To: Dr. Nanette Ashby of New Mexico Western College and her students of
Southwestern Literature who have shown interest and pleasure as we
gathered on the Continental Divide and talked of the “good old days”,
whose questions and comments spurred me to write “The Story of Pinos
Altos”;
To: The sons and daughters of the men and women who made those times
what they were, and who have shared the tales their parents told:
To: The few “Old-Timers” who are left who remember so much and delight
to recall their experiences, and especially,
To: Mrs. Alpha Hickman Stephens who first came to Pinos Altos in 1888.
Her father operated a saw mill in Big Cherry for a Mr. Comer. It was
Comer who constructed much of the Cherry Creek Road as we know it today.
At that time the road, from Little Cherry to town, ran along the bed of
the canyon. Hickman Springs was the site of the family home. In 1890 she
married Charley Stephens, oldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Trolius Stephens.
Her keen mind is a treasure house of recollections—from which she has
generously supplied me with facts and figures—and pictures.