Page 199 - Cooke's Peak - Pasaron Por Aqui

Other news would soon add to the Apaches’ dif- ficulties and increase problems for the military as well. Goldpreviouslyhadbeenthemaininterestin the mountain mining communities around Pinos Altos. Now silver, in a previously unrecognized form, was discovered in a grassy valley known as La Cienega de San Vicente. Before long, the area took
on a new and possibly more appropriate name, Silver
132 City.
Within a short time, Silver City had a population of 1,800 people. Populations in other areas of interest were: 248 at Pinos Altos, 3 at Lucy’s Ranch (soon to be Hot Springs), and 6 at Slocum’s Ranch. Fort Cummings had a total of 70 people, including the Fifteenth Infantry and several servants and laundresses, who were listed at or near the facility.
Also at Fort Cummings, Sam Lyons was listed as the
post trader (although his appointment did not come
until later), and credited with $2,000 in personal
property. A hotel with a 38-year-old male cook was
133 also listed.
Theescortsupportforthemailagainwashavinga detrimental effect on the garrison’s ability to per- form. The team of four mules sent out with the mail from the post almost always came back short at least one mule because the animal had broken down or died on the road between Fort Cummings and Barney’s Station. The teams were covering the 156- mile round trip in 3 days, and it was too strenuous for them on a continuing basis. A requisition was forwarded for 15 additional mules and a spring
wagon along with a request for permission to estab-
134
lish a relay station at the Mimbres River.
It was approximately at this time that the Shrode family reached Cooke’s Spring. David and Maria, with four of his children and another four of theirs
135
along the way, and they had suffered the usual problems of lost cattle and poor pasturage. Maria claimed that near San Augustine Pass, water from a spring about three miles away was carried down the mountain through troughs before it emptied into the huge tanks where they watered.
The Shrodes had crossed the pass and arrived at Fort Selden on September 21. After a layover at the fort, they also watered at Slocum’s Ranch for 10 cents a head. It cost them $145 to water the herd, therefore, they still had 1,450 cattle, despite losses along the way, including 28 head that drowned cross- ing the rain-swollen Pecos River. On September 25, the Shrodes had camped overnight at the abandoned Goodsight Station and arrived at Fort Cummings the following day.
Maria visited the cemetery and noticed that of the 20 graves, 6 individuals had been killed by Indians. Some of the graves were walled with rock, and the perimeter wall was whitewashed. She also men- tioned a folding gate but made no remark about elaborateheadstones. Afterwateringtheircattle, the Shrodes camped about a mile beyond the spring, near the mouth of the canyon. Some of the soldiers who visited their camp complained about the loneli- nessofthefort. AttheMimbresRiver,theylost seven horses to either thieves or Indians. On Oc- tober 19, 1870, between Fort Bowie and Tucson, Maria noted that they were at a place where the Indians had attacked and burned a stage three
months earlier. It would be after Christmas before the Shrodes reached their California destination.
It seemed that the post commander at Fort Cum-
mings was not able to avoid problems with the
civilians with whom he had to deal. In July he
notified Lyons that it would no longer be permissible
to sell liquor to the enlisted men in any quantity
larger than by the drink, and four men, Privates
Egan. Gallagher, Grace, and Bay, were not allowed
17
had left east Texas on or about May 10.
a year and a few days after the Bunyards had left east Texas for identical reasons. Here the similarity ended. The Shrodes took a large herd of cattle with them, and they turned north after the Pecos and passed through the mountains near Fort Stanton before crossing the Tularosa Basin toward San Augustine Pass east of Las Cruces. It would also take them much longer than the Bunyards to reach California.
They had some interesting experiences as they traveled. On August 28 it had hailed, and Maria put thehailstonesinabucketofwatersotheycouldhave acooldrink. Theysawseveralothertrailherds
This was
Chapter 6
185
That fall, W. V. B. Wardwell had a wood cutting contract for Fort Cummings, and the crews supplying fuel for the post brought in a mixture of cottonwood, cedar, and oak. The commander called Wardwell’s attention to the fact that his con- tract called for mesquite to be provided, and the
commander indicated that he intended to enforce
any.
•• the provision.
138
Mail lines and passenger stages continued to use Cooke’sSpringontheirroutes. Forexample,in 1870,JosephF.Bennett,HenryLesinsky,andCon