USA > New Mexico > History of New Mexico : its resources and people, Volume II > Part 42
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When Alamogordo was laid out by Mr. Eddy and his associates Mr. Pierce was one of the first to establish a business here, opening a general mercantile store. He carries a well selected stock and has contributed in substantial measure to the business activity and prosperity of the new town. Every movement for its upbuilding and progress has received his endorse- ment and co-operation. He is one of the trustees of the Baptist College at Alamogordo, which institution he helped to build, and in connection with A. J. King he has been chiefly instrumental in founding the institution for the blind at this place, securing an appropriation from the legislature for the same. He is a thoroughly representative citizen, a public-spirited man who stands as a high type of American manhood and chivalry, placing gen- eral progress before self-aggrandizement.
James C. Dunn is filling the position of county treasurer and collector of Otero county, and makes his home in Alamogodo. At the same time he
James & Dunn.
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LOCAL HISTORIES
is engaged in the raising of fruit and cereals, demonstrating the possibilities of this section of the Territory in that line of production. He was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and was reared as a fisherman. He entered the army in 1862, enlisting in defense of the Union as a member of the Twelfth Massachusetts Light Battery, but was soon afterward transferred to the navy and served in the West Gulf blockading squadron under Admiral Far- ragut. When the war was over he entered the merchant service, and, in 1882, went to California, becoming a pioneer resident at Long Beach, where he made his home until 1900.
That year witnessed the arrival of Mr. Dunn in Alamogordo. He had previously been engaged in fruit farming, in milling and contracting in California. He studied what is now known as the Campbell system of dry farming for the production of fruit and found that it was a good sys- tem, producing excellent results. He was the first man in this Territory to institute that method. He now raises grapes, pears, peaches, plums, prunes and apricots, growing all these with success upon his place, about two and a half miles north of Alamogordo. He began the business in 1900 and continues therein, now having thirty acres of land under cultivation, about five acres being devoted to fruits, while the remainder is used in the cultivation of corn, oats and barley. In 1905 he raised rye which was six feet two and a half inches high, and in 1902 he won the premium on corn at the Territorial fair, a fact illustrative of his excellent methods and his gratifying position as a leader in agricultural circles. He is now mak- ing a specialty of fruit, increasing his business in this direction annually.
Mr. Dunn is a Republican, unfaltering in his allegiance to the party, and in 1904 was elected to the position of county treasurer and collector of Otero county, which position he is now filling. He is also recognized as an exemplary Mason, being a faithful follower of the craft.
John M. Hawkins, now postmaster at Alamogordo, in which office he has served since August, 1903, was for many years identified with jour- nalism in New Mexico, notably connected with newspapers at Santa Fé, Silver City and Carlsbad. He has resided in the Territory for about sev- enteen years and for about three years has capably discharged the duties of postmaster at Alamogordo.
Perry Kearney, proprietor of a mercantile establishment at Cloud- croft, was born and reared in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He came to New Mexico in 1878, making his way to Black Ranch in Lincoln county, where he accepted the position of foreman of the cattle interests upon that place. Later he removed to La Luz in 1881 and began the cattle business on his own account, continuing at that point for seven years, when he dis- posed of his cattle there. He afterward turned his attention to general farming and ranching, in which he continued successfully until 1898, when he came to Cloudcroft and opened a general mercantile store. Here he has since remained, selling his ranch to the railroad company. He, however, owns real estate in Alamogordo and a good property in Cloudcroft. He has a well equipped store, carefully selecting his goods to meet the varied tastes of the general public, and has a gratifying patronage here.
Mr. Kearney is an active supporter of the Republican party and its principles and is a member of the Alamogordo lodge of Masons. Identi- fied with interests of the southwest through more than a quarter of a century he has been an interested witness of the changes that have occurred
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HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
as the county has emerged from pioneer conditions and left behind the evi- dences of frontier life, taking on all of the advantages and improvements of modern civilization. He is associated in the work of general develop- ment and manifests a public-spirited interest in every movement and meas- ure for the general good.
H. M. Denney, a merchant of Clouderoft, Otero county, is a native of Tennessee. Coming to the southwest he was engaged in business in the Indian Territory until his removal to New Mexico in the spring of 1900. In the spring of the following year he established his store at Clouderoft, where he has since conducted a growing business. His political affiliation is given to the Democracy, but he is without aspiration for office, preferring to concentrate his energies upon his business affairs. However, he served as postmaster while at Courtney, Indian Territory. He became a Mason in Leon Lodge No. 16, A. F. & A. M., of the Indian Territory, from which he now holds a demit.
Mr. Denny was married to Miss Lula Meekin and they have six chil- dren.
Samuc! Melvin, proprietor of Hotel Virginia at Clouderoft, Otero coun- ty, is a native of Indiana, but was reared in Kentucky and during the greater part of his life has been engaged in the cattle business, which he has followed quite extensively in the southwest. For the past twenty years he has also been identified with the hotel business in Texas, conducting hotels at different times in Lacona and Spanish Fort, Texas, in Roswell, New Mexico, and at Cloudcroft, opening the Hotel Virginia in the sum- mer of 1901. Here he has accommodations for one hundred guests and has furnished meals to as high as three hundred. He has permanent sleep- ing accommodations for about sixty. The seasons extend from the Ist of May until the last of September and his hostelry has become a popular resort, receiving a large patronage.
E. F. Cadwallader, senior member of the firm of E. F. Cadwallader & Son, engaged in the nursery business and fruit growing at Mountain Park in Fresnal Canyon in Otero county, sixteen miles east of Alamogordo, is one of the most scientific agriculturists of the southwest and combines with his technical knowledge most practical experience. He was born in Fulton county, Illinois, and learned the nursery business in Blooming- ton, that state. He was afterward engaged in that line of business for twenty-five years near Paola, Kansas, and then located in the Rio Grande valley in northwestern Texas, where he conducted a nursery and fruit farm until March, 1902, when he came to his present location. He has experi- mented in the Fresnal Canyon with a great variety of fruits and finds that apples are the most remunerative and safest erop. The soil is especially adapted to their growing on account of the presence of iron. He makes a specialty of the production of several varieties of apples, including the Parmain, the Winesap, the Jonathan, Grimes' Golden, the Mammoth Black and the Gano, the last mentioned being the best for commercial purposes. He has never had any trouble with the codlin moth, so great a pest else- where in New Mexico. The solidity of the apples which he raises is shown by the fact that a box ordinarily carrying forty pounds will hold from forty- three to forty-seven pounds. The blue mission fig, grapes, cherries, plums and small fruits also do well under the careful cultivation of Mr. Cadwal- lader. The altitude of his farm is sixty-seven hundred feet. There is iron
W.A. Piflora
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LOCAL HISTORIES
in the soil, with a deep clay subsoil. He now has on his place thirty thou- sand young fruit trees and many ornamental shrubs, plants and flowers in his nursery and he is doing much for the improvement of the Territory by demonstrating its possibilities for agricultural and horticultural develop- ment. He is now serving as postmaster at Mountain Park.
W. D. Tipton, a merchant of Tularosa, has resided in New Mexico since 1886. He was born in Jacksboro, Texas. On coming to New Mex- ico he settled in Las Vegas, where he resided for several years, but since 1891 has been engaged in merchandising in Tularosa and La Luz. He has been a successful grower of alfalfa, averaging one and a quarter tons to the acre at each cutting. There are four cuttings each year, so that there is a total average of five tons per acre.
Mr. Tipton is not only engaged in the successful management of his private business interests, but has also labored effectively and earnestly for the welfare of this section of the Territory. He is an active Repub- lican, has served on the Territorial committee and has been chairman of the county central committee of his party. He is regarded as one of the leading citizens of Otero county and has labored earnestly to save to the people of Tularosa and vicinity their original water rights, of which the United States government, through the Indian agents, has sought to de- prive them. His activity in public matters and his devotion to the general welfare have made him highly respected.
Patrick Coghlan, of Tularosa, one of the most widely known of the living pioneers of southeastern New Mexico, was born in Ireland, March 15, 1822, and was educated in his native country. In 1848, at the age of twenty-six years, he crossed the Atlantic to New York city and in 1849 came to Texas, since which time he has been largely identified with the pioneer history of the southwest. He fought the Apaches and Comanches in the Lone Star state. He had extensive cattle ranches in Texas and in 1872 drove his first cattle to New Mexico. In 1874 he located on a big ranch in Lincoln county, twenty-five miles north of Capitan, known as the Block ranch. He was a witness of both the Harrold war and the Lin- coln county war. He has experienced all the hardships, trials and priva- tions incident to the settlement of this section of the country. At Tularosa he established a store, which cattle thieves and Mexicans repeatedly robbed, and they also frequently stole his stock, but he persevered in his efforts to establish and conduct a profitable business and aid in the reclamation of the district for the uses of the white man, and is numbered among those who have laid broad and deep the foundation for the present development, prosperity and advanced civilization of this section of the country. The raid of the notorious Apache chief. Victorio, began on the Coghlan ranch, the Indians stealing seventeen of his best cattle and horses in 1879. He knew the chieftain well and Victorio was at times very friendly with him. When Mr. Coghlan first came to Texas the nearest house was one hundred and ten miles away, there being not a single habitation between Mason and Chadbourne. The Indians protesting against the advance of the white men, there occurred many fights, in a number of which Mr. Coghlan par- ticipated. In 1866 he lost three hundred head of cattle through the In- dian depredations in Texas. He has, however, persevered in his pur- pose to establish a home and has aided in extending the frontier and con- verting southeastern New Mexico into a district where all of the advan-
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HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
tages of an advanced civilization are now found. As the years have gone by he has continued his live-stock interests and in more recent years has given considerable attention to horticultural pursuits, which he has carried on successfully. The splendid results that have attended his efforts may be indicated by the fact that he won the first prize, a gold medal, for peaches exhibited at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis, Mis- souri, in 1904. Mr. Coghlan is a splendid type of the pioneer, and well does he deserve the honor and gratitude of residents of New Mexico for what he has accomplished for her upbuilding and improvement.
Jefferson J. Sanders, a farmer of Tularosa, was born in Australia in 1863 and on coming to the United States when ten years of age became a resident of Texas. His father was a native of Tennessee and the mother of England, and in 1873 they arrived in the Lone Star state. Jefferson J. Sanders accompanied them on their removal to New Mexico in 1891 and since that time they have resided in Tularosa. Mr. Sanders of this review became proprietor of the Sanders Hotel, which he conducted until 1905, and in the meantime he gave considerable attention to farming and is now devoting his energies exclusively to general agricultural pursuits. His principal crop is alfalfa, but he believes that fruit can be profitably cultivated in this part of the country and is a firm believer in the future of the valley.
Mr. Sanders was married to Miss Ada Williamson, a native of Ten- nessee, and they have five children : William, Barney, May, Nellie and Ed- ward. They occupy a fine new residence which stands in the midst of a fertile farm, indicating the careful supervision and practical progressive methods of the owner in its cultivation and improvement.
Andrew Wilson, a retired rancher living in Tularosa, Otero county, has resided in New Mexico since 1862, when he came with the "California Column" in the Civil war as a member of Company A, First California Cavalry. He was born in Champaign county, Ohio, January 8, 1839, and in his boyhood days went to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama, making the journey with an uncle in 1854 when a youth of fifteen years. He mined on the Michigan Bar at Placerville and in other places, resid- ing there until after the outbreak of the Civil war, when he enlisted on the 12th of August, 1861, becoming a member of Company A, First California Cavalry. With his command he fought the Mescalero Apaches from 1862 until discharged on the 31st of August, 1864. Following his retirement from the army he worked for wages until 1871 and in the meantime was married in 1868 to Natividad Duran in Tularosa.
In 1871 Mr. Wilson took up unsurveyed government land, which he finally entered, this being about twelve miles east of Tularosa. In 1875 he discovered copper on his ranch and for several years operated the mine. He continued in possession of the property until December, 1905, when he sold out, having in the meantime shipped large quantities of ore, while he still has much on hand and yet owns a mill. While engaged in mining operations he at the same time conducted his farming interests, using water from the mountains for irrigation. The ranch lies on the Tularosa river and the soil is well adapted when irrigated to the production of all kinds of grains, vegetables and fruits. He has made a specialty of the cultiva- tion of apples and for years has raised apples weighing a pound and a half. He was the first American to locate here and has done much for the
Andrew Wilson
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LOCAL HISTORIES
substantial improvement and development of the county. To Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have been born four children: Mary L., the wife of Charles An- derson, of Otero county; Manoah, also of Otero county; Margaret and Andrew.
Mr. Wilson has served as county commissioner of Lincoln county. He is one of the most widely known of the pioneers of this part of the Ter- ritory and in the careful conduct of his business interests he has amassed wealth. His life has been eventful. fraught with many hardships and nar- row escapes from the Indians in early days, and he is familiar with all the experiences and trials that come to the frontiersman, but as the years have gone by his carefully directed labors have brought him success and also contributed to the substantial improvement and upbuilding of southeastern New Mexico.
C. Meyer, a prominent merchant of La Luz, Otero county, New Mex- ico, was born in Germany, and in that country he was reared and received a common school education. At the age of eighteen years he came to America, and a few months after his arrival in New York city he enlisted his services in defense of the Union army in the Civil war, becoming a member of Company B, Seventh New York Regiment, in which he served for ten months. After a military career of ten months he received his discharge at Hart's Island, New York, for his adopted country then no longer needed his services, and he returned to the duties of private life.
In 1869 Mr. Meyer made his way to Texas, remaining in the Lone Star state from that time until 1882, when he removed to old Mexico, and for three years was there engaged in merchandising. On the expiration of that period he returned to Texas, and for the following six years was employed as bookkeeper for an American Mining Company. He then came to New Mexico and opened his present place of business at La Luz, being now the proprietor of a large general merchandise store, in which he has a complete and well selected stock of goods, his being the only store of its kind in the beautiful little settlement of La Luz.
In this city in 1894 Mr. Mever was united in marriage to Lillie M. Greenwood, and they have three children: Lillie, Carl and Pauline. In his fraternal relations Mr. Meyer is a Mason, belonging to Alamogordo Lodge. He is also a director in the First National Bank of Alamogordo.
834
HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
MCKINLEY COUNTY.
Mckinley county was organized from a part of Bernalillo county in 1901. It lies in the first tier of western counties, and is bounded north by San Juan, east by Sandoval and Bernalillo counties, south by Valencia and west by Arizona Territory. Since the organization of the county, the seat of the government has been Gallup, which was settled in the early eighties, and is the center of a rich coal field.
On both sides of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad (Santa Fé), which passes through the southern and southwestern portions of the county, numerous seams of coal make their appearance almost to the Arizona line. The product is of very good quality, containing from 92 to 95 per cent of combustible matter, and is supplied to the railroads, iron works and ma- chine shops as far east as Albuquerque and as far west as the San Fran- cisco mountains in Arizona, a distance of three hundred miles. The seams of coal average from four to six feet in thickness.
For ten years or more before the creation of Mckinley county the people in the western portions of Bernalillo and Valencia counties were agitating the question of subdivision, knowing that Gallup would be the county seat. It was generally understood that the new county would be named Summit, but the popularity of the martyred president carried the day.
County Officers .- The following officials have served since the organi- zation of the county in 1901 :
County commissioners :- 1901-2, Edward Hart (chairman). W. L. Bretherton, W. L. McVickers : 1903-4, Edward Hart (chairman), W. H. Morris, S. E. Aldrich; 1905-6, W. L. Bretherton (chairman), W. H. Morris, John A. Gordon.
Probate judge :- 1901-6, D. Apodaca.
Probate clerks :- 1901-2, D. C. Russell; 1903-6, Fred W. Meyers.
Sheriffs :- 1901-4, William A. Smith; 1905-6, J. H. Coddington.
Treasurers :- 1901-4. John C. Spears; 1905-6, Palmer Ketner. Assessor :- 1901-6, Stephen Canavan.
Fort Wingate and Early Settlement .- Fort Wingate, in the southern part of Mckinley county, has been one of the most historic points in the Territory since 1862. The military occupation of that region, however, be- gan in 1801, during the administration of Ferdinand Chacon, when a Spanish colony and presidio, or military post, were established at Cebol- leta, fifteen miles north of Laguna. It was at this point that Governor Codallos, in 1746, had erected a mission for the purpose of evangelizing the Navajos. The first garrison consisted of thirty-five soldiers. This post was continued by the Spanish authorities until Mexico became a republic in 1821 ; then by the republic of Mexico until New Mexico became a Terri- tory of the United States in 1850. It was then re-established as a camp by
835
LOCAL HISTORIES
the United States government and thus maintained until 1862, when it was removed to El Gallo, near the present town of San Rafael ( Valencia coun- ty), and named Fort Wingate. In 1870 it was again moved to its present site at the west end of the Zuñi mountains.
General Eugene A. Carr, who was in command of the district of New Mexico, with headquarters at Fort Wingate, in 1888-90, in his annual report to the asistant adjutant general, Department of Arizona, under date of August 22, 1889, wrote as follows: "In looking over the records in the headquarters office, I am struck with the names of men prominent before and since the war, as well as those not so celebrated, but whose memories are so dear to many of us who are still on praying ground. On the reg- ister, which commences with October, 1854, I find Andrew Jackson lodg- ing with Major Brooks. S. D. Sturgis with General Garland, and J. L. McFerron with A. McD. McCook. In 1853 I escorted General Garland from Fort Leavenworth as far as Council Grove, where the command was waiting under Electus Backus, and remember McCook singing songs with a lot of jolly fellows in a tent that evening, viz., B. L. Ewell, Charles Sutherland, Cary H. Fry, George Sykes, John D. Wilkins, Henry B. (Joler) Davidson. R. W. (Bob) Johnson, H. L. Kendrick, whose rem- iniscences of Fort Defiance are so vivid, and who no doubt recalls the Ojo del Oso, which fixes the location of this post; W. R. Shoemaker, George Gibson, Robert Williams, D. H. Rucker, H. B. Clitz. B. J. D. Irwin, W. N. Grier (bueno commandante), J. H. Carleton, John Adams, C. H. Ogle, Jonas P. Holliday (bueno teniente ). Enoch and A. E. Steen, Elmer Otis, W. D. Pendor, D. McM. Gregg. W. W. Loring, Julian May, Roger Jones, J. H. Edson, J. R. Smead, W. B. Lane, Lewellyn Jones, A. J. Lindsay. G. B. Crittenden. W. L. Elliott, Alexander (General) McRae, who was killed at Valverde and had said the evening previous that he had nothing to live for, his family having disowned him on account of his adherence to the Union : John P. Hatch. R. M. Morris, Andrew Porter, James Longstreet, John G. Walker, my old captain and a perfect soldier and gentleman (I had been promoted out of the regiment of mounted riflemen in 1855, before it came to this Territory, where it gained great distinction in Indian war- fare ) ; Orrin Chapman, Jonathan Litterman, William D. Whipple, Fred Myers, John Pope. J. G. Lee. George B. Cosby, who had a $20 gold-piece in his pocket where an Indian arrow struck it; Johnny Dubois, Thomas Duncan, T. G. Pitcher, George E. Pickett, B. Wingate, afterward killed, and for whom this post is named: Alex. Chambers, John G. Marmaduke, Basil Norris, John Pegram, Will Kearney, J. G. Tilford, Albert J. Myer, A. L. Anderson. R. H. Hall, our present inspector ; L. L. Rich, and many others. * * *
"The first United States military commander was, of course, General Stephen W. Kearny ; the next, Colonel Doniphan ; the third, Sterling Price. Subsequently the command was exercised by the following distinguished officers. The records are deficient, but I remember that E. V. Sumner was sent out in 1850, with a large quantity of stock, seeds and farming uten- sils, with the idea of making the troops self-supporting. General Garland came out in 1853 : Colonels Bonneville and Loring commanded about 1857. General Canby was in command when the rebellion commenced, in 1861."
General Carr gives the following as the post commanders from 1864 to 1888: General Carleton, 1864-6; General Getty, 1867-9; General Grang-
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HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
er, 1870-3 (part of 1871), 1875; General Gregg, 1871 (part of year), 1874, 1878 (part of year) ; General Hatch, 1876-8 (part of year), 1879-81 ; Gen- eral Mackinzie, 1882-3 (part of year) ; General Stanley, 1883-4; General Bradley, 1884-6; General Swaine, 1885 (part of year) ; General Grierson, 1886-8.
In closing his report and calling attention to the resources of the surrounding country, General Carr wrote: "The cattle interest has in some places overstocked the area where water is to be had. In marching from Fort Bauard to Fort Wingate, in June, 1888, I found most of the cattle with their hides clinging to their bones, and considerable numbers dead in the sloughs, where they had mired when trying to drink, or to eat the green grass and weeds. * I will add that the native peo- ple are sober, frugal and industrious, and the educated among them and the American settlers form a superior body of men. All Latin races and all persons in a hot climate are supposed to take life easier than those who have to struggle with severe cold, but New Mexico is not so hot as some portions of the Union, and I think there is plenty of work in its inhabitants and that it is the making of a prosperous state. The country is practicable for railroads in almost every direction. The mountains and canyons look forbidding, but there is always a way to get across or through them. In my opinion." he concludes prophetically, "it would not be difficult to con- struct a railroad north of the San Juan, near Farmington, south to Silver City, New Mexico, or Clifton, Arizona, thus connecting Durango and Deming." In another portion of his report he intimates a desire which has not yet been fulfilled: "The Moquis had, on the 17th inst., their quad- rennial snake dance. a disgusting ceremony, of which this may be the last exhibition."
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