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tdith L. Crawford, 2125 words.
Carrizozo, i. Mex.
PIONELR STORY
was born in tne state of Illinois in 1866. In the
spring of 1873 my father, W. J. Wauchope, went to Kansas and
bought a farm in Sumner County, eight miles from Wellington
and twenty-five miles from Wichita, Kansas. In the fall of
thir same year he sent back to Lealle, Illinois for my moth-
er and the five children, three girls and two boys. We went
by train. We lived on this farm for six years, raising wheat
and corn mostly. In 1674 we had a wonderful crop and the
grasshoppers came and cleaned our fields, they were called the
Rocky Mountain grasshoppers. They came in such droves that
iie sky turned dark and we couldhear the roar long before we
could see what they were. We were very frightened. By night
our fields were cleaned out and crops all. one. The grasshop-
pers were so thick that they stopped trains. The next year we
Put in a big wheat crop. Just as it was ready to harvest Fath-
er took t whole family to Wichita with him for supplies, go-
ing in a covered wagon.
On our way back home we were caught in a. terrible rain
and hail storm. When we reached the banks of thc Ihnnescaw
J.11.er it was running bank full so we camped on the bank of this
river until noon the next day before we could cross. On arriv-
ing home we found our wheat pasted flat on the ground. The hail
had beat it down and ruined it. The neighbors told us that the
hail stones were large as goose eggs.
My father was so discouraged at this that he left his
family and went to Chicago, Illinois and got a job. We had
a hired man that year and he did not take any care of the
crops and the sun flowers took the farm. My father came home
in the fall and the next year he planted mostly corn and made
a bumper crop. By the time it was ready to gather he could
not sell it for any price. The cribs were all full and corn
was in the yard and fields and everywhere. Father bought hogs
and fattened them and sold them. By thiettime my father was so
discouraged with farming he decided to leave. He went to Fort
Dodge, Kansas, looking for something else and there he met
Charles Siringo who had just landed in Fort Dodge with a herd
of'catile he had driven through from Texas. (I want to say here
that in later years I net this same Charles Siring°, in White
Oaks, New Mexico, and he became a very good friend of our fam-
ily). This gave my father the idea of going to Texas and get-
ting in the cattle business. In the fall of 1879 he sold his
Kansas farm and we all started for Texas. There were seven of
us children then. We went in a covered wagon drawn by six hor-
ses. Father put side boards on the wagon and in the bottom
part stored our trunks and other belongings. Then father built
the wagon out to six feet wide so the bed springs would fit flat
and we all slept in the wagon. Mother's Singer sewing machine
was tied on the wagon and so were the water kegs. We did not
bring any live stock except the team. We were so heavily load-
ed that it took all six horses to mill tUe wagon. We headed
straight south through the Indian Territory. Father wanted
to locate on the Red River in Texas. I remember once when
we camped for dinner near an Indian village the Indians nook—
ed around our camp. We were all just scared to death of them.
Mother cooked a big pot of sweet potatoes and set it down in
the middle of a bunch of imams. When they had eaten all they
could they put the rest in their blankets and took them away
with them. Mother always tried to stay on the good side of
the Indians and would give them most anything she had. One
day as we were pulling up a long grade, just as we reached the
top of the hill one of the wagon wheels broke downs and,ire-had to
camp on the side of the hill. Father rode eight miles to an
Indian settlement to get the wheel fixed. We had to stay there
three days. Father rode back and forth each day until the
wheel was fixed. When he got back with the wheel it was too
late to start on that night so he put the wheel on the wagon
and drew it down to the foot of the hill. There was a terrible
norther blowing up, it was bitter cold, and we had to stay there
the next day.
The only time we were really frightened by the Indians was
once when we camped for the night in a lot of sage brush and
could not see very far. After making camp two Indians rode up
on horses and looked over the camp. They talked and laughed to
each other and rode off. After a little while we heard Indians
whooping and yelling. Father became uneasy, so he hitched up
the horses and we left in the night. The rest of the way was
uneventful though we traveled through some lovely country.
When we got to the Red River we decided to go on south
to the Wichita River. There we_rzur into a big snow storm'
and had to stay there for a week, having to dig our wood from
underneath the snow. We did not like that country as it was
too cold so we went on further south to Fort Worth, Texas.
It rained so much that we could not pull through the black
mud so we were there for another week. From Fort Worth we
went on to San Antonio, Texas. We made our camp about four
miles from the town of San Antonio, and stayed there a month
to rest and to decide what to do. Father scouted around and
went to Oadorville, Texas and bought thirty head of cows. We
broke camp and went through Oastorville to pick up the cattle
and started west for Fort Davis, Texas. While we were gather-
ing the cattle at Oastorville itrained so much that the wagon
could not be pulled through the mud. All our provisions ran
low and we could not get any more, living on mush and molasses
several days. We took two of the teams to drive the cows and
the children took turns about riding and driving the cattle.
One day two men caught up with us one riding a horse and one
a burro. They traveled on with us, helping us with the cattle.
We were glad to have them as the Indians were on the war path
in this part of the country. Just about a month before, the
Indians had attacked an emigrant train going over the same
route and had killed all the.people, driven off the stock,took
what they wanted, and had burned the rest of the stuff and the
wagons. We did not see any Indians. The soldiers had come in
after their attack on the emigrant train and the Indians had
scattered. We were scared to death all the time. We had been
warned of a dry stretch of country about sixty-five miles long
where there was no water. It toox us three days to cross this
and our cattle and horses had no water. Father would take
some of our drinking water and wet the tongues of the team so
that they could go on. They almost gave out. One of the cows
had a baby calf, we took the calf in the wagon and the cow
went -with the herd. The cow gave us milk which we -were glad
to have. The two men who had been with us decided that they
could make better time so they went on ahead of us. After be-
ing out one day they returned to our camp. The burro had given
out and the man who was riding him had to walk. He was so ex-
hausted when he got to camp that he just fell down. Mother
gave him some milk and revived him and both of the men stayed
with usithe rest of the trip until we reached Fort Davis. On
the third day we reached a watering hole that the Government
had fixed up just a short time before. This was a small spring
in the rocks and a trough had been made for the water to run
through. It was not very large. When the cattle smelled the
water they struck out at a trot to get it. We did not loose a
single head of the stock but they were very weak. From there
we went on to Muscas Canyon where we camped for about a week.
It was a beautiful place, with grass about ten inches high, we
turned the stock loose to graze and rest. We then went to
Fort Davis and stayed a month there. We had intended to locate
there, but there were so many Indians and so much talk of their
white settlers, we were afraid to stay. Father wanted
to go on to El Paso but was afraid to make the trip on account
of the Indians. One of the men who was with us got a job driv-
ing a stage coach between Fort Davis and El Paso. We never
saw or heard from him again and just supposed he was killed in
an Indian raid. Selling all our stock except four horses we
started back to San Antonio, Texas, making good time as we had
no stock to look after. We lived about nine months in San An-
tonio and all the children who were old enough went to school
there. We rented a fortified house with walls two feet thick
and with a two foot adobe wall all around it with only one en-
trance to the plaza, a gate which was kept locked. My father
did odd jobs. One day my father picked up an old newspaper
and brought it home, as mother was reading it she saw where a
John E. Wilson had made a rich gold strike in White Oaks, New
Mexico. (This is what is now known as the South Homestake in
White Oaks). That was the name of my mother's father and she
had not heard from him in twenty years. He had left Illinois
to prospect for gold in Colorado. Mother said "I just know
that is my father." She wrote him a letter and he answered
right away wanting us to come to White Oaks. Leaving San An,
tonio for White Oaks on March 21, 1881, we had to buy our whole
outfit again getting a covered wagon with four horses. Our trip
was not very eventful except for one incident, that happened
about half way. We camped one night near a tent fort, where
there were soldiers, staking our four horses near our camp, for
it was an awfully dark night. In the night we heard an awful
commotion and our horses broke loose and ran away. My father
went on foot to look for them and found them twenty miles be-
low where we were camped, at a cow ranche. It took him four
days to get them and we were in that camp about a week. We
got to White Oaks on Sunday afternoon, May 1st, 1881. We met
a lady and two children and talked to them and they said they
were coming from Sunday school. We lived with my grandfather
Wilson in White Oaks, and my father hauled freight from Las
Vegas and Socorro to White Oaks. After living in White Oaks
for five years my father went to South America, leaving my moth-
er and the seven children with my grandfather. In 1890 he came
back to this country and while on a visit to his mother in Iowa
was taken very ill, there my mother went to nurse him. He died
after a short illness at the age of forty-nine years. My moth-
er took his body back to the old home at LaSalle, Illinois for
burial. She returned to White Oaks and later went to El Paso
and lived with my youngest brother. She died at the age of six-
ty-six years, in May 1910.
NARRATOR: Mrs. Ina W. Mayer, Carrizozo, New Mexico. Aged 70
years.
Edith L. Crawford Words -156
Carrizozo, N. Mex.
PIONEER STORY
Narrator: Mts. Ina W. Mayer, Carrizozo, New Mexico. Age 70 years.
.Charles D. Mayer and I were married in January 14, 18, in
White Oaks New Mexico he was a blacksmith at the time after
disposing of his blacksmith shop, he worked for some time for his
brother Paul Mayer who ran a livery stable in White Oaks in the
early days.
After leaving this job he went into the general merchandise
business in White Oaks, we stayed there until 1921, when we moved
our stock of merchandise to Carrizozo, New Mexico and continued
in this business until 1930, when we had to retire on account of
our health.
There was two children born to this union, a girl and a boy,
our girl is married and living in Modesto, California.
The boy is married and lives in El Paso, Texas, in the winter
time and at Ruidoso, New Mexico, during the summer months.