USA > New Mexico > History of New Mexico : its resources and people, Volume II > Part 37
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The Roswell Club was organized at the Pauley Hotel for purely social purposes on March 23. 1894, and its officers for the first year were: E. A. Cahoon, president ; Charles H. Sparks, first vice-president; C. A. Keith, second vice-president ; A. M. Robertson, treasurer, and J. F. Hinkle, secre- tary. Until 1904 the club was the grand promoter of sociability in Ros- well, but in the fall of that year, under the presidency of Judge G. A. Richardson, the suggestion that its scope be expanded so as to include matters of public concern and utility, first began to be seriously con- sidered.
A meeting was called at the rooms of the club in the Gallieur block on the night of December 16, 1904, and, in the absence of President Rich- ardson, E. A. Cahoon presided. It was the sentiment of the meeting that the commercial work of the club be pushed to the front, and before ad- journment its name was changed to the Roswell Commercial Club. In a few days W. C. Valentine, of Chicago, was employed as secretary, to de- vote his entire time to the expanded objects of the club. In February, 1905,
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J. A. Graham succeeded him. Under the active and diplomatic manipula- tions of the latter the greatest work of the club has been accomplished, "for," as a friend of his states, "Mr. Graham is a natural promoter."
Of Judge Richardson it should be stated that he has been identified with the club since becoming a resident of Roswell in 1888, and has been its president for the past five terms. He is a Kentuckian, head of the law firm of Richardson, Reid & Hervey (which he organized several years ago), has served twice as a member of the Territorial senate, was a mem- ber of the national committee in 1892 and is now president of the Territo- rial Bar Association.
Besides Messrs. Graham and Richardson, the other officers of the club are as follows: E. A. Cahoon, first vice-president; H. Hurd, second vice- president ; Robert Kellahin, treasurer.
The social feature has been extended into the country. In the sum- mer of 1905 certain members of the Commercial Club organized and in- corporated the Roswell Country Club, with a capital of $25,000. The offi- cers were as follows: W. E. Wiseley, president ; E. A. Cahoon, treasurer ; J. A. Graham, secretary. The grounds consist of fifty acres of land about two miles east of the city and were purchased from Cosmos Sedillo and the Stone estate.
Captain Joseph Callaway Lea is always spoken of as the pioneer of Chaves county, and to no man is due in as great measure the early develop- ment of this part of the Territory. Roswell largely stands as a monument to his enterprise and labor, and in the days of lawlessness and violence he ever stood for justice, right, honor and truth. He was a man among men, who in any community and under any circumstances would have been re- spected and honored. No history of Chaves county would be complete without the record of his career.
He was born in the hamlet of Cleveland, Tennessee, on the 8th of November, 1841, and was the second son of Dr. Pleasant J. G. and Lucinda (Callaway) Lea. In 1849 the parents removed to Missouri with their family, settling at Lea's Summit, which was so named in honor of Dr. Lea. Educational opportunities were limited at that early day, and, although Dr. Lea was a successful country practitioner and farmer, he was able to give his children only the rudiments of an education, but by precept, admoni- tion and example he instilled in them the principles of honor, sobriety and rectitude of purpose, more valuable than the world's accumulated store of knowledge.
Joseph C. Lea grew to manhood, a hard-working, energetic farmer boy of simple tastes, who viewed the internecine struggle then just begin- ning as something at a distance that did not concern boys of his age. From this, however, he was suddenly awakened, when, in December, 1861, he and his younger brother, Frank H. Lea, were arrested while gathering corn in their father's field by a squad of Kansas border soldiers, making their escape just before all the other captives of that raid were shot down, and, realiz- ing that their safety depended upon staying away from home, they imme- diately joined their fortunes with the Confederacy as members of the Sixth Missouri Regiment, forming a part of Shelby's brigade. How well he bore his part in the great struggle is attested by the records. He en- tered the service a farmer boy, without anv training, and was a colonel be- fore the third year of his service had expired. He made a reputation as
Il Lea
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captain and that title ever after stuck to him. A dashing young officer who seemed to have no thought of fear, yet he was constantly on the alert to protect his men, especially his close personal friends. A vacancy in the office of first lieutenant was to be filled, and Captain Jason W. James, of this county, and another whose name is not now at hand were aspirants. Captain James felt hurt at not getting the place and asked Captain Lea why he had turned him down. With a look that showed his heart was touched, he replied : "James. I love you too well to put you in a place where I know you will get killed." Many instances of this character could be given concerning Captain Lea. When the war ended he accepted the situation with the same fortitude lie displayed in everything else and went to Georgia, where he engaged in railroad building and in cotton-planting, but in a short time he removed to Mississippi.
In the year 1867 was celebrated the marriage of Captain Lea and Mrs. Douglass Burbridge, who lived about four years after their marriage. In 1875 he married Miss Sallie Wildy, a sister of Ernest L. Wildy and Mrs. George T. Davis. In 1876 they removed to Colfax county, New Mexico, and in 1877 became residents of Roswell, where in 1884 Mrs. Lea died. leaving two children : Harry Wildy Lea, and Mrs. Ella L. Bedell. In 1889, Captain Lea married Mrs. Mabel Doss Dav, of Coleman, Texas, who survived him until April, 1906. As stated, Captain Lea came to the Territory and was one of the first white settlers of Chaves county who left the impress of his individuality upon its development and upbuilding. Those were wild days when death was to be feared not only at the hands of the savages but of lawless white men as well. Having become convinced that Colfax county did not possess the elements for a future home, he journeyed down into the Pecos valley and on the 12th of February reached the present site of Roswell with his little caravan. There were few settlers in the country then. A number of Mexicans lived on the Berrendo and a few white people at Missouri Plaza, a short distance up the Hondo. The country, however, was almost totally a wilderness. Captain Lea began his life here as other pioneer settlers, handling, raising and dealing in cattle. In the 'zos he turned his attention to merchandising and so continued until the '8os, his place of business being on the site now occupied by the Record building. For many years this was the principal mercantile establishment of the great Pecos country and the trading point for hundreds of miles in every direction. All the while Captain Lea kept on investing his money in lands and at one time owned a vast tract of what is today the most valuable land in the country. When he arrived here the only law was one of might and the six shooter, and undoubtedly he would not have escaped with his life if it had not been that the lawless band recognized a dauntless spirit in his clear gray eve. He was about the only man who was able to maintain absolute neutrality in the historic Lincoln county war. He told the bellig- erents that when he felt like doing any fighting he would do it on his own hook and thev could fight out their little unpleasantnesses to suit themselves ; nor did they question his decision. They knew better. and while the conflict raged Captain Lea attended strictly to his own business. Money was plenty in those days and he prospered, amassing much of this world's goods, consisting mostly of land and cattle. He was known to every man, woman and child in the great valley. up into the mountains. and out upon the llano, and neither then nor in the years that have come
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and gone was the voice of dishonor ever raised against hin. By the people of every decade he was regarded with general respect and trust.
Captain Lea was one of the first to realize the great future that lay before Chaves county and Roswell. His wide experience had taught him that every element of greatness was here-soil that was a veritable mine of richness, a splendid water supply adequate, it seemed, to the demands of all time, a matchless climate, a wealth of all the elements necessary to cattle growing- were at every hand. The first fruit trees had given forth great promise and the captain realized that there was a great future in store for the country, and from the beginning of his residence here until his death he has been an active co-operant in every measure to help build up the town and valley. No project has ever been advanced for the com- mon good that he did not do his part.
On one occasion Captain Lea suffered heavy losses. When there was a great decline in the value of cattle he was the central figure in the Lea Cattle Company. The financial disaster overtook the company and he parted with the greater portion of his wealth. In keeping with the sterling integrity that had always marked the man was his conduct at this period. Instead of saving what he could from the wreck he placed his entire assets in the mill and when the last dollar of indebtedness was paid he had but little remaining. But for the rapid increase in values on his property that remained he would have been forced to start anew in his old age with everything gone save honor. His influence, more than that of any other man, has been felt in the upbuilding of Roswell and Chaves county. He was never too busy to give his time and experience, without price, to all those who came to see, and no vale ever had a more loyal champion. Whether he was directly benefited or not it was all the same to him. He gave of his lands and money to every public enterprise that was instituted. He was one of the most loval champions of the noble educational insti- tution for boys now known as the New Mexico Military Institute. In his social relations he was an enthusiastic Mason. He was also captain and commander of the local camp of Confederate Veterans, which position he held until his death, and was its first delegate to the national encampment. Public office was always distasteful to him, but at length he was pre- vailed upon to accept the position of mayor, and after he had entered upon the duties of the office he said. "I would rather be the first mayor of Ros- well than to be governor of the Territory of New Mexico." Such was his love for the town that he builded.
The Roswell Record said of him: "Captain Lea was in almost every aspect a remarkable man. In stature he stood six feet and four inches and his nobility of nature was as far above that of the average man as lie exceeded him in stature. For more than a quarter of a century he was a citizen in Roswell. He came here when this was simply a wayside post- office on a star route. He saw the place bud into a village and blossom into a city, and to his aid more than to any one is the growth of his beloved town due. At one time he owned all the land upon which the town is built and had he been a selfish gain-seeker he could have been one of the wealthiest men in all the land, but such was the breadth of his charity that he died comparatively a poor man. No worthy person ever applied to him in vain. Even when most burdened with his own affairs he was constantly working for the general good of his town and county. Like all
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truly good men, he was exceedingly modest and could never hear himself praised without blushing. He was more active than any other in securing the creation of this county and when it was suggested that it be named in his honor he modestly demurred. He steadtastly declined all public honors until Roswell was incorporated as a city and then at the almost unanimous demand of the people he consented to become its first mayor. "Captain Lea had a kind word and was always ready to do a good deed for every one. No man ever had higher ideals of manhood and womanhood than he. To the young man he was a father and elder brother, and there are hundreds today who feel a personal obligation to him for his kindness and advice. It is given to but few men to have such a hold upon the affections of a people as he had. To those familiar with life here in the early days in the southwest there need not be recounted the many inci- dents in which Captain Lea in his stand for the supremacy of law displayed a courage and heroism as great as ever soldier displayed on the field of battle. So from the time that Roswell was but a trading post Captain Lea has been a central and foremost figure. Public spirited as he was, he liked to keep in close touch with the progress of local events and to talk of plans for the public good which he wished to see consummated. Believ- ing firmly as he did that Roswell is destined to be the metropolis of New Mexico, all of his plans were made with this in view."
When death claimed Captain Lea resolutions of respect were passed by Valverde Camp No. 1419, N. C. V., of Roswell, by the Masonic fra- ternity and other organizations, including the city council, who ordered that all city offices and buildings be closed until after the funeral and the stores of the city also closed their doors and suspended business out of respect to the honored mayor and foremost citizen of the town. Most impressive funeral services were held, more than one thousand friends and neighbors of Captain Lea following in solemn procession the remains to their last resting place. The services were held in the Christian church, of which Captain Lea was a devoted member. The body had lain in state in the church from six o'clock on the previous evening and hundreds of friends had called to pay their last tribute of respect to one whom they had long known and honored. Interment was made by the Masonic lodge to which he belonged, the beautiful Masonic burial ceremony being observed, at the conclusion of which the veterans of Valverde Camp took position around the grave, holding over it the folds of the stars and bars, while a firing squad from the . New Mexico Military Institute fired a salute of three vol- leys. Taps were then sounded. Long years, however, will have passed before Captain Lea will have been forgotten by those among whom he lived and labored, and as long as the history of Chaves county has a place in the records of the Territory his name will be honored for what he did for his locality, for public progress and for common humanity.
Hagerman .- After Roswell, Hagerman is the most important point in Chaves county, and one of the largest shipping centers for fruit, alfalfa and live stock along the line of the Pecos Valley & Northeastern road. It is situated two miles southwest of where the Rio Felix makes its junction with the Rio Pecos, and is nearly midway between Amarillo and Pecos, Texas. It is a place of about 800 people and is substantially and taste- fully built.
Hagerman has a good bank, with average deposits of $100,000, a fine Vol. II. 18
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school and societies of Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists and Episcopa- lians. Its water supply is furnished by two of the best artesian wells 111 Pecos valley, the pressure from which is sufficient to force a stream to a height of one hundred feet, or over the tallest buildings in the town.
The town was founded by J. J. Hagerman in 1895. Mr. Hagerman passed through the Northern valley in October, 1894, upon the completion of the Pecos Valley road from Eddy, or Carisbad, to Roswell. One of the first things that attracted his attention at that place was a large, luscious apple raised by John Chisum on his South Spring ranch, and known all up and down the valley as the Chisum apple. Mr. Chisum was one of the pioneers in the cultivation of that fruit, which has made especially famous, in a horticultural sense, all that portion of the Pecos valley be- tween Roswell and Hagerman. The development of this special indus- try commenced about thirty years ago in the five-acre apple orchard on Chisum's ranch.
Parker Earle, who now lives near Roswell, was for sixteen years presi- dent of the American Horticultural Society, and is known all over the west in connection with both the raising and refrigeration of fruit. Being in Roswell with Mr. Hagerman at the time of the railroad celebration, he was so captivated by the Chisum apple that he sent to some eastern nur- serymen and brought them to Colorado Springs to form the Pecos Valley Orchard Company, and especially to propagate the apple named. He was enthusiastically supported by Mr. Hagerman, who soon became the leading business spirit in'the enterprise.
In the winter of 1894-95 a 500-acre apple orchard was planted, and from this has sprung what is known the country over as the Hagerman apple orchard, with a product of 100,000 bushels per year. Its apples have taken the highest honors in all the great expositions of recent years, and it has been the means of encouraging others to plant apple trees in both large and small orchards.
At the present time there are about 3,000 acres of apple orchards in the Upper Pecos valley, none of them over ten years old. Some varieties of apples come into bearing in this country in the fourth or fifth year after planting. It is reasonable to believe that within five years at least 1,000 carloads of apples will be shipped yearly from the Upper valley from or- chards already planted.
In 1898 the Felix Irrigation Company was formed to operate the North- ern canal, formerly a portion of the system of the old Pecos Valley Irri- gation and Improvement Company. This canal waters about 7,000 acres of land in what is known as the Hagerman-Felix district, about twenty miles south of Roswell. No finer farms can be found in the valley than in this region, which is being rapidly settled, and the center of which is the town of Hagerman.
Lake Arthur .- The town site of Lake Arthur was surveyed and platted in August, 1904, and in the following November W. L. Stull commenced the erection of the Lake Arthur Hotel, the first building to be com- pleted in the place. Boyd Brothers' store was the next building to be erected, which was followed by the structure in which the Town Site Com- pany's office was located. The town has now a population of about 400, water for drinking and irrigation purposes being supplied from artesian sources.
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One nursery has over 20,000 apple trees set out, large orchards are in bearing, and the finest alfalfa and garden truck are raised in the local- ity. Lake Arthur is a short distance south of Hagerman, on the Pecos Valley & Northeastern Railroad, and it is a large point for the ship- ping of wool, an average of 10,000 sheep being shorn here during the season.
Fred P. Gayle, probate clerk at Roswell and the oldest continuous resident of that place, came from Texas to New Mexico in January, 1882. He was born in Alabama and rendered military aid to the Confederacy for four years during the Civil war as a member of the Fifteenth Confederate Cavalry. He was afterward connected with the Sixth South Carolina Cavalry.
During the greater part of his active business life Mr. Gayle has re- sided in Texas, but in January, 1882, came to New Mexico in company with Pat Garrett. They went to White Oaks and Mr. Gayle clerked in one of the early stores in Roswell in 1882-3. He is now the oldest continuous resident of the town and has witnessed its development from villagehood to its present proportions, when all the evidences of a progressive civiliza- tion are here found. In 1894 he was elected probate clerk of the county and has since been continued in the office, covering a period of twelve years. In politics lie is a Democrat. active and influential in the party councils, and has served on various committees appointed to promote the growth and insure the success of the party.
In the history of the pioneer development of New Mexico mention should be made of M. V. Corn, who came to the Territory in 1879 and has been closely associated with its material development and with its progress along lines leading to good citizenship and substantial improvement. He came from Kerr county, Texas, making the overland trip to Roswell, after which he located on a place three miles southeast of the town. There he took homestead and timber culture claims in one body. In later years he bought land adjoining his original tract and when he sold he had three hundred and eighty-four acres in one tract. In 1893 he disposed of this to Mr. Hagerman. In the meantime he had carried on the work of general improvement and development. In 1880 he planted Lovers' Lane, a public highway bordered by trees for a mile in length, and it is now the most famous driveway in the Territory. Mr. Corn made many early improve- ments on the place and planted twenty acres of apple orchards, having one of the earliest orchards in the Pecos valley. He has taken many blue ribbons on farm and garden fruit crops.
John Poe was the first to raise alfalfa in this valley and Mr. Corn was one of the earliest to establish this great industry. His place was under the Texas ditch, which was among the first irrigation ditches of the valley. In connection with A. O. Spencer, W. L. Holliman and James H. Hampton he took out his ditch from South Spring river just a little below the old Chisum ranch. The ditch was made in the fall of 1879, and as a result thereof it was soon demonstrated that the soil of the locality was very productive when water was added.
In 1894 Mr. Corn removed to Eden valley and located a ranch twenty miles north of Roswell. He took a desert claim and improved it and he now has about seven hundred acres of deeded land twelve miles west of the Pecos river devoted to stock raising. His sons, John R., Robert L.,
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Martin V. and George W. Corn, are all engaged in the stock business in the Eden valley and the family has proved an important factor in the material development and progress of this part of New Mexico, Mr. Corn giving his influence to every measure that tends to promote public progress and introduces the evidences of an advanced civilization into a district which up to a few years ago had not been reclaimed for the purposes of culti- vation.
Richard F. Ballard, filling the office of deputy probate clerk at Ros- well, was born in Fort Griffin, Shackelford county, Texas, in 1877, and is a son of Allen J. Ballard. In February, 1878, the father brought his family to New Mexico, locating at Fort Sumner, and Richard F. Ballard has since remained a resident of the Territory. He acquired his preliminary education in the early public schools and afterward attended the New Mexico Military Institute. Early in his business career he became con- nected with the cattle industry and was thus engaged until September, 1903, when he was appointed deputy probate clerk by F. P. Gayle .. His political allegiance is given to the Democratic party. Although a young man he has exerted considerable influence in local political circles and he is a typical son of New Mexico, possessing the alert and enterprising spirit which has been the dominant factor in the rapid and substantial growth of this part of the country.
Robert Kellahin, a real estate operator at Roswell, also filling the position of postmaster, was born in Scotland, and on crossing the Atlantic to America in 1892 came to the Territory of New Mexico, locating in Carlsbad, where he took charge of the Charles W. Green offices at Carlsbad as bookkeeper. Mr. Green was for some time a promoter, who contributed in substantial measure to the upbuilding and progress of the Territory. Subsequently he was connected with the Hagerman Company and with irrigating companies in and around Carlsbad, acting as bookkeeper. In 1895 he came to Roswell and accepted a position as auditor and cashier with the Roswell Land and Water Company, acting in that capacity for three years. He has since been engaged in the real estate and insurance business as a member of the firm of Kellahin & Calfee, and they have a large cli- entage, writing considerable business as insurance agents and also negotiat- ing important realty transfers. Mr. Kellahin was appointed to his present office as postmaster by President Roosevelt in July, 1904. This is a second- class office and was the third office in the Territory. There is a carrier system in the city. He has placed the business of the office upon a method- ical basis, resulting in a splendid discharge of the work therein carried on and his administration has won uniform commendation and good will.
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