USA > New Mexico > History of New Mexico : its resources and people, Volume II > Part 44
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The Kitchen Opera House in Gallup was erected in 1895 by Peter Kitchen, who located in Mckinley county in 1887, first establishing himself in the liquor business at Gibson. Since 1891 he has been engaged in busi- ness in Gallup. He was born in Galicia, Poland, in 1862, came to America in 1879 and for a few years before deciding to settle in New Mexico he traveled through Nebraska. Colorado and other western states. His opera house was the first to be erected in Gallup. His business career has been marked by financial success. He has taken an active interest in local affairs and has served as trustee of the town.
T. C. DeShon, proprietor of a finely equipped blacksmith shop and vehicle establishment at Gallup, came to New Mexico in 1885 as a me- chanic in the Albuquerque shops of the Santa Fé Railway system, having been sent there from the shops at Topeka, Kansas. He was born at St. Joseph, Missouri, and for several vears before coming to this Territory had been employed by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Com- Vol. II. 21
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HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
pany at Lincoln, Nebraska, and Edgemont, South Dakota, and by the Santa Fé Railroad Company at Topeka. In 1898 he was sent from Albu- querque to Gallup, where he remained in the employ of the company for eighteen months.
With almost no capital, he then purchased a small building and rented two lots and established himself in business as a general blacksmith, wheel- wright and wagonmaker, and has added to this until now he is doing a wholesale as well as retail business, and carries a large stock of wagons and buggies. He soon found a large trade among the Navajos and has been quite successful.
Politically, unswerving in his devotion to Republican principles, he has taken an active interest in public affairs, and from 1901 to 1905 served as police justice. He is now chief deputy sheriff of Mckinley county. He was made a Mason in Alliance, Nebraska, and has attained the thirty-second degree, entering the higher lodges at Deadwood, South Dakota, and the Shrine at Albuquerque. He is also a member of the lodge of Elks at Albuquerque.
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LUNA COUNTY.
Luna county is in the southernmost tier of counties and in the second from the west. Its territory extends into Grant county to the west, and it is bounded north by Sierra, east by Doña Ana and south by Old Mexico.
Luna county was carved from portions of Grant and Doña Ana coun- ties in 1901, after many years of agitation. The real cause of the division was the rivalry between Silver City and Deming, and the general senti- ment among the people residing in what were the southern districts of Grant county that they were unfairly treated in politics and otherwise by the northern clique, with headquarters at Silver City. The definite agitation for a division began as early as 1888, and much time, money and bitter feeling were expended before the champions of Deming and a new county secured their end. Logan and three or four other names were proposed, but the rather impersonal and euphonious name by which it is now known was finally adopted.
County Officers .- The following have officially served the county since its organization :
County commissioners :- 1901-2, James P. Byron (chairman), Newton A. Bolich, William M. Taylor (resigned), John T. Onstott (appointed to succeed Taylor ).
1903-4. Walter C. Wallis (chairman), Stephen S. Birchfield (resigned), B. Y. McKeyes (appointed to succeed Mr. Birchfield, William Cotton (died in office), Will- iam M. Taylor (appointed to succeed Mr. Cotton; resigned), Albert L. Foster (ap- pointed to succeed Mr. Taylor).
1905-6, W. C. Wallis (chairman), A. L. Foster, B. Y. McKeyes.
Probate judges :- 1901-4, E. H. Matthews; 1905-6, Seaman Field.
Probate clerks :- 1901-4, B. Y. McKeyes; 1905-6. E. J. Carskadon.
Sheriffs :- 1901-2, Cipriano Baca; 1903, William Foster (resigned) ; Dwight B. Stevens (appointed to fill unexpired term), 1905-6.
Treasurers :- 1901-2, C. J. Kelly: 1903. Walter H. Guiney (died in office) ; C. J. Kelly (appointed to fill unexpired term), 1905-6.
Assessors :- 1901-4, Edward Pennington ; 1905-6, J. B. Hodgon.
Natural Features .- Luna county is pre-eminently a cattle country, al- though with the development of irrigation systems founded upon the waters of the Rio Mimbres, cereals, fruits and vegetables will undoubt- edly become important sources of wealth. The soil of the valleys is a rich, sandy loam, light and porous and of surprising fertility, and best adapted to fruits and vegetables. Cabbages and onions reach a remarkable de- velopment, the former often weighing from thirty to forty pounds and the latter from one to two. Delicious melons also grow to grand proportions, and the root crops grow well everywhere. The cereals do best in the ele- vated plateaus.
The general surface of the county is that of a plain, dotted with clus- ters of mountains rising from 1,000 to 2,000 feet above the level. The
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broad plains are covered with black and white gama grass, and the showers ordinarily induced by the mountain clusters serve to keep the forage in nutritive condition.
The Mimbres rises in the mountains of the same name, at the con- tinental divide, in the northeastern part of Grant county. It takes its headwaters within about a mile of the principal feeders of the Gila, on the other side of the divide. Below the mountains in Luna county the river takes the form of what is usually termed a "lost river." About thirty miles north of Deming it debouches upon a plateau of the Sierra Madre as a large plain of deep alluvial soil. Little or no water is in sight, except in the flood seasons, but it always may be reached at moderate depths be- low the surface. The rivers rise in the mountains, drain a considerable watershed and then disappear into the earth. It is believed that in former ages, when the courses were much greater and the currents more rapid, scoriations of gravel and sand from the mountain sides filled up certain sections of the river beds, and that the water still percolates through these vast filters of nature. It is certain that in the case of Deming the phenome- non has been the means of furnishing the city with one of the best supplies in the world.
Deming .- The county seat is a prosperous village of about 1.500 peo- ple, lying at the junction of the Southern Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railroads, which from this point run west toward California, southeast to El Paso, Texas, and northeast to the upper portion of New Mexico, with spurs to Silver City and the adjacent mining country. It is not only the center of an extensive stock-raising country, but the mines, both south and north, give trade to many of its people. Gardens and or- chards surround the place, and the waters of the Mimbres are being de- veloped into a comprehensive system of irrigation, and an extension of the surrounding cultivated area means a corresponding growth of the settle- ment to which it is tributary.
Like most southwestern towns, Deming was founded upon railroad land. The first government grant of land covering its site was to the Texas Pacific Railroad, covering each alternate section from Texas to the Pacific coast. But the line was not built and the land was forfeited. In 1880 the Santa Fe reached Deming, the town being surveyed upon Wyan- dotte scrip land, which had been bought by that company. The original Texas Pacific grant was near the site and included the ground upon which the railroad depot was erected. Although this tract was inclosed by a wire fence, in 1882 several men jumped the land and organized a town company. The land was platted and many lots were sold, and after a legal fight of twenty years the squatters won their case.
The early prosperity of Deming. was largely on account of its large trade with Mexico. The first church to be established was the Methodist, in 1883. Dr. Keefe was the pioneer physician, and . C. H. Dane the first banker, with Frank H. Seabold, cashier. Among the earliest lawyers were Murat Masterson, a Canadian, who became widely known; Fred Clarl and Philip Colby. The best known of the old-time merchants were German & Company, John Corbett, A. J. Clark, J. A. Mahoney, H. H. Kidder, Frank Thurmond, A. W. Armstrong and N. A. Bolich.
While the long fight was progressing in the courts between the South- ern Pacific and the Santa Fé roads and those who occupied the land along
Richard Hudson
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LOCAL HISTORIES
their lines included in the original Texas Pacific grant, the feeling became so bitter that the companies discriminated against the town people and greatly retarded the growth of the place. But with the settlement of that difficulty, as well as of the contentions with Silver City (when Luna county was created), Deming commenced to grow rapidly.
In February, 1902, Deming was incorporated under the general village act, its first board of trustees being as follows: Seaman Field (president ), T. A. Carr, Lou H. Brown, Albert Beals, A. J. Clark, Ed Pennington (clerk). In February. 1905, M. A. A. Lemke succeeded Mr. Pennington as clerk, but Mr. Field has acted as president to the present.
On November 18, 1905. the Deming City Water Company was in- corporated, with Colonel P. R. Smith as president, J. J. Bennett vice-presi- dent and W. E. Willis secretary and treasurer. The supply is obtained from the subterranean waters of the Mimbres and the entire watershed to the north, the main reservoir, about six miles from the village, being forty-five feet deep and containing fifteen feet of water. The water is carried to Deming in eight-inch pipes. One well, twelve feet in depth, with a capacity of 1,500,000 gallons daily, supplies the domestic require- ments of the village, and another. eighteen feet deep, having a capacity of 2,000,000 gallons in twenty-four hours, is used for irrigation.
The capital stock of the company is $100.000; bonded indebtedness, $35,000 ; assets (estimated), $150,000. Colonel Smith, its president, is in correspondence with the Reclamation Service of the government with a view of extending its investigations to the Mimbres valley in the vicinity of Deming. He is convinced that fifty square miles of valuable land can be irrigated, with the natural resources at hand, at a cost of one cent per thousand gallons.
The importance of Deming as a center of the cattle trade will be real- ized when it is known that 100,000 head are shipped annually from the three yards which were established by the Santa Fe road in 1892-93.
The Adelphi Club was organized solely. for social purposes in 1899. Its membership is limited to Deming and the country immediately sur- rounding. Besides social and literary features, it supplies, in the way of amusements, bowling, billiards and gymnastic facilities.
Colonel Richard Hudson. now living retired in Deming, is one of the most widely known of the pioneers of New Mexico, and his life has been of direct and immediate serviceableness in the substantial upbuilding and development of his part of the Territory. He was born in England, Feb- ruary 22. 1839, was early left an orphan and in his childhood came to the United States. He was educated in Brooklyn, New York, and, attracted by the discovery of gold in California, went to San Francisco in 1852, when but thirteen years of age. In 1856 he ran away from home and began mining in Oroville, California. In 1861 he helped organize the First Cali- fornia Regiment for duty in the Civil war, but this regiment was not sent into active service. Subsequently, therefore, he joined Company I of the Fifth California Infantry and was made sergeant, while in 1863, in south- ern California, he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant. He came to New Mexico with his command in the same year and assisted in preserving order in the lower Rio Grande valley. In 1864 he was pro- moted to first lieutenant and adjutant, and remained in the service until the end of the war. On the 17th of October, 1866, he was mustered out at
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Fort Union, New Mexico. He has since resided in the southwest, and in 1868 was appointed by Governor Mitchell captain of militia, while Gov- ernor Wallace made him major in the National Guard and Governor Shel- don promoted him to the rank of colonel of the First Regiment. He has ever been interested in military affairs, and yet possesses much of the old military spirit which prompted his active duty with the Union troops in the Civil war.
In the fall of 1866 Colonel Hudson located at Pinos Altos, where he engaged in the hotel business, also in mining, staging and freighting. The same year he was elected the first sheriff of Grant county and served in that capacity for two years. In 1870 he was elected probate judge and served four years. In 1871 he removed to Silver City, where he engaged in the livery and freighting business and subsequently purchased the hot springs, which then became known as the Hudson Hot Springs. Recognizing their value because of their medicinal properties, in 1876 he built a hotel and bath houses there and conducted the hotel for a number of years with good success. At the same time he was engaged in the cattle business. In March, 1892, his hotel was destroyed by fire and he then re- turned to Silver City, where he conducted the Timmer Hotel. Soon after- ward he was appointed by President Harrison as agent for the Mescalero Apaches and acted in that capacity for one year. Since then he has lived in honorable retirement from further official or business cares, and well does he merit the rest which has come to him, for his life has been one of activity, and in the control of his private business interests lie has also con- tributed to the public welfare.
Fraternally, Colonel Hudson is a Knight Templar and Shriner Mason, and also belongs to the Odd Fellows society and the Grand Army of the Republic. He is a man of many sterling qualities and characteristics, and wherever known is held in high esteem by reason of his genuine worth and what he has accomplished.
September 24, 1871. at Silver City, Mr. Hudson married Miss Mary E. Stevens, of Silver City. One daughter was born, Mamie, now Mrs. H. H. Williams, of Deming.
Dwight B. Stephens, sheriff of Luna county and a resident of Dem- ing, was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio. He came to this part of the Terri- tory in 1892 and entered the cattle business. He has since been identified with this industry, which is one of the most important resources of the Territory, and his labors have been of material benefit in grading up stock in the last few years, thereby greatly increasing their market value. He was appointed sheriff of Luna county to fill out the unexpired term of W. N. Foster, and in November, 1905, was elected to the position which lie is now filling.
Mr. Stephens and his family reside in Deming. He belongs to Deming Lodge No. 20, K. P .; Deming Lodge No. 12, A. F. & A. M., and the Elks Lodge No. 413, at Silver City, New Mexico. He is a man of social, genial disposition, having a wide acquaintance and many friends.
James H. Tracy, well known in business circles in Deming, Luna county, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, August 10, 1850, and in 1872 went to Virginia, whence in 1874 he made his way to Texas. In 1880 he came to New Mexico, where he engaged in mining for four or five years. He had charge of Carroll Brothers' Silver Cave mining group and Poca-
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LOCAL HISTORIES
hontas mines at the south end of the Florida mountains and yielding lead and silver. They were discovered in 1880 and were worked up to 1885 as patented ground. Little work, however, was done from 1885 until 1904. Mr. Tracy has been with the firm of Carroll Brothers, in charge, since 1885. He is engaged in business in Deming, having been a partner of J. W. Han- nigan since 1889.
Mr. Tracy has attained high rank in Masonry, belonging to the blue lodge, chapter and commandery, being a charter member of the last named. He is also a member of the Mystic Shrine at Albuquerque.
Judge Seaman Field, probate judge of Luna county, at Deming, was born in Jefferson county, New York, February 27, 1829. His educational advantages in youth were very meager, but he has been a broad reader and is now a well-informed man, having a comprehensive knowledge not equaled by many a college-bred student. He began business life as a clerk, and while still but a boy went to New York city, where he was employed in the same capacity by his uncle. In 1849 he removed to New Orleans, Louisiana, and for ten years traveled for a mercantile house.
In 1862 Judge Field enlisted in the Thirty-third Texas Confederate Cavalry and served on the frontier of Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. He enlisted as a private, but was promoted from the ranks to sergeant and successively to first lieutenant, captain and lieutenant-colonel. When the war was over he returned to New York city and again entered the old mercantile house in which he had formerly been employed, spending the succeeding eleven years in the north. In 1876, however, he again went to Texas, and in 1882 came to Deming, where he owned a ranch and also conducted a wholesale liquor house. In 1884 he was appointed by Presi- dent Cleveland United States collector of customs at Deming, and served for four years, being, perhaps, the only man to ever hold that office with- out bond. He also held that office four years in Cleveland's second term; was chairman of the board of school trustees of the high school of Deming for six years, serving for over ten years on the board during his residence here: was one of the organizers of the Adelphi Club, which has been a great advantage to this town; is also brigadier-general, commanding the New Mexico Brigade, Pacific Division, U. C. V. & S., and is president of the board of regents of the Agricultural College, in which he has served for four years. He has been engaged more or less in mining, and has thus led a busy life with his industrial, commercial and official duties demand- ing his time and attention.
Judge Field was married in New Orleans, in 1857, to Miss Maggie Clannon, who died on October 14, 1878, and on the 8th of February, 1881, he was married to Mrs. Achsa Mims, of Dallas, Texas. Judge Field is a Mason, having held the highest offices in the lodge, chapter and com- mandery, and in his life exemplifies the beneficent spirit of the craft. He has been president of the board of trustees of the village of Deming since its organization. He is one of the most highly respected citizens of the southern portion of New Mexico, a man who in the breadth of his vision, his business activity and his political service has made his life of benefit to his fellow men.
Joseph A. Mahoney, who is engaged in merchandising in Deming. where he is also operating in real estate, has figured prominently as well in political circles and has been a representative to the Territorial legis-
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lature. He was born in Ladoga, Indiana, on the 4th of April, 1864, and was reared and educated in his native state, supplementing a public school course by attendance at a normal school. In May, 1882, when eighteen years of age, he came to Deming and has since resided continuously in this city. He entered upon his business career here in the capacity of a clerk in the employ of A. J. Clark, with whom he remained for two years, when, in 1885, he established a grocery business on his own account. On the Ist of January, 1889, he extended the field of his operations by open- ing a hardware, furniture and crockery business and now has a liberal patronage accorded him in recognition of his straightforward dealing, his reasonable prices and his earnest efforts to please his customers. He has remained at the same location continuously since May 20, 1885, although on the 5th of July of that year. at eleven o'clock at night, his store was burned in the big general fire which swept over the town. At seven o'clock the next morning he resumed business and as rapidly as possible again stocked his store, and has through all the intervening years been a fore- most factor in commercial circles in Deming. He also has lead and zinc mine properties and owns considerable valuable real estate, including three large business blocks, two of which were erected by him. He has thus con- tributed in substantial measure to the material progress and development of his adopted city.
Mr. Mahoney was married to Ella Broderick, a native of Crawfords- ville, Indiana, and they have a daughter. Mary. Mr. Mahoney belongs to the Elks lodge at Silver City. In politics he is a stalwart Democrat and he was very active in the fight for the erection of Luna county from Grant county. In 1897 he represented his district in the lower house of the Ter- ritorial legislature and he has been a member of the board of equaliza- tion and secretary and treasurer of the Regent's Normal School for six years. His activity in public service has been of material benefit to the Territory along the various lines to which his energies have been directed.
Colonel Paschal Smith, a veteran of the Civil war, now engaged in the real estate business in Deming and one of the best known pioneers of Grant county, New Mexico, was born near Dyersburg, Tennessee, in November. 1833. In his early boyhood days he went to Arkansas and subsequently to Texas, arriving in Guadalupe in 1844. His father had died in Arkansas and subsequently Colonel Smith returned to that state, becoming a student in Mine Creek College, now extinct. He early displayed the elemental strength of his character by working his way through college and thus, when equipped for life's practical and responsible duties, he entered into business. At the opening of the Civil war, however, he put aside all bus- iness and personal considerations and, true to his loved southland. became a private in the Confederate army. He soon won promotion, however, to the rank of second lieutenant, eventually becoming lieutenant colonel of the Nineteenth Arkansas Regiment and acted as its commander through- out the war, being commissioned colonel just before the close of hostil- ities. He served in Arkansas, Missouri and Louisiana, being first attached to the army under General McCullough. later under General Holmes and subsequently under General Kirby Smith in Louisiana. Two months be- fore the cessation of hostilities he was sent on a special secret mission to Europe for the Confederate government and there he secured arms, which were placed on shipboard ready to be taken to the Confederacy, but the
Mr and Mrs Co. L. Baker
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LOCAL HISTORIES
war ended and he was recalled from England. He then sailed to Matamoras, whence he returned to the United States.
After the war was over Colonel Smith engaged in business in Bryant, Texas, for seven years, covering the period from 1869 until 1876. He was afterward connected with business enterprises in Chicago, Illinois, and because of ill health sought a change of climate, going to Denver, Col- orado, in 1878. Two years later he came to New Mexico and entered upon business connection with the Valverde Mining Company in the Burro mountains, acting as general manager of that company and also becoming director in the Valverde Company, then operating in that locality. Subse- quently Colonel Smith spent a few years in New York, but since 1890 has lived in Deming, where he is engaged in real estate operations. He is also president of the Deming City Water Company, which he organized. The works were successfully completed and put in operation May 1, 1906. He is now thoroughly informed concerning property values in this part of the Territory and has negotiated a number of important realty trans- fers, having a good clientage in this direction. He has also promoted three successful mining sales since May 15, 1906, aggregating $600,000. Colonel Smith is a supporter of the Democracy who entertains liberal and progres- sive views. He has steadily refused office, having no aspiration in that direction, but keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day, as every true American citizen should do. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons. His life has been one of intense and well directed activity and he is today one of the prominent and representative residents of Dem- ing.
Colonel Smith has four daughters by his first wife, all now married. He was married again in 1869 to Miss Mattie G. Kendrick, of Kentucky, by whom he had one son and two daughters. The son, a graduate of Stanford University and New York Law School, died at the age of twenty- seven, a brilliant, highly respected young man, whom everybody loved and trusted. He was the idol and life of the home and his untimely death was the greatest sorrow of all. Lillian and Manda, recent graduates of Mills College, California, and Vassar College, New York, are both at home with their parents and are very intellectual and beautiful young ladies.
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