White Sands National Monument is the world's largest outcropping of pure gypsum. The area is surrounded by the missile range and is about 30 miles northeast of WSMR headquarters. It lies just north US Highway 70 about 15 miles west of Alamogordo, 54 miles east of Las Cruces and slightly less than 100 miles from El Paso.
The monument consists of approximately 176,000 acres of pure white gypsum "sand" that shifts continually from one high dune to make another. The glaring white area is almost bare of vegetation. However, many species of plants have adapted to this unusual habitat, and through the gradual extension of roots and stalks, have avoided being buried by the drifting sand. A variety of plants fringe the edge of the park where they grow in weird shapes and forms.
Found also in the 275 square-mile tract are several species of reptiles and rodents that have adapted to their strange environment by developing a bleached white protective coloration.
As the years pass the moving sand bares relics of the past. Among items brought to the surface in the past was an ancient two-wheel cart believed to be an early Spanish carreta.
This isolated area was made a national monument in 1933 and named White Sands National Monument. It was from this national monument that White Sands Missile Range took its name in 1945. In fact, only 50 percent of the white dunes are protected in the monument. The other half are on the missile range east of the Space Harbor.
White Sands under a full moon
Roads and Trails
US Highway 85 which follows the Rio Grande from El Paso through neighboring
Las Cruces and on to Santa Fe, is America's oldest road. It follows, in
part, the original Spanish Camino Real--Royal Road--connecting Mexico City,
the capital of New Spain, with Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, which
was settled in 1610 and is the oldest capital in the United States. The
road ran north from Chihuahua City, Mexico, through the "Pass of the North,"
which is now the city of Juarez, Mexico and El Paso.
Opened by Friar Rodriguez in 1581, Camino Real was travelled by Espejo
the following year and then in 1598 Onate led his colonists over the route
to Santa Fe. Eighty-two years later descendants of Onate's colonists returned
over the route in a flight for their lives when the northern pueblos revolted
against Spain in 1680.
It is believed that Cabeza de Vaca, who walked from Florida to California
circa 1536, passed through Mesilla, which is located three miles southwest
of Las Cruces.
Some Southwest historians hold that Cabeza de Vaca's route brought him
northwest from San Angelo, Texas, along the Pecos River to a point north
of Carlsbad, NM. Then his path led north of the Guadalupe Mountains, south
of the Sacramento Mountains which form the visible east boundary of White
Sands Missile Range, and then west through Fort Bliss' Orogrande Missile
Range to the site that is now WSMR headquarters building. From there, the
path crossed the Organ Mountains at San Augustin Pass and followed along
the west side of the San Andres Mountains into Jornada del Muerto.
From Jornada del Muerto, so some historians theorize, Cabeza de Vaca
crossed the Rio Grande above Socorro, NM, and crossed the Continental Divide
to what was later called "Pie Town," near the Arizona border.
The early Spanish explorers and settlers apparently preferred the area
around Santa Fe. For many years, the Dona Ana area remained only a stage-stop
on Camino Real between Mexico City and Santa Fe.
Access to this southwestern region from the United States was by way
of the Santa Fe Road which was surveyed from Fort Osage, MO, to Santa Fe
in 1827 with funds provided by Congress. Traders and adventurers then followed
Camino Real south to Chihuahua City. Possibly the first American to traverse
the Santa Fe--Chihuahua City link was Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike of the
US Army who was taken to Chihuahua City as a prisoner of the Spaniards
in 1803. (Pike was identified in Missouri as Montgomery Z., and in Colorado
as Zebulon M.).
In 1846, General Kearny led Federal troops to Santa Fe over the Santa
Fe Trail and annexed New Mexico bloodlessly as a territory of the United
States. After the annexation, he proceeded west to California leading his
main body over the Gila Trail from Santa Fe. Lieutenant Colonel Cooke,
in command of General Kearny's wagon train, chose the route crossing Jornada
del Muerto to Rincon, NM, and on to Deming, thus pioneering what became
the first wagon road to the West Coast. This is the general route followed
today by US Highways 70-80-84.
Twelve years later, in 1859, the Butterfield Trail reached Las Cruces
from the east by way of El Paso and continued west. Then in 1869 the Chisholm
Trail was extended from the northeast. Mesilla, then, was truly a transportation
center and a veritable crossroad of the Old West, with all routes except
the Santa Fe Road passing through it. It was in Mesilla that the Gadsden
Purchase treaty was signed with a flag-raising ceremony in 1854; there
a Civil War skirmish was fought; there the capital of the Territory of
Arizona and New Mexico was established; and through there passed Confederate
soldiers on their retreat to San Antonio, TX.
The original inn at Mesilla, called La Posta, which was the stage-stop
on Camino Real, is still operating today.
Following the Civil War, the California stage route ran west from Mesilla
through Deming with the protection of troops from Fort Selden, located
just north of Las Cruces.
Onate led his colonists north across the arid Jornada del Muerto,
translated as "Journey of the Dead." This stretch of desert is separated
from the Rio Grande by the Caballo and Fra Cristobal Mountains. The 90-mile-
long tract of sand and lava beds is practically waterless. It extends
northeast from Las Cruces due north across the upper reaches of what is now
White Sands Missile Range to Socorro, NM. It is bounded on the east by the
San Andres Mountains.
Livestock from ranches in the Tularosa Valley or Basin, much of which
lies in the missile range boundaries today, were trail-driven over the
Old Salt Trail which led through the Organ Mountains at a pass a couple
of miles south of the San Augustin Pass where US Highway 70 crosses the
Organ Mountains. Known then as Baylor's Gap, due to a Civil War incident,
this pass allowed cattle and livestock to cross the mountain barrier and
follow a path east along a route by the Salt Flats between El Paso and
Carlsbad, NM.
The Malpais
The malpais or "Bad Lands" are lava beds of
relatively recent geological origin which flank White Sands Missile Range's
northern area. These beds are found both in the Jornada del Muerto on the
range's west boundary and east of the Sierra Oscura Mountains which are
close to the range's eastern boundary. The black broken and rough lava
streams remain much as they were at the time formed. They are aptly described
as "rivers of black basalt." According to Indian lore, the lava beds are
the blood and bones of monsters from the Age of the Gods, an era in Indian
pre-history in which all living creatures were believed to be giants.
US Highway 380 passes through one of the lava beds between Carrizozo
and Socorro, NM. This highway, as well as US Highway 70, is periodically
closed during missile firings. The roadblocks are a safety precaution for
motorists travelling across the range where missiles fly across the highway.
THE FORTS
Fort Bliss, located at El Paso, TX, is today's Army Air Defense Center.
In 1849, after a year of reconnaissance, seven companies of the Third
Infantry were ordered to the vital mountain pass, El Paso del Norte, which
originally was a settlement divided by the Rio Grande. In time, the settlement
became two separate cities, today's El Paso and Ciudad Juarez. The troops
came 673 miles from San Antonio, through hostile Indian country. Three
months later they had established a military post on the banks north of
the Rio Grande in an area north of today's Union Depot.
In 1854, the Army post was named Fort Bliss in honor of Lieutenant Colonel
W. W. S. Bliss, a scholar who was an aide to General Zachary Taylor.
During the first few decades of its existence, Fort Bliss was moved
five times, twice abandoned as excess to military needs, and once, during
the Civil War, flew the Confederate flag. Permanent buildings, of which
a few still stand, were constructed at the post in 1892.
From 1902 on through World War I, Fort Bliss was one of the nation's
foremost cavalry posts. In 1914, General John J. Pershing assumed command
of Fort Bliss and its 60,000 troops. Early Signal Corps aircraft were
stationed there and the First Cavalry Division made its headquarters there
from 1921 until departing for duty in the South Pacific during World War II.
Before the end of World War II, Fort Bliss became an antiaircraft artillery
center and became fully mechanized.
As the Army Air Defense Center, Fort Bliss firing and maneuver areas
cover some 1,125,947 acres of land.
Fort Craig
The ruins of Fort Craig stand at the north end of the Fra Cristobal
Mountains and Jornada del Muerto and just off the White Sands Missile Range
northwest corner. Built originally to protect settlers from the Navajo and
Apache Indians, Fort Craig today is little more than piles of eroded adobe
brick and volcanic rocks.
Captain Paddy Grayton, a commander of an independent company of scouts
at the old fort, is alleged to have used a unique method in filling his
ranks--perhaps one of the first "involuntary induction" systems. According
to legends, when one of his men was killed or deserted, the captain scouted
the area for a peon or indigent person. Then, he accosted the man, calling
him by the name of the missing scout, and hauled him back to the fort for
duty.
The Civil War battle of Valverde was fought six miles north of Fort
Craig on February 2, 1862. General Henry Hopkins Sibley led his confederate
forces against Union troops led by Colonel Edward R. S. Canby. The Union
forces retired within the fort in defeat while the Confederates bivouacked
on the field. Twenty-five days later, after taking Albuquerque and Santa
Fe, the Confederate forces met defeat at the Battle of Glorietta Pass and
Apache Canyon west of Las Vegas NM.
The Union forces, having destroyed supplies which were irreplaceable,
drove the Confederate troops back towards Socorro, cut them off from water,
and forced them to find their ways back to Texas in small groups.
On May 14, 1862, General Sibley said goodbye to his troops at his headquarters
at Magoffinsville near Fort Bliss, long since absorbed within the boundaries
of El Paso.
Fort Stanton
On the Chisholm Trail southeast of Carrizozo NM, Fort Stanton was slated
as the rendezvous for Civil War Union troops who abandoned Fort Fillmore,
south of Las Cruces, ahead of the Confederate attack. Fort Stanton, however,
was abandoned by its garrison upon receiving word that the Fort Fillmore
had surrendered already.
Fort Stanton was established in 1855. It was named in memory of Captain
Henry Whiting Stanton of the First Dragoons, who was killed by the Apaches
in the Sacramento Mountains in January of that year.
Colonel Christopher (Kit) Carson, with five companies of New Mexico
volunteers, was ordered to Fort Stanton in 1862 to operate against the
Indians. The Indians had gone unchecked during the Confederate attempt
to take the territory from the Union Army and were to be punished for their
aggression.
Colonel Carson was ordered to "Kill all Indian men of the Mescalero
tribe wherever you find them." The women and children were not to be harmed
but were to be taken as prisoners to Fort Stanton and held for further
instructions.
The Carson troops hunted Mescaleros within a 100-mile radius of Fort
Stanton, which took in the mountains and valleys surrounding today's White
Sands Missile Range.
Fort McRae
Fort McRae, another old Army post in the White Sands Missile Range area,
now lies beneath the surface of Elephant Butte Lake. The lake, formed by
the damming of the Rio Grande, is west of the Fra Cristobal Mountains in
the Jornada del Muerto. Through the Elephant Butte and Caballo Reservoirs,
water in the Rio Grande is stored and used for irrigation in the Mesilla
Valley and along the Rio Grande beyond El Paso towards Pecos TX.
Fort Selden
The ruins of Fort Selden, an important military post in its day, stands
where US Highway 85 crosses the Rio Grande northwest of Las Cruces. Established
in 1865, Fort Selden's primary mission was to protect settlers from marauding
Gila Apache Indians. Through the years, ruins of the old fort have been
continually searched for buried treasures. None were found and the site
has been stabilized to prevent further erosion of the adobe walls. The
old fort is a New Mexico state historical site and has a modern museum
open to the public.
Lincoln County War
Boiling over into the area that is now White
Sands Missile Range, the Lincoln County War was no less bloody than other
wars which have struck the area. This particular war arose from efforts
of a New Mexico cattle baron to drive one Alexander McSween out of Lincoln
County. The infamous Seven-Rivers gang, of which Jesse Evans, a boyhood
friend of Billy the Kid, was a member, fought for the cattle baron. In
the fighting, an associate of McSween, John H. Tunstall of Rio Feliz, was
killed.
Tunstall, a wealthy Englishman who had befriended Billy the Kid, was
murdered by members of a sheriff's posse after he had surrendered his gun.
According to the "code of the West," an unarmed man was not to be shot.
So, Billy the Kid rode in and out of the war with the purpose of avenging
Tunstall's murder. The war attracted desperados from all parts of New
Mexico, Texas, Colorado and south of the Rio Grande.
Billy the Kid was captured by Sheriff Pat Garrett and imprisoned in
Mesilla--also called Old Mesilla and La Mesilla. The courthouse in which
he was held, tried, and sentenced to be hanged still stands in Old Mesilla
at the corner of the Plaza in which the Gadsden Purchase was confirmed
in a flag-raising ceremony in 1854.
Billy the Kid
Transferred to Lincoln County for execution, the Kid escaped, killing two
deputies in the process. Garrett, later sheriff of Dona Ana County, shot
and killed the Kid at Fort Sumner. The Kid was buried in a cemetery at
Fort Sumner that still exists. His trial, escape, and death all occurred
in 1881.
Pat Garrett died violently near Las Cruces in 1908 with a bullet in
the back of the head. A man named Wayne Brazel, claiming self-defense,
pleaded guilty to the shooting of Garrett and was acquitted at his trial.
The acquittal was celebrated by many ranchers and cowboys of the district
with a barbecue at the San Augustin Ranch. Garrett is buried in Las Cruces.
The Plaza at Old Mesilla is a state monument and the Gadsden Museum
is nearby. Many descendants of the early settlers of Mesilla-Las Cruces
are still prominent in the area.
In one of the last old-West killings, attorney A. J. Fountain and his
small son disappeared--presumably murdered--in 1896, while returning from
Tularosa. They were never found nor accounted for. Some people believed
their remains were buried within the White Sands National Monument, while
others have theories about the graves being on the missile range. As sheriff
of Dona Ana County, Pat Garrett brought two men to trial for the killings
but there was little evidence and they were set free.
Albert B. Fall, later Secretary of the Interior and a principal in the
Teapot Dome oil scandal of the Harding administration, was the attorney
defending the two men accused of Fountain's death.
San Augustin Ranch
Variously rendered as San Agustin, San
Augustine and San Agustin, the land on which much of White Sands Missile
Range now stands once was a prime part of the San Augustin Ranch, which
was owned and operated by the Cox family. Rob Cox, descendant of the founder
now lives in the old ranch house just two miles outside of the missile
range boundary.
Named for the landmark peak and pass of the Organ Mountains through
which today's US Highway 70 passes, the ranch has been an intricate part
of history and development of the West for more than 150 years.
While daily activities at White Sands Missile Range write new pages
in history, the San Augustin Ranch sits in retirement though not in total
disuse. The house and grounds abound in history, a reflection of the old
contrasted with the new, a part of the past overshadowed by the present,
the space age with missile testing on its doorstep.
The site of the house was once the only water hole in the immediate
area. A hillside of lush trees and grass marks the location of the five
San Augustin springs which flow from the edge of the mountain. Seven or
eight small areas are identified as graves whose histories are buried along
with the people. Although two headstones remain, only one story is known--
that of a girl who was buried in what is now the Cox corral.
San Augustin ranch corrals
Also, there are tales of the San Augustin Inn, San Augustin Hotel and
scraps of history about the girl buried in the ranch corral. The stories form
a cross-section of Southwest history and bring to life happenings of the
past 150 years.
In the late 1840s a tall personable young man, Thomas J. Bull of Indiana,
returned to the Mesilla Valley to make his fortune. He had previously marched
through the area already to Mexico City as a Ouartermaster's clerk with
the American Army in 1846.
Bull settled at San Augustin springs on the Old Salt Trail. In 1851,
he obtained a contract to provide lumber for constructing Fort Fillmore.
Much of the lumber was obtained from mountain slopes near the springs and
in the immediate vicinity of today's White Sands Missile Range.
Bull also bought horses and cattle, which many people said had been
stolen and their brands altered, and sold them to Fort Fillmore. He acquired
townsites in the rapidly-developing Las Cruces settlement. Later, he opened
a store in La Mesilla.
Affluent and ambitious, Bull decided to move on, so he sold his San
Augustin holdings on the Old Salt Trail to Warren T. Shedd.
Shedd was a well set-up man financially who had ridden out of St. Louis
well before the Mexican War with a party of young men headed for Paso del
Norte. Prior to the purchase of the San Augustin spread, Shedd had accompanied
an outfit of pack-animals and oxcarts over the Old Salt Trail to the salt
flats and soda beds between Carlsbad and El Paso. The San Augustin layout
caught his eye and led to its purchase.
Soon after acquiring the San Augustin property, Shedd opened a small
inn and commissary which indicated his modest beginning. But water, forage
and fuel were available, and the Old Salt Trail was a main path to the
west side of the mountains. Prospectors, Army troops, cattlemen and travellers
stopped at the San Augustin Inn for food, water and forage. Shedd prospered.
Mining booms in the nearby mountains brought men of all classes along
with pack animals. The mushroom gold camp at Brice, three miles west of
Orogrande on the eastern slope of the Jarilla Mountains, brought many guests
and many killings.
Benjamin E. Davies, Shedd's sheepman neighbor to the south, had long
coveted the San Augustin properties and was actually encroaching on Shedd's
pasturage. Davies wanted to buy the place, but Shedd wouldn't sell although
his life had been threatened. Threats in those days were not given idly,
nor was Davies a man to give up easily.
From all information available, Shedd owned the San Augustin Ranch at
the time Major Isaac Lynde led his Union troops and their families north
from abandoned Fort Fillmore towards Fort Stanton to escape the Confederate
force from Texas led by Colonel John R. Baylor.
According to one story, Baylor took up pursuit of Lynde and his men
by following the towering dust cloud they raised in crossing the desert.
The head of the Union column had already passed through the San Augustin
Pass when Baylor, aware of the Old Salt Trail Pass just four miles south
through the Organ Mountains, galloped through the gap and around towards
San Augustin Pass. There, at San Augustin springs, Baylor dramatically
confronted Lynde and his force who had paused for lunch. Lynde and his
men surrendered, asking for nothing but water.
This was on July 27, 1861, that Colonel Baylor accepted the surrender
of Major Lynde and his nearly 700 Union troops. As a result, Federal troops
hearing of the surrender, set fire to abandoned Fort Stanton and nearby
stores, clearing the path for Confederate forces to Fort Craig and the
battle of Valverde. To this day the Old Salt Trail Pass through the Organ
Mountains is known as Baylor Gap.
On January 2, 1865, Davies moved to the San Augustin Ranch. How he
obtained the properties is unknown. Apparently he took possession of the
property piecemeal.
Benjamin Davies was a successful stockman. Large herds of sheep and
cattle grazed his range. He died in the 1880s and John H. Wilde became
manager and administrator of the Davies estate. Wilde, whose family owned
property near E1 Paso, was related to the Dow family of the Pecos Valley.
Wilde's well, eight miles east of Orogrande and 32 miles south of Alamogordo
was drilled by him. When a devastating drought took heavy toll of the San
Augustin herds, Wilde moved the cattle to Texas where he was fatally injured
when a horse fell on him.
San Augustin Inn, little of which remains today, was built on the east
slope of the hill below the ranch house. Overlooking the five springs,
the inn stepped up the hillside on three different levels much in the now
popular split-level style.
Except for the area of the historical springs, the government now owns
most of the Cox's land north and south of US 70 in White Sands Missile
Range.
Dona Ana & Otero Counties
At one time Dona Ana County, which contains
Las Cruces as the county seat and Old Mesilla, extended from the Colorado
River to include most of the Arizona Territory and eastward to include
most of what is today Otero County.
Today, Dona Ana County's only river is the Rio Grande which is quite
tame due to water control by the Caballo and Elephant Butte Reservoirs.
Dams across the Rio Grande hold the water in reserve for irrigation of
farms along the Mesilla Valley and past El Paso and for use by Mexico.
Very little water from this area ever reaches the Gulf of Mexico.
In the past, before the dam was built, the mighty Rio Grande, in places,
was as much as a mile and a-half wide. The site of the historical river
today is a disappointing sight to most tourists.
White Sands Missile Range headquarters is in Dona Ana County. Prior
to the establishment of the missile range in 1945, Las Cruces was little
more than a sleepy desert hamlet. Today, it is a bustling city of nearly
80,000 people, a farming center and transportation center.
Otero County, carved chiefly from the original Dona Ana County, lies
some 10 miles east of WSMR headquarters with its boundary line running
north south and enclosing much of the Tularosa Valley.
The Tularosa Valley and Jornada del Muerto which have a mean altitude
of 4,000 feet above sea level are separated by the Organ and San Andres
Ranges. The verdant Mesilla Valley in the Las Cruces-Mesilla area, is several
hundred feet lower in elevation and, with the aid of irrigation, is noted
for its chile and cotton. Also in the Mesilla Valley south of Las Cruces,
is one of the world's largest pecan groves, Stahmann Farms, Inc.
The United States Department of Agriculture maintains an experimental
range station in the Jornada del Muerto with headquarters about 23 miles
from Las Cruces. The Department of Interior maintains the San Andres Wildlife
Refuge in the San Andres north of the historical old mining town of Organ,
on the west slopes of the Organ Mountains.
There are many stories of the origin of the name "Las Cruces." One generally
presumed true tells of the first European who came north over the route
later named Camino Real. The European found three graves marked with crosses.
There was no clue as to who was buried or who had marked them with Christian
crosses in a land inhabited only by heathens. The uncanny find raised other
questions--From where did the Christians come? Did one survive to bury
the dead? Where did the survivor go?
The city of Las Cruces continues to mark the site with three large crosses
which are lighted during Christmas and Easter seasons.
The legend supports the more recent contention that Cabeza de Vaca actually
did pass through the Mesilla Valley about 44 years after Columbus discovered
America.
Mining Area
A geological study of Dona Ana County by the New Mexico School of Mines
at Socorro in the mid-1930s described the Organ Mining District as including
both the east and west sides of the southern end of the San Andres Mountains
and all of the Organ Mountains down to Baylor Gap. There were many mines
being worked along the canyons and slopes at that time and the remains
of some old shafts are still discernable today from US Highway 70, which
passes between the two mountain ranges at San Augustin Pass.
Several million dollars worth of copper, silver and gold were taken
from the Torpedo Mine, just above the village of Organ. Tailings and rock
leaching tanks are still visible there. Flooding and the high cost of mining
finally forced the closure of this and most of the other mines which were
worked until the early years of World War II.
Henry Foy discovered the Torpedo mine and sold his interest for several
thousand dollars. Among other productive mines of the area were the Memphis,
Stevenson-Bennett, Modoc, Excelsior, Mormon and the Dona Dora.
The town of Organ was established as a mining camp and at one time had
a population of more than 1,000 people. When the mines closed the population
dwindled to several hundred. Today, with White Sands Missile Range so near,
retirees, and the rapid growth of Las Cruces, the Organ area is again nearing
the 1,000 population mark.
On the east side of the Organ Mountains is the Gold Camp which can be
seen among rocky outcroppings. The Gold Camp is located within the missile
range and is off limits to prospectors and visitors. The best known and
largest gold mine was the Maggy G. It produced approximately $850,000 gold
ore concentrate and about half again that much high grade ore.
Estey City post office and general store
Estey City was a copper mining town at the base of the Oscura Mountains
which existed for a few years between 1900 and 1910. A few stone walls and
foundations still stand at the site which is now within restricted
areas.
Ancient Cultures
The high mean altitude and extremely dry climate of south central New
Mexico is conductive to preservation of archeological specimen of earlier
cultures. The missile range area embraces numerous Indian burial grounds,
pueblos and artifacts. One of the most recent finds was an ancient pueblo
discovered at Condron Field, the Army airfield at White Sands Missile Range.
Located in a dry lake bed that once stood in water year-round, the airfield
has served WSMR for more than 40 years. It also was used as an emergency
landing field by World War II pilots flying Fort Bliss tow target missions
for antiaircraft gun training.
The outcropping of the Indian pueblo came to view following spring wind
storms in 1953 which removed the top soil on the airfield runways. In the
pueblo, which was several hundred feet long, archaeologists found human
skeletons, pieces of pottery, crude looking tools and other artifacts.
They estimated that the lake shore had been the site of an Indian camp,
either permanent or seasonal, possibly around 800 to 1000 AD.
In the early 1930s, the old dry lake was not dry but was a mecca for
wild fowl hunters. From around the turn of the century up until the early
1940s, the Tularosa Basin was much wetter than it is today. Then, during
each rainy season, there appeared a series of lakes across the desert with
wild lush grass covering the desert floor and mountain sides. Several of
the larger lakes stood from year to year.
By 1941, the lakes were beginning to dry. The Condron Field lake bed
was a natural emergency landing area for malfunctioning Army planes. According
to legends, smugglers often used the lake bed for landing aircraft bringing
contraband from Mexico.
The name Condron was given the field honoring an Army pilot, Second
Lieutenant Max Condron, who was killed there during an emergency landing
in 1942.
Near Baylor Gap, archaeologists discovered the bones of homosapiens
in a cave with remains of several extinct animals which "strongly suggest
the contemporaneity of the remains," and therefore may be the first and
earliest record of Man on the American continent.
Near the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Apollo
Site on the west edge of White Sands Missile Range also was found evidence
of an Indian culture. Arrowheads have been picked up on the surface of
the ground and the outline of adobe walls and rooms are visible along what
is now a dry arroyo but which was possibly a running stream at one time.
It is believed that migrant Indians once lived by the stream.
The existence of a pre-Pueblo people at Mimbres, in Grant County, has
been proven. Many signs of the prehistoric Indian called the Mogollones
have been found. The people were given the Spanish name Mogollon which
was given to the mountains where much of the evidence of their culture
was found.
New Mexico has an assortment of cave dwellings. Prehistoric cave dwellings
are found in the Gila Wilderness, which covers hundreds of square miles
of west-central New Mexico.
Grand Quivira National Monument, although not a cliff dwelling, is a
popular tourist attraction. Located east and just off the northern call
up area of White Sands Missile Range, the Grand Quivira ruins are evidence
of early Franciscan activity in the New Mexico area. The thick rock walls
of a large portion of the massive church built there by the Franciscan
fathers are still standing.
US Highway 380 passes through one of the lava beds between Carrizozo and Socorro, NM. This highway, as well as US Highway 70, is periodically closed during missile firings. The roadblocks are a safety precaution for motorists travelling across the range where missiles fly across the highway.
THE FORTS
Fort Bliss, located at El Paso, TX, is today's Army Air Defense Center.
In 1849, after a year of reconnaissance, seven companies of the Third
Infantry were ordered to the vital mountain pass, El Paso del Norte, which
originally was a settlement divided by the Rio Grande. In time, the settlement
became two separate cities, today's El Paso and Ciudad Juarez. The troops
came 673 miles from San Antonio, through hostile Indian country. Three
months later they had established a military post on the banks north of
the Rio Grande in an area north of today's Union Depot.
In 1854, the Army post was named Fort Bliss in honor of Lieutenant Colonel
W. W. S. Bliss, a scholar who was an aide to General Zachary Taylor.
During the first few decades of its existence, Fort Bliss was moved
five times, twice abandoned as excess to military needs, and once, during
the Civil War, flew the Confederate flag. Permanent buildings, of which
a few still stand, were constructed at the post in 1892.
From 1902 on through World War I, Fort Bliss was one of the nation's
foremost cavalry posts. In 1914, General John J. Pershing assumed command
of Fort Bliss and its 60,000 troops. Early Signal Corps aircraft were
stationed there and the First Cavalry Division made its headquarters there
from 1921 until departing for duty in the South Pacific during World War II.
Before the end of World War II, Fort Bliss became an antiaircraft artillery
center and became fully mechanized.
As the Army Air Defense Center, Fort Bliss firing and maneuver areas
cover some 1,125,947 acres of land.
Fort Craig
The ruins of Fort Craig stand at the north end of the Fra Cristobal
Mountains and Jornada del Muerto and just off the White Sands Missile Range
northwest corner. Built originally to protect settlers from the Navajo and
Apache Indians, Fort Craig today is little more than piles of eroded adobe
brick and volcanic rocks.
Captain Paddy Grayton, a commander of an independent company of scouts
at the old fort, is alleged to have used a unique method in filling his
ranks--perhaps one of the first "involuntary induction" systems. According
to legends, when one of his men was killed or deserted, the captain scouted
the area for a peon or indigent person. Then, he accosted the man, calling
him by the name of the missing scout, and hauled him back to the fort for
duty.
The Civil War battle of Valverde was fought six miles north of Fort
Craig on February 2, 1862. General Henry Hopkins Sibley led his confederate
forces against Union troops led by Colonel Edward R. S. Canby. The Union
forces retired within the fort in defeat while the Confederates bivouacked
on the field. Twenty-five days later, after taking Albuquerque and Santa
Fe, the Confederate forces met defeat at the Battle of Glorietta Pass and
Apache Canyon west of Las Vegas NM.
The Union forces, having destroyed supplies which were irreplaceable,
drove the Confederate troops back towards Socorro, cut them off from water,
and forced them to find their ways back to Texas in small groups.
On May 14, 1862, General Sibley said goodbye to his troops at his headquarters
at Magoffinsville near Fort Bliss, long since absorbed within the boundaries
of El Paso.
Fort Stanton
On the Chisholm Trail southeast of Carrizozo NM, Fort Stanton was slated
as the rendezvous for Civil War Union troops who abandoned Fort Fillmore,
south of Las Cruces, ahead of the Confederate attack. Fort Stanton, however,
was abandoned by its garrison upon receiving word that the Fort Fillmore
had surrendered already.
Fort Stanton was established in 1855. It was named in memory of Captain
Henry Whiting Stanton of the First Dragoons, who was killed by the Apaches
in the Sacramento Mountains in January of that year.
Colonel Christopher (Kit) Carson, with five companies of New Mexico
volunteers, was ordered to Fort Stanton in 1862 to operate against the
Indians. The Indians had gone unchecked during the Confederate attempt
to take the territory from the Union Army and were to be punished for their
aggression.
Colonel Carson was ordered to "Kill all Indian men of the Mescalero
tribe wherever you find them." The women and children were not to be harmed
but were to be taken as prisoners to Fort Stanton and held for further
instructions.
The Carson troops hunted Mescaleros within a 100-mile radius of Fort
Stanton, which took in the mountains and valleys surrounding today's White
Sands Missile Range.
Fort McRae
Fort McRae, another old Army post in the White Sands Missile Range area,
now lies beneath the surface of Elephant Butte Lake. The lake, formed by
the damming of the Rio Grande, is west of the Fra Cristobal Mountains in
the Jornada del Muerto. Through the Elephant Butte and Caballo Reservoirs,
water in the Rio Grande is stored and used for irrigation in the Mesilla
Valley and along the Rio Grande beyond El Paso towards Pecos TX.
Fort Selden
The ruins of Fort Selden, an important military post in its day, stands
where US Highway 85 crosses the Rio Grande northwest of Las Cruces. Established
in 1865, Fort Selden's primary mission was to protect settlers from marauding
Gila Apache Indians. Through the years, ruins of the old fort have been
continually searched for buried treasures. None were found and the site
has been stabilized to prevent further erosion of the adobe walls. The
old fort is a New Mexico state historical site and has a modern museum
open to the public.
Lincoln County War
Boiling over into the area that is now White
Sands Missile Range, the Lincoln County War was no less bloody than other
wars which have struck the area. This particular war arose from efforts
of a New Mexico cattle baron to drive one Alexander McSween out of Lincoln
County. The infamous Seven-Rivers gang, of which Jesse Evans, a boyhood
friend of Billy the Kid, was a member, fought for the cattle baron. In
the fighting, an associate of McSween, John H. Tunstall of Rio Feliz, was
killed.
Tunstall, a wealthy Englishman who had befriended Billy the Kid, was
murdered by members of a sheriff's posse after he had surrendered his gun.
According to the "code of the West," an unarmed man was not to be shot.
So, Billy the Kid rode in and out of the war with the purpose of avenging
Tunstall's murder. The war attracted desperados from all parts of New
Mexico, Texas, Colorado and south of the Rio Grande.
Billy the Kid was captured by Sheriff Pat Garrett and imprisoned in
Mesilla--also called Old Mesilla and La Mesilla. The courthouse in which
he was held, tried, and sentenced to be hanged still stands in Old Mesilla
at the corner of the Plaza in which the Gadsden Purchase was confirmed
in a flag-raising ceremony in 1854.
Billy the Kid
Transferred to Lincoln County for execution, the Kid escaped, killing two
deputies in the process. Garrett, later sheriff of Dona Ana County, shot
and killed the Kid at Fort Sumner. The Kid was buried in a cemetery at
Fort Sumner that still exists. His trial, escape, and death all occurred
in 1881.
Pat Garrett died violently near Las Cruces in 1908 with a bullet in
the back of the head. A man named Wayne Brazel, claiming self-defense,
pleaded guilty to the shooting of Garrett and was acquitted at his trial.
The acquittal was celebrated by many ranchers and cowboys of the district
with a barbecue at the San Augustin Ranch. Garrett is buried in Las Cruces.
The Plaza at Old Mesilla is a state monument and the Gadsden Museum
is nearby. Many descendants of the early settlers of Mesilla-Las Cruces
are still prominent in the area.
In one of the last old-West killings, attorney A. J. Fountain and his
small son disappeared--presumably murdered--in 1896, while returning from
Tularosa. They were never found nor accounted for. Some people believed
their remains were buried within the White Sands National Monument, while
others have theories about the graves being on the missile range. As sheriff
of Dona Ana County, Pat Garrett brought two men to trial for the killings
but there was little evidence and they were set free.
Albert B. Fall, later Secretary of the Interior and a principal in the
Teapot Dome oil scandal of the Harding administration, was the attorney
defending the two men accused of Fountain's death.
San Augustin Ranch
Variously rendered as San Agustin, San
Augustine and San Agustin, the land on which much of White Sands Missile
Range now stands once was a prime part of the San Augustin Ranch, which
was owned and operated by the Cox family. Rob Cox, descendant of the founder
now lives in the old ranch house just two miles outside of the missile
range boundary.
Named for the landmark peak and pass of the Organ Mountains through
which today's US Highway 70 passes, the ranch has been an intricate part
of history and development of the West for more than 150 years.
While daily activities at White Sands Missile Range write new pages
in history, the San Augustin Ranch sits in retirement though not in total
disuse. The house and grounds abound in history, a reflection of the old
contrasted with the new, a part of the past overshadowed by the present,
the space age with missile testing on its doorstep.
The site of the house was once the only water hole in the immediate
area. A hillside of lush trees and grass marks the location of the five
San Augustin springs which flow from the edge of the mountain. Seven or
eight small areas are identified as graves whose histories are buried along
with the people. Although two headstones remain, only one story is known--
that of a girl who was buried in what is now the Cox corral.
San Augustin ranch corrals
Also, there are tales of the San Augustin Inn, San Augustin Hotel and
scraps of history about the girl buried in the ranch corral. The stories form
a cross-section of Southwest history and bring to life happenings of the
past 150 years.
In the late 1840s a tall personable young man, Thomas J. Bull of Indiana,
returned to the Mesilla Valley to make his fortune. He had previously marched
through the area already to Mexico City as a Ouartermaster's clerk with
the American Army in 1846.
Bull settled at San Augustin springs on the Old Salt Trail. In 1851,
he obtained a contract to provide lumber for constructing Fort Fillmore.
Much of the lumber was obtained from mountain slopes near the springs and
in the immediate vicinity of today's White Sands Missile Range.
Bull also bought horses and cattle, which many people said had been
stolen and their brands altered, and sold them to Fort Fillmore. He acquired
townsites in the rapidly-developing Las Cruces settlement. Later, he opened
a store in La Mesilla.
Affluent and ambitious, Bull decided to move on, so he sold his San
Augustin holdings on the Old Salt Trail to Warren T. Shedd.
Shedd was a well set-up man financially who had ridden out of St. Louis
well before the Mexican War with a party of young men headed for Paso del
Norte. Prior to the purchase of the San Augustin spread, Shedd had accompanied
an outfit of pack-animals and oxcarts over the Old Salt Trail to the salt
flats and soda beds between Carlsbad and El Paso. The San Augustin layout
caught his eye and led to its purchase.
Soon after acquiring the San Augustin property, Shedd opened a small
inn and commissary which indicated his modest beginning. But water, forage
and fuel were available, and the Old Salt Trail was a main path to the
west side of the mountains. Prospectors, Army troops, cattlemen and travellers
stopped at the San Augustin Inn for food, water and forage. Shedd prospered.
Mining booms in the nearby mountains brought men of all classes along
with pack animals. The mushroom gold camp at Brice, three miles west of
Orogrande on the eastern slope of the Jarilla Mountains, brought many guests
and many killings.
Benjamin E. Davies, Shedd's sheepman neighbor to the south, had long
coveted the San Augustin properties and was actually encroaching on Shedd's
pasturage. Davies wanted to buy the place, but Shedd wouldn't sell although
his life had been threatened. Threats in those days were not given idly,
nor was Davies a man to give up easily.
From all information available, Shedd owned the San Augustin Ranch at
the time Major Isaac Lynde led his Union troops and their families north
from abandoned Fort Fillmore towards Fort Stanton to escape the Confederate
force from Texas led by Colonel John R. Baylor.
According to one story, Baylor took up pursuit of Lynde and his men
by following the towering dust cloud they raised in crossing the desert.
The head of the Union column had already passed through the San Augustin
Pass when Baylor, aware of the Old Salt Trail Pass just four miles south
through the Organ Mountains, galloped through the gap and around towards
San Augustin Pass. There, at San Augustin springs, Baylor dramatically
confronted Lynde and his force who had paused for lunch. Lynde and his
men surrendered, asking for nothing but water.
This was on July 27, 1861, that Colonel Baylor accepted the surrender
of Major Lynde and his nearly 700 Union troops. As a result, Federal troops
hearing of the surrender, set fire to abandoned Fort Stanton and nearby
stores, clearing the path for Confederate forces to Fort Craig and the
battle of Valverde. To this day the Old Salt Trail Pass through the Organ
Mountains is known as Baylor Gap.
On January 2, 1865, Davies moved to the San Augustin Ranch. How he
obtained the properties is unknown. Apparently he took possession of the
property piecemeal.
Benjamin Davies was a successful stockman. Large herds of sheep and
cattle grazed his range. He died in the 1880s and John H. Wilde became
manager and administrator of the Davies estate. Wilde, whose family owned
property near E1 Paso, was related to the Dow family of the Pecos Valley.
Wilde's well, eight miles east of Orogrande and 32 miles south of Alamogordo
was drilled by him. When a devastating drought took heavy toll of the San
Augustin herds, Wilde moved the cattle to Texas where he was fatally injured
when a horse fell on him.
San Augustin Inn, little of which remains today, was built on the east
slope of the hill below the ranch house. Overlooking the five springs,
the inn stepped up the hillside on three different levels much in the now
popular split-level style.
Except for the area of the historical springs, the government now owns
most of the Cox's land north and south of US 70 in White Sands Missile
Range.
Dona Ana & Otero Counties
At one time Dona Ana County, which contains
Las Cruces as the county seat and Old Mesilla, extended from the Colorado
River to include most of the Arizona Territory and eastward to include
most of what is today Otero County.
Today, Dona Ana County's only river is the Rio Grande which is quite
tame due to water control by the Caballo and Elephant Butte Reservoirs.
Dams across the Rio Grande hold the water in reserve for irrigation of
farms along the Mesilla Valley and past El Paso and for use by Mexico.
Very little water from this area ever reaches the Gulf of Mexico.
In the past, before the dam was built, the mighty Rio Grande, in places,
was as much as a mile and a-half wide. The site of the historical river
today is a disappointing sight to most tourists.
White Sands Missile Range headquarters is in Dona Ana County. Prior
to the establishment of the missile range in 1945, Las Cruces was little
more than a sleepy desert hamlet. Today, it is a bustling city of nearly
80,000 people, a farming center and transportation center.
Otero County, carved chiefly from the original Dona Ana County, lies
some 10 miles east of WSMR headquarters with its boundary line running
north south and enclosing much of the Tularosa Valley.
The Tularosa Valley and Jornada del Muerto which have a mean altitude
of 4,000 feet above sea level are separated by the Organ and San Andres
Ranges. The verdant Mesilla Valley in the Las Cruces-Mesilla area, is several
hundred feet lower in elevation and, with the aid of irrigation, is noted
for its chile and cotton. Also in the Mesilla Valley south of Las Cruces,
is one of the world's largest pecan groves, Stahmann Farms, Inc.
The United States Department of Agriculture maintains an experimental
range station in the Jornada del Muerto with headquarters about 23 miles
from Las Cruces. The Department of Interior maintains the San Andres Wildlife
Refuge in the San Andres north of the historical old mining town of Organ,
on the west slopes of the Organ Mountains.
There are many stories of the origin of the name "Las Cruces." One generally
presumed true tells of the first European who came north over the route
later named Camino Real. The European found three graves marked with crosses.
There was no clue as to who was buried or who had marked them with Christian
crosses in a land inhabited only by heathens. The uncanny find raised other
questions--From where did the Christians come? Did one survive to bury
the dead? Where did the survivor go?
The city of Las Cruces continues to mark the site with three large crosses
which are lighted during Christmas and Easter seasons.
The legend supports the more recent contention that Cabeza de Vaca actually
did pass through the Mesilla Valley about 44 years after Columbus discovered
America.
Mining Area
A geological study of Dona Ana County by the New Mexico School of Mines
at Socorro in the mid-1930s described the Organ Mining District as including
both the east and west sides of the southern end of the San Andres Mountains
and all of the Organ Mountains down to Baylor Gap. There were many mines
being worked along the canyons and slopes at that time and the remains
of some old shafts are still discernable today from US Highway 70, which
passes between the two mountain ranges at San Augustin Pass.
Several million dollars worth of copper, silver and gold were taken
from the Torpedo Mine, just above the village of Organ. Tailings and rock
leaching tanks are still visible there. Flooding and the high cost of mining
finally forced the closure of this and most of the other mines which were
worked until the early years of World War II.
Henry Foy discovered the Torpedo mine and sold his interest for several
thousand dollars. Among other productive mines of the area were the Memphis,
Stevenson-Bennett, Modoc, Excelsior, Mormon and the Dona Dora.
The town of Organ was established as a mining camp and at one time had
a population of more than 1,000 people. When the mines closed the population
dwindled to several hundred. Today, with White Sands Missile Range so near,
retirees, and the rapid growth of Las Cruces, the Organ area is again nearing
the 1,000 population mark.
On the east side of the Organ Mountains is the Gold Camp which can be
seen among rocky outcroppings. The Gold Camp is located within the missile
range and is off limits to prospectors and visitors. The best known and
largest gold mine was the Maggy G. It produced approximately $850,000 gold
ore concentrate and about half again that much high grade ore.
Estey City post office and general store
Estey City was a copper mining town at the base of the Oscura Mountains
which existed for a few years between 1900 and 1910. A few stone walls and
foundations still stand at the site which is now within restricted
areas.
Ancient Cultures
The high mean altitude and extremely dry climate of south central New
Mexico is conductive to preservation of archeological specimen of earlier
cultures. The missile range area embraces numerous Indian burial grounds,
pueblos and artifacts. One of the most recent finds was an ancient pueblo
discovered at Condron Field, the Army airfield at White Sands Missile Range.
Located in a dry lake bed that once stood in water year-round, the airfield
has served WSMR for more than 40 years. It also was used as an emergency
landing field by World War II pilots flying Fort Bliss tow target missions
for antiaircraft gun training.
The outcropping of the Indian pueblo came to view following spring wind
storms in 1953 which removed the top soil on the airfield runways. In the
pueblo, which was several hundred feet long, archaeologists found human
skeletons, pieces of pottery, crude looking tools and other artifacts.
They estimated that the lake shore had been the site of an Indian camp,
either permanent or seasonal, possibly around 800 to 1000 AD.
In the early 1930s, the old dry lake was not dry but was a mecca for
wild fowl hunters. From around the turn of the century up until the early
1940s, the Tularosa Basin was much wetter than it is today. Then, during
each rainy season, there appeared a series of lakes across the desert with
wild lush grass covering the desert floor and mountain sides. Several of
the larger lakes stood from year to year.
By 1941, the lakes were beginning to dry. The Condron Field lake bed
was a natural emergency landing area for malfunctioning Army planes. According
to legends, smugglers often used the lake bed for landing aircraft bringing
contraband from Mexico.
The name Condron was given the field honoring an Army pilot, Second
Lieutenant Max Condron, who was killed there during an emergency landing
in 1942.
Near Baylor Gap, archaeologists discovered the bones of homosapiens
in a cave with remains of several extinct animals which "strongly suggest
the contemporaneity of the remains," and therefore may be the first and
earliest record of Man on the American continent.
Near the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Apollo
Site on the west edge of White Sands Missile Range also was found evidence
of an Indian culture. Arrowheads have been picked up on the surface of
the ground and the outline of adobe walls and rooms are visible along what
is now a dry arroyo but which was possibly a running stream at one time.
It is believed that migrant Indians once lived by the stream.
The existence of a pre-Pueblo people at Mimbres, in Grant County, has
been proven. Many signs of the prehistoric Indian called the Mogollones
have been found. The people were given the Spanish name Mogollon which
was given to the mountains where much of the evidence of their culture
was found.
New Mexico has an assortment of cave dwellings. Prehistoric cave dwellings
are found in the Gila Wilderness, which covers hundreds of square miles
of west-central New Mexico.
Grand Quivira National Monument, although not a cliff dwelling, is a
popular tourist attraction. Located east and just off the northern call
up area of White Sands Missile Range, the Grand Quivira ruins are evidence
of early Franciscan activity in the New Mexico area. The thick rock walls
of a large portion of the massive church built there by the Franciscan
fathers are still standing.
Pat Garrett died violently near Las Cruces in 1908 with a bullet in the back of the head. A man named Wayne Brazel, claiming self-defense, pleaded guilty to the shooting of Garrett and was acquitted at his trial. The acquittal was celebrated by many ranchers and cowboys of the district with a barbecue at the San Augustin Ranch. Garrett is buried in Las Cruces.
The Plaza at Old Mesilla is a state monument and the Gadsden Museum is nearby. Many descendants of the early settlers of Mesilla-Las Cruces are still prominent in the area.
In one of the last old-West killings, attorney A. J. Fountain and his small son disappeared--presumably murdered--in 1896, while returning from Tularosa. They were never found nor accounted for. Some people believed their remains were buried within the White Sands National Monument, while others have theories about the graves being on the missile range. As sheriff of Dona Ana County, Pat Garrett brought two men to trial for the killings but there was little evidence and they were set free.
Albert B. Fall, later Secretary of the Interior and a principal in the Teapot Dome oil scandal of the Harding administration, was the attorney defending the two men accused of Fountain's death.
San Augustin Ranch
Variously rendered as San Agustin, San Augustine and San Agustin, the land on which much of White Sands Missile Range now stands once was a prime part of the San Augustin Ranch, which was owned and operated by the Cox family. Rob Cox, descendant of the founder now lives in the old ranch house just two miles outside of the missile range boundary.
Named for the landmark peak and pass of the Organ Mountains through which today's US Highway 70 passes, the ranch has been an intricate part of history and development of the West for more than 150 years.
While daily activities at White Sands Missile Range write new pages in history, the San Augustin Ranch sits in retirement though not in total disuse. The house and grounds abound in history, a reflection of the old contrasted with the new, a part of the past overshadowed by the present, the space age with missile testing on its doorstep.
The site of the house was once the only water hole in the immediate area. A hillside of lush trees and grass marks the location of the five San Augustin springs which flow from the edge of the mountain. Seven or eight small areas are identified as graves whose histories are buried along with the people. Although two headstones remain, only one story is known-- that of a girl who was buried in what is now the Cox corral.
San Augustin ranch corrals
Also, there are tales of the San Augustin Inn, San Augustin Hotel and scraps of history about the girl buried in the ranch corral. The stories form a cross-section of Southwest history and bring to life happenings of the past 150 years. In the late 1840s a tall personable young man, Thomas J. Bull of Indiana, returned to the Mesilla Valley to make his fortune. He had previously marched through the area already to Mexico City as a Ouartermaster's clerk with the American Army in 1846.
Bull settled at San Augustin springs on the Old Salt Trail. In 1851, he obtained a contract to provide lumber for constructing Fort Fillmore. Much of the lumber was obtained from mountain slopes near the springs and in the immediate vicinity of today's White Sands Missile Range. Bull also bought horses and cattle, which many people said had been stolen and their brands altered, and sold them to Fort Fillmore. He acquired townsites in the rapidly-developing Las Cruces settlement. Later, he opened a store in La Mesilla. Affluent and ambitious, Bull decided to move on, so he sold his San Augustin holdings on the Old Salt Trail to Warren T. Shedd.
Shedd was a well set-up man financially who had ridden out of St. Louis well before the Mexican War with a party of young men headed for Paso del Norte. Prior to the purchase of the San Augustin spread, Shedd had accompanied an outfit of pack-animals and oxcarts over the Old Salt Trail to the salt flats and soda beds between Carlsbad and El Paso. The San Augustin layout caught his eye and led to its purchase. Soon after acquiring the San Augustin property, Shedd opened a small inn and commissary which indicated his modest beginning. But water, forage and fuel were available, and the Old Salt Trail was a main path to the west side of the mountains. Prospectors, Army troops, cattlemen and travellers stopped at the San Augustin Inn for food, water and forage. Shedd prospered.
Mining booms in the nearby mountains brought men of all classes along with pack animals. The mushroom gold camp at Brice, three miles west of Orogrande on the eastern slope of the Jarilla Mountains, brought many guests and many killings. Benjamin E. Davies, Shedd's sheepman neighbor to the south, had long coveted the San Augustin properties and was actually encroaching on Shedd's pasturage. Davies wanted to buy the place, but Shedd wouldn't sell although his life had been threatened. Threats in those days were not given idly, nor was Davies a man to give up easily.
From all information available, Shedd owned the San Augustin Ranch at the time Major Isaac Lynde led his Union troops and their families north from abandoned Fort Fillmore towards Fort Stanton to escape the Confederate force from Texas led by Colonel John R. Baylor. According to one story, Baylor took up pursuit of Lynde and his men by following the towering dust cloud they raised in crossing the desert. The head of the Union column had already passed through the San Augustin Pass when Baylor, aware of the Old Salt Trail Pass just four miles south through the Organ Mountains, galloped through the gap and around towards San Augustin Pass. There, at San Augustin springs, Baylor dramatically confronted Lynde and his force who had paused for lunch. Lynde and his men surrendered, asking for nothing but water.
This was on July 27, 1861, that Colonel Baylor accepted the surrender of Major Lynde and his nearly 700 Union troops. As a result, Federal troops hearing of the surrender, set fire to abandoned Fort Stanton and nearby stores, clearing the path for Confederate forces to Fort Craig and the battle of Valverde. To this day the Old Salt Trail Pass through the Organ Mountains is known as Baylor Gap.
On January 2, 1865, Davies moved to the San Augustin Ranch. How he obtained the properties is unknown. Apparently he took possession of the property piecemeal. Benjamin Davies was a successful stockman. Large herds of sheep and cattle grazed his range. He died in the 1880s and John H. Wilde became manager and administrator of the Davies estate. Wilde, whose family owned property near E1 Paso, was related to the Dow family of the Pecos Valley. Wilde's well, eight miles east of Orogrande and 32 miles south of Alamogordo was drilled by him. When a devastating drought took heavy toll of the San Augustin herds, Wilde moved the cattle to Texas where he was fatally injured when a horse fell on him.
San Augustin Inn, little of which remains today, was built on the east slope of the hill below the ranch house. Overlooking the five springs, the inn stepped up the hillside on three different levels much in the now popular split-level style.
Except for the area of the historical springs, the government now owns most of the Cox's land north and south of US 70 in White Sands Missile Range.
Dona Ana & Otero Counties
At one time Dona Ana County, which contains
Las Cruces as the county seat and Old Mesilla, extended from the Colorado
River to include most of the Arizona Territory and eastward to include
most of what is today Otero County.
Today, Dona Ana County's only river is the Rio Grande which is quite
tame due to water control by the Caballo and Elephant Butte Reservoirs.
Dams across the Rio Grande hold the water in reserve for irrigation of
farms along the Mesilla Valley and past El Paso and for use by Mexico.
Very little water from this area ever reaches the Gulf of Mexico.
In the past, before the dam was built, the mighty Rio Grande, in places,
was as much as a mile and a-half wide. The site of the historical river
today is a disappointing sight to most tourists.
White Sands Missile Range headquarters is in Dona Ana County. Prior
to the establishment of the missile range in 1945, Las Cruces was little
more than a sleepy desert hamlet. Today, it is a bustling city of nearly
80,000 people, a farming center and transportation center.
Otero County, carved chiefly from the original Dona Ana County, lies
some 10 miles east of WSMR headquarters with its boundary line running
north south and enclosing much of the Tularosa Valley.
The Tularosa Valley and Jornada del Muerto which have a mean altitude
of 4,000 feet above sea level are separated by the Organ and San Andres
Ranges. The verdant Mesilla Valley in the Las Cruces-Mesilla area, is several
hundred feet lower in elevation and, with the aid of irrigation, is noted
for its chile and cotton. Also in the Mesilla Valley south of Las Cruces,
is one of the world's largest pecan groves, Stahmann Farms, Inc.
The United States Department of Agriculture maintains an experimental
range station in the Jornada del Muerto with headquarters about 23 miles
from Las Cruces. The Department of Interior maintains the San Andres Wildlife
Refuge in the San Andres north of the historical old mining town of Organ,
on the west slopes of the Organ Mountains.
There are many stories of the origin of the name "Las Cruces." One generally
presumed true tells of the first European who came north over the route
later named Camino Real. The European found three graves marked with crosses.
There was no clue as to who was buried or who had marked them with Christian
crosses in a land inhabited only by heathens. The uncanny find raised other
questions--From where did the Christians come? Did one survive to bury
the dead? Where did the survivor go?
The city of Las Cruces continues to mark the site with three large crosses
which are lighted during Christmas and Easter seasons.
The legend supports the more recent contention that Cabeza de Vaca actually
did pass through the Mesilla Valley about 44 years after Columbus discovered
America.
Mining Area
A geological study of Dona Ana County by the New Mexico School of Mines
at Socorro in the mid-1930s described the Organ Mining District as including
both the east and west sides of the southern end of the San Andres Mountains
and all of the Organ Mountains down to Baylor Gap. There were many mines
being worked along the canyons and slopes at that time and the remains
of some old shafts are still discernable today from US Highway 70, which
passes between the two mountain ranges at San Augustin Pass.
Several million dollars worth of copper, silver and gold were taken
from the Torpedo Mine, just above the village of Organ. Tailings and rock
leaching tanks are still visible there. Flooding and the high cost of mining
finally forced the closure of this and most of the other mines which were
worked until the early years of World War II.
Henry Foy discovered the Torpedo mine and sold his interest for several
thousand dollars. Among other productive mines of the area were the Memphis,
Stevenson-Bennett, Modoc, Excelsior, Mormon and the Dona Dora.
The town of Organ was established as a mining camp and at one time had
a population of more than 1,000 people. When the mines closed the population
dwindled to several hundred. Today, with White Sands Missile Range so near,
retirees, and the rapid growth of Las Cruces, the Organ area is again nearing
the 1,000 population mark.
On the east side of the Organ Mountains is the Gold Camp which can be
seen among rocky outcroppings. The Gold Camp is located within the missile
range and is off limits to prospectors and visitors. The best known and
largest gold mine was the Maggy G. It produced approximately $850,000 gold
ore concentrate and about half again that much high grade ore.
Estey City post office and general store
Estey City was a copper mining town at the base of the Oscura Mountains
which existed for a few years between 1900 and 1910. A few stone walls and
foundations still stand at the site which is now within restricted
areas.
Ancient Cultures
The high mean altitude and extremely dry climate of south central New
Mexico is conductive to preservation of archeological specimen of earlier
cultures. The missile range area embraces numerous Indian burial grounds,
pueblos and artifacts. One of the most recent finds was an ancient pueblo
discovered at Condron Field, the Army airfield at White Sands Missile Range.
Located in a dry lake bed that once stood in water year-round, the airfield
has served WSMR for more than 40 years. It also was used as an emergency
landing field by World War II pilots flying Fort Bliss tow target missions
for antiaircraft gun training.
The outcropping of the Indian pueblo came to view following spring wind
storms in 1953 which removed the top soil on the airfield runways. In the
pueblo, which was several hundred feet long, archaeologists found human
skeletons, pieces of pottery, crude looking tools and other artifacts.
They estimated that the lake shore had been the site of an Indian camp,
either permanent or seasonal, possibly around 800 to 1000 AD.
In the early 1930s, the old dry lake was not dry but was a mecca for
wild fowl hunters. From around the turn of the century up until the early
1940s, the Tularosa Basin was much wetter than it is today. Then, during
each rainy season, there appeared a series of lakes across the desert with
wild lush grass covering the desert floor and mountain sides. Several of
the larger lakes stood from year to year.
By 1941, the lakes were beginning to dry. The Condron Field lake bed
was a natural emergency landing area for malfunctioning Army planes. According
to legends, smugglers often used the lake bed for landing aircraft bringing
contraband from Mexico.
The name Condron was given the field honoring an Army pilot, Second
Lieutenant Max Condron, who was killed there during an emergency landing
in 1942.
Near Baylor Gap, archaeologists discovered the bones of homosapiens
in a cave with remains of several extinct animals which "strongly suggest
the contemporaneity of the remains," and therefore may be the first and
earliest record of Man on the American continent.
Near the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Apollo
Site on the west edge of White Sands Missile Range also was found evidence
of an Indian culture. Arrowheads have been picked up on the surface of
the ground and the outline of adobe walls and rooms are visible along what
is now a dry arroyo but which was possibly a running stream at one time.
It is believed that migrant Indians once lived by the stream.
The existence of a pre-Pueblo people at Mimbres, in Grant County, has
been proven. Many signs of the prehistoric Indian called the Mogollones
have been found. The people were given the Spanish name Mogollon which
was given to the mountains where much of the evidence of their culture
was found.
New Mexico has an assortment of cave dwellings. Prehistoric cave dwellings
are found in the Gila Wilderness, which covers hundreds of square miles
of west-central New Mexico.
Grand Quivira National Monument, although not a cliff dwelling, is a
popular tourist attraction. Located east and just off the northern call
up area of White Sands Missile Range, the Grand Quivira ruins are evidence
of early Franciscan activity in the New Mexico area. The thick rock walls
of a large portion of the massive church built there by the Franciscan
fathers are still standing.
Otero County, carved chiefly from the original Dona Ana County, lies some 10 miles east of WSMR headquarters with its boundary line running north south and enclosing much of the Tularosa Valley.
The Tularosa Valley and Jornada del Muerto which have a mean altitude of 4,000 feet above sea level are separated by the Organ and San Andres Ranges. The verdant Mesilla Valley in the Las Cruces-Mesilla area, is several hundred feet lower in elevation and, with the aid of irrigation, is noted for its chile and cotton. Also in the Mesilla Valley south of Las Cruces, is one of the world's largest pecan groves, Stahmann Farms, Inc.
The United States Department of Agriculture maintains an experimental range station in the Jornada del Muerto with headquarters about 23 miles from Las Cruces. The Department of Interior maintains the San Andres Wildlife Refuge in the San Andres north of the historical old mining town of Organ, on the west slopes of the Organ Mountains.
There are many stories of the origin of the name "Las Cruces." One generally presumed true tells of the first European who came north over the route later named Camino Real. The European found three graves marked with crosses. There was no clue as to who was buried or who had marked them with Christian crosses in a land inhabited only by heathens. The uncanny find raised other questions--From where did the Christians come? Did one survive to bury the dead? Where did the survivor go? The city of Las Cruces continues to mark the site with three large crosses which are lighted during Christmas and Easter seasons.
The legend supports the more recent contention that Cabeza de Vaca actually did pass through the Mesilla Valley about 44 years after Columbus discovered America.
Mining Area
A geological study of Dona Ana County by the New Mexico School of Mines
at Socorro in the mid-1930s described the Organ Mining District as including
both the east and west sides of the southern end of the San Andres Mountains
and all of the Organ Mountains down to Baylor Gap. There were many mines
being worked along the canyons and slopes at that time and the remains
of some old shafts are still discernable today from US Highway 70, which
passes between the two mountain ranges at San Augustin Pass.
Several million dollars worth of copper, silver and gold were taken
from the Torpedo Mine, just above the village of Organ. Tailings and rock
leaching tanks are still visible there. Flooding and the high cost of mining
finally forced the closure of this and most of the other mines which were
worked until the early years of World War II.
Henry Foy discovered the Torpedo mine and sold his interest for several
thousand dollars. Among other productive mines of the area were the Memphis,
Stevenson-Bennett, Modoc, Excelsior, Mormon and the Dona Dora.
The town of Organ was established as a mining camp and at one time had
a population of more than 1,000 people. When the mines closed the population
dwindled to several hundred. Today, with White Sands Missile Range so near,
retirees, and the rapid growth of Las Cruces, the Organ area is again nearing
the 1,000 population mark.
On the east side of the Organ Mountains is the Gold Camp which can be
seen among rocky outcroppings. The Gold Camp is located within the missile
range and is off limits to prospectors and visitors. The best known and
largest gold mine was the Maggy G. It produced approximately $850,000 gold
ore concentrate and about half again that much high grade ore.
Estey City post office and general store
Estey City was a copper mining town at the base of the Oscura Mountains
which existed for a few years between 1900 and 1910. A few stone walls and
foundations still stand at the site which is now within restricted
areas.
Ancient Cultures
The high mean altitude and extremely dry climate of south central New
Mexico is conductive to preservation of archeological specimen of earlier
cultures. The missile range area embraces numerous Indian burial grounds,
pueblos and artifacts. One of the most recent finds was an ancient pueblo
discovered at Condron Field, the Army airfield at White Sands Missile Range.
Located in a dry lake bed that once stood in water year-round, the airfield
has served WSMR for more than 40 years. It also was used as an emergency
landing field by World War II pilots flying Fort Bliss tow target missions
for antiaircraft gun training.
The outcropping of the Indian pueblo came to view following spring wind
storms in 1953 which removed the top soil on the airfield runways. In the
pueblo, which was several hundred feet long, archaeologists found human
skeletons, pieces of pottery, crude looking tools and other artifacts.
They estimated that the lake shore had been the site of an Indian camp,
either permanent or seasonal, possibly around 800 to 1000 AD.
In the early 1930s, the old dry lake was not dry but was a mecca for
wild fowl hunters. From around the turn of the century up until the early
1940s, the Tularosa Basin was much wetter than it is today. Then, during
each rainy season, there appeared a series of lakes across the desert with
wild lush grass covering the desert floor and mountain sides. Several of
the larger lakes stood from year to year.
By 1941, the lakes were beginning to dry. The Condron Field lake bed
was a natural emergency landing area for malfunctioning Army planes. According
to legends, smugglers often used the lake bed for landing aircraft bringing
contraband from Mexico.
The name Condron was given the field honoring an Army pilot, Second
Lieutenant Max Condron, who was killed there during an emergency landing
in 1942.
Near Baylor Gap, archaeologists discovered the bones of homosapiens
in a cave with remains of several extinct animals which "strongly suggest
the contemporaneity of the remains," and therefore may be the first and
earliest record of Man on the American continent.
Near the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Apollo
Site on the west edge of White Sands Missile Range also was found evidence
of an Indian culture. Arrowheads have been picked up on the surface of
the ground and the outline of adobe walls and rooms are visible along what
is now a dry arroyo but which was possibly a running stream at one time.
It is believed that migrant Indians once lived by the stream.
The existence of a pre-Pueblo people at Mimbres, in Grant County, has
been proven. Many signs of the prehistoric Indian called the Mogollones
have been found. The people were given the Spanish name Mogollon which
was given to the mountains where much of the evidence of their culture
was found.
New Mexico has an assortment of cave dwellings. Prehistoric cave dwellings
are found in the Gila Wilderness, which covers hundreds of square miles
of west-central New Mexico.
Grand Quivira National Monument, although not a cliff dwelling, is a
popular tourist attraction. Located east and just off the northern call
up area of White Sands Missile Range, the Grand Quivira ruins are evidence
of early Franciscan activity in the New Mexico area. The thick rock walls
of a large portion of the massive church built there by the Franciscan
fathers are still standing.
Ancient Cultures