 More- over, the dissent says, the doctrine contradicts appropriation theory and practice as developed in New Mexico and which is a doctrine of rights based on actual beneficial uses. In ad- dition, it jeopardizes our interstate relations under the Pecos and other compacts and under established principles of inter- state allocation.

The dissenters would have granted all three of the subse-

15. Ibid.

16. Ibid., 677-678.

17. Dissent quotes majority at page 686.

18. Ibid., 687 quoting from Waddingham v. Robledo 6 N.M. 347, 28 Pac. 663, 667 (1892).

19. Ibid., 687.

20. Ibid., 674.

276 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

quent and final motions filed in the case. Emphasis is placed on a newly raised jurisdictional question, viz., that the Las Vegas Grant created by territorial legislation in 1903 was an indispensable party because the Town of Las Vegas, which did not exist as a municipal corporation in 1860 when the Las Vegas Grant was confirmed by the Congress, was and is within the exterior boundaries of this grant.21 The dissenters believe this was a serious question which should have been reviewed by a five man court rather than by the four remain- ing justices who were divided 2-2 after the retirement of Justice Sadler.

The law of the case, the majority opinion, holds that the Public Service Company through its franchise from the Town and City of Las Vegas was entitled to assert the pueblo rights doctrine as imported from California and that the municipali- ties' rights to the waters of the Gallinas were not litigated or determined in the Hope decree.

The decision raises a large number of questions including future attacks on the Hope decree.

Can the pueblo rights doctrine as derived from the Plan of Pictic (or Pitic) and the California cases be applied else- where in the State?

The theoretical answer is yes. However, the likelihood of its application is not great. The Plan of Pictic was devised in 1789.22 At that time New Mexico, as a part of New Spain, had a pretty well settled tradition. Some important Rio Grande towns had long been established, e.g., Albuquerque was already officially over 80 years old.23 The Rio Aba jo towns were established later than the Rio Arriba towns. These lower river towns were settled after the Pueblo Rebellion of 1680 when the Spaniards retreated to El Paso del Norte.24 Santa Fe was founded earlier in 1610. Most of the large land grants in the river areas had also been made before 1789. If the Rio Grande and Pecos river towns are to establish pueblo rights

21. Ibid., 692-693.

22. Ibid., 668. "It was as early as 1789 that the King of Spain established the Town of Pictic in New Spain and gave the settlement preferred rights to all available water from which evolved the doctrine of Pueblo Rights. ..."

23. Historians tell us that the City was founded in 1706.

24. Blackmar, Spanish Institutions of the Southwest, p. 225 (1891).

WATER RIGHTS 277

they will have to find some law older than the Plan of Pictic of 1789 on which to base their claims, assuming of course that water rights were included in them in the manner of the Plan of Pictic. That this can be done is highly doubtful for a number of reasons. It should be pointed out, however, that California precedent will be of little or no help if some pre- 1789 pueblo grants are discovered in New Mexico. Califor- nia was not occupied until long after New Mexico was settled. Although the early explorers had sailed along the coast in 1542-43, California was not of sufficient importance to SPAIN to encourage occupation until 1769-1770 when San Diego and Monterey were occupied as part of a counterbal- ance to the Russian activities in Alaska between 1745 and 1765.25 The so called "mission period" extended from 1769 to 1823. Civil municipalities, as distinguished from the mis- sions and presidios, were called pueblos.26 Los Angeles, El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora La Reina de Los Angeles, was es- tablished as a pueblo in 1781.27

Will communities claiming the benefits of the pueblo rights doctrine be required to produce formal documents es- tablishing the date and circumstances of their founding? Apparently they will under the principle discussed in New Mexico Products Co. v. New Mexico Power Co.28 This case relied upon a decision of the United States Supreme Court in U. S. v. City of Santa Fe,29 which held that it was never established that Santa Fe was founded by the Spanish or Mexican government as a pueblo and therefore it could not claim pueblo rights. However, at the time the New Mexico Products case was tried, the Orders regarding the founding of the City of Santa Fe received by Governor Pedro de Peralta had been published and translated in the pages of the NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW in 1930.30 The founding apparently took place between 1609 and 1614 and very prob- ably in 1610.

25. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1955 ed., vol. 4, p. 591.

26. Blackmar, supra, p. 153 : "The purely civil colonies of California were called pueblos to distinguish them from missions and presidios. . . ."

27. Feliz v. Los Angeles, 58 Calif. 73, 78-80 (1881).

28. 42 N.M. 811, 77 P.2d 634 (1937).

29. 165 U.S. 675 (1897).

30. Vol. 4, NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW, pps. 179-194 (1929).

278 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

California of course has followed a de facto or in fact founding principle rather than a de jure or legal theory, i.e., the formal legal documents are not the important test but the actual existence of a community.

What effect will this doctrine have on interstate stream apportionment and interstate compacts ? It may have consid- erable effect in terms of interstate suspicion and complaint even if no actual pueblo rights beyond those claimed in the Cartwright case are recognized. If additional actual claims are made and substantiated some demands may occur for compact renegotiations or new apportionments. The com- pacts are subject to the overriding appropriation doctrine with its hierarchy of priorities and preferences. The effect on intrastate rights is obvious from this case.

What problems does this decision present in the area of public control and supervision of water resources charged by law to the State Engineer? The case raises questions about methods for determining supply in a given area. It makes the job of the State Engineer extremely difficult in anticipat- ing demands in terms of known rights and projected uses. There is an increased element of uncertainty in the picture of determining available supply at a given place or for a par- ticular purpose. It will undoubtedly add to the administrative burden of the State Engineer's office in that he will have to spend more time gathering data to show some claim to be baseless in fact.

Does the doctrine apply to ground water? It does not un- less the State Engineer wishes to have his interrelationship theory of surface and ground water pressed to the ultimate limits. The California cases if they are followed in this matter may prove helpful to compel the State Engineer to go to that length, although it must be remembered that under the com- mon law and the civil law of Spain percolating ground waters belonged to the land owner.31

This question is of course very important since most of the claims of towns like Albuquerque will be to ground waters. For instance, the Town of Atrisco "laid claim to all

31. See Bristor v. Cheatham, 75 Arizona 227, 255 P.2d 173 at 176 (1953) Citing Kinney on Irrigation and Water Rights, Vol. 1, sec. 563, 2d ed.

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of the Rio Grande water it needs for its growth, including underground water. . . ,"32 In areas outside of the declared ground water basins where the State Engineer has no juris- diction the problem will also be important if a pueblo right is asserted and proved.

Any new public policy that recognizes the claims of a city is good law in terms of utility and necessity. However, the method of reasoning in this case from uncertain historical premises and dubious Spanish, Mexican and California prece- dents is not very persuasive. The oblique reliance on the police power of the state to limit property rights, i.e., prior appro- priation rights, seems contrived. Hortatory expressions like the following from the majority opinion33 state the ob- vious, but they are not good substitutes for analysis and explanation :

Public Service Company does not own the pueblo rights of said City and Town, as the trial judge viewed the matter. His findings, conclusions and judgment so reflect and affirm. It merely acted as the agent and instrumentality of said City and Town in enabling their inhabitants to enjoy to the fullest ex- tent the pueblo rights inaugurated by the King of Spain. Yet, even he, the King, but bespoke a fact of life as ancient as the hills when he became author of the Plan of Pictic. Water is as essential to the life of a community as are air and water to the life of an individual. It is frequently mentioned as the "life blood of a community." It is precious. It is priceless. A com- munity, whether corporate or not, possessing such an indis- pensable right can neither sell, barter, exchange, or give away. Either this is so, or the supposed benefaction of the King of Spain in inaugurating the Plan of Pictic became in reality an obituary instead. Water is essential to life. Without it we perish. (My emphasis)

The modern reading of the police power into the pueblo rights doctrine34 of the colonial period is not easily accepted as the basis for an act that amounts to confiscation. The police power is an important attribute of the state's power to pro- vide for the health, safety and general welfare of the people.

32. Albuquerque Journal, November 3, 1959.

33. Cartwright v. Public Service Co. 343 P.2d 654, 669 (1959).

34. Ibid., 668-669 : "There is present in the doctrine discussed the recognizable presence of lex suprema, the police power, which furnished answer to claims of confisca- tion always present when private and public rights or claims collide. . . ."

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There is no constitutional limitation on its exercise except that it be reasonable. No compensation need be paid. Eminent domain, on the other hand, has been the traditional method for taking private property for a public use and constitutional guarantees require just compensation. The revival of a com- munity power long dormant and unknown through the con- juring up of doubtful legal history and non-applicable Cali- fornia decisions is not the way to get to the heart of the main problem presented by the case. I refer of course to preferences among water uses. The dissent makes clear "that municipali- ties do have a preferential right but such right is a preference developed by the law of appropriation,"35 and would require condemnation and compensation. No doubt in some communi- ties this method would be inadequate and the police power would have to be invoked to preserve the health, safety and welfare of a community. For citizens must and will have water to drink. However, their supply should not be preserved in the guise of historical rights. In summary, the Cartwright case reaches a desirable result in assuring community sup- ply but it does so over a course of intellectual hurdles one may find hard to leap.

The case will continue to be important no matter how nar- rowly the principle it announces is construed. It calls atten- tion to the matter of preferences among water uses which must be re-examined by the public and the legislature. The West's water law institutions have long been dominated by agricultural and mining requirements. While these are ex- tremely important and will certainly continue to be so, it must be recognized that the pressing demands of the future, while not necessarily large in volume, are the key to the West's de- velopment, such as residential, industrial and recreational uses. It is expected that by 1980 the population of the Nation will have increased by 75 million.36 In the 11 far western states population increases are expected to continue to be over 3 times as great as the rate for the Nation. Between 1940 and 1955 the increase in the 11 far western states was 83%

35. Ibid., dissent p .679.

36. These figures and those following are from Fox, "Water : Supply, Demand and the Law" a paper read before the Mineral and Resources Law Section of the American Bar Association at the annual meeting, August 25, 1959.

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as compared with an increase of 24% for the Nation. This means that the Western population of about 26 or 27 million will double to over 50 million by 1980. It seems to be a valid assumption that most of our future growth and activity will not be dependent upon the expansion of irrigation.

Available knowledge and an examination of trends indi- cate that the Rio Grande towns and the cities of the Pecos sub-basin will have to think up a better theory than pueblo rights to augment municipal supplies. In the first place, the Cartwright decision probably will not prove applicable to the facts, the law or the history of these many communities in the state. Secondly, the rule of the case does not apply spe- cifically to ground waters, yet cities will have to rely increas- ingly on that source of supply. Thirdly, the cloak of the police power in the manner of the Cartwright decision is productive of uncertainty, expensive litigation and unconvincing results. It may be cheaper for towns to condemn water rights and pay for them.

An Addendum to Cartwright

The Cartwright decision had an anomalous sequel.* In February, 1960 the State Engineer of New Mexico petitioned the United States District Court for a "writ of assistance" to aid him in administering and enforcing the Hope decree. He alleged that the Public Service Company "in disregard and defiance of the judgment and decree" of the Federal court, is using more than the 2,600 acre feet of water allowed by the Hope Decree of 1933. The position of the State Engi- neer was that since 1935 he has been charged with the respon- sibility for enforcing the Hope Decree, but since the Cart- wright decision he has been unable to do so because the Pub- lic Service Company "has appropriated to itself and to its own use all of the water of the Gallinas river and has erected dams, ways and works for the express purpose of utilizing all of the water of said river. ."

* There were actually two sequels. In addition to the one in the Federal court dis- cussed here, another action was filed on January 30, 1960 in the San Miguel County District Court in which Cartwright and other plaintiffs asked damages from the Public Service Company for interference with their irrigation rights from the Gallinas River. This action is still pending.

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A hearing in the United States District Court was held on March 2, 1960. On March 18, 1960 an opinion by United States District Judge Carl Hatch was filed in which the judge stated his reasons for denying the petition for the writ of assistance. In this opinion the United States District Judge said:37

. . . This Court has no intention of passing upon the correct- ness, or the incorrectness, of the decision of the New Mexico Courts in the Cartwright case. Further it is not my intention and I shall not pass upon the question of whether, or not, the Pueblo Rights Doctrine applies in the State of New Mexico.

It is my considered opinion that the decision in the Cart- wright case is substantive law. . . .

. . . When the late Judge Colin Neblett relinquished, surrendered and renounced jurisdiction to administer or en- force the jurisdiction which had been retained in Section Twenty-two of the original decree, he did not relinquish that jurisdiction to the State Engineer or any other definite person or official. With the language as strong as possible for a Judge to use, Judge Neblett totally and wholly abandoned, relin- quished, surrendered and renounced jurisdiction to enforce or administer the jurisdiction he had retained previously. It is quite evident to me that he intended from that time on his decree should be enforced and administered by qualified and acting officials of the State of New Mexico. He intended to have nothing more or further to do with the administration or en- forcement of the decree. He gave no specific power to the State Engineer of the State of New Mexico, and that apparently was his intention and his purpose. That Judge Neblett accomplished this purpose by the order he entered cannot be doubted. Neither, in my opinion, can it be doubted that jurisdiction from this Court passed, lapsed and no longer existed. That jurisdiction has not been recaptured by any appropriate proceeding. Whether it can be recaptured may well be doubted ; but whether so, or not, I do not now determine. Suffice it to say that at this time no jurisdiction has been reinvested in this Court.

Another most anomalous, novel and possibly confusing situation occurs by reason of a State Engineer of the State of New Mexico coming into the Federal Court and asking this Court to render assistance to him, a state official, to do that

37. Pages 5-7 of the copy of the opinion furnished the writer by Chief Judge Carl Hatch. See Albuquerque Journal, Wednesday, February 3, 1960 (story on the filing of the State Engineer's petition) p. A-l, and Albuquerque Journal, March 19, 1960, p. A-7 (story on denial of the petition).

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which would conflict with and be contrary to the decisions of the Courts of his own state.

It is perhaps unnecessary for me to comment upon the wisdom or propriety of a state official seeking to act contrary to the decisions of the Courts of his own state. It may not be amiss to say, however, that whether the decision in the Cart- wright case is substantive law and binding upon a Federal Court, it would seem most reasonable to suppose that it should be mandatory law and binding upon the officials of the State of New Mexico. . . .

It appears from these decisions that New Mexico has adopted the California mutation of the doctrine of Pueblo Rights. However, the questions of how this doctrine can be applied and, more specifically, where it will be applied, re- main open to doubt.

* * *

An Addendum Secundum

On August 11, 1960, in Cause No. 70800, the District Court for Bernalillo County, MacPherson, Judge, held that the City of Albuquerque was established as a pueblo grant within the meaning of the Cartwright decision. From the bench the Court said : "he [the State Engineer] could have found that there was a pueblo founded in 1706, and that the City of Albuquerque is its successor, and that consequently, under the new state of the law, effective from September 3, 1959, forward, in the Cartwright Decision, that the city, as successor to the pueblo land grant, has all the rights under the old law of Spain . . . and has the right to take what- ever water it may need, and as the city expands, the added needs for present and future times." Historical material in support of the conclusion was admitted in evidence. Formal entry of the judgment awaits the court's findings of fact and conclusions of law. Although the decision purports to uphold the validity of the Rio Grande Underground Basin declared in November, 1956, it virtually removes the State Engineer's control over withdrawals in the Basin. The District Judge's decision will be appealed to the New Mexico Supreme Court. The case raises many of the questions presented in this arti- cle and some others also. R. E. C.

VIVA EL KEY! By ELEANOR B. ADAMS*

QATURDAY NOON, January 24, 1748, the bells of the Church i3 of St. Francis in the Villa of Santa Fe rang three long and joyous peals. Sargento Mayor don Joaquin Codallos y Rabal, governor and captain general of the Kingdom of New Mexico, had issued an edict announcing the oath of allegiance to Ferdinand VI of Spain on January 25. 1 This date may have been chosen because it was the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, patron of the Franciscan missions of New Mexico. Now, on the eve of the proclamation of the new King, who had succeeded to the throne at the death of his father, Philip V, in July, 1746, the bells were summoning the populace to the parade of the royal standard. At four in the afternoon the procession rode through the villa :

"At the head was the infantry regiment, all with bare swords, followed by the Alf erez carrying the banner and all the officers with their lieutenant in command of the presidio. Behind them came the distinguished citizens dressed in the best clothes they owned. They were followed by the lieutenant general and me [Fray Lorenzo Antonio Estremera, author of the report we are quoting] . Then came the royal standard, a thing of rare beauty, embroidered with gold and the finest silver with cords of the same. And since there was no Alf erez

* Library 217, University of New Mexico.

1. Certification by Fray Lorenzo Antonio Estremera of the celebrations and oath of allegiance to Ferdinand VI, Santa Fe, January 24-27, 1748. [Santa Fe], March 2, 1748. Biblioteca Nacional, Mexico, legajo 8, no. 37. Estremera, who signs himself "secretary," had come to New Mexico with Commissary Subdelegate Fray Juan Miguel Menchero in 1747. The first paragraph of a letter from Menchero to Fray Carlos Jose Delgado, missionary at Isleta, dated February 3, 1748, reads as follows : "Because this bell tower of the capital of this kingdom is without bells, and because the oath of allegiance to and coronation of our King and natural lord, Don Fernando, is to be celebrated, the Lord Governor and I have decided to bring four of the eight bells there are in that mission [of Isleta]. By virtue of this Your Paternity will be able to order them handed over to the person whom the said Lord Governor may send to bring them. And let them be here in time to serve the purpose." BNM, legajo 8, no. 48. Since both the Estremera certification and the Menchero letter are originals and it seems improbable that there can have been any good reason for Estremera to falsify the dates of the celebrations, the most likely explanation for the discrepancy in dates is that Menchero inadvertently wrote February for January. The bells from Isleta must have been borrowed for use at the governor's palace, not the parish church.

284

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Real, the said Lord Governor, clad in a very rich tunic with gold embroidery, carried it, with the Very Reverend Father Fray Juan Miguel Menchero, as Royal and Military Commis- sary General,2 on his right, and the present Reverend Father Gustos of this Custody of the Conversion of St. Paul, Fray Juan Joseph Perez de Mirabal, on his left. After the parade through the villa was over, the royal standard was set in a very seemly public place upon a velvet cushion under a canopy. And that night there were many luminarias,3 with sundry close volleys by the soldiery and divers peals of the bells in our church, so that the atmosphere was filled with rejoicing. Then came a resplendent triumphal chariot with the arms of Spain and an imperial crown and scepter. And riding in this chariot was a personage who acted in three different parts a very learned loa* in praise of our King and Lord don Ferdinand the Sixth, to great acclamations by the people with many huzzas and 'Long live our King and Lord don Ferdinand the Sixth/ This brought the night's festivities to a close."

Sunday morning, January 25, the parade with the royal standard again proceeded through the streets of the town and came to a halt in the plaza before a platform erected for the occasion, decorated with the royal arms and with a por- trait of the King under a canopy. The kings-of-arms, the notary who attested to the taking of the oath, and the gov- ernor carrying the standard ascended the platform, accom- panied by Father Menchero, and the "oath of allegiance was made by the lord governor and kings-of-arms with the cus- tomary ceremonies, after which the military fired many close volleys."

The origin of the ceremony performed that January day on the northernmost frontier of the Spanish Empire in Amer- ica was an ancient custom inherited from the conquering

2. Father Menchero was one of the outstanding Franciscans of New Mexico in the eighteenth century. In 1747-1749 he was very active in attempts to bring the apostate Hopi Indians back into the fold and to convert the elusive Navajos.

3. Small bonfires used for illumination on special occasions. The candles in sand-filled paper bags now called by this name are of comparatively recent origin and are properly termed farolitos (little lanterns).

4. A short dramatic panegyric, often in verse, usually allegorical, in honor of an illustrious person.

286 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

Goths. In those days the victorious rulers themselves were lifted on high, but in later times the royal standard came to symbolize the person of the monarch. The Spanish kingdoms in the New World observed the centuries-old tradition of the kingdoms of Spain, celebrating the oath of allegiance in their capitals after the accession of a new monarch.

There were definite regulations governing the order of events on these occasions, although the accompanying display varied greatly according to local wealth and importance. In general these celebrations inspired floods of high-flown adula- tion and description :

Her eon a thousand quatrains

all do write, Because they are in transports

of delight.

There is no quill But soaring to Pindaric heights

doth sing To glorify our sovereign lord

the King. And even some with ample purses

wrote countless verses*

Father Estremera's laconic report from New Mexico is de- cidedly out of the ordinary in this respect. Perhaps he was not impressed by the comparatively modest provincial func- tion, or perhaps the fact that the ceremony in Santa Fe was sandwiched in between rugged campaigns against enemy In- dians may explain his failure to succumb to the usual impulse to commemorate the occasion in purple prose or rapturous doggerel. No doubt the author of the "muy docta loa" let him- self go with more of the traditional gusto. It may be a pity

5. "Al assumpto mil coplas / escriven todos, / y es porque con el gusto / se ban vuelto locos : / no hay pluma, / que no ronde la altura / del Pindo, / en gloria del invicto / Rey nuestro, / y hasta un rico compuso / no se que versos." Chamberga. — Describese el Real acto del levantamiento de el Estandarte en la solemne Aclamacion de nuestro Rey, y Senor Don Fernando Sexto, que Dios prospere, en el dia 10. de Agosto por un ingenio Alcaladino. Listed in Jenaro Alenda y Mira, Relaciones de solemnidades y fiestas publicas de Espana, 2 vols., Madrid, 1903, vol. 2, pp. 31-32. The ironical reference to the literary efforts of the rich undoubtedly reflects the fact that many men of letters of the period were dependent upon the patronage of the well-to-do and highly placed for their bread and butter.

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that this composition has not survived for its interest as a regional literary curiosity, but I suspect that, like most pieces of its kind, it would be quite unreadable today. A Spanish bibliography of such writings lists no less than eighty-five items on the accession of Ferdinand VI — f rom various prose and verse accounts of the proclamation and celebrations in Madrid, August 10-12, 1746, and in other Spanish cities at different dates, to a Verdadera relation en un curioso Ro- mance, in which a gentleman of Jerez de la Frontera tells a friend in Sevilla about the Mascara Joco-Seria with which the Gipsy tribe celebrated Ferdinand's exaltation to the throne. This masque, which took place on February 11, 1747, included a representation of the surrender of Moctezuma to Cortes. Another typical item is a "Metrical-Heroic dialogue between Spain and America," entitled: Amorosas respiraciones, y alegres regocijos que plausiblemente gozosa, y placentera, respira la gran Monarquia de las Dos Espanas, por la ventu- rosaf feliz, y justa aclamacion de su natural dueno, y sacro Catholico Monarca Don Fernando VI. . . .6

A few of these effusions were promptly reprinted in Mex- ico, and the colonists also seized the opportunity to display their loyalty and their talent for description and panegyric. One learned lady, Dona Ana Maria Gonzalez y Zuniga, who "dared to compete with the best poets of the Mexican Par- nassus," more than once won prizes in the literary competi- tions often held on occasions of public rejoicing. The titles of her contributions on the proclamation of Ferdinand VI in Mexico City, Saturday, February 11, 1747, may be trans- lated : "Melpomene's tears dried in the solemn oath of alle- giance to our King and Lord Ferdinand VI, God keep him, and rejoicing restrained by the death of Philip V ; Glories of beau- tiful Calliope revived in the festive celebrations of our desired and venerated monarch Ferdinand VI." 7

But to fill in the gaps in Father Estremera's account of the "customary ceremonies" it will be better to consult an unadorned statement of the prescribed procedure for the jura

6. Alenda y Mira, op. cit.

7. J. T. Medina, La Imprenta en Mexico (1539-1821), 8 vols., Santiago de Chile, 1907-1912, Vol. 5, pp. 89, 133-134.

288 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

of a new king in Mexico City in the eighteenth century.8 On the day of the oath the ayuntamiento of Mexico City rode from the casas de cabildo to escort the Viceroy, Audiencia of New Spain, and the other tribunals to a platform erected on the north of the plaza mayor near the door of the viceregal palace. Here, under a velvet canopy, was a portrait of the King, covered by a curtain, a chair for the Viceroy, with caparison and cushion, and chairs for the oidores, the alcaldes del crimen, and members of the other tribunals on either side. The benches for the city officials were on the right, and those of the escribanos de cdmara on the left. Behind the latter was another bench for the Indian governors of San Juan and San- tiago Tlaltelolco in Mexico City, and of six more Indian mu- nicipalities in the environs, "where the said governors are seated, handsomely attired in their native dress, and the other officials of the Indian towns stand on the stairs to the said platform."9 When all were seated the Corregidor formally asked the Viceroy's permission to go for the Alferez Real, who led the procession to the palace, bearing the standard and escorted by the ayuntamiento and the nobility, all magnifi- cently dressed. The standard was placed on a silver pedestal in front of the Viceroy, the infantry drew up on the west, and the kings-of-arms at the four corners called the crowd to attention : "Silence ! Silence ! Silence ! Hear ! Hear ! Hear !"

8. Eusebio Bentura Belena, Recopilacion sumaria de todos los autos acordados de la Real Audiencia y Sala del Crimen de esta Nueva Espana, Madrid, 1787, Part III, Nota III, pp. 364-367.

9. The Indian officials had not always enjoyed these privileges. A colorful description of the proclamation of Philip IV in Mexico City on August 15, 1621, the centennial year of the conquest, tells us that after the first proclamations the Audiencia (governing in the interval between the departure of Viceroy Marques de Guadalcazar to Peru and the arrival of the Marques de Galvez) summoned the governors and other officials of the two Indian municipalities in Mexico City. "All of them . . . and many more Indian principal men and officials, with fine artifacts, pineapples, and garlands of fresh and fragrant flowers to present to the aforesaid gentlemen (as they did), were standing bareheaded at one corner of the platform waiting for (the end of this solemnity) to show that they were humble vassals of so lofty a Majesty. The reason for the ceremony was explained by their interpreter, Pedro Vazquez, who told them it was right that they too, as members of the body of the Crown, should acknowledge their King and Lord, since they were natural vassals of these his kingdoms and dominions, saying in their mother tongue that inasmuch as they pertained to the royal patrimony of Castile and Leon, they were and would be for His Majesty, just as they had been for his glorious father and grandparents. They responded with no little joy, acclaiming him. The gentle- men [of the Audiencia] ordered me to take great care to record these things, for (although it had never been done on similar occasions before), now it seemed most fitting, because of the new trend of the times. And they, who had sloughed off the rough

VIVA EL KEY 289

Then the Viceroy came forward, took the standard, and, wav- ing it, cried three times in a loud voice : "Castile : New Spain for the Catholic Majesty of the King our lord, don [Fernando VI], King of Castile and Leon, God keep him many happy years." To which the tribunals replied "Amen," and the peo- ple shouted, "Long live, long live the King!" At the same moment the infantry fired a volley and the cannons of the palace roared, while the bells of the Cathedral and all the churches of Mexico City joined the clamor with their pealing. The dignitaries on the platform threw coins minted for the occasion to the populace.10 After this the Alferez Real made the proclamation twice more, from the right and left sides of the platform, to the same response. Then the royal portrait was unveiled and the standard returned to its silver pedestal. The Alferez Real asked the Viceroy's permission to continue with the usual proclamations, and the procession with the ayuntamiento and nobility, escorted by a column of infantry, proceeded to a platform at the Archepiscopal Palace, where the Archbishop and ecclesiastical dignitaries distributed their coins, stamped with His Majesty's portrait. The final proclamation was made from a third platform in front of the city hall, where the royal standard remained, guarded by the four kings-of-arms, for the remainder of the three days the celebrations lasted. When the Royal Ensign left the first plat- form and the military had passed in review before the Vice- roy, the latter withdrew to the palace with his retinue.

Although frontier New Mexico could hardly attempt to emulate the magnificent display at the viceregal court of New Spain, the essential elements of the ceremony were carried out, and the governor, who through necessity had to act as

exterior of their forebears, were overcome with joy to realize that the King our Lord, through his ministers, was showing them the esteem due them as his vassals, and that they too, along with the Spaniards, were figuring in such an ornate function, worthy of being recorded in print forever." Arias de Villalobos, Obediencia que Mexico . . . dio a la Majestad Catolica del Rey D. Felipe de Austria, in Genaro Garcia, Documentos ineditos o muy raros para la historia de Mexico, vol. 12, Mexico, 1907, pp. 172-174.

10. In Luis Gonzalez Obregon, Mexico Viejo, Mexico, 1900, p. 587, there is an illus- tration showing the medals struck for the jura of Ferdinand VI. One hundred fifty of the Mexican coins were sent to the King, and by his order two gold medals and three of silver were sent from Madrid to the Viceroy of New Spain to be presented to those "en quienes haya observado V. E. mayor esmero de fidelidad y aplauso de todas las prosperidades de S. M." Archive General de la Nacion, Mexico, Reales Cedulas, vol. 67, nos. 52, 93.

290 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

royal ensign also, undoubtedly performed his role in the same manner as the Viceroy and with equal dignity as His Maj- esty's personal representative. It seems unlikely that there was much, if any, tossing of coins to the people, hard money being practically non-existent in New Mexico. Possibly a few of the coins struck in honor of Ferdinand VI were sent from Mexico for token distribution to the most prominent citizens, just as a limited number were sent from Madrid to Mexico.

In view of the unfounded but persistent belief that Santa Fe was a royal villa with the resounding title of "La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Assisi," it should be noted here that Father Estremera's certification of the oath to Ferdinand VI, like all documents of the colonial period, refers simply to the villa, or capital villa of Santa Fe. Surely if Santa Fe had any claim to entitle itself a royal villa — and there is absolutely no evidence that it did — on this of all occasions the title would have been set down in all its glory.11

Father Estremera tells us that immediately after the proclamation the cortege "proceeded to the church and the royal standard was placed on the Gospel side of the high altar. And with the assistance of many religious who had been invited by the said Reverend Father Royal Commissary the Thanksgiving Mass was celebrated. Bachiller don Santiago Roybal, ecclesiastical vicar of this villa,12 sang it solemnly. The orator who preached the sermon of thanksgiving was the said Very Reverend Father Royal and Military Commissary, who crowned the occasion with his Very Reverend Pater- nity's usual notable and famous energy."

In Mexico the ecclesiastical observances were sometimes deferred to the second day of the celebrations. There was usually a pontifical Mass of Thanksgiving in the cathedral, attended by the Viceroy, Audiencia, and officialdom in full array, with a panegyric sermon by one of the more distin-

11. See also Lansing B. Bloom's comment in NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW, vol. 20, pp. 108, 187, and E. B. Adams and Fray Angelico Chavez, The Missions of New Mexico, 1776, Albuquerque, 1956, p. 13, n. 3.

12. Father Roybal, for a long time the only secular priest in New Mexico, was a native son who received his education in Mexico City. For details about his career see Adams and Chavez, op. cit., p. 35, n. 59, and Chavez, "El Vicario Don Santiago Roybal," El Palacio, vol. 55, pp. 231-252.

VIVA EL KEY 291

guished members of the clergy. Afterwards the royal tri- bunals made a formal call on the Viceroy. The Archbishop and the Cathedral Chapter made their ceremonial visits of congratulation on the morning of the third day, while the bells of the Cathedral pealed incessantly. In the afternoon the Chapter of the Collegiate Church of Our Lady of Guada- lupe also paid their respects.

The city was decorated for the royal celebrations with lavish splendor, with magnificent hangings,128 banners, cano- pies, and all kinds of ingenious conceits. In honor of Ferdi- nand VI a "pyramid" was erected in the plaza mayor near the fountain opposite the main door of the palace. "This was a high coloumn on a pedestal, with a bust of His Majesty at the top, his robe and imperial crown being made of gilded iron." This monument remained in the plaza until 1790.13 The city was illuminated by night and there were sumptuous displays of fireworks, with many elaborate set pieces. All kinds of entertainment contributed to the atmosphere of pub- lic rejoicing — triumphal chariots, mojigangas and masques, comedies, bull fights, sports, banquets, dancing, music.

Father Estremera makes a brief statement about the popular diversions in Santa Fe : "On the twenty-sixth, for the entertainment of the villa and to solemnize further the oath of allegiance to our King, there was a juego de toros in the morning and afternoon. On the twenty-seventh there was a very good play, which brought the festivities to an end with many huzzas and 'Long live our King don Fernando/ the people giving many thanks both to the said Lord Governor and to the aforementioned Reverend Father Royal and Mili- tary Commissary General. And I note that on Sunday after- noon, the twenty-fifth, there were, in token of rejoicing, many different dances by Indians who came from the missions near- est this villa."

It is unfortunate that the Father Secretary did not take

12a. For example, the balconies of the city hall displayed rich tapestries of the story of Don Quijote de la Mancha, "so vivid that it was wonderful entertainment for the learned as well as the ignorant." Jose Mariano de Abarca, El Sol en Leon, Solemne aplausos con gue . . . Fernando VI . . . fue celebrado . . . por la Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico, 1748. Quoted in Manuel Romero de Terreros y Vinent, Las artes industrials en la Nueva Espana, Mexico, 1923, pp. 129-130.

13. Francisco Sedano, Noticias de Mexico, Mexico 1880, VoL 2, p. 86.

292 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

time to describe these amusements. The playing of the bulls probably had little resemblance to the formal bullfight of modern times, but was more likely to have been a sort of free- for-all in which anyone who felt inclined might have a go at the bulls in his own way and with his own weapons. It may, indeed, have had some of the features of the Southwest- ern rodeo, such as lassoing and throwing the bull, and even riding it. We know that these novelties had appeared in Spain more than a century before as American introductions. Some- times the bull was hamstrung before the crowd — or the dogs — were turned loose to finish him off in the most brutal and sanguinary manner.14 As for the comedia, there are scattered references to theatrical performances in Santa Fe on special occasions, but with the exception of certain traditional folk dramas, we have practically no information about their na- ture. The Indian dances alone have come down to us so little changed that New Mexicans and visitors to New Mexico can easily picture for themselves the scene in the plaza of Santa Fe on the afternoon of January 25, 1748, when the original citizens of New Mexico performed in honor of their Spanish ruler, Ferdinand VI.

14. Jos6 Deleito y Pinuela, Tambien se divierte el pueblo, Madrid, 1954, pp. 129-136, passim.

FRANK BOND

GENTLEMAN SHEEPHERDER OF NORTHERN

NEW MEXICO

1883-1915

By FRANK H. GRUBBS (Continued)

3. Frank H. Bond

I am a stock-man. I gamble in wool, also speculate in land, lend a little money, make some money, and lose some.1

Had he lacked modesty, Frank Bond could have justifiably added to his words, "I also deal in general merchandise, lumber, and hides and pelts. I have no patience with dis- honesty or false dealing, but within those limits will spare no effort to achieve a successful and profitable operation. In reaching that goal I refuse to trample on others; rather, I prefer to bring deserving men along with me to share my success. For this I do not expect groveling subservience, but I do expect them to give the business as much attention as I do and to give me full measure."

The Bond philosophy is expressed appropriately in a letter to one of his managers in which he stated :

I have always found that if you treat people all right, we get our share of the business. We never tried to see how cheap we could sell stuff. We always got a profit. We are still pursuing the same course here, and it works all right.2

At another time Frank Bond wrote :

It should be your endeavor to see that at no time any friction or jealousy should come between . . . [the partners]. I know that no business can be operated successfully without harmony among the employees, this especially applies to the head men.3

Bond not only had deep personal feelings for each of his store managers,4 but he also felt a great sense of responsi-

1. Letter Book No. 50, December 19, 1913, p. 670.

2. Letter Book No. 59, August 28, 1915, p. 525.

3. Letter Book No. 6, June 5, 1913.

4. Ibid., July 9, 1911.

293

294 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

bility toward the partidarios over whom, as the owner of their flocks, he wielded a great deal of influence.5

Although he expressed and practiced the precepts of Christianity in all phases of his business and personal life, the written record existing today does not reveal any trace of a highly active church life. Frank Bond was a Mason,6 and he belonged to Ballut Abyad Temple, A. A. 0. N. M. S.,7 but he was not very active in either.8 Moderately active in civic activities, he was Secretary-Treasurer of the Rio Arriba County Road Board,9 and he served on it with Ed Sargent for several years.10 This was a working job in connection with which he conducted some little correspondence, direct- ing work, notifying property owners to open up fenced-in roads, collecting levys, and enforcing work requirements when individuals were unable to pay their assessments.

Frank Bond served as Chairman of the Board of Direc- tors of Espanola School District No. 45,11 the same board on which Louis Nohl later also served as clerk.12 He invested money in school bonds,13 and he assisted in finding teachers when necessary.14 In the autumn of 1914, when his son, Franklin, was twelve years old, he was instrumental in an attempt to improve the school conditions in Espanola where the facilities were badly overcrowded and the playgrounds were inadequate. After a bond issue for the erection of a new building was turned down by the voters, a new School Dis- trict 73 was created, and renewed opposition was promptly encountered from the County Commissioners.15 Here Frank Bond played the part of diplomat and negotiator and was instrumental in working out a satisfactory understanding between the warring parties.16

5. Letter Book No. 50, October 20, 1913, p. 105.

6. Letter Book No. 6, July 1, 1913.

7. Letter Book No. 56, January 2, 1914, p. 424.

8. Interview with John E. Davenport.

9. Letter Book No. 50, October 16, 1913, p. 81.

10. Letter Book No. 55, September 8, 1914, p. 159.

11. Letter Book No. 53, July 30, 1914, p. 489.

12. Letter Book No. 58, May 11, 1915, p. 111.

13. Letter Book No. 51, January 22, 1914, pp. 23-24.

14. Letter Book No. 55, October 2, 1914, p. 389.

15. Letter Book No. 56, November 14, 1914, p. 58 ; Letter Book No. 58, May 26, 1915, p. 295.

16. Letter Book No. 59, July 29, 1915, p. 264.

FRANK BOND 295

Political activity per se was particularly abhorrent to Bond, but municipal matters were occasionally the subject of his attention. At one time there were sloughs along the side of the railroad tracks in town which filled up with water and formed breeding places for mosquitoes. Bond had pic- tures taken of them and appealed directly to the railroad to have them filled up, also seeking action to force the closing of two cesspools which were a menace to public health.17 At an- other time, considerable anxiety existed in Espanola over the threat posed by the unpredictable and dangerous Rio Grande. Bond was active in raising funds to reinforce the river bank, securing matching funds from the state, and arranging for assistance from the D. & R. G. W. Railroad in the project.18

This was the pioneer New Mexico business executive upon whom devolved the responsibilities of managing the far-flung Bond interests after June 6, 1911, when the G. W. Bond & Bro. partnership passed into history. Each of the major en- terprises in which they, as a partnership or as individuals, were interested is discussed more fully in separate chapters, but to ignore Frank Bond as an individual businessman after the departure of his brother simply because a company name ceased to exist would deny the existence of a New Mexico enterprise that was none the less real because it had no com- pany name or articles of incorporation. George Bond had already become an absentee owner, and from that standpoint no real change occurred; his influence as an older brother, astute consultant, and policy advisor was no less real merely because the bookkeeping was simplified by dissolving the partnership. Indeed, G. W. Bond & Bro. Company continued to exist de facto for many more years, legal documents to the contrary notwithstanding.

Frank Bond continued to live with his wife and son, Franklin, in the Espanola home which he carried on his per- sonal books at a nominal $5,000, including furniture and the land on which the house stood. That he spent $6,000 on im- provements to this house in the spring of 1911, had put a

17. Letter Book No. 53, July 31, 1914, p. 501.

18. Letter Book No. 56, January 21, 1915, p. 608 ; Letter Book No. 58, June 21, 1915, p. 546.

296 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

total of nearly $20,000 into it, and yet continued to carry it at $5,000 is illustrative of the conservatism that marked his presentations of net worth.19

As an individual, Frank Bond carried a considerable in- vestment in receivable bills and notes. Chief among these was that resulting from financial support to the Bond & Nohl Company which on January 18, 1912, reached a phenomenal peak of $328,291.94.20 This was a continuation of the earlier partnership practice of providing capital to finance heavy sheep feeding operations during the winter. That bills re- ceivable were also significant in amount is shown by Table 13.

In addition to the large sums furnished to Bond and Nohl, there reappears at the end of 1914 and again at the end of 1915 a $48,000 item from Camfield & Shields. It will be re- called that this note had been transferred to George Bond under the 1911 dissolution agreement with the specific stipu- lation that should any loss result from it that loss would be equally divided between them. No loss is recorded on the item prior to the end of 1915, however. The remaining bills re- ceivable held by Frank Bond during these five years are otherwise unidentified and held fairly steady at almost $100,000. Other open accounts were generally modest and consisted largely of personal loans and advances to various individuals on wool to be purchased. The total of these amounted to only a few thousand dollars.21

TABLE 13

FRANK BOND

BILLS RECEIVABLE

(dollars in thousands)

End of Year Amount

1911 $420.3

1912 207.7

1913 86.2

1914 182.6

1915 173.9

It will also be recalled that upon dissolution of the part- nership, a number of investment items were undivided,

19. Records, loc. cit.

20. Ibid.

21. Ibid.

FRANK BOND 297

Frank and George Bond each retaining their half interests. The inconsistent manner in which these undivided amounts were carried after 1911 somewhat beclouds their status and thwarts a precise analysis. They were not reflected in the led- ger accounts, but were incorporated in year-end statements that were prepared for Dun or Bradstreet. The classification of items varied, and upon occasion were apparently forgotten altogether. Frank Bond valued his half of these undivided interests at a very low $24,000 immediately after the 1911 separation,22 but it is not at all clear whether this included everything or not, and the indication is that it in fact did not. It is clear that at the end of 1915 the Mitchell Lakes land which had been optioned to Myron Akin, the Victor Stuart ranches optioned to the Laramie-Poudre Reservation & Irri- gation Company, and the section of land east of Nunn, Colo- rado, had not yet been disposed of and were being valued by George and Frank Bond at a total of about $17,500.23 The Piedra-Lumbre Grant was still on the books at this time at $466.73, which was Frank Bond's half interest in the expen- ditures to date ; but his half of undivided bills receivable held by G. W. Bond for collection and secured by mortgages, which were valued at the end of 1913 at slightly over $54,000, had by this time been dropped — apparently collected. The Tome Grant seems to have been disposed of in 1913, but no record exists of the final outcome of this investment into which so much arduous investigation, research, and litigation had been poured. Frank Bond's half of this grant investment last ap- peared at slightly under $2,000. Like the Piedra-Lumbre Grant and the School Warrants which had been left undi- vided, George Bond's half of the Tome investment had not been paid for and was considered by Frank Bond as a receivable.24

By far the most important item of Frank Bond's personal worth was his interest in the various stores. It is important to note that when the G. W. Bond & Bro. partnership was dis- solved and the assets divided, there was no effect upon the

22. Ibid.

23. Ibid.

24. Ibid.

298 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

relative investments in the stores. The partnership as such had held no stock in the stores. It did, rather, hold a number of notes from the stores as entities as well as a number of notes from the store managers as individuals, and it was these notes which were divided. Stock ownership was in- dependent of the partnership and Frank Bond's holdings remained unchanged.

Immediately after the dissolution, he valued these hold- ings formally at $75,331 although he personally considered the investment easily worth double that amount.25 Accumu- lated undivided profits from those stores at the same time amounted to another $73,000.26 By December 31, 1915, Frank Bond's investment in the stores alone approached a quarter of a million dollars. These investments are shown in Table 14, including accumulated undivided profits through 1915, stock conservatively valued at par. In order to maintain pri- vacy, particularly with respect to the Espanola Mercantile Company and the Forbes Wool Company, the investments were usually referred to by number only, and these numbers are shown in the table with their identity disclosed.

In consonance with the previously established policy, sheep on rent continued to be handled mainly by Frank Bond,

TABLE 14 FRANK BOND INVESTMENT IN BUSINESS

Investment Identity * Amount

Number

1 A. MacArthur Company, Wagon Mound $19,644.93

2 Bond & Wiest, Cuervo 27,157.12

3 Bond-McCarthy, Taos 37,215.81

4 G. W. Bond & Bro. Mercantile Co., Encino 43,971.76

5 Espanola Mercantile Company, Espanola 21,653.92

6 Rosa Mercantile Company, Rosa 9,994.75

7 Forbes Wool Company, Trinidad 750.00

8 Bond & Nohl Company, Espanola 61,801.87

9 Bond-Sargent, Grants 11,250.00

Total $233,440.16

a. Frank Bond personally held no stock in the Bond-Connell Sheep and Wool Com- pany, and it is not included in the above even though it was organized before the Bond- Sargent business in Grants. Bond's interest in Bond-Connell arose from his holdings in the stores that did own the stock.

25. Ibid.

26. Ibid.

FRANK BOND 299

most sheep speculation and sheep feeding being carried on by the Bond & Nohl Company. Bond's only profits on these latter two activities were received as a result of his ownership in Bond & Nohl. This was true even though he personally sup- plied much of the capital for those activities as mentioned earlier. At the beginning of the post-partnership period, the investment in sheep on rent was almost $112,000 and repre- sented 37,296 head of sheep.27 In total, however, Frank Bond held an interest in 52,244 sheep rented out on ninety separate rent contracts to individuals in the Espanola, Taos, and An- tonito, Colorado, areas. These were mostly held jointly with the Warshauer-McClure Sheep Company, but a number were with Ed Sargent and a few were with the Hatcher Mercantile Company.28 Table 15 shows the investments Frank Bond had in sheep on rent with various parties at the close of 1915, amounting to over $156,000.

TABLE 15

FRANK BOND SHEEP ON RENT, DECEMBER 31, 1915 (dollars in thousands) Amount

Archuleta & Cox $ 0.8

Hatcher Mercantile Co 1.0

Rosa Mercantile Co 14.3

Ed Sargent 10.1

John Sargent 5.3

General Account 124.8

Total $156.3

These sheep were highly profitable and produced revenue from wool rent alone equal to about three-fourths that which he received through profit on his mercantile interests with all their sheep and wool trading. This amounted to $16,400 in 1911 and 18,800 in 1914.

Sheep were rented out in the fall on partido contracts which normally ran for three years, although Bond much pre- ferred to set up five-year agreements whenever he could.29 The wool rent paid by the partidarios generally amounted to two pounds of wool per rented sheep,30 but the rental con-

27. Ibid.

28. Statement of Sheep Owned by G. W. Bond & Bro. on June 1, 1911, Bond Papers, loc. cit.

29. Letter Book No. 50, October 29, 1913, p. 155.

30. Letter Book No. 59, July 2, 1915, p. 3.

300 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

tracts were not uniform.31 Frank Bond had no standard con- tract in use at that time, and so he was able to vary his actual practice considerably by writing up individual contracts. Bond did not consider raising his rents until 1915 when he noted that two pounds of wool was "no rent at all"32 and determined to raise the regular rent in 1916 to "twenty good lambs, those not wishing to keep them at this rental are at liberty to turn over."33 This was in July, and by the end of August he felt that even more rental was necessary to provide an adequate return on his sheep investment due to higher sheep prices, so the rental price went up to twenty-two lambs per hundred ewes.34

Most of Frank Bond's sheep were rented near Espanola and Taos, although some were placed on rent in southern Colorado. They were usually run in small bunches on the public range and on grants,35 Bond paying the grazing fee to the forest supervisor.36 Due to the fact that forest grazing rights became permanent after three years, he was careful to report all sheep in the Bond name in order to establish un- questioned ownership and thus preserve his grazing rights.37 He was also careful to record partido contracts as chattel mortgages rather than as contracts.38 It is observed that al-

31. In 1910 Bond mentions having placed a number of ewes with Wirt Gomez & Co. for sub-rental to their customers. This is the only case noted where sheep were rented out for secondary placement. In this case the Bonds received their rent in lambs rather than wool. Letter Book No. 6, September 19, 1910.

32. Letter Book No. 59, July 2, 1915, p. 3.

33. Ibid., July 29, 1915, p. 253.

34. At about the same time he wrote to Henry Seth in Monte Vista, Colorado : "There is nobody I would rather rent sheep to, than to you. It is possible that I will have some sheep turned back to me by renters, but it certainly does not look like it at the present time. Everybody wants sheep, no trouble to rent this year.

"I will make you this proposition, I will buy you 1,000 ewes from any that Bond- Connell have, or any other ewes you can get provided we do not have to pay over $5.50 for them, provided you will rent them for five years at 22 lambs to the hundred, you pay the taxes on them, the same contract as the one you have except for five years and two lambs extra. Ewes are extremely high, lambs are also extremely high right now, but you and I know that they will not remain at this price, but my investment in the ewes will always remain $5.50 provided we agree on this proposition. I feel that I cannot afford to buy them at the present price and rent them unless for a long time, and at a good fair rental. Wire me at once if you want the ewes." Ibid., August 27, 1915, p. 517. This was, however, the only such instance that year, and as a matter of fact, Bond decided not to buy any other sheep to rent out. Ibid., August 7, 1915, p. 339.

35. Letter Book No. 57, April 2, 1915, p. 518.

36. Ibid., April 23, 1915, p. 639.

37. Letter Book No. 58, May 5, 1915, p. 49.

38. Letter Book No. 51, February 18, 1914, p. 217.

FRANK BOND 301

though Frank Bond was meticulous about such contract details as being sure that the sheep ear-mark was included in the contract, being sure that they were properly recorded,39 insisting that the wife also sign the contract, etc., he not in- frequently let the sheep out on rent and cleaned up the paper- work later.40 He sometimes even waited as long as six months before actually consummating the contract.41

In addition to wool profits from sheep rental, Frank Bond engaged in some outside wool activity. Under the terms of an agreement between the Bonds and Fred Warshauer in An- tonito, Colorado, all the profits which the Bonds realized on wool they purchased and sold were shared equally with War- shauer. Conversely, all the profit Warshauer made on wool purchased by him was shared equally with Bond.42 This agreement had lasted for many years, George and Frank Bond having worked with Warshauer on wools at least as early as 1903. 43 An unusually high degree of mutual trust and respect existed between Frank Bond and Fred Warshauer, and although these feelings were not shared so enthusiastic- ally by George Bond,44 Frank continued to work with the Warshauer-McClure Sheep Company on both wool and sheep even after Warshauer took his own life in 1913.45 He also took an active interest in advising Warshauer's widow on financial matters from time to time,46 advising her most earnestly not

39. Sheep operators were frequently a careless lot when it came to attending to such details pertaining to their contracts. In fact, a study by the U. S. Forest Service indi- cated that the only ones to bother complying with a later law making such recording mandatory were all Bond companies. Material on The Partido System, comp. The U. S. Forest Service (Albuquerque: 1937), p. 2.

40. Letter Book No. 56, January 27, 1915, p. 625.

41. Ibid., p. 617.

42. Letter Book No. 6, September 19, 1910.

43. Ibid., March 6, 1903.

44. Ibid., February 21, 1908.

45. Interview with Otto Hake, Albuquerque, New Mexico, September 25, 1956 ; Letter Book No. 6, June 5, 1913.

46. Immediately after Warshauer's death, Frank Bond wrote to her :

"I just wish to repeat to you that any time that I can be of the least service to you in any conceivable way, don't fail to command me, no matter where I am I will go to you, if you need me. I should feel that I was false to my friendship for Fred, and to his memory, should I not at all times prove a faithful and loyal friend to you. ... It should be your endeavor to see that at no time any friction or jealousy should come between them [Will McClure and Kenneth McGregor]. I know that no business can be operated successfully without harmony among the employees, this especially applies to the head men." Letter Book No. 6, June 5, 1913.

302 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

to put any of her money into the sheep and wool business, and commenting that he would not want his widow to try and operate as he did.47

Prior to the G. W. Bond & Bro. dissolution, a further agreement existed under the terms of which Warshauer shared equally in the wool profits realized by the Bond & Nohl Company and also by the Bond-McCarthy Company. Any profits or losses realized by either of these companies were first divided with Warshauer and the other half was picked up as a profit to the company. George and Frank Bond, of course, each owned a one-third interest in both stores, so Frank's share of each transaction thus turned out to be one- sixth of the total and Warshauer's was one-half the total profit. At one time Frank Bond suggested a change in this agreement whereby Warshauer would receive only one-half of the profits which the Bonds received as a result of their ownership in these stores. In this way, George and Frank would each divide their one-third of the total profit with Warshauer, and he would therefore end up with one-third of the total profits and Frank would have the same one-sixth.48 Realizing what he had proposed, Frank Bond wrote War- shauer the following day:

I think my letter of yesterday to you is a decidedly one-sided proposition, and it is all on my side. I have been looking at the piece of bread I was giving and not looking at the larger piece I was receiving. When you have a hog for a partner, what can you expect? Consider that I never wrote it.49

The matter was dropped.

This informal partnership or joint venture arrangement with Warshauer is cited not only because it is typical of many smaller-scale but similar partnerships which the Bonds had with others from time to time,50 but also because it was al- most of sufficient size and importance to be considered as a separate Bond enterprise, differing mainly in the lack of a corporate structure and the existence of a mercantile outlet.

47. Ibid., July 1, 1913.

48. Ibid., June 30, 1910.

49. Ibid., July 1, 1910.

50. E. H. Leavenworth, Ed Sargent, John Sargent, Hatcher Merc. Co., and others, including most of the Bond stores themselves.

FRANK BOND 303

Losses, as well as profits, were shared equally; and in 1903, when over a half million pounds of wool were sold at a loss of almost $10,000, the loss was shared by Warshauer.51 However, the result was usually profit resulting from careful buying, watching the market, receiving and following advice from the Boston wool house of Brown and Adams as well as from Hallowell, Jones, and Donald. Profits on wool bought and sold, not including wool received as rent from partidarios amounted to $25,000 in 1906 on wools of the previous year, $46,000 on 1908 wools, and slightly over $12,000 on 1911 wools.52

Wool purchases were generally financed by receiving ad- vances from the eastern wool dealers on clips yet to be shorn. Normally the loan was conditioned on the wool being con- signed or sold to them,53 and a great deal of the Bond fi- nancing was handled in just this way, Bond in turn advancing money to the local growers on the same basis.

For many years the Bonds dealt almost exclusively with the Boston wool house of Brown and Adams, operating gen- erally in three modes. First, Bond might buy wool for his own account (of course, with the arrangement that any profit would be shared with his partner) and sell to Boston at a profit. Secondly, the wool might be sold through the Boston market, the wool house acting only as a commission merchant on a particular lot of wool. Thirdly, the wool might be pur- chased originally with the partial or even complete financial support of the Boston wool house.54 Western banks frequently charged rates of interest up to 8 per cent, particularly on livestock, and Bond reported a $65,000 advance at 9 per cent from Clay, Robinson Company on one occasion.55 Brown and Adams, however, could secure Boston money at a consider- ably less rate and then in turn loan it to Frank Bond for 6 per cent in order to help support New Mexico wool growers.56 Brown and Adams handled from one to three million pounds

61. Ibid., August 1, 1903.

52. Records, loc. cit.

53. Wentworth, op. cit., p. 434.

54. Interview with G. A. Anderson.

55. Letter Book No. 57, February 8, 1915, p. 13.

56. Interview with G. A. Anderson.

304 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

of wool per year for Bond, the specific agreement varying from year to year and even from lot to lot. Other individual arrangements frequently existed whereby the Boston houses would provide support to the western wool buyers, particu- larly in an uncertain market. The western buyers, as the Bonds, had no direct access to information on the market trends and as a result attached themselves firmly to a house in which they had a great deal of confidence, then leaned on them for advice.57 This advice was usually forthcoming in the form of long dispatches by Western Union in code or by letter, outlining the condition of the London, Australian, and other foreign markets, the effect of foreign wools, the latest tariff information, manufacturer's problems, the domestic market in wools, and the condition of wool clips in other parts of the country.58 These reports were usually frank, open, and honest, and then when western buyers felt jittery beyond the threshold of being willing to extend themselves, it sometimes became necessary for the eastern wool merchant to shore up confidence either by allowing the western buyer to purchase wools in the name of the eastern dealer or perhaps by enter- ing into a guarantee arrangement to protect him against loss. Bond usually preferred to stand on his own two feet and take the larger profits (and losses) associated with the larger risk, but upon occasion would work out and enter into a guarantee. In February, 1915, he had such an agreement whereby Brown and Adams guaranteed him cost on wools he purchased. They then gave him the first cent of profit, provided there was a profit, and then took the next half cent for themselves. Bond was to receive the remainder, if any.59

In addition to the commission merchants through whom Bond marketed his wool, there were straight brokerage firms. Such a firm was Salter Brothers and Company of Boston who specialized in territorial wools. When wool was shipped to

57. The story is told about one visit that George and Frank Bond made to Boston for such a conference with Brown and Adams. The visit was made with elaborate pre- cautions against the possibility of anyone knowing that the Bonds were even in town. The Bonds registered at an obscure hotel under an assumed name, and a carriage was sent to pick them up and whisk them off to Adams' private yacht aboard which the meeting was held at sea. Interview with G. A. Anderson.

58. Letter Book No. 55, October 16, 1914, p. 582 ; ibid., October 13, 1914, p. 585.

59. Letter Book No. 57, February 8, 1915, p. 12.

FRANK BOND 305

them it was examined jointly by representatives of Salter Brothers and the People's National Bank, and a value was assigned to it. The wool was then sold without reference to the shipper, and the broker collected his fee. Salter Brothers did not buy wool, and they did not guarantee sales ; if they sold to irresponsible parties the shipper bore the loss. Al- though this type of brokerage firm was reputed to have han- dled about 80 per cent of the Arizona wools in 1913 and was becoming stronger every year, Frank Bond very rarely sold any wool through brokers. He did feel, however, that they had one big advantage in that they always tried to sell the wool — unlike the commission houses who, Bond suspected, frequently sold their own wool at the long prices and held back the consigned wools.60

As pointed out, the Bonds dealt almost exclusively through Brown and Adams in earlier years, but as another Boston house, Hallowell, Jones, and Donald, put their representa- tives out into the northern New Mexico territory in 1915 and to some extent at least began to offer Frank Bond direct com- petitive opposition, it became necessary to shift some of his business in their direction. The threat which Hallowell, Jones, and Donald posed to Frank Bond was a real one. Frank Bond had reports in 1915 that they were beginning to bypass him entirely and were accepting consignments of wool directly from the growers.61 Bond became alarmed and arranged to meet Marston, their representative, in Albuquerque in June.62 Marston tried to have Bond swing some of his wool business away from Brown and Adams, pointing out that if Hallowell, Jones, and Donald continued to be frozen out, they would take more and more wools on consignment directly from the growers.63 Bond was quick to see the threat this could pose to his whole wool operation, for certainly if the Boston wool houses moved too far in this direction, Bond, whose outside wool activities were highly speculative, would be completely bypassed. This possibility had two important effects. First, Bond discontinued the practice of taking wool from the

60. Letter Book No. 51, February 21, 1914, p. 251.

61. Letter Book No. 58, June 28, 1915, p. 662.

62. Ibid., June 21, 1915, p. 578.

63. Ibid., June 27, 1915, p. 632.

306 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

growers on consignment. Although it was a safer operation, he knew that if all his customers consigned wool to him it would only be a few years until they would all be consigning their wool directly to Boston and achieving a price advantage of about one cent, which represented Bond's then profit.64 It therefore seemed the wisest course to take no wool on con- signment but rather to buy the wool directly from his cus- tomers and assume the risks himself. The second effect was to generate what developed to be a general shift away from Brown and Adams, who by this time were mainly handling foreign wools, and to direct more and more business toward Hallowell, Jones, and Donald who dealt mostly in domestics.65 Actually, this movement had already begun in Albuquerque where the Bond-Connell Sheep and Wool Company was by this time working with Hallowell, Jones, and Donald — much to the chagrin of Brown and Adams.66

Prior to this time (1913) none of the Bond associates had placed any business whatsoever with Hallowell, Jones, and Donald. Indeed, except for one clip sold for Solomon Luna and one for the Rio Grande Woolen Mills Company in Albu- querque in 1904, Hallowell, Jones, and Donald had done no business at all in New Mexico since the turn of the century.67 However, the Las Vegas firm of Gross-Blackwell and Com- pany had dealt moderately with them as early as 1885.68

One cannot help but wonder whether or not Frank Bond would have shifted his business policy with respect to wool consignments or whether he would have begun dealing with another wool house after such a long association with Brown and Adams had he but known that Hallowell, Jones, and Donald actually had no business at all in New Mexico except with Bond and his associates. Of course, he certainly knew that Edward Sargent was marketing his wool through them, but other than that, the only other customer Marston had

64. Ibid., June 14, 1915, p. 525.

65. Ibid., June 28, 1915, p. 622.

66. Ibid., June 30, 1915, p. 669.

67. Sales Ledger of Hallowell & Donald Co. in the Hallowell, Jones, & Donald Col- lection (Harvard University Library, Boston). Cited hereafter as H. J. & D. Papers.

68. Ibid. Originally Hallowell & Colburne, the firm name was changed to Hallowell & Donald about 1890. The present name of Hallowell, Jones, & Donald came into existence about 1906.

FRANK BOND

307

been able to set up in the area at all was, coincidentally enough, W. B. Bond in Durango, Colorado, from whom they received about 4,000 pounds of wool in 1915.69

However, a definite shift did occur, and Table 16 reveals the increase in business which developed with Hallowell, Jones, and Donald during the last three years prior to the close of 1915.

Bond's new Boston connection seems to have been satis- factory, for the trend continued and Marston, in turn, re-

TABLE 16

POUNDS OF WOOL SOLD BY HALLOWELL, JONES, & DONALD FOR NEW MEXICO ACCOUNTS IN SELECTED

YEARS a

Customer 1913 1914 1915

Frank Bond 160,991 55,004 22,912

Bond-McCarthy 90,487 166,537 134,364

Bond & Warshauer 33,283 73,928 0

Bond & Edward Sargent 52,251 0 266,326

Edward Sargent 299,247 397,837 99,992

Bond & Nohl 0 0 42,609

Bond & Dillon 0 0 90,799

Bond & Wiest 0 0 28,671

G. W. Bond & Bro. Merc. 0 0 65,127

Bond-Connell 0 0 294,954

Total 636,259 693,306 1,045,754

a. Consignment Ledgers, 1913, 1914, 1915, H. J. & D. Papers, loc. tit.

ciprocated the favor. On one occasion he warned Bond that the Charles Ilfeld Company was preparing "to give us some trouble in wool." 70 He also strongly advised Bond to buy un- improved Navajo wools,71 and as a result Frank Bond and Edward Sargent made a special trip into the Navajo country around Farmington to look at the native wools in that area which had heretofore been passed by entirely.72 Bond had generally dealt in the finer wools, but now he felt that more opportunity lay in the coarser wools,73 and as a result further

69. Consignment Ledger, 1915. H. J. & D. Papers, loc. cit. W. B. Bond appears to have been no relation to George and Frank Bond.

70. Letter Book No. 57, March 24, 1915, p. 449.

71. Letter Book No. 56, January 20, 1915, p. 558.

72. Ibid., February 6, 1915, p. 645.

73. Ibid., ca. January, 1915.

308 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

movement into the undeveloped wool market in the Navajo country to the west began.

The year 1915, the last in the period under study, was a year of short supply and high prices in the wool market, lead- ing to several unpleasant surprises for Frank Bond, and some embarrassment. In order to increase the weight of their wool, a number of growers resorted to various schemes. Several put quantities of sand in their wool clips, some shipped their wool weighted down with water,74 and one enterprising gen- tleman, Don Epimenio Trujillo, even sprinkled salt all through his wool, a new one on even an old timer like Frank Bond.75

It can now readily be seen that in essence Frank Bond continued the business after 1911 much in the same way as it had been operated since 1883, making those adjustments necessary to provide facilities and an organizational struc- ture to exploit opportunities as they arose. George Bond had left Espanola; the merchandise activity there was being operated by a separate corporation, but certainly no less un- der Bond supervision ; and other branch stores and businesses were similarly active, experiencing varying degrees of suc- cess. In consequence, Frank Bond's interests had become so broad, both in diversification of effort and in geographical distribution, that it would be awkward to pursue an examina- tion of the Bond system in pure chronological sequence.

In order, then, to view the other events that were taking place within the system, both in Espanola and elsewhere, and in order to observe at closer range the success or failure of each of Frank Bond's numerous undertakings during these years of expansion, time must in a sense be rolled back again and again to the beginning.

(To be continued)

74. Letter Book No. 59, August 10, 1915, p. 365.

75. Ibid., July 9, 1915, p. 90.

WEST OF THE PECOS By E. L. STEVE STEPHENS

(Continued)

We had a few young unbroke ponies on the ranch. I said Poncho, we are going to get them young ponies this morning. Poncho said what are we going to do with them? We are going to break two apiece and feed them the rest of the win- ter. We penned them and picked out four. They was a little salty. I roped them and we put hackamore on them. The next morning Poncho said, Mr. Steve, can I saddle one up? We saddle one and I eared him down and Poncho crawled on him. We had a wild west show that day. The next day it was snow- ing. Didn't fool with them. We was working on the corral. Poncho said Mr. Steve, I love my girl. If I married her would you let me bring her to the ranch? She could cook for us. I said Poncho, I will think about that. I knew it wouldn't do to bring her to this ranch. Too many Indians and cattle rustlers. You can't tell when some of them would come by. That would cause trouble.

Boys keep down trouble if you can, but don't run. These days if you run you might get killed. It has been a week since Poncho asked me about marrying and bringing his wife to the ranch. One morning we were drinking coffee and eating breakfast. I told Poncho in a day or two we would go over and see your mom and dad and you can see your girl and maybe I can find me a girl. I let it go at that. I hadn't never seen his folks. Poncho and I went over on Saturday and come back Sunday evening. We rode up in the evening. His Mom met us at the yard gate. Poncho said this is Mr. Steve, Mom. Before we went in I saw a girl or two in the house. The lady said us go in. We will have some coffee. I think the girls have a cake baked. Going to have a party tonight. We set down. His mother poured us some coffee. Soon his two sisters come. One was a good looker and the other one was on the fat type. About that time his dad come in. He was a nice looking man. Was long supper was ready. We all set down at the tabel. The old man turned thanks. He carried me to the lot to show

309

310 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

me his fat calves and hogs. He was fixing to butcher. While we were gone to the lot all got ready to go to the party.

Was several families lived in the small valley. Was about a half mile where the party was. Poncho's girl and her brother come in. Poncho's dad hooked some ponies to the buchboard and we all climbed in and went to the party. I could tell which one of these girls was this boy girl friend. I said to myself I can tell when we get to the party. The party was very nice. The girls and boys played and sung and we danced some. We made back to Poncho's folks' house. Poncho went home with his girl. Poncho sisters sung and played the guitar. Poncho had a very nice room. The girls went and got the bed ready for me. I told Poncho's dad I wanted to talk to him.

I told him about Poncho wanting to get married and bring his wife to the ranch. I told his dad was too many Indians and cattle rustlers for him to bring her to the ranch and leave her all day by herself. The next morning Poncho and his girl come over. His dad and myself told Poncho and his girl we wanted to talk to them. We talked it all over. Something might happen to her. Poncho and his girl decided to wait a while and he would work for me.

We got ready to go back to the ranch. Poncho's mom and father said you boys come back to the wedding and sup- per. I said we will if we can. We made it in about sundown. Some one had been there and eat and left a pony but never taken a pony in its place. The next day Poncho and myself got up our broncs and rode them againe. Poncho saddled up one and I was earing him down so Poncho could get on him. He was trying to buck and stomp my foot. I told Poncho he would have to ride them all for I couldn't get on them. I was crippled a few days.

In a few days Poncho and myself went over to see the Indians. We had a watering place clost by the reservation. The Indian chief seen us and come over where we was. I saw him coming. I got off my pony and when he rode up he got off his pony and we shook hands and he patted me on the head. That's the way of showing friendship. We talked a while. He wanted us to go home with him. I said we haven't got time today. Are you out of beef? He said I will see you

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poak timper [poco tiempo]. That means I will see you soon. On our way back to the ranch we run across a cow and a fat calf. We carried them to the ranch and put them in a trap for I knew he would be over in a few days.

The chief come and three Indians. We butchered the calf. He patted me on the head. That thanks. He said for us to come over. They are going to have a war dance. I said if we can we will be there. You have to make friends with them if you stay in business. Winter are here and getting cold and snow. Poncho got sick on me and I carried him home to his mom and dad so they could doctor him up and so he could see his girl. I stayed all night. I went back early the next morning. Finished my work putting brush in the narrow canyons to keep the cattle from getting on the mountain top. The weather cleared up the sun was shining.

One morning I rode up the canyon to see some of the cattle to see how they was doing. I saw some cows running. I topped a ridge and I pulled out my field glasses and seen two men driving some cows and calves the direction they was going. Wasn't but one place they could get up. I rode around there were they would come out. They drove the cows and calves up to that place. I watched them a while. They started up the trail. I started down. I said Excuse me. I didn't see you all. Are you all gathering some cattle ? Yes we are gath- ering some strays. I said some in this bunch are not strays. One said we will look through them. I cut out what belonged to this outfit I worked for. One said do you work for this out- fit we are in. I said yes. I had them where the wool was short. I knew they was cattle rustlers.

I had seen them before in Belen Jarales in a liquor and gambling house and girls in the back of that house. Was a big gang fight. Was several hurt and one killed. It started at the dice table. Was a pimp running the dice table. They taken the cows on over the mountain. I kept my eye on them. It was getting late in the evening. All the cow camps we tried to get in before dark and the big part of the time we would have any lights. If we had any light it was very dim. In a few days after that the same two men rode up after dark. Said to me, Have you got any meat. I said, yes, hanging on

312 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

the side of the house. One got down and got a quarter. The other one stayed on his horse with his gun in his hand. You haven't got a chance when the other guy got his gun in his hand [in] them days for they won't let you get too close to him. They rode off. I was lucky they didn't take two fresh horses. I had one pony they could taken.

About six months ago was a tough looker come by and left this pony. He said I will get him sometime. He didn't stay but a few minutes. I don't think he could ride him. One day I thought I would ride him. I saddled him up. He was nice and fat. I crawled on him. He done everything but shimmy. He sure could buck. I sure was glad to get my saddle off him he was as bad as I ever tried to ride. About that time Poncho's dad rode up. He said Mr. Steve what are you been doing? I have been riding this old pony. He said don't you ride that old pony no more here by yourself any more.

I asked him how was Poncho. He is about well. I come over to help you catch up with your work. It not but three days until Thanksgiving so you can go over to the wedding and the dance Thanksgiving morning. I got up with my work. The old man and I left for his home. He lived in a nice valley. Was about a hundred Mexican families lived in the valley. We was about half way a bobcat jumped out of a tree and scared our ponies and the old man's pony started to run into a brush tree and bruised him up some. About that time my old pony begin to buck. I pulled him up and went back where he was. His face was bleeding. I cleaned his face off and we went on.

The next morning the old man was bunged up. Couldn't walk much. I said Pop are you going to the party. Yes, Steve, I will be all right. We begin to get ready for the blow out. By this time was several boys and girls had dropped in. The wedding and supper and dance was a big thing. It was worth going to. The music started. The boys begin to get their girls. I went over and got Poncho's sister and we danced that set. Poncho said Mr. Steve dance with my girl the next set while I am gone to see mother. We danced that set. I went over where Poncho's sister was and sat down by her. I saw a Mexi- can boy watching us. I asked her was that boy her boy friend. She said I never seen him before. He don't live in the valley.

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We danced a couple of sets then we went and got some coffee and this boy come in there. You couldn't blame him for she was a swell looking girl. I had my pigging string on her.

The music started. We was going to dance. This old boy said we are going to dance this set. She said not this one and we went to dancing. While we was dancing I told her if you want to you dance with him. I was watching him all the time. This boy and his Buddy bunched up talking. I figured they was framing up on someone. I went and got my popgun and buckled it on. I danced with Poncho's girl and Poncho danced with his sis. The priest called everybody to come in the dining room for the wedding and supper. The priest married them and we all followed the married couple in to supper. We all gathered around the table. The priest turned thanks. The couple cut the cake and the priest called on two boys and two girls to sing a song and we all eat supper.

After we ate Poncho and his girl and we and my girl went and got us some coffee. The music started. We went in and started dancing. This boy come up to us. Said to my girl, you are going to dance with me or nobody. We stopped dancing. I said to him, What do you mean? I mean that he said by that time he had the girl by the arm. I shoved him back. He started to his pocket. I cold cock him. One of the others started to hit me and the girl run in front of him. About that time I turned around. He struck at me and I peck him one in the head and another one started in. Poncho taken care of him. About then the law come in and carried all four of the boys off. They had one drink too many.

The party went on very nice. It was a swell supper. Up in the day Poncho went with me back to the ranch. We got up our broncs to ride them some more. Haven't been rode since Poncho got sick. We was out of beef. One day I said to Poncho, we are going to see if we can find us a fat calf. Or a deer. We rode up on the mountain. Never found anything. Started down the mountain. In the valley jumped a cow and calf. Was carrying them into the ranch. They started to running to get away. I spurred up to head them. My pony hit some slick rocks, slipped and fell and broke a finger for me. Poncho come back where I was. We lost the cow and calf. We headed

314 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

for the ranch. By that time my finger sure was hurting. Poncho said Mr. Steve, I can fix up your finger. We made it in. Poncho whittled out two splints and tore up a rag and put them splints on my finger and wrapped the strings around my finger and poured coal oil on it. Wasn't long it was well. We had fat bacon to cook in beans. Poncho said I guess we can eat bacon. I said yes, we will make another stab one of these days. So we did.

One morning I told Poncho we will go up on Bear Canyon, not too far away. We saw several does. I said to Poncho, you see that young buck? You take the first shot at him. So he did. He killed the deer. How are we going to get him in? We had to blindfold that old pony I was riding so we could tie the deer on the back of my saddle. We carried him in. We had a good supper before dark.

Spring of 1915. 1 sent Poncho to town to get chuck for the cow work. While he was gone to town I went over to the reservation to get the chief to come and bring some men to help me brand the calves. Poncho come in and two cowpunch- ers and brought me word from my boss at Saint Louis. If he didn't get there for the work for me to hold the steers year- lings. In a few days we went to work. Poncho's father come over and helped us. The chief and his men brought their pack ponies and they set up their teepees. They would eat with us. I killed a beef. They broiled their meat on a camp fire. They was good hands. Poncho's father said I want to cook for us. I told him all right. He was a good cook. We finished work. I gave the chief a big fat cow for their help.

We had been through work 2 or 3 days when the big boss from St. Louis got out to the ranch. He said, Steve I have sold the steers. Steve, I want you to deliver to Romero. He will take the steers there. We made it very well and we turned the steers over to the man [who] bought them. I told the boys we will stay here three days and we can go to town and see the sights. So we all went to town. We all got hair cuts and shaved and cleaned up. But some the boys had to go and get them a drink of pep up. I had two Canoncito Indian boys with the outfit. The cook and two other men was bad to gamble. We was in one of the saloons and was a gambling and red-

WEST OF THE PECOS 315

light house. All got in a gang fight over a dice and poker game. Was crooks running the poker and dice tables. It was a little rough. Several got hurt.

The last night we was in town we went over to an old gal's place. Wasn't a saloon in it, but you could get anything you wanted to drink. The bell hop would go and get it for you. We went in there to dance and have a good time. Was several girls in there. Poncho found him a blond. He danced with her. He bought her a drink. She said boy friend come and go with me. I have got something good to drink in my room. Poncho went with her. Wasn't long till I heard a ter- rible racket in that room. I rushed in there. Was a pimp in there, too. Poncho was fighting both. I pecked him on the bean and grabbed the gal and shook her. She scratched me in the face. I said gal you better settle down. You might get the water slapped out of you. They had got all of Poncho's money. I told that guy to get up but he didn't. I said to that gal to get that boy's money. About that time the other boy was in there. In the ruckus they tore Poncho's pants in two. One of the boys went and got him another pair. We never seen that girl and that guy any more. Poncho got his money.

We left there about midnight. Went to look for the cook and two others. They stopped at a gambling den but we didn't find them. One of the boys said maybe they went to the chuck wagon. But they wasn't there. I figured if they was in jail they would be in after a while. This was the second night. The next morning we found them in jail. They was bunged up pretty bad. I said Boys, where have you all been. Up there in that joint. We had a free for all up there. What was the trouble? Over a dice and card game.

We got them out. We all went to the chuck wagon. I said to the boys, we have got one more night to stay here. If you boys want to stay or go. So we stayed one more night. Well, everything went off very nice. Danced and had a good time. Nobody got in jail. We left for the ranch. We was four days getting in. All the cowboys let out but Poncho and myself. It was fall and getting cold. Poncho and myself had lots work to do for the winter before it got too cold.

We was out of fresh meat. I told Poncho we had to go

316 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

hunting and get us one fresh meat for the winter. One morn- ing we rode up on the mountain to see if we could find a young buck. We didn't see nothing but an old buck [,] on our way back I killed a turkey. I said Poncho we will have baked turkey. It sure was fat and good. A few days later we went deer hunting again. We found a cow and a fat calf. Drove them in and put them in a horse trap. The next morning we was going to butcher the calf. So we did.

Poncho wanted to go and see his mom and dad and see his girl one morning. I told Poncho to catch him two ponies and bring one up to the house. I told him he could go home for three or four days. We put a quarter of a beef on this pony he led up to the house. Poncho said, Steve are you going with me. I said no I can't go this time.

I got the wagon ready for when Poncho got back. I sent him to town after chuck and pony feed. He was gone six days. While Poncho was gone to town I rode up to Bear Canyon to see how everything was doing. Had some cattle up there. It wasn't much out of my way. I went by to see my Indian friends. They was on the war path. The chief met me and told me some one had killed one of his boys. He was gone two days before they found him. The chief carried me where they buried him. I knew their signs. I got oif my horse and made this sign X on the grave. The chief patted me on the back and hugged me and said Thank God my Friend. It pays to be a friend. I didn't stay long. Chief said I will see you soon. So I left for the ranch on my way back someone taken a pot shot at me. I stopped and turned my pony around but never did see any one. I went on to the ranch. In a little while Poncho drove in with the wagon. We unloaded the chuck and horse feed and cooked supper.

I sent Poncho after a hank of mohair to make me a girth. After supper we was making me a girth. The fire was getting low. Poncho went out side to get some wood to put on the fire. Something punched him in the side. Was a tough looking man and about that time was another man stepped in the back door and told me to set still. They said we are hungry. Poncho got up to go in the kitchen. One of them guys said we all go

WEST OF THE PECOS 317

in there. So we did. We had some beans and steak and gravy and bread cooked. Poncho put it on the table. Them guys stood up and eat with one hand and a gun in the other. After they eat we [they] want some meat and the rest of that bread. Poncho put it in a sack. No, put it on the table. One picked up the sack to go out the door. One said to Poncho and myself. You all stand there till we get gone. So we did. You can't do anything when two men got a gun on you, I told Poncho.

Poncho was a little nervous. He liked to got us in trouble. We was too far from our guns and them guys to start any- thing. I gave Poncho a look and he colled off. I thought maybe would get the drop on them pretty soon. They left. I told Poncho when anyone had the drop on you don't make a mis- take. Keep his head. If he didn't he might get killed.

Spring of 1916 was here. I and Poncho had lots of work to do getting ready for the spring work. Marking and brand- ing and the boss notified me to hold the steer yearlings. He had them sold. I sent Poncho to town to get chuck for the cow work and pick up 3 or 4 cow boys. Poncho was gone six days. He come in and brought back four cowboys. I sent Poncho to get his father to cook for us. I told Poncho he could stay two days and see his girl. Poncho come back the second day and his father come back with him to cook for us. In about three weeks we got the steers together and started to Laguna where we were to deliver the steers. Well we made it without much trouble. My boss and the man [who] bought the steers was there waiting for us to arrive. The next day we loaded them out.

My boss had told me this man would buy the ranch and cattle and he was going back with us and look it over. It was a good outfit he was there four days and he bought the ranch and cattle. The last day he was there he asked me if I would work for him. It was late in the fall. I told him I would stay on until the first of April. Some time in April Mr. Brown come out from Kansas City and a man come with him to run the ranch. I showed him around a few days. I told Brown I am leaving in a day or so. He wanted me to stay on. I think it best for me to move on. I asked Poncho did he want to work on. I will for a little while.

318 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

The morning of the fourth day I saddled one pony and packed the other one, and headed east and rode in to Los Lunas and put my ponies in an stage coach yard and walked up in town. It was a raw hide town and dropped in a cafe for a cup of coffee. It was a tough looking joint. So I stayed and set down on the end of the bench next to the door. The gal come over. I said a cup of coffee please. Was several guys setting around in there. Some coffee some whiskey. Didn't know any one in there. I drink my coffee and walked out. I walked on up the street and come upon a barber shop. Bad nights. I left out of there and went down the street. Was a cafe and whiskey joint stayed open all night and a bunch of gals in the back of this joint. So I dropped in there to get me a cup of coffee and a bite to eat. Was a big bunch of miners in there playing all kinds of games.

By this time it was getting late in the night. Some had left but still was a bunch in there. I thought I would go back where the girls were and dance a while so I did. I wasn't back there long until there was a free for all fight started. In the saloon over a dice game. All the lights was shot out. Some one got all the money was in the joint and was several thousand dol- lars taken that night. When every thing settled down I went to the hotel and went to bed. The next morning I went down by the joint and they was cleaning up the place. Didn't go in. I was going to get me a cup of coffee. I went down to the other cafe and went in. The girl brought me some coffee. I told her I wanted a steak. She went back and told the cook to fry a steak. By that time I had drunk that cup. I said to her an- other cup, please. She brought me some coffee. I said to her, What happened to that cafe up the street? She said they had a gang fight up there and it was robbed. I never said anything about me seeing it. I asked her was she there. She said I left there before it started.

I went down to see about my ponies. The man was taking care of the yard had fed my ponies. He asked me do you want to work? If it suits me I would. Well, was a man come in on the stage I know. He is a square shooter. He went to the hotel. You can find him up there. I went up to the hotel and walked in and looked around but didn't see anyone that suited me.

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They was some books. I picked one and set down lestening to them others talk. I never said anything to them guys and they didn't to me.

I wasn't in the hotel long when he come in the lobby. He spoke and I did. He began to talk to me. I said yes or no. He said to me us go and have a cup of coffee. So we was walking down the street past a saloon. He said to me would you like a drink. No thank you, I don't drink. So we went to the cafe and had coffee. So set there drinking coffee and talking.

Pretty soon the man run the stage coach yard come in. I hadn't told this man I was looking for him. I hadn't asked him his name and hadn't told him my name. We all drink coffee. This man came in called him Mr. Bass and he turned to me. What are your name. I said Steve. He said to me, do you want a job? I said maybe if it suits me. He said I need a good man. Well that let me out. Wasn't no more said then. We got up and went out the door. I said Mr. Bass I am going to the yard to see about my ponies. Do you want to go along. He said yes, I don't mind. So we walked down. We stopped and talked to the yard man after a bit I went to see about my ponies. So they come down where I was. He said, Steve, you got two good ponies. He said I have got good ponies on the ranch. I never said anything. So we walked back to the barn. Mr. Bass said us go and eat dinner. Mr. Bass and myself went to the hotel. He said I am going to my room and rest a while so he did.

I fooled around town and I walked down to the barn and yard to feed my ponies. I figured on leaving in a couple or three days. When I reached the yard Mr. Jones said, Steve, I have fed your ponies. He asked me are you going to work for Mr. Bass? I said no, I haven't hired out to him. However, he talked to me some wanting me to work for him. I asked this man Jones where are Bass' ranch. He said east of here about 75 miles. I asked Jones was he any kind [kin] to Frank Bass. He said yes, a nephew. I said he looks like Frank Bass.

I started back to the hotel and met Bass. I said to him are you about ready to eat supper? So we went and eat. While we were eating one of Bass' friends came in. Bass said sit down and have supper with us. Bass asked him when did he get in.

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Just come in on the stage. We finished eating supper and we went to the hotel. They done the talking and I done the lis- tening and I never did see this man before, but he said he seen me in Trinidad, Colorado, in 1906, when I rode against Goldy Smith in a bronc riding contest. Well, I did, I said.

I told Bass I was going to leave town tomorrow. Are you going to work for me? Where are your ranch. He told me about 75 miles east of here. Have you got a boss out on your ranch and how many cowboys working for you now? And he told me his boss got hurt and was not able to work and maybe never live. What is your offer for me to work for you. Good wages. I want you to run the ranch. I will go to the ranch, Bass said. I will meet you there at the ranch. I told Bass I would look everything over then I would tell him when he got there.

The next morning I pulled out. I figured it would take me 5 or 6 days to reach the ranch if I had good luck. I had to go through the Isleta Indian Reservation. It too far out of my way to go around. I figured I could go through for I knew the chief of the tribe. I made it all right and came up on a camp in a canyon. It was getting late in the evening. I said to my- self I will stay there tonight. I didn't know if anyone stayed there or not so I rode up to the half dugout and a rawhide shack and some lots. When I rode up was a hard looking man come out of the rawhide shack. He had two guns on but I was used to that. He had long beard on his face. He told me to get off. Coming out where I was he said unsaddle and unpack your ponies, so I did. My ponies feet was getting tender coming over them volcano mountains.

We went to the dugout and shack. It didn't take me long to figure out what kind of a joint it was. I kept my eye on him. He fixed supper and we eat. I knew some more stayed here for they was some extra bedrolls there. He never said and I never asked him. I brought my bedroll in and we went to bed. Didn't sleep much. We got up early next morning. Wasn't long after sunup was two men rode up and unsaddled and had some saddle bags on his arm. I stayed there that day. The ring leader rode off. Was gone for a while and came back. I overheard the one was here when I came ask the one come in

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how are everything? Made a good haul. Them two guys come in I knew them for they was in that saloon and gambling joint when the lights was shot out and robbed.

Along in the evening one said us go to the lot. I want to tighten the shoes on my pony. So we all went down and he tightened the shoes on his pony. One said to the other, you beat me shooting the other day. I will try you again. I hadn't said anything. They had shot several times. One said to me, Don't you want to try your hand? They was shooting at a small can. One had the same kind of gun I had. I might a time or two. I taken that gun and shot over the can and another shot and I shot twice and hit the can both times. I figured they was trying me out. That night we all were getting ready to go to bed. I unrolled my bed close to the door and lay down. Long after while they thought I was asleep. They didn't know me. I lay there and overheard them talking about the raid the night before and they planned how they were going to raid a big joint in Tome where lots of minors [miners] go to puck their money off and see girls.

The next morning I told them guys I was going to leave. The ring leader said stay with us. In a few days we will go to town and see what we can find. See the gals anyway. I said I better go on and find me a job. I am about broke. He came up to me where I was packing my pony. You are a good shot. You would be broke. Here are $20.00. He had a sack full. I thank him for the $20.00 he gave me and I rode off. I finally reached the Bass ranch.

I rode up and got off at the bunk house and wrapped my bridle reins around a hitching pole and a cowboy stepped out the door. Come in. I just made coffee. That sounds good to me, I said. Are you the only one here? He said there was two more around here some where. When have the big boss been out? He said I haven't been out here but five weeks but I think Mr. Bass will be out in a few days. He is the man owns this ranch. Well, them two other cowboys came up.

I hadn't never seen any of these boys. They wasn't very friendly, but that didn't worry me any. I asked who is the foreman? One of these guys said he is not here. Why, you want to work? I said maybe. If you don't care I will hang

322 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

around a few days and let my ponies rest. He never said a word. He was a smart guy. I didn't like him at all. We will cook supper and you wash the dishes. Where I come from every one washed his own plate. I could say much, but knew if I stayed here I would give him a hard time. They cooked and I washed the dishes and the boy was there when I rode up dried them. The next morning I got up early. I drank coffee. That was all. The rest eat. I washed my cup and put it up. We all went to the corral. One of these other boys said to me, are you going with us today ? I said have you all got an extra pony. Yes, you can ride one of the foreman's ponies. He's not here. This smart guy never said anything but he didn't like it.

I saddled this pony up and the rest got saddled and this smart alec got on his pony. I buckled my gun on and stepped on this pony. I didn't want the bob cats to take me in. We was gone most of the day. When we got back to the ranch we unsaddled and went to the house. I unbuckled my gun and put it in my bedroll. I was there three days before Mr. Bass came in. And this smart guy was swelled up all the time. The morn- ing after Bass came in he told them cowboys to get the wagon ready. Was sending it to town to get chuck for fall work. Two days later he sent the wagon to town. It taken eight days to make the trip. All this time no one asked me my name and I didn't ask them their names.

The next day after the wagon left for town he told them two other cowboys to go and get the saddle ponies in, but they didn't find all of the ponies and the next day Bass told to go and get the rest of them that day. I went with Bass. He told me he wanted me to get acquainted with the Indian Chief. The reservation lay north [ ?] about ten miles. So we went up there that day. So I had seen the chief before then. We visited with the chief anwhile. The chief said youall come back to see us. We said youall come to see us. And we rode off.

We went back to the ranch. On the way back Bass asked me what I thought about the ranch and working for him. Well, you have a good ranch. As far as working for you, I don't think it would pay me to work for you. I will pay you good wages. That's not it. You have one hand here I don't

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think I could get along with him. He has been snotty and made some slight remarks. I got up to crawl his carcass. I had the difference, I said to myself. I would wait until you come in. It would look bad on my part for me to jump on one of your hands. Haven't been here but two days. You asked me and I told you. I found out he was from Saint Louis. So called cowboy and wanted to be a big shot. I told Mr. Bass I would like to work for him but I can't the way everything are for me and that joker for I wouldn't take his slack jaw he got. I thanked Mr. Bass for the good job you offered me.

The next morning I saddled up and pack up my pony and pulled out for Encino. That was about a hundred [ ?] miles southeast. The first night I stayed all night with a chuck wagon. He was on his way to town to get chuck for the cow work. He told me I could go to work for the Scatter S ranch. But I would have had to go back 20 miles the way I come from. I didn't want to do that. The next morning I pulled out. Late in the evening I reached Fort Quarai and put up my ponies and stayed all night. And the next day I reached the old Jim Stinson trail between Mountainair and Willard and stayed in Willard that night.

I travelled down the Jim Stinson Trail. Reached the old Stone Fort and stayed there that night. Wasn't long after I got there the stage rolled in. There were three men come in on it. The stage stayed overnight there. I learned hearing them talk two of them men was going to Encino. There was where I was headed for. One said young man, where are you headed for? Encino, I said. Did you come in on a stage? No, I said. Come in a horseback and a pack pony. And the other man was going to Vaughn. They had meals in the Fort so we eat supper and breakfast there. After supper we were sitting around. One said us have a black jack game. They gathered around a table and began to play. One said to me, don't you play? I set down and played a few games with them. I soon pulled out and got up from the table. Wasn't long after I got up the man was going to Vaughn he got up. He said to me us go and get us some coffee. So we did.

We was in the kitchen drinking coffee. I knew it was not good to ask a man where are he going or what he do. Do

324 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

you want a job. I said maybe if it suits me. I asked him where are your outfit ? He told me what he would pay me. I told him I was going to stay around Encino two or three days and let my ponies rest. He asked me my name. I said Steve. I said what are your name? He said Jack Miller. I live in Kansas City. I said to Miller if I don't work for the — S ranch I will know in a couple days if I will work for them or not.

The next day the — S boss was in town. I run across him and we had a talk. I soon found out he didn't pay enough for me. I said I will be seeing you. I went back up in that little old rawhide town and seen Miller. I said to him us go and get a cup of coffee. I said to Miller, I seen that — S boss. I couldn't do any good with him. In the morning I am leaving for Vaughn. Miller said for me to wait for him. He would be there in about a week. So I did.

It was a small village. It wasn't very far from the Co- manche Trail. It was a tough little place. Outlaws, cattle rustlers, and miners would come to that rawhide town about all there was saloons and gambling dens and redlight cribs. One large redlight house. The land lady name was Aunt Ethel. I never will forget her. She was a mean woman.

The second night I was there in town the largest saloon and a large gambling house there was a large crowd of miners and gamblers and pimps most of playing big stakes of money. I was close to the door. Against the wall was a tall man with a short beard and long mustache come in and stood around a little while and walked up to the dice table and begin to shoot dice. I watched him a while. He lost a little money on the start. I went in where the girls and boys was dancing. I was in there I danced with the girls a while. I was in there dancing was a man come in. He was drunk. Was a hard look- ing old gal went over where he was. She said Honey, us dance. He wasn't as drunk as they thought. Along after while was a racket in the room, so he knocked her through the door into the dance hall and followed her up there. The landlady taken it up. He slapped the water out of her and pulled his gun and everybody stood still and he backed out the door. I figured she tried to get his money. Everything got quietened down. I went back in the saloon. That man had the long mustache he

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was playing blackjack. He had a big stack of money in front of him. I went on to the hotel and went to bed. Everything went off very good that night.

The next morning I went down to the cafe to get a cup of coffee. I went in and set down. The girl came over. I told her I wanted a cup of coffee. I thought I had seen that gal some place. I kept an eye on her. She said do you want some more coffee. I said yes, believe I do. She said I have seen you before. I was in here last night and at[e] supper. Finished my coffee and walked out and went to the hotel where I was staying. Two men rode up and got off and tied their horses and come in. Told the clerk they wanted to see his register book. They looked through it and walked out. I never seen any more of them until that night.

I was killing time that night. I walked in the same saloon I was in the night before. Wasn't in there very long until that long mustached man come in. Wasn't long he went to the same dice table he played at before and about that time the two guys come in the hotel that morning. I stayed around and watched them gamble and pimp take them gold miners' money. Big piles of money on every table. Around midnight I went to the hotel and went to bed. Some time after I went to bed the saloon and gambling joint was held up and robbed.

The next morning I went to the cafe to get coffee and a bite to eat. I walked in and set down. That gal said she had seen me she brought me a cup of coffee. She said the saloon and gambling house was held up and robbed last night. I said it was. She brought me some more coffee and she set down. She asked when are you going back to Blue water. I said some time maybe. I said to her what do you know about Bluewater ? I was in that when you and that Mexican boy got into that fight with them pimps and that gal and you slapped the land- lady. I think you have got the wrong guy down. Are your man here with you, or you got another one ?

The next day Miller come in on the stage coach. I hap- pened to be at the barn feeding my ponies when the coach come in. I saw Miller when he got off. I walked up. Miller said where are you staying. At the hotel ? I said yes. We went up to the hotel and he got him a room. He said how are ever

326 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

thing? I said every thing all right. He said this is my home town. The man run the hotel said Jack how long are you going to be in town? He said two or three days. This man asked Miller, How are ever thing in K. C. Cattle are look up in price.

Mr. Miller and myself go to the cafe and we walk in and set down about that time a man come in and started a fuss with this girl said she had seen me. So Miller told the girl to bring us some more coffee. So the girl got to the table with the coifee and started to set it down and this man slapped her so the hot coffee fell in Miller's lap. Miller come up with a chair and knocked him down. He come out with a gun. I kicked it out of his hand. The marshall carried him out. Come to find out he was this girl's man. She left in Bluewater. She said that was the first time she had seen him since she had been here.

The next day Miller and I planned to get ready to leave for the SWP ranch. Leave my bedroll at the stage coach barn and borrowed a saddle from the man was running the barn. So we saddled up my ponies and left for the ranch. It taken us three days. Make it to the ranch evening of the third day. We rode up to the ranch house and got off. Walked in. Just one button there. He was cooking supper. Them other boys be in after while. The other two cowboys come in and we eat supper.

(To be continued)

The correspondence in the Notes and Documents was submitted for publication by Allen Woodrow Jones, 3804-D Meadowview, Montgomery, Alabama. The originals are in the Alabama State Department of Ar- chives and History, Montgomery.

Notes and Documents

Rancho Del Ojitor

Estado De Sonora, Mexico

August 25th, 1889

E. Ben. George, Esq., Hilton, New Mexico

Dear Friend,

Thinking that another letter from the land of the Montezumas might interest you, I will proceed to give you a few more dots from this wonderful country. We are now in the heart of the Sierra Madres, whose lofty peaks tower to an altitude of 11,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean. Snow capped peaks are plainly visible from where I write. And strange as it may seem I can look with the aid of a field glass and see the valley of the Yapuie river where may be found bananas and other tropical fruits. What a contrast! Snow on one side and tropical fruits on the other.

Rancho del Ojitor, (Little Springs Ranch,) is an extensive cattle ranch owned and operated by a Scotch company. Here were the first English speaking people we met with for months, and are now enjoying their lavish hospitality. Situated as they are in the wilds of Mexico they are very glad to see a few Americans or any one who can speak English. A few days ago the Ranch foreman, an American, named Kingsberry, went with us about 30 miles South on a hunt and to show us what he calls old Aztec ruins, or as I call them, Antideluvian cities. And right here let me say, that history gives not the slightest idea of how, when or by whom these towns were built. Right there in the heart of the Sierras may be found ancient buildings and canals. We discovered on one mountain side long flat terraces, one above the other, like stair steps. Each "step" or terrace, was about 30 feet wide and extended about two miles around the mountain side. Of course, ages have passed since these strange people lived here, and the mountain torrents have some- what demolished the structures and buildings, but these terraces [are] as perfect seemingly as ever. What on earth they were intended for is beyond my comprehension. Everything goes to show that at one time a powerful and progressive people inhabited this now almost unknown region. The largest of these prehistoric cities is called by the Mexicans "Cruco Del Norte," meaning the Northern Cross. From Cruco Del Norte we travelled 25 miles north, went over an old thoroughfare which in many places had been hewn out [of] the solid rock for miles. Gigantic fir trees, in some instances, grew right in the road showing that ages have elapsed since this strange people had trod here. The natives here call this road Jornado Del Muerto, (Journey of Death.) Tradition has it that this old road once led to a very rich silver mine. But the mine cannot be found to-day. The Mexicans say that the Yaquie Indians here are descendants

327

328 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

of the ancient Aztecs, and the Aztecs in turn are descendants of the still more ancient Incas, who at one time was a powerful race. But as the story is only hear-say, and no written record has been left, I am inclined to doubt the story. Mr. Kingsberry advances the theory that all these cities and people were destroyed by earthquakes and volcanoes, and I am inclined to accept his theory. — Because the mountains plainly show extinct volcanic craters and other evidences of powerful siesmic (sic.) disturbances. At any rate, I think it better to accept some kind of theory and be content with it, than to be in a continual state of bewilder- ment about it. Every day's travel in this country shows up something that we can't understand. And I have come to the conclusion that to ac- cept Mr. Kingsberry's theory and be content is the best thing to do.

The people here are at least 300 years behind the times as com- pared to our people. Everything is transported from one place to an- other on burrows (donkeys.) The town of Arispe is a place of about 1000 or 1200 inhabitants, and they say a wagon was never seen here. Tell these people of swift running railway trains, telegraphs and such things, and they at once pronounce you "muy loco," (very crazy.) I have not seen a glass window or a floor since I crossed the Sonora line. The people are good natured and accommodating but very ignorant and shiftless.

A Mormon colony is beginning to settle near here, and the proba- bilities are that they may somewhat enlighten these people after a time. In my next letter I will tell you something about the mormons, as we will visit that section of country soon. As I don't care to tax your patience with too long a letter I will close.

Your friend, G. W. Campbell

La Luz De Deas,

Estado De Sonora, Mexico

August 25th, 1889

E. Ben. George, Esq., Hilton, New Mexico

Dear Friend,

According to promise I will write you again from this almost un- known country. I see so many strange things here that I am eager to tell somebody of them. La Luz de Deas, (The Light of the Day,) is a newly settled Mormon colony situated on the Piedras Yerdes river, (Green Rocks,) about 100 miles from the Pacific Ocean. The mormon elders here obtained from the Mexican Government a large concession of the finest lands in the world, and are rapidly settling it with their followers from Utah and Arizona. Here they can practice polygamy without fear of being disturbed by law. Which was not the case in Utah. They are very courteous and accommodating to a certain extent, but as

NOTES AND DOCUMENTS 329

a rule do not like to have "gentiles," as they call us, to come among them. We stopped a few days with one of these "Latter Day Saints," as they are pleased to call themselves, and I came to the conclusion that the United States is better off without them. Let Mexico have all of our Latter Day Saints if she can stand them.

One man has seven wives and forty-two children, all living in the same yard, but not in the same house. Each "sister," as they call each other, has a separate house of her own and separate household equip- ments, etc. To ride up to a mormon's house would cause you to think that you had struck a school or a college to judge from the number of children to be seen around the premises. The land they cultivate does not belong to them personally, but to the church and each mormon pays to the elders 10 per cent, of all he makes each year. This goes to support the church, pay taxes, etc. All the business is attended to by the elders, consequently a mormon farmer can always be found at home, as he has no business outside of his own inclosure. They have so many marriages among themselves that the whole community seems to be more or less related to each other. Right here I have a problem for you to amuse yourself with : A mormon has married a widow who has two daughters who are half sisters ; he then marries the two daughters, they all three have children as a result of these marriages. The querry is, what rela- tion are the children to each other? Such cases are common among the mormons.

The men as a rule, are intelligent and progressive in their own peculiar way, but the mormon women are generally very ignorant. This is in accordance with their religion — to keep the women in darkness from the outside world. What do you think of such a state of affairs?

The spot selected by the mormons for their future great city is indeed, a beautiful place. Pure cold mountain water, excellent climate and everything that goes to make up and sustain a large and flourishing population.

I cannot refrain from saying a word about the grand and imposing old Sierras so plainly visible from here. A really enthusiastic lover of nature could here indulge himself to his heart's content. From where I sit I can see the Sierra Madres in all their wild grandeur. The sun is just sinking and seems to set ablaze the great rocky peaks whose lofty summits are capped with perpetual snow, and stand like grim, silent sentinels overlooking the lesser peaks and ranges for a hundred miles around. It is indeed, an grand scene and forcibly reminds me how utterly insignificant are the fragile works of man compared with that of Nature. Talk about the Alps of Switzerland or the Himalayas of Asia, or any other well known natural sights, but I don't [believe] the world could possibly excell in sublime and picturesque scenery the Sierra Madres of Mexico.

We will leave the land of the Montezumas soon, and return to our native land, where we will once more greet our friends and reflect on

330 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

our rambles and adventures in a strange land. Once again I am under the protection of the grand old stars and stripes I think we will remain there.

Your friend,

G. W. Campbell

Hilton New Mexico March 14, 1890

M. A. George, Jr.,

Williams Mill, Alabama

Dear Nephew,

It gave me pleasure to know that the picture of the famous Waco mountain, which has been thrown up out on the plains by some volcanic eruption, was received and appreciated.

The whole mountain is of Sand Granite and is several hundred feet high, and is said to be four miles around. It is a great natural curiosity, and I have spent day after day rambling over and going into great caves, traveling sometimes for a half a mile, going in one end and coming out the other. There are thousands of wild bees in the caves ; some high up in the crevices of rock out of reach of man. The Waco mountain took its name from the Waco Indians, who once lived there, and it would amuse and interest you to see their paintings on the walls of the caves. Long ago the whites followed the Waco Indians from Texas, where they had been depredating, to this mountain, where a fearful fight took place, lasting for three or four days. It seems that the whole tribe of Indians took refuge in one immense cave, where they were securely sheltered behind large rocks, thus having every advantage of their pale face enemies. The whites thought to starve them out for water, but in the cave is a large natural tank, which holds several hundred barrels of the purest water, and where hundreds of travelers now get water. It is 35 or 40 miles from the Waco to any living water, and the same distance to any settlement. The lead fired by the whites at the Indians can be seen plainly today spattered over the face of the rock walls. Several white men were killed in the fight, but it is not known whether any Indians were killed or not. The bleached bones of the white men killed are scattered around the place. One never tires looking at the curiosities to be found at this truly wonderful mountain. The Waco mountain is on the old Butterfield overland route to California, where many poor emigrants, in time of the great gold excitement in California, lost their lives while enroute to the gold fields, at the hands of the Waco Indians. Also, many a stage-driver and passenger fell a victim to the red skins at the famous Waco mountain. I send you the picture of this mountain. Will write again soon.

Your uncle, E. Ben. George

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Hilton, New Mexico August 24, 1890

M. A. George, Jr.,

Williams Mill, Alabama

Dear Nephew,

.... I will tell you something about this country. At present we have no correct statistics as regards population, but I believe the eleventh census will show we have a population of 250,000. I think she will soon stride ahead of any country west of the Mississippi river. The records for last year show that over 280,000 acres of land were filed on. The 1889 assessments placed her property at $50,000,000, and the tax for that year was $420,000. Her valleys beyond all doubt, have the richest soil the eye ever rested on. All fruits, such as peaches, pears, apples, nectrines, apricots, plums, cherries and grapes grow in abun- dance and more finely flavored than any other fruit I ever tasted, even excelling California fruits.

Stock raising is very profitable in New Mexico. At present I believe there are in the Territory about 5,000,000 head of sheep and 1,500,000 cattle. We have here nearly 2,000 miles of railroad, nine National banks and fourteen county banks, in all aggregating a capital of $1,675,000. We have 342 public schools, with about 17,000 scholars in attendance.

As to New Mexico's mineral resources I will say that her wealth in that direction, although her mines are but partly developed, is simply astounding. Within the last five years her out-put of gold and silver amounts to about $23,000,000, and within the last two years she has yielded $10,000,000 worth of copper. Gold has been found in every county in the Territory, and there are rich mines of granite, lead, zinc, miron, iron and turquoise, while her forests present the most beautiful scenery in their grandeur. The Mexican element is the largest, but the Mexican people are becoming to be shrewd and law-abiding, and they are so polite and hospitable that the Americans feel at home among them. The American element in New Mexico will come fully up to the standard of the best citizens in the East. I regard New Mexico as an earthly paradise. Here nature has provided for the many diseases that human flesh is heir to take for instance, her hot springs, of which there are many, but I will only take time to mention the hot springs at Ojo Caliente in Taos county, the waters of which I have bathed in and know most about. The Ojo Caliente Hot Springs are situated at the foot of the mountains that were once inhabited by the ancient Cliff Dwellers, and about 35 miles from the town of Taos, once the capital of the Terri- tory, where about 1847 the Mexicans revolted and murdered Gov. Dent [Bent] and where lie the bones of the great "Pathfinder," the famous Kit Carson, whose grave I have visited, and to whose memory New Mex- ico has erected a magnificent granite monument.

The temperature of the water at Ojo Caliente is from 90 to 120 degrees. The gases are carbonic, the altitude is about 6,000 feet above

332 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

sea level. I know of several persons who have been entirely cured of the worst kind of diseases by bathing in the waters of Ojo Caliente springs. — The climate of New Mexico is, in my opinion, the very best in the world. Crops never fail here, and we are free from cyclones, hurricanes, blizzards or cholera. Here nature's climatic revolutions move with un- disturbed exactitude and charming equability. The dryness and salu- brity of the climate make New Mexico almost an earthly paradise for consumptives. The winters are smoothly cold while the summers are not hot like they are in the east. Each night here through the summer one finds it comfortable under a blanket.

Your uncle,

E. Ben. George

Hilton, New Mexico January 25, 1891

M. A. George, Jr.,

Williams Mill, Alabama

Dear Nephew :

It is with pleasure that I grasp this opportunity of writing you, and to explain my silence. I have been on a long trip to Sonora, Old Mexico, in the Saro Madres mountains. I went over there with my friend, Mr. G. W. Campbell, who has a gold and silver mine there. I wanted to write you while in Old Mexico, but I never saw any writing paper of any kind after I crossed the Sonora line ; there is rarely any to be found in that half civilized country. The natives never write any at all, for the simple reason that they don't know how. As for a newspaper, I never saw one in that part of Old Mexico. Four hundred miles, over the roughest mountain country on this continent, to the nearest railroad, 75 miles to the Pacific Coast, and when you get there you may wait a month to catch sight of a mail steamer, and even then you would be disappointed, as the steamers that pass that way are little frail Mexi- can arrangements seldom carrying mail. Such are the circumstances my adventurous spirit has led me into. But you know we will all submit ourselves to many privations and inconveniences for the sake of lucre. And I must say, financially speaking, that I did very well while there among rugged mountains and people to match.

Well, I must tell you something of my adventures while in Old Mexico. At the time I was there, Mr. Campbell with his twelve hired men, was compelled, as the snow got so deep, to abandon his best mine until Spring, as it is situated at a very high altitude. It is a gold mine, and so far has turned out to be very rich. He has named it in the native language "Fortunas Esconditos," (Hidden Fortune.) The other is a silver mine, which he is now engaged in developing, he calls it "Oja de Plata," the Silver Leaf. This mine also promises to be a paying one. A mine in that country must be very rich indeed, to pay anything, as they are so far from transportation, and all the ore must be packed on the

NOTES AND DOCUMENTS 333

backs of "burros," (donkeys,) [carried] a long distance to the railroad, and shipped a thousand miles into the United States to the smelting and refining works of our own country. Thus you see it requires extra good ore to pay all expenses and have any profit left.

I had quite a lively time with some tigers a few days before I left Old Mexico. There are genuine big spotted tigers in the Saro Madres. I met three full grown ones in a little canyon, and as they seemed a little reluctant about giving the trail, I shot one, and immediately the other two sprang at me. It was too close quarters for my Winchester, so I dropped that and grabbed my old 45 calibre six shooter and soon sent them to the "happy hunting grounds." One of them in his dying agonies scratched me up some and knocked me down on the rocks and bruised me up some. Their skins are beautiful and if possible will get one from Mexico and send you one.

We had a fine time there getting honey. There is a strange looking little bee there about the size of a big red ant. They make a big nest about two or three feet long, shaped something like a pear. The nest (as we called them) are hung by a stem away up on the highest bluffs, and contains about 30 or 40 pounds of choice honey. The nest has a hard shell all over and seldom ever break in falling. This is a new thing to me in the honey line, but I got so I was not surprised at anything I saw there, as Old Mexico is a land of curiosities.

We discovered the walls of an old house there on the very summit of the Saro Madres at 16,000 feet altitude. The walls are built of stone four feet thick ; the roof is gone, and a very large pine tree is growing in the center 150 feet high. Who on earth built these walls, and what for I am totally at a loss to decide. But there it is grim and silent, representing the handiwork of men who lived hundreds of years ago. We asked the natives about it in the nearest settlement, but they know nothing about it, although the town nearest by is said to be 300 years old itself. — Like all ancient ruins in Old Mexico, this structure has a tradition. The natives say the Spanish Jesuits 300 years ago lived there, and worked a very rich silver mine near by. An Indian outbreak caused them to hastily abandon the country, and having a large amount of silver bullion on hand and no means of carrying it away, they buried it in a small lake near the mine, and have never returned for it. The amount is said to be two tons of pure silver.

Every little town in Sonora has an old church hundreds of years old, Catholic of course, as Mexico is all Catholic. These ancient struc- tures were also, said to be built by the Jesuits, and the interior of each one is fitted up richly with various ornaments and designs of pure gold and silver, such as crosses, images of Christ, the Virgin Mary and the various saints. All are solid gold and silver, and the boys said they were sometimes tempted to steal some of these little gold Jesuses, and pull for the United States. There is a young Mexican girl there whom the natives firmly believe to be a genuine saint. She is only 14 years of age.

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Her profound art in that line, accomplishment or gift, as you please to call it, has just lately been discovered, and the natives take journeys very often to see her and receive her blessing. They show their profound respect for this wonderful individual by uncovering their heads when her name is mentioned. They call her Santa Lucero, and it is said that she heals the sick, brings the dead to life, causes the blind to see and the lame to walk, and can repeat every word of the bible although she can- not read nor write. And best of all she can make the hair grow on a bald head. What do you think of such a "lay out" in a country that claims to be civilized?

Speaking of the sacred things there I must tell you about the Holy Cross. This is truly a wonderful thing. There is a great high mountain about 80 miles South of the Saro Madres standing all alone, and up near the top on the east side is a huge natural cross. It has a whitish appear- ance and can be seen 30 or 40 miles away. And strangest of all, it is distinctly visible on a dark damp night. I think there must be phos- phorous, or something of the kind, in the rock that forms the cross, and when it gets damp gives out the light. — The cross is a perfect shape of a Catholic cross, and I must say it is one of the most wonderful freaks of nature I ever saw.

There are many other strange things there which are a continual source of wonderment to me. Strange and unaccountable lights in the mountains at night, fearful roaring sounds, and sometimes I did not wonder much at the natives being so superstitious. But I always tried to account for everything and give a natural reason or cause in some way just for my own satisfaction and relief. Whether I am right or not, I can't say. I concluded that the immense quantities of mineral in this mountain range produces the phenomena. Although I stayed in Old Mexico for sometime, I could not become altogether accustomed to so many strange things. — Everything is so different to common every day things in our own country. Take for instance, the timber of that region. — There is not a tree or brush there that looks familiar, save the pine and oak on the high mountains. All the other growth of which there is an endless variety, are quite different from anything in the United States, and myself and companions were continually discovering some odd looking tree, and wondering what in the name of common sense to call it. Some of these odd looking trees bear equally odd looking fruit; a majority of the fruit having a very pleasant taste, often delicious. A botanist could add a long list of new and unheard of plants, etc., to his catagory if he were to visit Old Mexico.

There are also, numerous wild animals there that I never heard of before. Every now and then some of the boys would go out hunting and bring into camp some unearthly looking beast or bird to see if any one could pronounce him. We always skinned the foreign looking animals and saved the hide to show to the natives and find out what they called them. Thus we learned the native name of many animals. There are,

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however, a great many of the same kind of game as in our own country (New Mexico), such as cinnamon and black bear, turkeys, deer, moun- tain lion, elk, mountain sheep and goats, etc., but no antelope. The beautiful mountain streams there abound in fish; they too, seem to be of a different kind to the fish of America.

Your uncle, E. Ben. George

Hilton, New Mexico July 30th, 1891

M. A. George, Jr.,

Williams Mill, Alabama

Dear Nephew,

Yours received. Glad to hear from you. We have had as usual in summer time, an abundance of rain. The range is in splendid condition, and stock looking fine. Mr. J. H. Nation's foreman was here a few days ago and reported his outfit very busy "rounding up" and branding calves. He thinks he will brand at least 1000 this year. Beeves are bringing better prices than for several years, and there will be sold out of this vicinity this year about 4000 head.

The picnic on the Sacramento river was a fine success. One old gentleman said that the gathering of ladies was the largest and hand- somest he had ever seen on the Sacramento. One of the "sons of Ham" was in attendance, and perhaps the only one within a 100 miles of the place, and he looked the "camp meeting darkey" to a hair .... That colored man was invaluable. Several children present had never seen a darkey before, and they regarded him with astonishment, and seemingly wondered what part of God's creation he belonged to. ...

Come out here, ye dusty, heat-oppressed denizens of South Alabama and Florida, and enjoy our mountain fare, with our deliciously cool breezes to fan your fevered brow, and ice cold mountain water to quench your thirst, where the thermometer don't get above 70 to 75 deg., in summer. You can eat with relish here. — The Sacramento moun- tains are a summer resort fit for the gods.

Just here we desire to add that my "better-half" expressed the wish that she could have a wild turkey and some venison to bake and carry to the picnic. So we went out to hunt it up, and about sun set we came in with two turkeys, and a large black-tail deer. She baked one of the deer hams and both the turkeys, and they were very much appreciated by the picnickers.

There are thousands of acres of fine land in these valleys which would produce hundreds of tons of alfalfa, and great crops of fruit and honey, that are now lying idle.

Your uncle, E. Ben. George

Book Reviews

The Earp Brothers of Tombstone: The Story of Mrs. Virgil Earp. By Frank Waters. New York : Clarkson N. Potter, 1960. Pp. 246. No illustrations. No index. $5.00.

Wyatt Earp has of late become an almost common house- hold name, a symbol of probity and exciting heroism. This image of incorruptible derring-do has been built up by books and TV, as well as in movies and countless newspaper and magazine stories.

Destruction of a cherished ideal seldom evokes great pop- ular enthusiasm — and this book is frankly aimed at debunk- ing the story of "The Fighting Earps." But thanks to Mr. Waters' logical and persuasive presentation, The Earp Brothers of Tombstone is surely destined to be widely ap- plauded— as well as bitterly criticized.

The Earp Brothers of Tombstone makes provocative reading, especially for those familiar with Stuart N. Lake's universally recognized Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshal which relates the Earp brothers' career as told to Mr. Lake by Wyatt himself, much of which is substantiated by the author's own research.

Not only does this book present many matters in an en- tirely new light but it introduces some revelatory details of the Earps' personal and family matters. Allie Earp reveals in circumstantial detail the first two of Wyatt' s three mar- riages, a matter on which previous writers have been largely silent. And, according to Virgil's wife, the competition be- tween Sheriff Behand and Wyatt Earp was much more than political ; it was a rivalry for the affections of one of Tomb- stone's ladies of the theatre. It is suggested, too, that "woman trouble" was a contributing cause of the climactic show- down at the OK Corral.

In its disillusionment as to the courage, honesty and ac- complishments of the Earps, the book is well documented. True, the citations are pretty much confined to sources openly hostile to the Earp contingent. By the same token, of course, newspaper comment and other documentation in

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Frontier Marshal is restricted to friendly sources. It must be kept in mind that in those days of blind and bitter partisan- ship contemporary opinions were strongly biased. The Earp Brothers of Tombstone is principally based on information secured from the late Allie Earp by the author and by the explorations of that indefatigable researcher, John Gil- chriese. Allie was the widow of Virgil, Wyatt's brother and sometime rival for position, a man who at the time may actually have been a more notable person than the better known Wyatt. The reader may suspect that Allie Earp's tes- timony may have been colored by her open animosity for her brothers-in-law, particularly Wyatt — an animosity which may have deepened through the years between the Tomb- stone days and the time when she recalled the events for Mr. Waters.

More than a dozen books have been written in recent years featuring the Earps' turbulent career in Tombstone. But a two-book library pretty well covers the meat of the whole matter : Stuart Lake's Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshal, which will always remain a classic and which glorifies the brothers Earp — and now The Earp Brothers of Tombstone, which torpedoes them.

1000 Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois R. N. MULLIN

The Mormon Conflict, 1850-1859. By Norman F. Furniss. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1960. Pp. xii, 311. $5.00.

Professor Norman F. Furniss, Chairman of the Depart- ment of History and Government at Colorado State Univer- sity, Fort Collins, has been adequately trained and has received sufficient financial support to give him the opportunity necessary to incorporate into a meaningful account the mass of material available for a study of the relations between the Mormon population of Utah Territory and the United States in the 1850's. His sixty-seven pages on bibliographical com- ments and notes, comprising over twenty percent of the total work, are an indication of the wealth of "Mormon Ameri- cana" to be found in such repositories as the L.D.S. Church

338 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

Historian's Library and Archives, the Coe Collection at Yale, the Bancroft Library at Berkeley, the National Archives, the Brigham Young University Library, and elsewhere.

Although Mormon scholars endeavoring to be unbiased and objective will question Professor Furniss' opinion in relation to some of the works cited in his bibliographical essay, will not fully agree with his interpretation of some of the events included and of the actions taken by some of the church leaders, in my opinion he has made a sincere effort to walk a neutral line in selecting meaningful historical data from an impressive mass of controversal material.

Organized largely on a chronological basis, the narrative follows the events logically as they transpire. While the United States was chiefly concerned with the sectional con- troversy and with bridging the unoccupied gap between the organized states and territories in the east and the new state of California on the western seaboard, the Latter-day Saints were waging what they believed to be a battle for their right to exist and to follow their religious convictions in Utah Ter- ritory. As the author points out, there was never really any serious question about the basic loyalty of the Mormons to the United States. Distance and primitive methods of com- munication led to misunderstandings that were heightened by the inability of inept political appointees to enjoy either the confidence of the government in Washington or the people in Utah. The Federal officials and the leaders of the L.D.S. Church understood each other better after this phase of the controversy ended. There was a new respect in their relationships, one with the other, that was formerly lacking.

The end of the Utah War was not, of course, the end of the controversy. This was to continue in its various aspects until after statehood had been granted in 1896, and after the Smoot Hearing in 1903. Since the organization of the church in 1830, the Mormon people had found it difficult to make adjustments with society at large. They needed the oppor- tunity to govern themselves: they craved understanding. Almost fifty years of territorial government was not con- ducive to either.

BOOK REVIEWS 339

Any library that attempts to collect in the field of Western Americana, or more specifically to collect Mormon items as Americana, will want to add this title to its collection. Members of the church seriously interested in its history, scholars of the period, and the more general western his- tory enthusiasts will find The Mormon Conflict useful and interesting.

The documentation, illustrations and index add interest and usefulness to the work.

Brigham Young University S. LYMAN TYLER

Matt Field on the Santa Fe Trail. Collected by Clyde and Mae Reed Porter ; Edited and with an Introduction and Notes by John E. Sunder. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1960. Pp. xxix, 322. Illustrations, map, index. $5.95. (The American Exploration and Travel Series.)

This worthwhile volume contains two main parts in addi- tion to the useful "Editor's Introduction." First come almost sixty pages taken directly from Matthew C. Field's Journal, July 15 through October 30, 1839, covering an excursion to Taos and Santa Fe via Bent's Fort, and return to Missouri via the Cimarron Cutoff. This is followed by about 250 pages consisting of eighty-five articles Field wrote for the New Orleans Picayune, where they appeared between December 1839 and October 1841. These articles relate for the most part to Matt's first-hand experiences on the Trail and in New Mexico, but contain also some campfire tales.

The two parts of this volume may each be judged in two ways, as to literary and as to historical merit. Most of the Journal is "a unique iambic-pentameter portrayal of the trail" but I found neither poetic nor historical merit therein. Judgment of poetry is of course highly subjective and this opinion should not be taken for more than it is worth, but I could not force myself even to finish the "iambic pentam- eter." At the same time, Field's obvious struggle to find words for and force them into his rhyme and meter has the effect of denying the historian confidence in the accuracy of statements made here.

340 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

Such negative criticism would not be presented first in this review were it not that the editor chose to place the poetry ahead of the Picayune articles. It is in these articles that the substantial merits of Field's work appear, as his- torical relations and occasionally as literature. Indeed, sev- eral of the shorter poems included with the articles have real charm, and suggest that Field's poetic talent lay in such efforts rather than in the sustained discipline of an epic.

The articles are often nothing more than vignettes. They do not by any means tell a full story of Field's travels and experiences, and what is told is often rather fancifully told. But the flavor is genuine and in some details he may be cred- ited with adding to our knowledge through his descriptions, as of "Pueblo de Leche" and "The Robbery of Fort William" (Bent's Fort). I was interested in Field's respectful attitude toward the much-maligned James Kirker who, Field re- ported, had himself suffered from the villainy of the Indians. The account passed by word-of -mouth in my family is that Apaches had enslaved Kirker's young bride, thus earning from him more than an ordinary amount of hatred. Perhaps Mrs. Mae Reed Porter, who with her late husband receives credit for "collecting" Field's Journal, will next find us a fuller account of Kirker.

The editor, John E. Sunder of the University of Texas, has gone to more than usual lengths in tracing persons, events and things mentioned even most casually by Field, but has not been obtrusive about it. His Introduction is just the right length and the notes are compact yet usually ample. If a reviewer should quibble a little to earn his salt, I shall therefore confess that I wondered why the frontispiece and dust jacket offer a reproduction from an Alfred Jacob Miller painting, called "Trappers and Horses Around a Fire." The book hardly mentions trappers or trapping. The hobgoblin of consistency bothered me in the editor's very faithful follow- ing of Field's sometimes erratic orthography. The repeating scores of times of "Toas" and "Apachu" proved offensive. Would not scholarship be served adequately by a note at the original appearance of such words, and yet the sensibilities

BOOK REVIEWS 341

of readers be spared by a proper spelling subsequently in the case of words very much repeated ?

In conclusion, I would say that this is a worthwhile, well- edited addition to the literature of the Santa Fe Trail and New Mexico in its period.

Texas Western College JOHN P. BLOOM

Marquette Legends. By Francis Borgia Steck. New York: Pageant Press, 1960. Pp. xix, 350. $5.00.

"History," says Father Steck, "is and will always remain a progressive science . . . The historian, therefore, owes it to his readers not only to know the latest results of researches on a given topic but also to be willing to face these results and to shape his opinion and judgment according to them."

Having made this statement, Father Steck proceeded to do an admirable job in his Marquette Legends to bring forth every shred of light and truth on a phase of history — the 1673 Jolliet-Marquette Expedition. Some while ago, in fact, better than a third of a century ago, Father Steck began his study of the Jolliet-Marquette expedition. This was his sub- ject for his Ph.D. dissertation in which he brought up many ideas and suggestions for revising the well known facts and traditions surrounding that expedition. Heated scholarly controversies followed publication; controverting, extend- ing, and in some instances, "correcting" Father Steck's work. He took each such "attack" as a personal affront, as well as a dire insult upon his integrity as a scholar. He replied to every single criticism, at times with research detachment, at other times with outright emotional vehemence. He ran down, he traced every possible document in every possible nook and part of the world — each one, every hypothesis, published.

Heretofore scattered in widely different places, some un- published, Father Steck collected all these supplementary studies in a series of fully documented essays and published them privately in two huge mimeographed volumes (and a small supplementary volume of facsimiles) in 1953, under the title, Essays Relating to the Jolliet-Marquette Expedi- tion of 1673. These are still fundamental, though each one is

342 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

complete in itself, and in places highly repetitive and bris- tling with personal animosities.

Now, at long last, Father Steck has published these essays (not all) in shorter, book form ; many of his principal adver- saries having died in the meanwhile, he toned down personal grievances, and has given to the public the "final results" of his long research. Save for a few minor unresolved points, one can now say that the "truth" about the Jolliet-Marquette expedition of 1673 is certainly known. Father Steck gives us a series of good and readable chapters which are to be re- garded as supplements to his Jolliet-Marquette Expedition and to his Essays. In some instances the Essays are much longer arguments than the chapters in the book and he refers to them in his voluminous notes. In the first two chapters Father Steck summarizes the fruits of his research on the life of Marquette and on the Jolliet-Expedition of 1673. In the last ten chapters of the book, Father Steck raises and discusses all the questions concerning that famous expedi- tion. For instance: whether in his letter Dablon told Mar- quette of Joliiet's mishap in Lachine Rapids; whether Marquette actually took part in the expedition ; whether or not Marquette was a priest, whether Marquette wrote the "recit" of the expedition and is really the author of the so- called Marquette map ; who founded the Kaskaskia mission on the Illinois River? He places Marquette in his rightful place in American history, proving that Marquette's signa- tures on certain documents are spurious, as well as his so- called map, and that the journal of the second voyage was not written by Marquette.

In general, the author places the blame for these "leg- ends" on two Jesuits — Father Claude Dablon and Father Felix Martin. . . . Several things remain to be said about Marquette Legends. The book lists a complete compilation of the author's articles, pamphlets and books. In his foreword, a list of libraries is given where the reader may consult copies of the privately printed Essays. The last ten chapters of the book containing the shortened form of the Essays com- prise 174 pages of text ; there are 689 footnotes contained in

BOOK REVIEWS 343

52 pages at the rear of the book. Finally there follow a 17- page complete bibliography, 20 facsimiles (all of them in- cluded in the supplement to the Essays), and an index. Certainly, bibliography and historiography have been greatly benefited by the lengthy controversies and this work; defi- nitely too, new sources of information and documentation have been uncovered. Father Steck has shown that Shea and Father Charlesvoix, heavily relied upon heretofore, are wrong. More than this, the author, a Franciscan, has shown that not all the Jesuit Relations can stand up as scientifically and technically primary sources; for, writes Father Steck, they were edited by Jesuit authorities in Quebec and Paris, and the purpose of these was to promote the cause of the Jesuit missions in Canada. Marquette Legends can certainly be used and put to good use in classes in historiography and historical method to introduce young fledgling historians to problems in historical method and historical research.

Surely Father Steck has justly earned a repose in his remaining years of life to deal with "more palatable and cer- tainly less exacting pursuits," for exacting indeed, and re- plete with scholarly research is this book, Marquette Legends.

San Diego State College A. P. NASATIR

Short Stirrups: The Saga of Doughbelly Price. By Dough- belly Price. With an Introduction by Richard G. Hubler. Los Angeles : The Westernlore Press. Pp. 7-205. Illustra- tions. $5.75.

Short Stirrups is a surprisingly good book, all things con- sidered. I must admit that I approached it with considerable misgivings ; the Doughbelly Price legend is quite widespread in New Mexico, but I am chronically suspicious of people who have established reputations by being "characters." So I was quite unprepared for what I found in the book. The pub- lishers insist that the manuscript has been published without stylistic editing, that the use of words, the punctuation, the grammar, and the spelling are all Doughbelly's own. If this claim is true, the book is truly a remarkable performance.

344 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

Probably the most striking quality of the book is that it is in the tradition of the literary humorists of the nineteenth century whose homely turn of phrase and tortured orthog- raphy continue to be their trademarks. Mr. Price's use of language is nothing short of phenomenal for this day and age, especially his use of metaphors. The metaphors are vivid, earthy, and — perhaps most important — seldom repeated. They sparkle; they shock; they tickle; or they fall with an effective thud because they are so bad.

The narrative itself is also typical of the nineteenth cen- tury picaro. The saga of Doughbelly that makes up this book is that of the wanderer. The life described is that of the hired hand, the teamster, the carnival, the medicine show, the wild- west show, and the rodeo when the rodeo was just one step above the medicine show ; the book ends with the mention of a rodeo in 1928. The saga since 1928 will have to be told in other books. This book, then, is about a world of men, restless, unattached, unstable, adventurous, broke or flush — more often broke than flush because of wine or women or dice or other forms of high-low living and quick spending. This class of citizenry is an interesting one for many reasons, one being that it is a world unto itself with its own codes and values. The details of its triumphs and defeats — often petty tri- umphs and not very meaningful tragedies — are here pre- sented without glamor. There is no question that Mr. Price knows the life he is chronicling. He lived it and managed to make a place for himself in it in spite of, perhaps because of, his small stature that kept him spoiling for a fight even with a man three times his size. (The title Short Stirrups comes from the fact that he could never use a saddle other than his own without first adjusting the stirrups upward.) The book is worth reading for its cast of characters and settings alone.

The most obvious disadvantage of the work is its lack of sustained narrative development: for example, the winning of bronc-riding championships in two states is disposed of in several pages. One should not attempt to read the book in one sitting because accounts of rodeos can become boring if read in quick succession.

BOOK REVIEWS 345

The achievement of respectability in a settled occupation will be an interesting story also if Mr. Price can find time to write it and if the achievement of respectability is not too galling a subject for such a maverick to handle. Mr. Price's more recent activities in Taos, New Mexico, would seem to indicate that he has worked hard to remain a maverick; inevitably, these activities have given him the reputation of something of a poser. While this book will not support a con- tention that there is nothing of the poser about Doughbelly Price, it will convince most readers that there is much about him that is genuine.

The University of New Mexico ERNEST W. BAUGHMAN

Grandpa Was a Polygamist: A Candid Remembrance. By Paul Bailey. Los Angeles : The Westernlore Press, 1960. Pp. 11-181. Illustrations. $5.50.

Grandpa Was a Polygamist is a fine book. It has several faults which it might be well to dispose of first in order to concentrate on its virtues. In the first place, the title is mis- leading, perhaps deliberately so on the part of either the author or the publisher. The story is more the story of Paul Bailey, the author, than it is of Grandfather Joseph B. Forbes. The title also suggests scandalous or even salacious activities among one of our perennially interesting and unique religious groups. The book presents nothing of the sort. The first chapter is somewhat an exception. The first episode I find somewhat annoying in its attempt to be sensational. It is an account of the author's circumcision at the age of eight — without anesthetic. Some readers are likely to be puzzled by the amount of mild profanity, not because it comes from an eight-year-old boy but because it seems characteristic of the community. The liberal sprinkling of hells and damns makes one wonder how much they are used for effect.

The virtues of the book are impressive. The author gives a penetrating account of family life in a small Mormon com- munity. The grandfather, Joseph B. Forbes, is an important, if somewhat distant character ; and his influence in the family

346 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

and on young Paul Bailey is strong. However, the most striking characteristic of the book is its sensitivity. The author's telling of the blinding of his left eye and of the burning of the family home are handled with real skill. The blinding episode ends on this note : "I felt pity in my heart for Clyde Bascom who had unintentionally done this thing to me." Such an observation, even in retrospect, would indi- cate that sensitivity is a basic characteristic of the author as well as of his work.

The same sensitivity marks the examples of family fric- tion which eventually resulted in the divorce of the author's parents. Things had a way of turning out badly for the Eli Bailey family, and the one responsible often seemed to be the boy's father. The fact that he lacked the education, refine- ment, family background, and ambition of his wife's family made him something of an embarrassment to the family and obscured the admirable characteristics he did possess. Also he did not regard the Mormon religion and its ways as seri- ously as his wife did — a source for as much friction as his seeming improvidence. Next to the boy himself, the father is the best realized character in the book. Other evidence of the author's sensitivity is his choice of descriptive detail through- out the book. These details are vivid and fresh ; as a boy the author used eyes, ears and nose for all they were worth ; as a writer he has managed to use the selectivity of an artist in making use of these sense impressions.

The book, then, has its faults as well as it virtues. It lacks focus because it tries to tell the stories of both the boy and the grandfather ; it is episodic ; it is too compressed in some parts, too rambling in others. However, it is a joy to read ; it uses a mingling of humor and pathos for telling effect; it gives a generally restrained, informed, and sensitive picture of growing up in one family in a small Mormon town before the First World War. It relies heavily on nostalgia, but nos- talgia of the bittersweet rather than the cloying kind. I, a "gentile," found it absorbing; several of my Mormon friends also have enjoyed it thoroughly.

The University of New Mexico ERNEST W. BAUGHMAN

BOOK REVIEWS 347

Frontier Ways: Sketches of Life in the Old West. By Edward Everett Dale. Austin, Texas : University of Texas Press, 1959. Pp. xiv, 265, illus., index. $4.50.

Frontier Ways, by Oklahoma's most distinguished his- torian, is more than a factual survey of the folkways of the cowman-homesteader frontier. It is actually autobiography in disguise, for Dr. Dale in his early years lived the life he describes. He busted sod, worked as a cowboy, and taught a country school, among other things. He describes those by- gone days and ways with a tender regret which adds a special flavor to his scholarship.

He deals with the moment in history when the cowman was giving way to the plowman, and his sympathies are with the latter, whom he calls "the forgotten man in the annals of the west." At the same time he gives the cowboy credit for lending "the fragrance of romance" to those early times, and he uses his first two chapters to retell the familiar story of the post-Civil War cattle boom, including the details of cow- boy cookery. In spite of the consumption of such items as wild onions fried in bacon grease, "digestive troubles were vir- tually unknown" on the range, he says.

In Chapter Three he comes to grips with the culture of the sodhouse settlers, beginning with the treasured relics of an older culture which the immigrants brought with them — flower seeds, quilt patterns, songs, a few books. The people as he remembers them were incredibly poor, living at first in makeshift shelters and getting along with little wood and less water. Food was scarce and amusements were scarcer. About all they had for relaxation was "visiting," church at- tendance (when a church was within reach) , and programs at the schoolhouse (when the schoolhouse was finally built) .

Dr. Dale notes that the early arrivals "had an almost fanatical belief in education," and he devotes considerable time to the teacher and the activities at the school. Perhaps the most important cultural activity which the schoolhouse made possible was the Literary Society. Recitations drills, dialogues, and musical performances presented by such organizations as the Rock Creek Literary Society (which

348 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

functioned between 1880 and 1895) provided an outlet for community talent and got everybody together for a pleasant evening.

The scarcity of doctors on the frontier stimulated the use of home remedies, the consumption of patent medicines, and the vogue of the medicine show. Other homemade devices were employed in the cure of souls — circuit riding preachers and revival meetings in particular. Dr. Dale tells what the sermons were like, quotes the hymns that were sung, and evaluates the social aspects of these activities.

At the end he abandons his historian's mask entirely and concludes with a chapter on "Old Navajoe," a now-vanished Oklahoma village where he grew up, and where frontier folk- ways flourished until the Frisco railway passed by eight miles away and ruined the town.

He dodges none of the difficulties of existence, especially in the early years of pioneer settlement, but as the hardships vanished, so did the virtues of that era and "there passed away something fine and beautiful which we will never see again."

Dr. Dale writes with a genial informality, quoting his own verses at the head of each chapter and making jokes when he feels like it ("They had little else to spend so could only spend the day") . For readers over fifty who were born in the country, his book is like a trip back home. On every page one says to himself, "Yes, I remember that," and wants to argue for his own version of the song or the story. Not many historians can get that sort of reaction out of a reader, and not many histories have the charm of Frontier Folkways.

Texas Western College C. L. SONNICHSEN

El Paso, Texas

The Siege of St. Augustine in 1702. By Charles W. Arnade. University of Florida Monographs, Social Sciences, No. 3. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1959. Pp. viii, 67. Bibliography, maps, and illustrations.

For three decades after the Carolina colony was estab- lished on land claimed by Spain, there was undeclared war- fare between the English settlers and the Spanish. Then in

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1700 there was a shift in the European balance of power which brought Spain and France into alliance. The Caro- linians believed themselves to be far more seriously threat- ened by these allies than they had been by the decadent Span- ish alone; and their ambitious but rash governor, James Moore, decided that the proper strategy must be an offensive one, an assault on St. Augustine.

When he received news of the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1702, therefore, Moore persuaded the Carolina Assembly to launch a two-pronged attack on St. Augustine, by land and by sea, under his command. In the autumn of that year the Carolinians moved southward. The Spanish governor of Florida, Zufiiga, herded fifteen hundred men, women and children, white and Indian, into the fort on the northeastern fringe of town. For more than a month and a half the Spanish were besieged, until finally warships from Havana arrived on the scene and frightened Moore into giving up and returning to Charles Town. The town of St. Augustine had been destroyed, but the English had failed in their objective of pushing the Spanish out of East Florida.

Professor Arnade has focused a magnifying glass on this siege and has supplied us with a detailed picture of it. Al- though he referred to the South Carolina archives in his preparation for this monograph, his chief reliance was on the papers in the Stetson Collection at the University of Florida. Thus the reader is with the besieged Spanish throughout the work rather than with the attacking force. The author's hero is Zufiiga, a man whose good sense and patience saved the colony with only tardy and half-hearted support from Spain's Caribbean settlements.

The author's style is rather choppy and abrupt. There are a few errors: once or twice secondary authorities are misquoted (but not in such a way as to impair the meaning of the quotations) ; the beginning of the English withdrawal is stated as January 29 (p. 55) instead of December 29. Even so this short monograph is useful in supplying us with valu- able details of the story of an early eighteenth-century at- tempt at aggression.

University of New Mexico WILLIAM M. DABNEY

350 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

The Cowboy Reader. Edited by Lon Tinkle and Allen Max- well. Longmans, Green and Co., 1959. Pp. 307. $6.50.

Several years ago J. Frank Dobie, in a review of a book on the cowboy, wrote, words to the effect, "My God ! Another book about the cowboy !" Probably he had good reason for his exclamation, for earlier, in "A Necessary Explanation," a rather lengthy essay explaining "why" he wrote A Vaquero of the Brush Country, he assures the reader "that the whole truth about cowboys has been about as nearly told as the whole truth has been told about college professors, bankers, congressmen, or any other class of American men." Now, one may ponder concerning the reaction of "Mr. Texas," as co-dedicatee of The Coivboy Reader, and presume that "an- other book" at this time is more bearable since he is a selected contributor to the anthology.

A review of an anthology usually concerns the taste and selectivity of the editors and compilers, rather than a judg- ment of the prose and style of the respective authors. Cer- tainly, any reviewer cannot complain about the "reports" which make up The Coivboy Reader. The selections, chosen for reliability and readability, represent probably the best in the field of cowboy literature. The gamut runs from E. C. (Teddy Blue) Abbott (with marked apologies to Helena Huntington Smith) to Owen Wister, with better than thirty different writers represented within these two extremes. Of course, to a devotee of the myth and reality of that central figure of the rangeland — the American Cowboy — these selec- tions are as familiar as his saddle ; in fact, he probably has calloused slightly from repetition.

The grouping, under the divisional headings "Roundup and Trail Drive," "Some Cowboy Types," "The Daily Round," "Wine, Women, and Song," and "Storytellers' Range," is thoughtful and successful ; however, the use of so many writers to tell the complete story of these phases of the cowboy vocation might lead the observant reader to conclude that not one of these authors was capable of doing it on his own. Among them, of course, are several old-time cowboys, armchair cowboys, college professors, and "western writers."

BOOK REVIEWS 351

Actually, there is nothing new about this book for it is simply an edited compilation. The editors' introduction is the most notable and creditable aspect of The Cowboy Reader (a trifle facetious to show that no one is a 'square') . As yet, there has been no compilation of such introductions, pro- logues, prefaces, etc. What a shame! Often these authors brilliantly expound their philosophy and that of their crea- tion with considerable depth and with sincerity and authority.

This book has a metallic jingle which does not come from the spurs of the legions of horsemen who inspired the efforts of the original authors, but rather from the pockets of the avid, ever-faithful readers on the lookout for something new concerning the cowboy. Familiar line drawings and photo- graphs of oil paintings, all of which do not necessarily have bearing on the various selections, illustrate the book. This reviewer suggests that if you have time read and enjoy The Cowboy Reader. If you have more time, then go read the books from which these selections have been chosen. A first- class cowboy buff you'll be, pardner !

University of Arkansas CLIFFORD P. WESTERMEIER

Their Majesties the Mob: The Vigilante Impulse in America. By John W. Caughey. Chicago: The University of Chi- cago Press. 1960. Pp. 214. Bibliography and index.

Like most other recurring historical phenomena, mob violence appears to be very impressive when numerous ex- amples over long periods are grouped and described in a relatively few pages. However, it is probable that, even in the roughest days of frontier America, and in the most vio- lent periods in the South, mob violence has been relatively rare, although spectacular. But mob violence, because of its rarity, among other things, is "news" and, therefore, gets attention.

The author of the book is professor of American History at the University of California at Los Angeles, and managing editor of the Pacific Historical Review. The style of the book is more journalistic than scholarly. The documentation is

352 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

adequate for the incidents and episodes covered. The title of the book is taken from the work of Dame Shirley who, in 1852, wrote in "withering scorn" of the Indian Bar vigi- lantes whom she had seen in action.

Current significance of the book, as the Introduction states, arises from such incidents as the Little Rock episode of 1957, which, while not conforming completely to the tra- ditional mob violence formulae, did present some elements of the recurrent pattern. There are, also, broad references to other fairly recent episodes of the 1940's including legisla- tion and writings in opposition to "radicals" and socialists. The Ku Klux Klan comes in, of course, for its fair share of condemnation, as do other organizations such as the Watch and Ward Society.

The book sums up to a convincing argument against both the use and abuse of law to support popular prejudices against types of individuals and groups. In a journalistic way, it is quite readable. As history, it needs greater perspec- tive and a wider range of relevance.

University of New Mexico PAUL WALTER, JR.

INDEX

Adams, Eleanor B., "Viva El Key !," 284-292 ; rev., Phelan, The Hispanization of the Philippines, 151

Adams, Ramon F., A Fitting Death For Billy the Kid, rev'd., 263 ; The Rampaging Herd: a Bibliography . . ., rev'd., 257

A Fitting Death for Billy the Kid, by Adams, rev'd., 263

Akin, Myron H., 189f, 297

Alexander, Col. A. J., 39

Alexander, Gov. Moses, 138

Allegiance, Spanish oath, 284

Alvarez, Manuel, 5

Amberg, Jacob, 11

Amberg, Moses, 12

Antonio El Pinto, Navaho leader, 213 ; death, 234

Anza, Gov. Juan Bautista, 214

Apache forays, Rio Abajo, 207

Arabs in New Mexico, 132

Arispe (Mexico), description, 328

Armijo, Gen. Manuel, 4

Armstrong, Andrew, "The Brazito Battle- field," 63-74

Army discipline, 33

Army Exploration in the American West, 1803-1863, by Goetzmann, rev'd., 160

Army life, 32f ; medicine, 36; pay (1860's), 35

Arnade, Charles W., The Siege of St. Augus- tine in 1702, rev'd., 348

Artesia, description (1902), 85

Athearn, Robert G., rev., Goetzmann, Army Exploration in the American West, 1803- 1863, 160

Baer, Louis, 20

Bailey, Paul, Grandpa Was a Polygamist: a Candid Remembrance, rev'd., 345

Bamberger, Gov. Simon, 138

Banking, 22; (1900's),303

Bascom, Capt. George N., 30

Basehart, Harry W., rev., Morgan, The In- dian Journals, 1859-62, 260

Baughman, Ernest W., rev., Grandpa Was a Polygamist . . ., by Bailey, 345 ; rev., Price, Short Stirrups . . ., 343

Becker, John, 23

Belen (Jarales), description, 311

Bell, Montgomery, 136

Bennett, Jeremiah V., newspaper publisher, 109

Bergman, Col. E. H., 37

Bernstein, Morris, J., 13

Beuthner, Joseph, 11

Beuthner, Samson, 11

Beuthner, Solomon, 11

Bibliography, American occupation (1846),

66

Bibo, Arthur, 150 Bibo, Nathan, 13 Bibo, Simon, 13 Bibo, Solomon, 13 Biernbaum, Henry, 13 Big Bead Mesa, 208 Billy the Kid, history, 165 Blanchard, Charles, 1 Bloom, John P., rev., Porter, Matt Field on

the Santa Fe Trail, 339 Bond, Frank, 169-199, 293-308 Bond, Mrs. Frank, 172 Bond, George W., 172 Bowden, J. J., rev., Dobkins, The Spanish

Element in Texas Water Law, 162 Brazito, battlefield, 63 Buffum, E. Gould, Six Months in the Gold

Mines . . ., rev'd., 77. Ed., John W.

Caughey.

Brunswick, Marcus, 12, 141 Bull Durham (1904), 94 Bull fights, 291 Bunting, Bainbridge, rev., Hills, Navaho Art

and Culture, 75

Cabeza de Baca, Luis, land grant, 268

Cachupin, Gov. Tomas Veles, 202f

Caffall, Fred, 198 "

Caffal, May Anna (Mrs. Frank Bond), 172

Camfield, D. A., 191

Campbell, G. W., letters, 328f

Canby, General E. R. S., biography, 152

Candelaria, B. A., 198

Captives, of Indians, 42f

Carpenter, F. D., 198

Carter, John A., 192

Cartwright et al. v. The Public Service Co.

of New Mexico, 265 Catron, Thomas, 137 Cattle ranches, 234 Cattlemen, 234 Caughey, John W., Their Majesties the Mob :

The Vigilante Impulse in America, rev'd.,

351

Celebration, public, 291 Chaves, Ireneo L., 187 Chivington, Col. John M., biography, 158 Clark, Robert Emmet, "The Pueblo Rights

Doctrine in New Mexico, 265-83

353

354

NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

Clever, Charles P., 11

Coins, memorial, 289

Collins, James L., newspaper publisher, 115

Colton, Ray C., The Civil War in the Western Territories: Arizona, Colorado, New Mex- ico, and Utah, rev'd., 156

Colyer, Vincent, quoted, 55

Comanche, depredation, 40 ; defeat, 52 ; forays, Rio Abajo, 207; relations (1860's). See Fort Bascom

Comancheros, 56f

Commercial revolution in New Mexico, 129

Concha, Gov. Fernando de la, 232

Connelly, Henry, 5

Cotton Negro, Navaho leader, 222

Cowboys, 81, 234

Craig, Reginald S., The Fighting Parson: The Biography of Colonel John M. Chiv- ington, rev'd., 158

Cultural fusion, 129

Currency (18th century), 290

Dabney, William M., rev., Dale, The Siege of

St. Augustine, 348 Dale, Edward Everett, Frontier Ways:

Sketches of Life in the Old West, rev'd.,

347

Davies, Edward T., newspaper publisher, 112 Dawson, William D., newspaper publisher,

111

De Marie, Augustus, editor, 116 Desmarais, Miguel, 1 Diaries, Mexican War period, 66 Dictionary of the American Indian, by Sou-

tenburgh, rev'd., 263 Dittenhofer, Sam, 13 Dobkins, Betty Eakle, The Spanish Element

in Texas Water Law, rev'd., 162 Doniphan, Col. A. W., 1846, 63 Don Carlos, Navaho leader, 224 Don Joseph Antonio, Navaho leader, 224 Drama (18th century), 292 DuBois, Capt. John V., 41, 45 Dunlavy, F. E., 199 Dunlavy, May, 199 Dunlavy, W. A., 180, 199 Dunn, Richard, 137 Duran, Jose Mateo (1770's), 209

Eldodt, Sam, 174 Elkins, Stephen, 136 Elsberg, Albert, 12 Elsberg, Gustave, 11 Errata, 150 Escudero, Manuel, 4 Evans, Col. A. W., 51

Fergusson, Erna, 141

Field, Niel B., 188

Fisher, Rudolph, 46

Fiske, Eugene A., 187

Floersheim, Solomon, 14

"Fort Bascom, New Mexico," by Foster, 30-

62 Foster, James Monroe, Jr., "Fort Bascom,

New Mexico," 30-62 Frank, William, 20 "Frank Bond : Gentleman Sheepherder . . .,"

by Grubbs, 169-199, 293-309 Frankenberger, F. R., 198 Freudenthal, L. E., 148 Freudenthal, Phoebus, 14 Friedman, Meyer, 20, 135 Frontier Ways .... by Dale, rev'd., 347 Furniss, Norman F., The Mormon Conflict,

1850-1859, rev'd., 337

Gamarra, Ramon Francisco, printer, 109

Gambling, 311

Garcia, Fray Andres, Zuni, 21

Gardiner, C. Harvey, ed., Mexico: 1825-1828:

The Journal . . . of Edward Thornton

Tayloe, rev'd., 78 Garrett, Pat, 137 Gellerman, William, 19 George, E. Ben., 327 George Jr., M. A., 330 German settlers, 15 Getty, Gen. George W., 50 Gunter, Judge Julius C., 190 Goetzmann, William H., Army Exploration

in the American West, 1803-1863, rev'd.,

160

Goldenbergs, Alex, Hugo and Max, 14 Goldenberg, Hugo, 132 Gonzales, George, 199 Gould, Louis, 3 Grandpa Was a Polygamist . . .,by Bailey,

rev'd., 345 Greiner, Theodore S., newspaper publisher,

110

Grunsfeld, Albert, 138 Gross, Jacob, 20 Grubbs, Frank H., "Frank Bond: Gentleman

Sheepherder of Northern New Mexico

1883-1915," 169-199, 293-309 Grzelachowski, Alexander, 137 Gusdorf, Alexander, 14 Gusdorf, Gerson, 14 Gypsy, see Los Arabes

Hamlin, William Lee, The True Story of Bitty the Kid, rev'd., 165

INDEX

355

Harberg, Carl, 14

Harris, Jesse, 190

Hays, May, 12

Hecht, Ben, 12

Heyman, Jr., Max L., Prudent Soldier, A Biography of Major General E. R. S. Can- by, 1817-1873, rev'd., 152; rev., Craig, The Fighting Parson . . . John M. Chiving- ton, 158

Hibben, Frank C., rev., Stafford, The Early Inhabitants of the Americas, 258

Hills, George, Navaho Art and Culture, rev'd., 75

Hispanization of the Philippines .... by Phelan, rev'd., 151

Hollowell, Jones and Donald Co., 305

Holzman, Philip, 12, 20

Hopkins, Charles, rancher, 34

Houghton, Jacob, 5

Hovey, Oliver C., newspaper publisher, 112

Hubbell, Capt. C. M., 38 ; ranch, 49

Hueco Mt., legend, 330

Hughes, Levi A., 198

Huning, Franz, 1, 141

Ilfeld, Charles, 12 ; records, 132 ; 136

Ilfeld, Herman, 12

Ilfeld, Louis, 13, 141

Ilfeld, Noa, 13

Iliff, W. S., 192

Indian trade license, 56

Interest rate (1900's), 303

Jaffa, Mayor Henry, 138

James, Thomas P., 198

Jew, history, 7f ; in New Mexico, 129

Jewett, Capt. Horace, 58

Johnson, Hezekiah S., newspaper publisher,

110, 116

Jones, William E., newspaper publisher, 114 Joseph, Antonio, 1 Joseph, Peter, 1

Kelly, Harry, 20

Kephart, William G., newspaper publisher,

115

Kern, Lewis, 180 Kihlberg, Frank, 12, 138 King of Spain, inauguration, 284 Kiowa depredation, 41

Labadi, Lorenzo, 46

La Fonda (Santa Fe), 138

Lamar, Howard R., rev., Colton, The Civil

War in the Western Territories . . ., 156 Laramie-Poudre Reservoir and Irrigation

Co., 190, 297

Las Vegas (1904), 86; water rights, 265;

land grant, 268 Leavenworth, E. S., 198 Lee, Lt. John D., 49 Leitsendorfer, Eugene, 3 Leon, Antonio Ponce de, 65 Lesinsky, Henry, 141 Lesinsky, Henry, Charles and Morris, 14 Letcher, Adolph, 19 Letterman, Capt. George W., 49 Liberty ( settlement ), 32 License, Indian trade, 56 Lieuwen, Edwin, rev., Gardiner, ed., Mexico:

1825-1828 . . ., 78 Litcher, Adolph, 12 Lobato, Juan Joseph, 201 Los Arabes, traders, 132 Los Lunas, description (1916), 318 Los Quelites, 205 Lovera, Francisco, alcalde, 231 Lutz, Henry, 13

MacArthur, A., 180

McCarthy, Justin, 195

Maldonado, Lt. Jose, 221

Mandell, Mayor Michael, 138

Manderfield, William Henry, newspaper edi- tor, 114 note

Map, Brazito battlefield, 73

Manuelito, Navaho leader, 40

Marquette Legends, by Steck, rev'd., 341

Martinez, Leandro, 198

Martinez, Max, 199

Matt Field on the Santa Fe Trail by Clyde and Mae Reed, rev'd., 339

Maxwell, Allen, see Lon Tinkle

Medicine (1900's),314

Medicine Creek Lodge Treaty, 50

Memorial coins, 289

Merchant, sedentary, 19. See Frank Bond

Mexico, water law, 265 ; description, 327f

Mexico : 1825-1828: The Journal . . . of Ed- ward Thornton Tayloe, ed., Gardiner, rev'd., 78

Meyer, Ferdinand, 19

Military strength (1770's),211

Miller, David J., newspaper publisher, 116

Mitchell, Howard W., 138

Mitchell Lakes Reservoir Co., 191

Moise, Julius and Sigmund, 14

Moncas, Herman, 32

Monetary exchange, 19

Morgan, H. Wayne, "Western Silver and the Tariff of 1890," 118-128

Morgan, Lewis Henry, The Indian Journals, 1859-62, rev'd., 260

Mormons in Mexico, 828

356

NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW

Morris, Capt. Louis, 51

Morrison, Arthur, 19

Mullin, R. N., rev., Hamlin, The True Story of Bitty the Kid, 165 ; rev., Adams, A Fit- ting Death for Bitty the Kid, 264 ; rev., The Earp Brothers of Tombstone . . ., 336

Nahm, Sigmund, 14

Nasatir, A. P., rev., Steck, Marquette Leg- ends, 341

Nava, Pedro de, 234

Navaho depredations (1866), 37f ; 207; raid v. Comanche (1870), 59; interpreters, 225

"Navaho-Spanish Diplomacy, 1770-1790," by Reeve, 200-235

Navaho Art and Culture, by Hills, rev'd., 75

Negro troops, 47

Newman, Stanley, rev., Soutenburgh, Dic- tionary of the American Indian, 263

New Mexico, description (1890), 331f

Newspapers, 109ff

Nohl, Louis F., 195, 294

Nordhaus, Max, 132

Norton, Supt. A. B., 55

Padre Polaco, 137

Paltenghe, Manuel, 180

Parish, William J., "The German Jew and the Commercial Revolution in Territorial New Mexico, 1850-1900," 1-29, 129-150

Partido contract, 299

Pena, Jose de la (1770's) , 210

Phelan, John Leddy, The Hispanization of the Philippines: Spanish Arms and Fili- pino Responses: 1565-1700, rev'd., 151

Pictic (Pitic), Plan of, 276

Pino, Miguel E., editor, 116

Plains Indians (1860's). See Fort Bascom

Plympton, Capt. Peter W. L., 30

Poetry, Spanish Colonial, 287

Pollard, C. L., 189

Porter, Clyde and Mae Reed, Matt Field on the Santa Fe Trail, rev'd., 339

Price, Doughbelly, Short Stirrups : The Saga of Doughbetty Price, rev'd., 343

"Printing in New Mexico . . .," by Towne, 109-117

Prudent Soldier, A Biography . . . of E. R. S. Canby, rev., 152

Ranches, cattle, 81ff

Reeve, Frank D., "Navaho-Spanish Diplo- macy, 1770-1709," 200-225; rev., Adams, The Rampaging Herd: a Bibliography . . .,257

Rice, Patrick, 4

Rio Puerco settlements, abandoned (1770's), 210

Rivera, Salvador, 227

Robbery (1900's), 317

Rogers, A. T., 136

Romero, Trinidad, 1

Roosevelt, Theodore, 138

Rosen wald, Emanuel, 12

Rosenwald, Joseph, 12

Rosenthal, N. L., 12

Rough Riders, 138

Roundup, 82

Royal inauguration, Santa Fe (1748), 284

Roybal, Bachiller don Santiago, 290

Russell, Mrs. Hal, quoted, 32

Russell, John T., editor, 116

St. Vrain, Ceran, 3 ; newspaper publisher,

114

Salter Brothers and Co., 304 Santa Fe, royal villa?, 290 Sargent, Edward, 198, 294 Scolly, John, 3 Seligman, Adolph, 12 Seligman, Gov. Arthur, 138 Seligman, Bernard, 12 Seligman, Sigmund, 11 Sena, Don Juan, 3 Serna, Josef a, 199 Seth, Henry, sheepman, 300 note Settlements, founding of, 276 Sheep, significance, 170; importation (19th

century), 171 ; prices, 182 Sheepmen, 19th century, 171 Sheridan, Gen. Phil, 50 Shields, S. H., 191

Short Stirrups . . ., by Price, rev'd., 343 Silver, mining, 118ff ; protective tariff, 118ff Six Months in the Gold Mines . . ., by Buf-

fum. Ed., John W. Caughey, 77 Smith, George Winston, rev., Heyman, Pru- dent Soldier, A Biography of . . . E. R.

S. Canby, 152 Smith, Goldy, cowgirl, 98 Smith, Sam, 49 Solomon, Isador, 14 Sonnichsen, C. L., rev., Dale, Frontier Ways

. . ., 348 Soutenburgh, John L., Dictionary of the

American Indian, rev'd., 263 Speyer, Albert, 3 Spiegelberg, Abraham, 11 Spiegelberg, Bernard, 11 Spiegelberg, Elias, 11 Spiegelberg, Emanuel, 11 Spiegelberg, George A., 145 Spiegelberg, Jacob Solomon, 10 Spiegelberg, Lehman, 11 Spiegelberg, Levi, 11 Spiegelberg, Solomon Jacob, 140, 143

INDEX

357

Spiegelberg, Willi, 11

Sports (18th century), 291

Staab, Abraham, 11, 185

Staab, Zoldac, 138

Staffenberger, C., 14

Stafford, Harry Edward, The Early Inhabi- tants of the Americas, rev'd., 258

Stagecoach, 323

Stapp, Wm. B., rancher, 34, 51

Stapp, W. H., 34 note

Steck, Francis Borgia, Marquette Legends, rev'd., 341

Stephens, E. L. Steve, "West of the Pecos," 81-108, 236-256, 309-326

Stuart, Victor, 190, 297

Sykes, Maj. Gen. George, 39

Temascalitos, 66

The Civil War in the Western Territories ... by Colton, rev'd., 156

The Cowboy Reader, eds., Tinkle and Max- well, rev'd., 350

The Early Inhabitants of the Americas, by Stafford, rev'd., 258

The Earp Brothers of Tombstone . . ., by Waters, rev'd., 336

The Fighting Parson . . . John M. Chiving- ton, by R. S. Craig, rev'd., 158

"The German Jew and the Commercial Revo- lution in Territorial New Mexico 1859- 1900," by Parish, 1-29, 129-150

The Indian Journals, 1859-62 by Morgan, rev'd., 260

The Mormon Conflict, 1850-1859, by Furniss, rev'd., 337

"The Pueblo Rights Doctrine in New Mex- ico," by Clark, 265-83

The Rampaging Herd: A Bibliography . . ., by Adams, rev'd., 257

The Siege of St. Augustine in 1702, by Ar- nade, rev'd., 348

The Spanish Element in Texas Water Law, by Dobkins, rev'd., 162

The True Story of Billy the Kid, by Hamlin, rev'd., 165

Their Majesties the Mob . . ., by Caughey, rev'd., 351

Thorpe, J. R., 192

Tinkle, Lon and Maxwell, eds., The Cow- boy Reader, rev., 350

Towne, Jackson E., "Printing in New Mex- ico beyond Santa Fe and Taos, 1848-1875," 109-117

Troncosa, Vizente, 213

Trujillo, Don Epimenio, 308

Tucker, Thomas, newspaper publisher, 114 note

Tyler, S. Lyman, rev., The Mormon Conflict, 1850-1859, by Furniss, 337

Van Houten, J. P., 198 Vaughn, description, 324 "Viva El Rey !" by Adams, 284-92 Vorenberg, Adolph, 14 Vorenberg, Simon, 14

Waddingham, Wilson, 137

Waldo, H. L., 137

Walter, Paul R., rev., Caughey, Their Majes- ties the Mob . . ., 351

Warshauer, Fred, 198, 301

Water, significant use, 280. See R. E. Clark

Waters, Frank, The Earp Brothers of Tomb- stone: The Story of Mrs. Virgil Earp, rev'd., 336

Webb, James, 3

Weightman, Richard H., newspaper publish- er, 109

Weinard, Hubert, 46

Wertheim, Herman, 14

Westermeier, Clifford P., rev., Tinkle and Maxwell, eds., The Cowboy Reader, 350

"Western Silver and the Tariff of 1890," by Morgan, 118-128

"West of the Pecos," by Stephens, 81-108, 236-256, 309-326

Winternitz, David, 13

Winther, Oscar Osburn, rev., Buffum, Six Months in the Gold Mines, 77

Wolff, Emil, 22

Wool marketing (1900's),304

Yost, Samuel M., editor, 116 Zeckendorf, Aaron, 11

The Historical Society of New Mexico

Organized December 26, 1859

PAST PRESIDENTS 1859 — COL. JOHN B. GRAYSON, U. S. A. 1861 — MAJ. JAMES L. DONALDSON, U. S. A. 1863 — HON. KIRBY BENEDICT

adjourned sine die, Sept. 2S, 186S

re-established Dec. 27, 1880

1881 — HON. WILLIAM G. RITCH 1883 — HON. L. BRADFORD PRINCE 1923 — HON. FRANK W. CLANCY

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OFFICERS FOR 1959-60 President, CALVIN HORN, Albuquerque Vice-President, ROBERT UTLEY, Santa Fe Treasurer, THOMAS B. CATRON in, Santa Fe Recording Secretary, WILLIAM S. WALLACE, Las Vegas Corresponding Secretary, BRUCE T. ELLIS, Santa Fe

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