Page 23 - Early Naturalists of the Black Range

Rowland Willard
In 1825-7, Willard, who was a physician, travelled south from Taos to Chihuahua, where he practiced for two years before the Mexican government deported foreigners. He is another traveler who passed the Black Range by, staying in the valley.
Willard in about 1875

His stay in the southwest started on May 6, 1825, when he joined a trading caravan, heading for New Mexico, in St. Charles, Missouri.
An account of his travels was published to great interest. “Inland Trade With New Mexico” was published as an addendum to The Personal Narrative of James O. Pattie of Kentucky, edited by Timothy Flint, which was published in 1831. This summary by the editors contains a significant amount of information. His journal has also been transcribed and printed.
At page 267-8, a summary of Willard’s description of the weather, of caliche, and of the Rio del Norte is given. Willard reported that he had been told that “In 1752 the Rio del Norte became dry for an extent of 150 leagues. The water had sunk, and passed through subterranean channels, and so continued to flow for some weeks; when, no doubt, the chasm became choked, and the river resumed its former bed.” A league is roughly three miles, so he was reporting that the Rio Grande was dry for 450 miles in 1752. “It seldom rains; and when rains happen, the spring of that country may be said to have commenced. The naked, red and rolling surface of the wide prairies, only limited by rude and rugged mountains, become at once covered with a tender and deep verdure. This spring happens in September.”
In Chihuahua, Willard found that most of the “houses in the towns are generally built of unburnt bricks (ed. adobe); in many instances in the form of a parallelogram, or hollow square,
making the front at once mural defences, and the fronts of dwellings. The floors are, for the most part, brick or composition, - that is to say, clay, lime &c. pulverized, and cemented with blood, or other glutinous and sizy liquids.” (pp. 269-270) These are the same types of structures that many naturalists were to find and live in throughout the 1800’s.
The work is a product of its time. The descriptions of peoples, and their cultures, other than that of the author’s, is often dismissive and biased to an extent that it prevents a clear understanding of the subject. But it is possible, if you take out the adjectives, to gain some real insight into the lives of these people and the land in which they lived.
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Willard’s scarificator, used for bloodletting as part of the medical treatment he administered in the 1820’s.
Fur Trappers
Throughout this period, fur trappers like Pauline Weaver were actively trapping along the Gila River. Trappers like Pattie and travelers like Willard and Gregg (see next page) were not “one off”. Although sparse by today’s standards, there were a great many people doing a great many things in this area at this time.