Army of the West (or this day in history 1846)

By Harley Shaw

On State Highway 152, about six road miles east of Hillsboro stands a large kiosk, with a spacious pull-out for curious travelers to stop and read. The kiosk pays homage to much local history, but it fails to mention the passing at this point of the most important military expedition that ever traversed New Mexico, and perhaps of the entire U.S. Had you stood at this site the afternoon of October 15, 1846, you would have viewed up close some 140 mounted members of General Stephen Watts Kearny’s Army of the West leading pack mules and dragging two cannons. In fact, you might well have been forced to move aside, for, according to an analysis made in 1957 by retired Army Colonel George Ruhlen (scroll down page to read Ruhlen's article), Kearny and his troops passed roughly at this point, led by the legendary Kit Carson. They descended southward into Percha Creek where they camped for the night. That camp was probably just upstream from the present Percha Creek Ranch, which shows up as Clark’s Ranch on the 1996 Skute Stone topographic map, within sight of present-day Copper Flat mine.  

After a bloodless defeat of the Mexican army near Santa Fe, Kearny had claimed New Mexico for the United States. He and his men then headed westward to invade California. By the time Kearny reached Percha Creek, however, he was expecting to meet no more resistance in taking California than he had in taking Santa Fe—a misconception that nearly cost Kearny his life and resulted in the death of 18 of his men. Only nine days before camping on Percha Creek, Kearny had encountered Kit Carson between present-day Truth or Consequences and Socorro, carrying news that John Charles Fremont had already captured California, leading Kearny to reduce his force, abandon his wagons and speed westward with mounted soldiers and a pack train. Carson knew the way over this unpopulated territory.    

After camping a night on Percha Creek, Kearny moved out southwesterly and followed the route of present State Highway 27 for perhaps six miles before turning westward to follow Berrenda Creek to the low pass between the Black Range and Cooke’s Peak.  This pass would be the site of infamous raids by Apaches Nana, Geronimo, and Chihuahua in the early 1880s, and then a short-lived state highway in the 1920s. Note that none of these landmarks bore those names in 1846 and at least one, Cooke’s Peak, resulted from the passing of another branch of Kearny’s Army, the Mormon Battalion. A small obolisk a few miles south of Lake Valley on State Highway 27 stands in silent tribute to their privations. The peak at the south end of the Mimbres Mountains is named for Lieutenant Colonel Phillip Saint George Cooke, who led some 350 Mormon volunteers, traveling afoot from Iowa to Californian, down the Rio Grande and south around that peak north of Deming.  Cooke’s infantry followed the Rio Grande through present Sierra County, thereby crossing Percha Creek about 20 miles east of Hillsboro and three weeks later than Kearny’s crossing.  This infantry fought no battles other than a somewhat humorous encounter with wild cattle in southern Arizona, but they suffered many hardships before they reached San Diego—and after California had been claimed for the United States. They disbanded in San Diego, and most of them found their way to Salt Lake City to join their Mormon brethren.

Paso por aquí. This 1957 map shows the camps sites and route that Kearney's army, guided by Kit Carson, took around Hillsboro in October 1846.

The stories of Kearny’s near-defeat at San Pasqual, the subsequent court marshal of Fremont, the 1849 gold rush, and subsequent growth of California as a state fill many books, but I find it strange that the only highway marker in our area that acknowledges the Army of the West is a U.S. Forest Service sign at Emory Pass, some 25 miles north and west of the actual Kearny route. This pass is named for Lieutenant William H. Emory who was with Kearny when the Army of the West passed our way. During Emory’s lifetime, he earned ample renown to justify naming a pass in his honor. He is credited with saving Kearny’s life at San Pasqual; he assumed the chief surveyor’s job later on the Mexican Boundary Survey, interceding when Commissioner Bartlett’s inattention nearly cost the U.S. the key railroad route across the southern deserts; he performed honorably in the War Between the States and later served as a Commissioner, risking his reputation amidst the messy politics of the Southern Reformation.  Through it all, he left a written body of biological, geological, and archaeological observations unmatched by many full-time scientists unencumbered by military or political responsibilities.  Aside from the pass, Emory oak is named for him. The sign at Emory Pass notes that Emory and the Army of the West “passed by here,” leaving the impression, perhaps, that the troops crossed the rugged Black Range rather than following the easier route to the south.

To return to my original theme, it seems to me that a historic marker near the present kiosk on Highway 157, along with a strategically placed marker on Highway 27 would be appropriate, considering the importance of Kearny’s expedition and the history of the United States. Such a pair of signs would inform travelers of the significance of the route in American history, as well as help correct the misconception advanced by the sign at Emory Pass.


If you want to learn more, here are some recommended texts.

Cooke, Phillip St. George. 1878.  The Conquest of New Mexico and California in 1846-1848.  G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York.  This was reprinted in 1964 by Rio Grande Press, Inc.  Chicago.  

Calvin, Ross.  1951.  Lieutenant Emory Reports:  The University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.  

Clarke, Dwight L.  1966.  The Original Journals of Henry Smith Turner.  University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.  

Clarke, Dwight L.  1961.  Stephen Watts Kearny:  Soldier of the West.  University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.  

Norris, L. David, James C. Milligan, and Odie B. Faulk.  1998.  William H. Emory—Soldier-Scientist.  University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

Ricketts, Norma. The Mormon Battalion: United States Army of the West 1846-1848

Sides, Hampton. Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West.  

Sierra County Surnames and Population Myths

By Craig Springer
A freshly minted master's thesis from the University of New Mexico's Geography Department offers unique insight into the historic populations of Sierra County. It reveals too some of the reasons why Sierra County is anomalous today in its demographic ranks among the other 32 New Mexico counties.

The one-hundred page thesis titled "Determining Historic Ethnic Changes in Sierra County and New Mexico 1870 - 2000," was written by Sierra County native, Destiny Mitchell.  Ms. Mitchell discusses the origins of settlements in Sierra County, using U.S. Census Bureau data, going back as far as 1870 when present-day Sierra County was part and parcel to Dona Ana, Socorro, and Grant counties.  Her findings ferret out where Hispanics and Anglos lived and how those ratios changed over time. It is curious to note that the 1870 census data reported in the thesis has no enumerations from present-day Happy Flats on the east end of Hillsboro, or anywhere west of Las Palomas. This absence of data perhaps verifies that the area around Hillsboro in fact had no permanent Hispanic or Anglo habitation prior to 1877.

Ms. Mitchell's document is a gem not only for the trends in demography she painstakingly documented, but also for the historic hand-drawn precinct maps that she acquired from the National Archives. Several other of her original maps show population changes over time.

The thesis does however repeat oral traditions that are factually incorrect. Ms. Mitchell cites Apache cheiftain Victorio attacking Kingston.  While grizzled prospectors no doubt were scratching dirt on the east face of the Black Range in the late 1870s, and were very much vulnerable to Apache depredations, Kingston was not established until two years after Victorio's death in October 1880.
The Victorio Hotel was named in honor of the vanquished.

The Victorio Hotel is now a private residence in Kingston. 

Another artifact of fables-past that appears in the thesis is the reported population of 7,000 people residing at Kingston in 1885 -- about the same number of people living in Truth or Consequences today. The number has been repeated for so long, it's become commonplace to read in travel books and even state tourism promotional matter.

U.S. Census Bureau data are very much to the contrary. The territorial census of 1885, available through the University of New Mexico's Bureau of Business and Economic Research documents 379 people living in Kingston and outlying Danville Camp.

But Kingston boomed. The 1890 census lists the number of people residing in "minor civil divisions." Kingston had 1,249 residents in 1890, slightly more than Las Cruces but far less than half that of New Mexico's largest town, Albuquerque.  In 1890, 3,630 people lived in all of Sierra County, about the same number living in Albuquerque. The Panic of 1893 caused Kingston to be all but abandoned.

You can see these data, which also includes surprising numbers for Hillsboro, Lake Valley and several other Sierra County towns, on page 242 of the Census Report Eleventh Census: 1890.

The Hillsboro Historical Society congratulates Ms. Mitchell on her recent academic achievement, and we encourage anyone interested in Sierra County history to read her thesis, which you can do by clicking here.

Remembering 9-11

By Craig Springer
The date, September 11, is seared in American memory. And it was one that perhaps was not forgotten by those who lived in and around Hillsboro in 1879.

In August of that year, the Apache leader Victorio launched a rampage that made its mark in history. Victorio, followed by tens if not hundreds of disenchanted Mimbres and  Mescalero Apaches, and probably Comanche Indians too, raided ranches and isolated military outposts in southern New Mexico, west Texas, and northern Chihuahua.

On September 11, a posse of armed citizen from Hillsboro led by the likes of town pioneers, Joe Yankie and Nicholas Galles, confronted Apaches at H.D. McEver's Ranch 15 miles south of Hillsboro. McEver's Ranch would shortly become the first townsite of Lake Valley following a silver strike.

Nicholas Galles, Hillsboro's first
postmaster, was at McEver's Ranch
on 9-11-1879.
Photo Mark B. Thompson III. 

The number of Hillsboro men engaged in the battle vary, as do the number killed--and so does the actual date--depending upon which report you read. A review of the literature reveals that anywhere from a half dozen to 15 men were killed in action. The 1880 Secretary of War's report to Congress offers some insight as to the geographic extent of the Apache depredations. As for those known to have been killed at McEver's Ranch on September 11, 1879, they were: Steve Hanlon, Thomas Hughes, Thorton, Preissier, Green, Dr. Williams, and I. Chavez.

Other documented works by writers Dan Thrapp, Edwin Sweeney, and Joseph Stout make mention of an entire ranch family murdered and mutilated on Jaralosa Creek a mere few miles from McEver's Ranch that same day. The names of those victims are not reported.

The eastern front of the Black Range would see more action between Apaches, citizens of Hillsboro, and the U.S. Army for another seven years. But in the short-term, McEver's Ranch was the site of a heated battle with the 9th Cavalry, the famous Buffalo Soldiers, led by Maj. A.P. Morrow. If the brief New York Times account, you can sense a frustration that dogged the military in the Victorio campaign that lasted until late 1880. In October 1879, the Apaches attacked McEver's Ranch again, and burnt down its buildings. Because of its location--central to Ft. Cummings to the south and Camp Ojo Caliente and Camp Hillsboro/Camp Boyd to the north--McEver's Ranch would be occupied by the U.S. Army for much of the Victorio and the Geronimo Campaign to come in 1885-86. And coincidentally, September 11, 1885 was a significant date for several ranch families who lost kin to Geronimo near Lake Valley--Abeyta, Hollage, Horn, McKinn, Pollock.

You can read about these events and more in Around Hillsboro a new book written by members of the Hillsboro Historical Society. You can find it in local book stores, and the Black Range Museum.

Paper Hearts - 1991

It seems like only yesterday, but it's been 20 years since Sally Kirkland, James Brolin, Kris Kristofferson and all of the attending movie-making matter came upon Hillsboro. The outcome was "Paper Hearts." It wasn't the first movie made around Hillsboro, and it wasn't the last. Was it the best? That's a matter of taste, of course. You'll just have to rent it and see for yourself.  But before you do, you can watch this trailer here and get a glimpse of Hillsboro two decades ago.  -- Craig Springer


Making "Paper Hearts" (Cheatin' Hearts) 1991 from Rich Tamayo on Vimeo.

Panic of 1893

By Brandon Dupont, Ph.D.
While it was later eclipsed by the 1907 financial crisis and the Great Depression, the Panic of 1893 remains one of the most severe financial crises in American history. Its impact on Sierra County, New Mexico was lasting. Silver mining towns, like Kingston, were all but abandoned in short order.

This 1895 poster for the Broadway melodrama, The War of Wealth, depicted the national economic crisis, and the run on banks that effected lasting change at Kingston and silver mines in the West.  Library of Congress.

The panic, and the economic depression that followed through the year 1897, had wide-ranging effects on the national economy, including an unemployment rate that remained stubbornly above 10 percent for five consecutive years. Its impact goes beyond just the widespread bank runs and the negative effects of high, persistent unemployment; perhaps more importantly, the crisis brought the decades-long debate over the bimetallic standard to the forefront, culminating most colorfully in William Jennings Bryan’s 1896 presidential campaign. Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” speech ended with a flourish:  "Having behind us the producing masses of this nation and the world, supported by the commercial interests, the laboring interests and the toilers everywhere, we will answer their demand for a gold standard by saying to them: You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold."

Named for U.S. Mint engraver,
George Morgan, the Morgan Dollar was
common currency in 1890. U.S. Mint.

Since bimetallism was an important factor in 1893, as evident in Bryan’s speech, a quick review should be helpful. Starting with the first Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, the U.S. economy had been on a bimetallic standard. Under that standard, U.S. currency was equivalent to a certain quantity of gold and a certain quantity of silver; initially, the prices were set such that 15 ounces of silver were equivalent to 1 ounce of gold. Because of deviations between this official price and the world market price, only one of the two metals would circulate in the American economy at any given time. From Hamilton’s 1792 coinage act until 1834, silver was in circulation because gold was undervalued at its official price; therefore, it made economic sense to export gold coins to Europe, exchange them there for silver, then import that silver back into the U.S. This all changed in 1834 when the official ratio was changed to 16 ounces of silver per 1 ounce of gold, which then made gold overvalued so that it slowly began to replace silver, which was either hoarded or exported. Starting in 1834, the U.S. moved to a currency system where gold was the circulating coin. Silver dollars remained largely out of circulation from 1836 until the 1873 coinage act. 

At first, the 1873 act seemed only to legally recognize the demonetization of silver dollars; after all, they had not been used since 1834. Even the representatives of the silver interests in Congress did not object to the legislation. But in a curious twist of history, what was thought to be mere legislative housekeeping quickly became a highly politically charged issue. Silver prices had started to fall in 1872, but the decline accelerated shortly after the 1873 legislation mostly because of increased silver supplies from new mines in the American West. Because of the falling silver prices, U.S. silver producers had an incentive to bring silver to the U.S. mint for coinage. They did just that only to discover that they were legally barred from having silver coined by the 1873 legislation, which they quickly dubbed the “crime of ’73.” 

Kingston came to life in fall of 1882. Its roughly 1,200 residents circa 1890 were tucked in the narrow Middle Percha Creek canyon captured on a glass-plate negative here by photographer J.C. Burge. Photo Black Range Museum

By 1878, the silver interests were successful in getting Congress to pass the first of two significant silver purchase laws, the Bland-Allison Act, but the pro-silver interests were not satisfied because that legislation did not provide for unlimited coinage of silver. The second significant Congressional action did not come until the 1890 Sherman Silver Purchase Act. This legislation also failed to provide for unlimited silver coinage but it did increase the amount of silver purchased every month by the U.S. government, and by then, silver mining was in full-swing in Kingston and Lake Valley, New Mexico.

All of this led to considerable uncertainty by the early 1890s as to whether the U.S. economy could remain on the gold standard. Adding to the problems, the Treasury’s gold reserves had fallen to dangerously low levels by 1893; this was exacerbated by news that the Treasury would stop redeeming the notes issued under the 1890 act in gold if the reserves fell below $100 million. 

Lots of flags waved in Kingston at the patriotic event circa 1890. Only the Percha Bank building remains today, and is a beautiful museum.  The bank incorporated in 1886 by President McKinley pal, Jefferson Raynolds, and boasted holding $30,000 in cash in 1890. J.C. Burge photo courtesy Black Range Museum.

These long-running issues of gold versus silver certainly played a role in the 1893 crisis but there were many other contributing factors. Important among them were significant distress in western agricultural markets caused by declining crop yields and falling agricultural prices. Another factor in the depression was the slowdown in railroad construction that had peaked in the railroad boom of 1880s. Moreover, American exports to Europe had dropped as European economies struggled. 

The Percha Bank building stands on the left, looking west, in 1919. The Panic of 1893 devastated silver mining towns throughout the West. Kingston produced $6.2 million in mineral wealth, mostly silver, according to a 1904 report. Photo courtesy Black Range Museum.

The crisis culminated in the summer of 1893 with widespread bank runs. Of course, this was long before the introduction of federal deposit insurance (that does not arrive until 1933), so any risk that a depositor’s bank would fail tended to immediately lead that depositor to withdraw funds from the bank. Bank runs, wherein large numbers of depositors did just this, spread rapidly and, while they occurred nationwide, they were concentrated in the western states. In total, nearly 500 banks in the U.S. suspended their operations at least for a time to weather the storm. The economy officially went into recession in January 1893, a few months prior to the waves of bank runs that hit that summer. The affect was felt locally -- Kingston being a silver town was abandoned and never rebounded. After a brief economic recovery in late 1894 and into 1895, the economy plunged back into recession by the end of 1895 and would not officially climb out of recession until the summer of 1897. 

A legacy of the 1893 crisis remains with us today: the National Monetary Commission, whose work and recommendations led to the formation of the Federal Reserve System in 1914, noted in its report on financial crises that, while the causes of crises were varied, the method of handling them was simple. There should be, the report concluded, a reserve of lending power because the ability to increase loans from a central reserve to meet the demands of depositors “would have allayed every panic since the establishment of the national banking system [in 1864].”  Locally, the hillsides around Kingston are pocked with the work of expectant silver prospectors in what they left behind.

Fire Truck Returns Home

It's not news, but some things are worth repeating. The Hillsboro Historical Society located, bought, and brought home a 1946 fire truck in 2009. The signage reveals a history. Underneath newest, albeit well-worn, lettering were the words indicating the truck had first belonged to the Hot Springs Fire Dept.  You can read more about the truck and fire history on the New Mexico Centennial web site.  

Happy Independence Day

Hillsboro has been known to throw a good party on the Fourth of July, and today will no doubt be the same. Here's a look at few images captured early in the 20th Century.

This 1919 Deming Headlight makes an invitation to Luna County residents to come visit. See bottom-right column. Courtesy Patti Nunn

Without a rodeo arena, cars parked along the Percha afforded a place to watch cowboys put on a show, in 1920. Courtesy Patti Nunn

Who needs fireworks when you have this? This image was taken moments apart from the previous image. Courtesy Patti Nunn

Near the present-day post office, folks gathered round to watch a drilling contest--miners competing bust rock faster than the other guy. Courtesy Patti Nunn

Gangs Violence in Hillsboro -- 1961

The El Paso Times reported it -- gang violence in Hillsboro. Trish Long, the El Paso Times' archivist posted this copyrighted newspaper story on her blog, Tales from the Morgue. 

______________________________________________________

April 22, 1961
Rival Bootlegger Gangs Battle In Hillsboro
Armed with clubs and whisky bottles, rival bootlegger battled on the main street at Hillsboro, N.M, over the ownership of a load of liquor, it was learned in El Paso, Wednesday.

Broken heads, bruised bodies and the loss of most of the liquor, which was used as ammunition, was the total casualties in the battle.

Henry Railston, star witness in the Hot Springs, N.M, conspiracy cases tried at Albuquerque, N. M. last year, was trailing the source of the whisky Wednesday. Railston is a prohibition officer.

The battle is reported to have begun when the Chihuahua settlement gang hijacked a load of liquor from the Main street gang in Hillsboro. Frightened by the crashing of glass, citizens ducked into doorways and alleys as the fight progressed.

The battle ended when the Chihuahua settlement gang withdrew from the field. ______________________________________________________

This begs the questions, who were in these gangs, and are these participants still living? What became of Henry Railston, and are there photos out there documenting this event? --Craig Springer

Meet the Press - Kingston

by Craig Springer
Any reader of area history is familiar with this phrase, or a derivation: "It had 7,000 people, 22 saloons, 14 grocers, and three newspapers." We speak of Kingston. Ghost Towns and Mining Camps by James and Barbara Sherman, exemplifies the snapshot ghost town profiles that pack in the interesting and arcane fun facts of a rip-roaring past in a small printed space. The Shermans even name the three periodicals. Theirs is the story twice-told. But we're not telling it again here, because the Shermans had it wrong: Kingston had 10 newspapers!

Meet the Kingston press by order of appearance--and disappearance. Also included in this list is the frequency of publication. This is thanks in large part to the University of New Mexico Press book, The Territorial Press of New Mexico, by Porter Stratton.

While prospectors were scratching around on the east face of the Black Range as early as the late 1870s, industry had picked up by 1880. In September 1882, the town of Kingston was platted. The boom was on. According to one early observer, writing for the Engineering and Mining Journal who was there in November 1882, a printing press had already lumbered into town. That press seems probable to have belonged to this first Kingston newspaper on our list.

January - October 1883. Weekly. Tribune. Moved to Deming.

January - November 1884. Weekly. Clipper. Renamed the Sierra County Advocate.

November 1884 - March 1885. Weekly. Sierra County Advocate. Moved to Hillsboro March 1885.

April 1885 - March 1886. No publications per Stratton.

April  - July 1886. Weekly. Percha Shaft. Merged with Ledge summer 1886.

July 1886. Daily. Ledge.  Merged with Percha Shaft summer 1886.

July - December 1886. Weekly. Percha Shaft and Ledge. Became Daily Shaft.

December 1886 - March 1887. Daily. Daily Shaft. Became Weekly Shaft.

December 1886 - February 1887. Weekly. Black Range Herald. Combined with Sierra County Advocate.

Fall of 1888. Weekly. Sierra County Democrat. An election campaign publication.

March 1887 - December 1893. Weekly. Weekly Shaft. Moved to Rincon.

Newspapers came and went in Kingston. Based on Stratton, 10 newspapers called Kingston home but never did any of them compete with one another for any length. Only one periodical had any lasting life, the Weekly Shaft. It too found its end as did much of the boom town with the Panic of 1893.

Comparably, in the same time period (1883 - 1893) Albuquerque with a population of 3,785 in 1890 had 16 daily and weekly English-only newspapers, according to Stratton, many competing with one another for readers. Also it's worth noting that during the oft-reported heyday of Kingston, c. 1885 - 86 where some writers say Kingston reached its peak population, that no newspaper published in Kingston for an entire 12 months.

It begs the question, what was different with Kingston? Did Stratton miss something? Email or comment with your ideas.

Daisy Wilson Interviewed

Listen to what long-time Sierra County resident, Daisy Wilson, has to say about life back in the day. Miss Wilson lived in Lake Valley and her ancestor, Oliver Wilson, built the Victorio Hotel in Kingston in 1885, about five years after the Apache Victorio was killed in Mexico. You'll note the hotel photo in the video.  Daisy donated use of many photos for the forthcoming book, Around Hillsboro, for which the Hillsboro Historical Society is most grateful.Thanks go to Sherry Fletcher and Ann Wellborn, and Campo Espinoso.