Page 210 - Cooke's Peak - Pasaron Por Aqui

Figure 47. John Simpson Chisum. Photo cour- tesy of the Museum of New Mexico, #9843.
In mid-summer 1877, a different sort of caravan reached Silver City, and the administration of John D. Slocum’s Ranch changed hands. John Swisshelm had driven 118 large burros to the mining country from near Austin, Texas.3 On the way to Cooke’s Spring he was probably greeted by the new proprietor when he stopped to water his stock at Slocum’s Ranch. Richard S. Mason had leased Slocum’sfacilityandhelaterpurchased 4
In the spring of 1878, an interesting stock drive
came through Cooke’s Canyon and ended in
tragedy. In the 1850s thousands of sheep had been
driven to California to supply the rapidly increasing
population. Now a sheep herd was being driven
from California, heading for Texas, by a man named
Warner (or Wagner). After moving through
Cooke’s Canyon, then crossing the Rio Grande and
the Tularosa Basin, the herders were attacked by a
band of local bandits, including, or possibly led by,
Jessie Evens. Warner and Tom Hill, one of the
outlaws, were killed in the fight, and Evens (another
figure in the Lincoln County War) sustained a bul-
let-shattered wrist and gave himself up to the 5
authorities.
At least one family migrated through Cooke’s
Canyon in both directions within a short period of
time. In 1877 the Jones family had to leave New
Mexico when one of the boys, John (a later par-
ticipant in the Lincoln County War), killed a former
friend, named Riley, when forced into a duel. The
matriarch of the family, Barbara Jones, drove the
team of Spanish mules while her husband, Heiskell,
walked beside the other wagon pulled by oxen. Her
sonsJohn,Jim,andMariondrovethecattle. They
crossed the Tularosa Basin, passed through San
Augustine Pass, and forded the Rio Grande. The
family continued past Cooke’s Spring and on to the
Tucson area. They did not stay there very long.
There was little work to be had, and another son,
Sammie,camedownwithafever. SoonafterBar-
bara gave birth to a fifth son, Henry, they returned
east to Fort Stockton, Texas, via Cooke’s Spring and
6 El Paso.
The expanding populations of the mining com-
munities in New Mexico and around Tucson re-
quired a considerable flow of merchandise. Many
of the supplies and much of the equipment came
from Mexico or El Paso through Cooke’s Canyon.
Examples of this continuing massive effort were the
two freight trains that unloaded for the J. F. Ben-
nett and Company’s store in Silver City in the spring
of 1875. Lesinsky of Las Cruces had shipped 42,000
pounds of assorted merchandise via Trujillo’s train,
and a few days earlier two other freighters had un-
loaded 20,000 pounds of salt and 15,000 pounds of
7
corn.
The many heavy freight wagons precipitated a
problem with the road in 1877. Some time in the late 1860s or early 1870s, the road around Picacho Peak’s north side had been shifted to the south side. Un- fortunately, the soil there did not stand up well to use. In 1877 it became so bad, due to the deep sand, that heavy freight wagons could negotiate the grade only with great difficulty. Mesilla residents proposed that, because the sand prevented any im- provement, the road be changed back to the north side and if the road commissioner could not include it in his efforts, that the freighters and stage
8
operators get together and do it themselves. Meanwhile, several mail and transportation lines and freighting efforts flourished along the old road, and business was good at each water source. In fact, places such as Slocum’s, Fort Cummings, and Rio Mimbres added facilities for overnight guests to their inventory of services and supplies. All was not quiet, however; the raiding Apaches were soon
A Period of Relative Peace and Economic Development
it.
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