USA > New Mexico > History of New Mexico : its resources and people, Volume II > Part 18
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70
As to fruits, it has been found by experience that the late blooming trees are the surest to bear. The German prune has produced fine crops of superior fruit. Of cherries, the early Richmond is the safest. Peaches and apricots will only bear in very sheltered locations. It is generally necessary to protect the orchards against the prevailing southwest winds by strips of quick-growing trees, such as the white willow.
The banks of all the water courses bear cottonwood, elder, wild plums and cherries. In the central portions of the plains are found scattered pinyon and cedar. and the foothills in the western part of the county are covered with pine timber of large growth and much value, considerable of which has already been cut.
The mineral resources of Mora county, though little developed, are various. The gold region, which is well known a little further north, ex- tends along the eastern side of the Las Vegas range into this county. Mica is found in many localities, one of which (Talco) takes its name from this substance. There are also deposits of iron and coal, but the most generally diffused mineral is copper. This colors the rocks over many square miles, the most important mine being near Coyote.
The County Officers .- From the records of the county, which are fairly complete, the following list of officers has been compiled :
Probate Judges :- 1860, Vicente Romero; 1861-2, Dolores Romero; 1864-5. Jose Ledoux : 1866-9, Vicente Romero: 1870, Jose Ledoux, Santiago Valdez; 1871, Santi- ago Valdez ; 1872-4, Dolores Romero; 1875-6. Vicente St. Vrain ; 1876. Henry Robison ; 1877-80, Anastacio Trujillo: 1881-2, Pablo Valdez : 1883-4. Dolores Romero: 1885-6, Feliciano A. Gutierrez: 1887-8, Dolores Romero; 1889-90, S. E. Tipton: 1891-2, Fran- cisco Lujan ; 1893-4, J. M. Gonzales ; 1895-6. Juan A. de Luna : 1897-8, E. H. Biern- baum : 1899-1900, Ignacio Pacheco; 1901-2, R. Arellano; 1903-4, Gavino Ribera ; 1905-6, Andreas Medina.
Probate Clerks :- 1860, Severino Martinez; 1861, Nicolas Valdez; 1864-9, Pablo Valdez ; 1870-1. Severino Martinez : 1872-6, Anastacio Trujillo; 1877-8, Pablo Valdez : 1879-84, John Florence; 1885-90, Agapito Abeyta, Jr .: 1891-2, Charles U. Strong ; 1893-4. Teodocio Gonzales: 1895-6. Palemon Ortiz; 1897-8, Emelio Ortiz ; 1899-1900, Tito Melandez : 1901-2. Emilio Ortiz; 1903-6, E. H. Birnbaum.
Sheriffs :- 1862, William Gandert ; 1864, Trinidad Lopez : 1875-6, Pablo Valdez ; 1878-84. Henry Robison : 1885-6. Luciano Gallegos; 1887, John Doherty; 1888, Macorio Gallegos ; 1889-90, Juan Navarro: 1891-2, Agapito Abeyta, Jr .; 1893-4, Juan Navarro ; 1895-6. J. R. Aguilar : 1897-8, Eusebio Chavez .; 1899-1900, Rafael Romero y Lopez ; 1901-2, Teodoro Roybal: 1903-4. Tito Melendez ; 1905-6, J. D. Medina.
Assessors :- 1888, Francisco Miera : 1889-90, A. L. Branch : 1891-2, Macario Gal- legos ; 1893-4, P. Garcia ; 1895-6, B. A. Romero; 1807-8, Blas Gallegos : 1899-1900, Tito Maes : 1901-2, F. S. Ortega : 1903-4. Anastacio Medina : 1905-6, R. T. Maes.
Treasurers and Collectors :- 1879-80, Juan Jose Gallegos : 1889-90, Morris Strouse ; 1891-2, Pablo Mares: 1893-4. J. H. Daniel : 1895-6, P. D. St. Vrain: 1897-8, Simon Vorenberg : 1899-1900, Juan B. Martinez ; 1901-2, Charles W. Holman ; 1903-4, Rumal- do Roybal: 1905-6, Daniel Cassidy.
County Commissioners :- 1875-6. Vicente Romero (chairman), L. Frampton, No- berto Saahedra ; 1877-8, Vicente Romero (chairman), Juan J. Gallegos, L. Frampton ; 1879-80, Anastacio Trujillo (chairman), Dolores Romero, Bernardo Salazar; 1881-2, Rumaldo Gonzales (chairman), Ramon Rivera, Jose Manuel Gonzales : 1883-4, S. E. Tipton (chairman), Rumaldo Gonzales, Lorenzo Romero; 1885-6, B. M. St. Vrain
650
HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
(chairman), Pablo Mares, Teodocia Maldonado; 1887-8, Teodocio Maldonado (chair- man), Elisio Borrego, Rafael Saabedra ; 1889-90, Alijandro Lucero (chairman), Frank Roy, Francisco A. Mestas; 1891-2, William Gandert (chairman), Augustin Vigil, Ra- mon Rivera; 1893-4, B. Salazar (chairman), D. Pacheco, A. Vigil y Valdez ; 1895-6, Sacramento Baca (chairman), Tito Malendez, Gavino Ribera; 1897-8, Juan P. Aragon (chairman), Tomas D. Romero, J. D. Medina; 1899-1900, Joseph B. Watrous (chair- man), Francisco Pacheco, Lucas Maestas (Watrous resigned in September, 1899, and E. H. Biernbaum was appointed to fill the unexpired term) : 1901-2, A. C. Martinez (chairman), Francisco A. Vigil, Juan de Matamares; 1901-2, A. C. Martinez (chair- man), Matias Maetas, Antonio Montoya; 1903-4, Matias Maestas (chairman), Francisco A. Vigil, Manuel Lopez; 1905-6, Andreas Gendart (chairman), Francisco A. Vigil, Juan de Materes.
Mora, the County Seat .- The first settlement at Mora, the present county seat, was made upon land granted by Governor Perez, in 1835. Upon the creation of the county from Taos, in 1860, a little crude adobe building was erected for a court house, and the structure is still standing. The present court house, built in 1889, at a cost of $10,000, is composed of brownstone, taken from quarries in Mora county. The place is a typical New Mexican town, and has a population of 1,200 people.
La Cueva Ranch Company, whose vast interests lie along the Mora river, owns one of the most valuable pieces of property in New Mexico. As a ranch, no other in the Territory, except Hagerman's, approaches it in the proportion under cultivation. It is beautifully located, is thirteen miles in length, has fifty-five miles under fences, and comprises nearly 26,000 acres of land segregated, by court decree, from the Mora grant, and 40,000 acres leased from the Fort Union reservation. The company was incorporated in 1882, and averages between 4,000 and 5,000 cattle in winter quarters.
More than 2,000 acres of the tract are under cultivation. . A ditch eight feet wide carries a generous supply of running water from Mora river to a lake 700 acres in extent, and numerous smaller lakes, which serve as reservoirs of irrigation. This tract under cultivation and irrigation pro- duced, during the season of 1905, about 750,000 pounds of grain and 3,000 tons of alfalfa and other feed, and comprises one of the finest fruit orchards in the southwest. The company deals quite extensively in farm products and operates a flour mill and a general merchandise store. But, of course, the main business of the concern is the raising of cattle for the market and the breeding of thoroughbred Short Horn, Hereford and Galloway cattle, milch cows and fine horses and mules. The present officers of the company are: Adin H. Whitmore, president; D. C. Deuel, treasurer and manager, and Hugh Loudon, secretary. Its postoffice is La Cueva, Mora county, and its telephone, telegraph and express station, Las Vegas.
The basis of this magnificent property was the great tract of land originally bought by Vicente Romero from the earlier squatters. In this way he acquired possession of about 40,000 acres of land, and from him the company trace title to their broad estate. Vicente Romero was a prominent freighter and sheep man, and is said to have passed much of his time as a nomad, sleeping in caverns while caring for his flocks and lands; hence the name which has descended to the present-La Cueva, "the cave."
The founder of the ranch gave his son Rafael a good education, in anticipation of the time when intelligent and enterprising Americans
651
LOCAL HISTORIES
should control the best interests of the country. The first La Cueva Com- pany was capitalized at $150,000, and $100,000 of stock issued. D. C. Deuel owned a third interest, and C. T. White and Rafael Romero the balance. Subsequently Messrs. Deuel and White purchased the interests of Mr. Romero and his mother. Still later Hugh Loudon and Major A. H. Whitmore bought the Romero stock, and the present company was organized. Mr. Deuel still owns a majority of the stock, in which there are few small holders.
Other Towns .- Watrous is a flourishing town on the Santa Fé rail- road, in the southern part of the county, twenty miles north of Las Vegas. It is situated in the center of the beautiful valley by that name. Mr. Watrous, for whom it was named, settled there long before the American occupation, and for years his family was in control of most of the land in that vicinity. Watrous is in the center of a growing agricultural com- munity, the surrounding country heing systematically irrigated and pro- ducing good crops of alfalfa, grain, fruits and vegetables. Near by, on the Val Mora ranch, is a growing sanitarium for consumptives, patronized by patients from the middle west and largely controlled by physicians of Chicago, Detroit and Milwaukee.
Wagon Mound is a newer town, to the north of Watrous and close to the famous elevation known as the "Wagon Mound," which was the land- mark of those crossing the prairies long years ago. It is an important mercantile point for the shipment of wool and sheep.
Colmor, a station on the boundary line between Colfax and Mora counties, is chiefly noticeable on account of its name-a composite made of the first three letters of these counties.
Garret Eckerson, manager for the La Cueva Ranch Company in Mora county, New Mexico, is a fair type of the genial, hospitable westerner.
Nr. Eckerson is a native of the Empire state. He was born in the Hudson valley. New York, September 14, 1860, son of Albert Bogart and Anna (Henion) Eckerson. With a love for adventure and ambitious to see something of the world, Mr. Eckerson, when a young man yet in his teens, left his eastern home and went first to Illinois and afterward to Missouri, where he remained until he reached his majority. Then, in 1881, he again turned his face westward, New Mexico his objective point. Arrived here, he entered the employ of Clark & Sheppard, an eastern firm that had large cattle interests in New Mexico. For the past seven years he has had charge of cattle for the La Cueva Ranch Company, ten miles north of Watrous, Watrous being his postoffice. In addition to acting as manager for this company, Mr. Eckerson also has stock interests of his own, having a number of cattle which he keeps on the company's land. His residence is the old Shoemaker place, well known in this locality for many years, and especially popular since Mr. Eckerson has made it his home and extended its hospitality to both friend and stranger. Mr. Ecker- son is unmarried.
Estaban H. Biernbaum, county clerk of Mora county, Mora, New Mexico, was born here September 1. 1864, son of Henry and Junita (Leyva) Biernbaum, the former a native of Germany and the latter of New Mexico, and is the eldest of their four children. Henry Biernbaum was one of the prominent early pioneers of New Mexico. For a number
Vol. II. 9
652
HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
of years he was engaged in business in New Mexico and Colorado, and is now living retired in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Estaban B. Biernbaum was reared in Mora, where he received his education in the Christian Brothers College. At the early age of sixteen he engaged in merchandising on his own account at Weber, Mora county, where he continued to reside until the great flood of 1904, in which he sustained heavy loss. In the meantime he had acquired large stock in- terests, cattle and sheep, and many hundreds of broad acres. He now has three hundred acres under cultivation and eight hundred acres which will be cultivated as soon as irrigation is obtained here.
For years Mr. Biernbaum has been a prominent figure in the Repub- lican ranks of Mora county, and has a number of times been honored with official preferment. He was elected probate judge in 1896, and served a term of two years; was appointed by Governor Otero as a member of the board of county commissioners, of which he was made chairman in 1899; in 1902 was elected county clerk, received the nomination again and was re-elected to succeed himself. Previous to this he was chairman of the county central committee for eight years.
Fraternally Mr. Biernbaum is identified with the Woodmen of the World, having membership in Montezuma Camp No. 2, of Las Vegas. While a resident of Weber, he was married there, in 1889, to Miss Emma Weber, daughter of Frank Weber, and they have one child, Frank.
Henry Biernbaum, father of Estaban H. Biernbaum, the present county clerk of Mora county, was himself for a number of years promi- nently identified with the New Mexican interests. He was born in Hesse- Cassel, Germany, and when a young man emigrated to this country, land- ing in the United States in 1850 and the following year coming to New Mexico. His first employment here was as clerk in the mercantile estab- lishment of Spiegelberg Brothers at Santa Fé. Subsequently he was in business for himself in San Juan and Pueblo, for three or four years. Then he spent three or four years in San Miguel, and thence to Mora, where he made his home for ten years. While in Mora he served as treas- urer of Mora county one term, and was well known and highly respected throughout the county. His next move was to Trinidad, Colorado, where he opened a large mercantile establishment, which he conducted until 1888. Since then he has lived retired in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While in the west he was interested in ranching and the cattle business also, and had at different times big government contracts.
Mr. Biernbaum married, in Mora, in 1863, Miss Junita Leyva, and . the fruits of this union are: Estaban H., Mary, Isabelle, wife of F. M. Sanchez, and Henry, deceased.
Frank Weber, deceased, was born in Germany, and when a young man came, in 1847, to the United States, being led hither by a spirit of adventure. He remained in New Orleans, working at his trade, until 1848, when he enlisted in the United States army. The following year he was sent to New Mexico and was stationed first at Santa Fé and later at Fort Union, as a sergeant. At the close of his army service, in 1851, he engaged in business at what was then called Golondrines, now Weber, where he conducted a general merchandise store and also was interested in ranching. He was one of the first men in his locality to plant fruit trees and he gave considerable attention to fruit culture. In 1874 he sold his
653
LOCAL HISTORIES
store and turned his attention to the brewery business, which he continued up to 1883, after which his whole time was devoted to farming. He died at his homestead April 15, 1892.
Through Mr. Weber's influence a number of Germans came to this country, made homes and prospered in New Mexico. Each year, for several years, he met and conducted wagon trains to his locality.
Here, in 1856, Mr. Weber married Miss Gregoria Landoval, a native of Taos county, New Mexico. Of the six children of this union, three, Henry, John and Joseph, are deceased; Emma is the wife of E. H. Biern- baum, of Mora county, and Thomas and Fred reside at Weber.
Daniel Cassidy, a merchant of Cleveland and treasurer of Mora county, has been identified with this county since October 21, 1881, when he came here from Ireland. Mr. Cassidy was born in County Donegal, Ireland, October 1I, 1850, was educated in the national schools of his native land, and was married there a few years previous to his coming to America. Arrived in New Mexico, he accepted a position as clerk in the general merchandise store of James Dougherty at Cleveland; worked for him ten years, at the end of which time he purchased the business and became proprietor of the store. Later, in May, 1904, in partnership with Harry Dougherty, he bought a general store at Mora. Also he is inter- ested in ranching, having acquired a farm of one hundred and fifty acres of valuable land near Cleveland and two thousand acres on Ocata Mesa, and owns considerable stock, both sheep and cattle.
For the past ten years Mr. Cassidy has been a Republican, taking an active part in local politics, and in 1904 he was elected on the Republican ticket to the office he now holds, that of county treasurer. February 21, 1875, he married, at Letterkenny, Ireland, Miss Susan A. Langan, a native of that place. Their children are: Daniel J., a resident of Mora; Anna Theresa, wife of Joe Dougherty, of Folsom, New Mexico, and Maggie A., James, Bessie S., Charles and Joseph, at home.
Rafael Tobias Maes, county assessor of Mora county, and a resident of Wagon Mound, is, as his name indicates, of Spanish descent. He was born in Taos county, New Mexico, May 25, 1863, son of Jose Maria and Maria Antonia (Pacheo) Maes, natives of Embudo, Rio Arriba county, New Mexico. Jose Maria Maes was a cattle and sheep rancher of Taos county, a temperate, honest, industrious farmer, well known and highly respected. He lived to the ripe old age of ninety-six years and died in August, 1905; his wife died October 17, 1803, at the age of eighty years.
The subject of this sketch lived on his father's ranch in Taos county until he was eighteen years of age. Then he came to Wagon Mound, where for five years and nine months he clerked in a store. Returning to Taos in 1889, he accepted a position as clerk and bookkeeper, and was thus occupied until 1890, when he was appointed chief deputy United States marshal for Taos and Rio Arriba counties, with headquarters at Taos. This office he filled two years. The next two years he clerked, and served as deputy county clerk of Taos county.
In 1893 Mr. Maes returned to Wagon Mound and engaged in the hay and sheep business in partnership with J. R. Aguilar, under the firm name of Aguilar and Maes, which partnership continued three years. During 1896 Mr. Maes conducted the business under his own name. In April, 1897, he returned to Taos county, where he farmed till 1899.
654
HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
February 1, 1900, he was appointed postmaster of Wagon Mound. In the meantime he had returned to Mora county and located on his ranch on the Mora grant, where he lived seven months. He still owns the ranch and a number of cattle and horses. Until March 31, 1905, he filled the posi- tion of postmaster, and in the spring of that year he was elected to his present office, that of county assessor.
Mr. Maes. married, August 10, 1895, Miss Anna Maria Paltenghe, and they are the parents of four sons and one daughter, viz., Tobias Louis, Antonia, Julianita, Saul and Eloida.
Hon. Ozro Amander Hadley, who has figured prominently in political circles in the southwest and is today a leading representative of ranching interests in New Mexico, was born in Cherry Creek, Chautauqua county, New York, June 30, 1826, a son of Alvah and Eunice (Bates) Hadley. He was reared to farm life, and after acquiring his elementary education in the public schools of New York continued his studies in Fredonia Acad- emy. In 1855 he removed from the east to Rochester, Minnesota, where he was engaged in the fire insurance business, and in 1860 he was elected auditor of Olmstead county upon the Republican ticket. So capably did he discharge his duties he was retained in that position for six consecutive years. In the fall of 1865 he made his way to the southwest, coming to Little Rock, Arkansas, there to engage in the cotton business. For sixteen years he remained in that state, and was one of the most prominent political leaders of the commonwealth. In 1868 he was elected on the Republican ticket to the state senate, becoming its president, and upon the election of General Powell Clayton, then governor of Arkansas, to the United States senate, and the resignation of the lieutenant-governor in 1871, Senator Had- ley became governor and filled that office for two years. While serving as chief executive he was able to effect many compromises that proved of re- markable value to the state. In the incipient race war in Chicot county he ef- fected a compromise between the parties there, and the difficulty in Pope county arising between the Federal and Confederate soldiers, who were about equally divided, among whom bitter feeling ran high, he also man- aged at length to restore peace. He had to send troops there, but no blood was shed. Governor Hadley made his way to the scene of the depredations and delivered a specific speech that tended largely to subdue the bitter agita- tion. He received most courteous and respectful treatment from all par- ties and from the people of the state at large while governor. He is a warm personal friend of Opie Read, whom he knew as a boy.
In 1873 Governor Hadley went to Europe, accompanied by his wife, and spent one year there on a business and pleasure trip. The following year was passed upon a plantation, after which he was appointed register in the United States land office, acting in that capacity for two years. By Presi- dent Grant he was appointed to the position of postmaster at Little Rock, fill- ing the office for five or six years, during which time he gave a public-spirited and efficient administration, but at length he resigned in order to remove to New Mexico. He has figured prominently, conspicuously and honorably in connection with national as well as state politics. In 1872 he was a dela- gate to the convention which nominated General Grant for his second term as president, and in 1876 he went as a delegate to the national Republican convention at Cincinnati, where Rutherford B. Hayes was nominated, but Mr. Hadley gave his support to Blaine. Again he was a delegate to the
655
LOCAL HISTORIES
convention in 1880, when James A. Garfield was nominated. He has been a delegate to the New Mexico territorial convention, and has been chairman of the pension commission for six years.
Coming to the Territory, Mr. Hadley first located on Eagle Tail ranch, in Colfax county, which he purchased in 1879. He purchased a small herd of cattle at that time, after which he returned to his old home, but came again in 1880 on the first train which passed through the Raton tunnel. He has made his home permanently here since 1881, and has been identified with the interests of this part of the country since 1878, when he made his first trip to the district in company with Senator Dorsey. He remained a resident on the Eagle Tail ranch for four years, devoting his time and at- tention to the cattle industry, and in 1885 he removed to Dorsey ranch at Chico Springs, becoming its manager and at the same time retaining the ownership of the Eagle Tail ranch. He occupied that property until 1897, when he sold out. He continued as manager of the Chico Springs ranch until 1891, but in the meantime, in 1889, came to Mora county, where he has since made his home upon the place formerly owned by William Tipton. He sold all of his cattle in the summer of 1905, and the ranch is now de- voted principally to alfalfa. It contains nine hundred acres, with a main ditch of thirty-five hundred rods. He also leases twenty-five thousand acres of land, and is today the owner of one of the finest ranches in New Mexico, being a model property in all respects.
Mr. Hadley was married to Miss Mary Cordelia Kilbourne, a native of Chautauqua county, New York, in 1849, and for more than a half cen- tury traveled life's journey together, but were separated by the death of the wife in June, 1903. There were two daughters: Altie E., the wife of W. H. Hallett, deceased, and Addie A., who married General Keyes Dan- forth, and after his death became the wife of Louis C. Tetard, but she has now passed away.
Mr. Hadley holds an enviable position in public esteem. The life of no man is free from mistakes, but all accord to Mr. Hadley an honesty of pur- pose and devotion to the general good that is above question. Faultless in honor, fearless in conduct and stainless in reputation, he has been a firm supporter of the principles that he has believed to be right. Figuring prominently in political circles for many years, he is now devoting his at- tention to private interests, and that he maintains high ideals in this regard is indicated by the splendid appearance of his ranch.
Captain W. B. Brunton (Company A Second Regiment Iowa Cavalry), a rancher and cattleman of Shoemaker, New Mexico, has resided in the Territory since 1883. He was born in Pennsylvania, either at East Liberty or East Pittsburg, April 27, 1838, and in 1856 became a resident of Iowa, engaging in farming in Muscatine county until the Civil war, when, aroused by a spirit of patriotic devotion to the Union, he enlisted as a member of Company A, Second Regiment of Iowa Cavalry. He became first ser- geant and was promoted through successive ranks to the captaincy, being mustered out as such at Selma, Alabama, September 19, 1865. He was with General Pope's Army of the Mississippi and participated in the battles of New Madrid and Island No. 10. He was ordered to Corinth under General Halleck, participated in the siege and battle there and was in the campaigns in Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama. The last battle in which he participated was at Nashville under General Thomas. When the
656
HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
war was over and the volunteers were discharged Mr. Brunton entered the regular service June 18, 1867, continuing with the army until he re- signed May 17, 1873. He entered the service as second lieutenant, but when he resigned was first lieutenant with the brevet rank of captain, for gallant conduct at the battle of Nashville, Tennessee.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.