Page 92 - Cooke's Peak - Pasaron Por Aqui

record of the journey is rich in descriptions of his observations along the way.
On June 29, 1854, the Erskine group, 40 miles in advance of the James’s outfit, ran into trouble with Indians stealing three oxen. Fourteen of Erskine’s men trailed the thieves to a Mescalero camp where they counterattacked and, after an hour’s fight, took 12 head of riding stock from the Indians before
Thorn and the town of Santa Barbara, after crossing
the river about six miles south of there. On the way
they were plagued by mosquitoes but, through a little
petty thievery one night, managed to obtain some
fresh onions, green corn, and several water- 182
melons.
They were also warned that a party ahead had
murdered two Indian women, and the Apaches were preparing to attack every party that passed. On the day before reaching Cooke’s Spring, an Indian visited the James cattle drive and ate with Mr. J ames. Young Bell thought the Indian was there to spy and see how prepared they were for defense.
On Wednesday, August 16, 1854, “the finest day of the trip.” the drive arrived at Cooke’s Spring at noon. Bell noted that although there was plenty of water, he would have called the spring a mud hole, which might have been the after-effect of the passage of the many cattle just ahead of them on the trail. They pulled out late that evening and drove through Cooke’s Canyon, camping at dark without water. They met a group of Mexican timber cutters the following day and were warned of two parties of
186
Indians ahead.
The James cattle drive reached the Mimbres River
on August 17 only to find it dry (it had been flowing nine days earlier when the Erskine outfit crossed), and Bell called it the Rio Disappointment. The men did find a pool of standing water a quarter-mile upstreamandwateredthestock. Somanytadpoles were in the water, however, that Bell said it was difficult to get a drink without swallowing several.
On August 20, 1854, just one day from the water at
Ojo la Vaca, Bell noted that the Holliday train was
only a few days behind them with 1,000 cattle, 50
men, 6 or 8 wagons, and 75 head of horses and
i on
'
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a band of Apaches.
Between 15 and 20 Apaches attacked the Dunlap
and Houston outfit, killing Houston on August 25, and stealing 20 or more head of his and Dunlap’s horses. At about the same time, one of the Fair- childs was killed in a raid that took their entire cattle herd, and their wagons were sacked. The Buck and Bryant outfit lost 140 head. Erskine, having received the warning from the others, gathered some of the
C7
retreating from a superior force.
1 *70
m The James drive
had no such problem and arrived at Franklin on July 31, 12 days behind Erskine’s herd.
Young Bell was lodged temporarily with a Dr. Giddings in San Elizario, probably because he had been slightly ill. Quite perceptively, he noted in his
journal that, “This country is destined at some da^
to become of importance to the United States.”
Erskine had stayed four days at Magoffin’s ranch, at
the latter’s invitation, where wagons were repaired
and preparations made for the next phase of the 80
trail.
On Sunday July 23, 1854, Erskine left Magoffin’s
ranch and proceeded up the Rio Grande Valley to Fort Thorn, camping near there on August 2. The crew and herd remained near the fort for two more days. This was sufficient to complete the repair of the wagons, pick up additional supplies and equip- ment, and have three drovers thrown in the military guardhouse for being drunk and refusing to work. The three men (identified only as Lockey, Maloney, and Pat) were left there, as Erskine refused to let them accompany him farther. However, he did hire 2 new hands at the fort making a total crew of 34.
Between the Rio Grande and the Mimbres River,
Erskine found sufficient water for only the men and
the working stock. The cattle herd had to go without
water for three or four days several times between
Texas and California. Erskine noted that they
camped a mile west of Cooke’s spring on August 7
and had “no chance to water the herd either at the
Five herds, owned by Dunlap and Hous-
Tanks [Foster’s Hole], Mule Springs, or Cooks [sic] 181
mules.
ton, the Fairchilds brothers, Buck and Bryant, Major Erskine, and Franklin, were ahead of the James party. Starting on August 25, the parties ahead of the James outfit had a series of confrontations with
The only reasonable explanation for not
Spring.”
watering at Cooke’s Spring is that other herds were already camped there, and the grass was insufficient for the Erskine outfit to remain long enough to water the herd.
In early August, Bell and the other drovers pushed the James cattle up the river from Franklin past Fort Fillmore where Mr. James got a list of the watering places ahead and the distances between them. The cattlemen continued on past Las Cruces to Fort
Civilian Use of the Southern Route
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