Early one spring a party of twelve scouts left Tucson for the Rio
Grande. When they reached Mesilla they decided to prospect in the
mountains to the northwest. They stopped in Santa Rita to replenish
supplies and then moved westward. On May 18, 1860, three prospectors,
from that party, named Birch, Snively and Hicks, camped on what is now
known as Bear Creek. Birch went to the stream for water and found
chispas—small nuggets of gold, in the bed of the stream. Scooping up a
handful he returned to his companions. Then began a frantic exploration
of Bear Creek and every nearby gulch. Their findings were sufficient to
justify the establishment of a more permanent camp but additional tools
and supplies were needed. They went to Santa Rita where they confided
their discovery to the Marston brothers and Langston whom they found
working there. Returning, they christened their camp “Birchville” in
honor of the discoverer and erected structures more adequate for comfort
and protection. They were joined by the three Americans who knew of
their discovery, and by many others, both American and Mexican, for the
secret was out. By September there were 700 men in the field and a few
families of the Mexican miners. While Santa Rita could supply staples,
it was necessary to go to Mesilla for hardware, clothing, groceries in
quantity, which they paid for with 1 · 2 or 3 fingers of gold. The first
year was spent placer mining and prospecting to find the “mother lode”.
The Apaches were very troublesome, confining their activities to
waylaying small parties, the driving off of stock, and to gathering on
the hills above the workers, taunting the “Goddammies” as they called
the Americans, from the words heard frequently from the men. The second
year a few lodes were located but only the surface was scratched. Quartz
bearing ore was crushed in arrastras, century-old mills such as the
Egyptians and Phoenicians had used to crush olives for oil and grapes
for wine, and which had come down through the ages to the Mexicans. A
circular pit was dug, sides and bottom lined with flat stones, a stout
pole was placed in the center to which an arm was attached and a burro,
mule or horse could be hitched. Heavy rounded boulders were placed in
the pit and attached to the other end of the arm. The quartz was thrown
into the pit and broken up as the beast walked around and around. The
rubble was thrown out and the bottom scraped of the fine material which
was then washed in the ordinary rocker. (Only one arrastra in good
condition is intact today). As more and more miners came in the
settlement moved up the creek to a more central location for all placer
grounds. The Mesilla Times in 1861 carried items and advertisements from
the gold camp. It stated that “Thomas J. Marston was pushing ahead his
work of grinding quartz and doing well although constantly annoyed by
Indians,” that, “The Pinos Altos Hotel served bread and meals,” that
“Samuel G. and Roy Bean (Law West of the Pecos) were dealers in
merchandise and liquors and had a fine billiard table”, and that “Thos.
Marston wanted 200 quartz miners at $1.00 and $2.00 a day.”
With the establishment of the Confederacy this part of the West was
claimed by the South. On August 1, 1861, Col. John R. Baylor as Governor
at Mesilla, proclaimed the establishment of the Territory of Arizona.
This included the part of New Mexico below the 34th parallel. Miners had
been asking the United States Government for military protection but
little action had been taken. However, Governor Baylor recognized the
importance of controlling the Indians and of protecting the scattered
inhabitants. Captain Snively’s Arizona Guards were assigned to watch the
Apaches under Cochise and Mangas Colorado, and Thomas Marston was named
Captain in the Arizona Scouts with nine men under his control to protect
Birchville. At the same time he appointed Justices of the Peace for Dona
Ana County, which then included Dona Ana, Luna, Hidalgo and Grant. Among
them was M. M. Steinhal of Birchville, who became the first Justice of
Peace in what is now Grant County. The Apaches were determined to drive
all Americans from their land. Cochise brought his warriors from the
Chiricahuas and joined Mangas Colorado and his Mimbrenos for a concerted
attack on the miners. Cochise was in command. Early on the morning of
September 22, 1861, 400 Apaches made a bold, but unsuccessful attempt to
destroy the camp and drive the miners out. The conflict raged along the
Continental Divide until one o’clock, when with fifteen Apaches killed,
one by a dog belonging to a Mexican named Carlos Norero, the Indians
withdrew. Three Americans lost their lives, including Thomas Marston who
had been fatally wounded and died a few days later. He was buried
beneath the large juniper tree in the Pinos Altos cemetery. Many of the
remaining Americans decided that their scalps were more valuable than
gold and left to join either the Union or Confederate Forces. The Beans
were among them. On October 10th Governor Baylor responded to a
desperate call for help from the weakened settlement by sending a
detachment of 100 men under Major E. Waller to relieve the miners and to
protect their rich workings.
Not all the trouble during the year 1861 was with the Indians. A man
named Taylor held a grudge against William Dike, who was in the employ
of the Overland Express Company. At a baile on Christmas Eve, Taylor
gathered some friends about him and fired at Dike, who was dancing.
Several shots were exchanged, Dike was killed and Taylor wounded.
However, he was able to escape into Mexico. This was the first murder in
the camp.
Jack Swilling, who had been among the first people to come to the camp,
enlisted with the Confederate Army, was commissioned a lieutenant and
assigned to protect the settlement. He was very popular with Americans
and Mexicans alike. He had been friendly with Mangas Colorado and once
was accredited with saving the chief’s life. One night, in a drunken
brawl, he shot and killed his best friend—a man named Printer. This
friend was buried in the cemetery near Captain Marston but his grave was
not marked. People of the camp, thinking that Swilling’s shock and grief
were sufficient punishment, did nothing about the affair. Later Swilling
went to Arizona where he started the development of the Salt River
Valley. However, when in 1867, Dan Diamond, over a trivial matter and in
cold blood, killed Schwartz, a butcher, the men took action. The nearest
court was at Mesilla so they decided to give Diamond a fair trial. He
was permitted to select his own jury and a man to defend him. He was
found guilty as charged and sentenced to hang. Sunrise next day saw him
hanging from a large juniper tree on the “Mill Site.”
Mangas Colorado was a wise and worried chief of the Warm Spring Apaches,
and he was getting old. He had watched the hard rock miners at Santa
Rita and the slow-moving pipe-smoking “Los Goddammies” in the arroyas in
the Pinos Altos mountains and noted that they came in ever increasing
numbers, that every day parties of hunters were killing deer, antelope
and turkey and driving game farther back into the mountains. He wondered
what would become of his people. He went to parley with the miners and
learned that they were interested only in obtaining the bright metal. In
an effort to get them to leave the country he offered to lead them to a
rich gold field south of the border which Victorio had found. On one
occasion he was bound and whipped, which he said he “could never
forgive”. As he was let go one husky miner, who had been tormenting him,
called, “Send over Apache girls, no whip their backs”. He went to a
secret place where he rested and recuperated from his injuries, sick
with humiliation and bitter about the loss of his son and of his friends
through the treachery of the Americans. A plan formed in his mind.
Returning to Warm Springs, he began his preparations. He sent for
Cochise “Not for war but for counsel”. Cochise told of long wagon trains
coming into the country with more and more men. If ever the miners were
to be driven out now was the time. Cochise returned to his mountains.
Mangas Colorado had the herds brought in and driven to secret places,
braves and women were given instructions, and suddenly Warm Springs was
deserted. One day, on the long slope above the miners’ camp, a bevy of
Apache girls and young squaws appeared. They paid no attention to the
settlement nor to the miners who were working nearby, but combed and
braided their long hair. Once in a while the girls left the group to run
and play among the rocks and then went back to combing their hair. The
miners called to them but they did not answer. Evening came when all the
miners returned to camp. The sight of the women so excited the men that
they forgot their camp chores and charged up the hill. At the same time
the mules were stampeded, hunting parties that had been out for game for
the camp were ambushed, and a volley of shots came from across the
canyon. Forty of the miners were killed or wounded. One hunter who
escaped the ambush reported that an overwhelming number of Apaches were
in the wooded hills. Apache like, they did not follow up their advantage
but withdrew. This episode and the War between the States caused more of
the Americans to leave. “They will come again,” said Mangas Colorado.
Word was sent by General Carleton at Fort Bowie to General Joseph West
to arrange for the capture of “the bloodiest of Apache chiefs”, to “take
him dead or alive, by force or strategy”. Captain Shirland, with the aid
of Jack Swilling, located Mangas Colorado in the Pinos Altos Mountains.
When told that General West wanted to have a peace talk with him, the
chief went willingly and without his warriors. On January 17, 1863, he
was taken as a prisoner, to Captain Shirland of the 1st California
Cavalry at Fort McLane. The official records say that “he was killed the
following day by a guard while attempting to escape.” The records in
Washington also stated that “the wife of Mangas Colorado was killed,
along with ten other Indians by Captain William McCleave, of the 1st
California Cavalry at the Pinos Altos Mines on January 19, 1863”.
The next year an enterprising young man, Pete Nest, left camp to go to
El Paso where he bought a barrel of whiskey. All went well on his way
back until he reached the creek east of camp where he had a breakdown.
He managed to get word in and the boys went down the trail with their
tin cups. Nest said that he netted about $800.00 in cash and gold. There
are many stories of how the creek got its name but this one is most
reliable. Many years later the good people ranching down the valley
petitioned the legislature to have the name changed. The bill was
introduced by the senator from this district. Some wag suggested
“Cedarbrook”, that being the senator’s favorite brand. The name was
changed to Arenas Valley but the people at this end prefer “Whiskey” to
“Arenas” (sand).
There was a strong feeling of enmity between the Southerners—most of
whom had come from Texas—and the Mexicans. In February of the following
year a dispute about the locating of mining claims arose. The Americans
insisted that the Mexicans should not be allowed to locate claims along
the main gulches. The Mexicans, believing themselves to be the stronger
group, made plans to take the camp. Don Manuel Leguinazabal prevailed
upon them to desist so what might have been a bloody conflict was
averted. The Indians continued to attack small parties and to steal
stock so the two groups forgot their differences and united against the
common enemy. For many months there were no major calamities for the
Mexicans had made a treaty with the Indians who frequently came to the
camp to beg for tobacco or to trade. Some bright mind conceived the idea
late in the summer of ’64 to have a fiesta to celebrate the treaty of
peace and to invite the Indians. A fine dinner of beans and other dishes
was served to sixty Apaches in a house, since destroyed, but which stood
near the present home of Miss Recene Ashton. While the beans were being
enjoyed the dastardly hosts opened fire, killing several of the guests,
others escaped with all trust in the settlers destroyed. Woe to anyone
who wandered from camp from that time on. Virgil Marston took a chance
and was killed on Whiskey Creek. He was buried beside his brother. But
the danger did not keep other men from coming. After the war many of the
men who had gone to fight came back.
When the California Column had been disbanded at Mesilla many of its
members came to the settlement as “Indian fighters” and to make their
fortunes in the gold camp. In 1866 the name “Birchville” was changed to
the original name of “Pinos Altos”. To many the climate and the beauty
of the country made a strong appeal and they considered making permanent
homes. There were no American women in the settlement so many men took
Mexican and Indian girls as their common law wives, built log or adobe
homes and founded families that have been prominent in the history of
the Southwest. Perhaps a touch of homesickness made them yearn for
familiar things. They sent to former homes for seeds and trees and
planted orchards, vineyards and gardens on their claims where they had
built homes. Some did not stake out claims but built on open ground,
holding it by “Squatters’ Rights”. Messrs. Houston and Thomas located
several claims down Bear Creek and made of the home place a garden spot.
Their apple orchard was the first in Grant County. Moore, Stanley,
Barton, Adair and Handy also planted orchards and vineyards. There were
fields of alfalfa, corn and beans, and smaller plots of garden truck and
flowers. Besides his terraced grape vines and fruit trees Mr. Stanley
had a rose garden. The Mexicans planted almond and peach trees around
their homes and invariably had oleanders in wooden tubs. During the
summer they blossomed beside the doorways and somehow room was found for
them inside the small dwellings when frost came. They took fledgling
mocking birds from nests and carefully tended and trained them. They
were kept in large cages hanging outside on the wall or from a tree
where they called and exchanged confidences with the neighboring birds
or complemented the guitar music. Each home had a small corral for the
burro. Chickens and cows roamed at will and here and there goats would
clamber over walls and roofs. Every day the yard was swept as clean as
the mud packed floors of their dwellings. Peter Wagnor and John Simon
brought wild roses from the canyons and planted hedges of them around
their homes. Although the buildings were crude the general impression
was pleasing. While this was begun in the late 60’s it stretched over
many years.
A band of Navajos succeeded in driving off 31 yoke of oxen belonging to
Hartford and Groves on the night of June 16, 1867. A company of 50 men
under the command of Richard Hudson, (a member of the California Column
and an uncle, by marriage, of Mrs. Robert K. Bell) took the trail and
followed it for eight days before they came upon the band. In the
running fight thirteen Navajos were killed and seven taken as prisoners.
Hudson reported that one of his men had a cheek grazed by a bullet. This
is the only record of the camp being raided by any Indians other than
Apaches.
After the war the policy of the government regarding the West changed.
The point that affected the Southwest most was the establishing of forts
to protect travel and trade—even to protect the miners at Pinos Altos.
In the general field orders for the establishing of forts it was stated
“that one was to be in the vicinity of Pinos Altos, to consist of one
company of infantry and two of cavalry to protect the miners of
southwest New Mexico from the Warm Springs Apaches.” The Military
Reservation of Fort Bayard was established in 1869.
All during the ’60’s supplies had to be brought in by pack trains over
rough trails. The 10 mile trail to Santa Rita was the most direct line
crossing above present Fort Bayard and across the mountains to Whiskey
Creek. The pack trains from Mesilla left the main road to Santa Rita at
Fort McLane (Apache Tejo) and came straight to camp. Game was plentiful
but hunters had to be sent out daily to keep the people supplied with
meat. It was never safe for one man to hunt alone so small parties took
turns with the understanding that the venison, bear and other game would
be shared by all. The Hill Brothers left the camp to ranch on the Gila
at what was known for years as the Hill and later the Gila Hot Springs
(now Doc Campbell’s). There they raised vegetables and made jerky of
venison which were brought to camp. James McKenna, author of Black Range
Tales, engaged in such trade. The miners made periodic trips to the
springs to bathe and sweat out the grime, smoke and the effects of bad
whiskey. In 1868 Ancheta had a trading post in the original part of the
old store building which burned in 1957. The handmade wrought iron box
found in the ruins may have been his strong box. That same year he
operated an arrastra, the remains of which can still be seen on the
“Mill Site” now belonging to L. E. Nichols.
Mr. Robert K. Bell, as a boy, lived at the Ancheta Ranch, (the Ward
Lodge in Little Cherry) and he told the story of the original stone
house. Sr. Ancheta had taken up land near the Twin Sisters and had a
goat ranch. This land is said to be the first land patented in Grant
County. Ancheta went to Mexico for a visit and was a guest at an
hacienda where he fell in love with the wife of his host. He persuaded
her to run away with him and come to Pinos Altos. The house was built
for her. The port holes were designed to keep off the pursuing husband
and relatives as well as the Indians.
There was no formal organization, nor survey made of the camp until
1867. Anson Mills, later a prominent figure in the history of El Paso,
was sent by a member of the famous Maverick family to make a mineral
survey and report of this district. Evidently Mills’ report was not
satisfactory to Mr. Maverick for he took no further interest in this
section but Mills stayed. The residents felt that to make their rights
to improvements secure they should take legal action so a Pinos Altos
Town Company was organized. It had hired Mills to survey and plot the
town conforming to government survey lines. According to the file in the
county courthouse, transferred to Grant from Dona Ana, “streets had been
laid off and graded, four bridges built over Bear Creek, and some wells
sunk”. The file also states that “The first settlement had been made in
1860. In 1868 it had 600 to 700 inhabitants, 120 houses, two stamp
mills, a number of arrastras, three furnaces for smelting silver, two
hotels, and several mercantile establishments.” Incidentally, there were
seven saloons, but instead of being listed separately they may have been
classed as “mercantile” establishments. “The town embraced 320 acres,
twenty miles from the Gila River and 110 from the Rio Grande by the
nearest traveled road.” The town company was incorporated and the deed
signed by “Samuel J. Jones, vice president, acting for persons” and
dated July 3, 1868. Grant County was formed from Dona Ana that same year
and Pinos Altos was made the county seat, 1869-1871. The county’s first
court house is now owned by Mrs. Mabel Eckerd of Lordsburg. Only one
term of court was held, presided over by Judge H. B. Johnson. It has
been described as “the gayest and loudest ever held in the Rocky
Mountain region.” A band furnished music, refreshments were handy, and
two condemned men were taken out and hanged from the same tree where Dan
Diamond met his fate.
Trolius Stephens brought his wife overland by mule train from Nebraska
in 1873. She was the first, and for several years, the only American
woman in town, excepting Miss Parker who had been here eleven years
before. They were the grandparents of Cecil Stephens of Arenas Valley.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Stephens were interested in welfare of the people,
they visited the sick, cared for the injured, and saw to it that no
family was cold or hungry. He contended that a man was worth but $1.25 a
day from the neck down but that there was no limit to his worth from the
neck up. He paid accordingly. He could not or would not tolerate
stealing. On one occasion when he noticed that wood was disappearing
from the town’s large wood yard, and the man in charge of it said that
he did not know how, when, or by whom, Mr. Stephens said he would “fix
the guy.” He bored holes in several sticks of wood and put in dynamite.
Before sunrise the next morning a mighty blast shook the town. Mr.
Stephens rushed out and saw a roof rising into the brightening sky and
above were several black disks, the lids from the kitchen stove—in the
home of his cousin.
Fuel for homes and mills was juniper and oak wood cut in the hills into
cord lengths and packed into town by burros. Ore from the mines was
taken to the mills in the same manner. Often there were as many as
twenty burros to a train. The trails they used still stand out on the
mountain sides, as do the old roads from the saw mills, where the logs
were hauled out by oxen. Among the names of men who operated early
sawmills are Ripley, Scott, McMillan, Brownell and Franey, who came in
’81 or ’82. He was joined in 1902 by his nephew, Thomas Foy, a rosy
cheeked boy fresh from old Ireland. Later there were Davidson, Slack,
Leonard, Mason and others.
From the earliest days when both Mexicans and Americans traveled through
the country they would camp at the springs the Mexicans had called
Cienega de San Vicente. Miners from Pinos Altos tried raising corn and
beans there, but being loathe to leave their diggings to care for the
crops, Indians or animals destroyed them. Captain A. J. Hulburt, more
daring and persistent than other miners, built a cabin and took his
Mexican wife there to live during the growing season. He would ride to
and from his mine, the “Texas” on the western slope of the mountain, a
distance of seven miles. One day he left his rifle at the cabin with his
wife and son and went out to plow his field. Looking up he saw Apaches
between himself and the house. Knowing he could not rescue his family he
ran to the mines, hoping his wife would be able to stand off the
marauders until he could get help. Almost exhausted he gasped out his
story. The men grabbed their guns, mounted their animals and hurried to
the cabin, only to find it smouldering, the wife and son dead, and the
Indians gone.
When this place was selected as a town site in 1872 and was named
“Silver City”, Dick Hudson remarked, “That’s a hell of a name to give a
town on a mud flat.” Later he wrote, “The only rival the Tall Pine City
is ever destined to have sprang into existence as if by magic”. He was
wrong in his use of the word “only”. A quarter of a century later a
writer in The Enterprise referred to Pinos Altos as “an abandoned camp
in Silver City’s back yard”. He, too, used one wrong word—“abandoned”.
The opening of mines to the south and west drew many miners away and
more adventurers were attracted to this district. Many of these men
wanted to get rich quick and engaged in illicit mining deals. The result
was that many claims were not being worked. The newcomers were more
inclined to gamble than to use a pick and shovel. It was helpful to have
a nearer source of supplies but the cost was just as great and business
declined. In those days ox teams would leave Pinos Altos in midmorning
and camp at the Half-Way Rock for the night. Early the next morning they
would proceed to Silver City where the wagons were loaded, then they
came back to the Half-Way camp and on to Pinos Altos the third day. Once
a band of Apaches attacked but were unsuccessful. Another time they
swooped down on the stage between the old Brent Ranch and Pinon Hill,
wounding the driver and killing one mule. “Chinamen” were among the
passengers and they put up such a good fight that the Indians rode off.
Old “One-Armed-Juan” Esquejeda told of having goats taken from his place
almost in the center of town and about the same time Willie Fletcher and
some of his pals went swimming in a pool formed by a dam in Arroya Rico.
Their scattered clothing was left on a bank. A group of young braves
came down the gulch and stood watching the splashing boys. They gathered
up the clothing and departed. The boys waited until dark before slipping
home. Some time during the ’70’s Silvario Gutierrez returned to his
family after having been a captive of the Apaches for seven years. His
family had given him up for dead and although he had been very small
when captured he, fortunately, remembered his “pet” name. He was the
grandfather of Manuel Gutierrez of Santa Rita and of Virginia Terrazas
and Nora Garcia.
Placer mining no longer yielded such rich returns. Many placer and lode
claims were abandoned, and except for gambling and dance hall brawls
things were considered quiet during the ’70’s.
[Illustration: For nearly 100 years people from Pinos Altos have gone to
the Upper Gila for rest, recreation, hunting and fishing. The Hill
Brothers built this bath house to accommodate the grime-coated early day
miners.]