Document text
SEP 1 4 1936
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afE4VIEW Georgia J. liedfield
qL words
(Jr
.4 I 1414 I Aft C uULL Y tin
Roswell, iiew itaexico, Sept..3,
I was uorn i. ss Cuunty, daSOUri, edid k, the scri
c)J'ro.,1 urton, who were married
in matitiOlai LI .1.81o.
hen six yeals or a in 1884 my brother and I,
ienjamin orrell Jrton, left. ,1:JSCarl tint. C Nu to new )x
ice 1.1tri our pl.r..nts, and culis13d lan:n Iture, in the
Coder nyon counLly sixty 2J... :rctie el ie11. T
The outfit, a pert c> t.c.e ass .,and tnd Oittle Company
lioldincs (my father G. Urzon, a stockholder) became widely
Known us the :;even J.. L. Nation.
The branded cal,tle, i.ugt:cd frontie fexon line
south, almost to Las VOt,tati on the north.
There was no railroad, closer than 1..JJ miles, until
ten years after our coming to that part of he 3.1exico.
In 1..,94 a part of he 3anta ze nail -road system was
colitpleted from Eddy, now Calisbad, to Rosli,e11.
have often wisheu o express in v.-itiLg ell the dif-
ferent excitements we experienced in tLi ,4 country of
southeestern New i4exico, with i, incliuii h.)stUities, cat-
tle tnievihg, and land and w:Iter feuds. .L11 these proved
only thrills and joys for us, litie lads, but must have
been hardships and anxieties for our parents.
ahen the men brought in a herd of cattle from Want
INTERVIEW
Georgia Li. Redfield
William Cooley Urton
Griffin, Texas, and turned loose on the grazing lands 3,000
head of two year old heifers, we little fellows joined in
the celebration and fun of the cowboys who immediately, on
arriving safely with the cattle, started a contest to see
who could brand the first calf of those born on the trail
from it. Griffin.
All of us on the ranch, known as the kissourians, had
pretty hard sledding the first few years, though we were
blessed with plenty of water and good grazing for the
stock, exaept;daring long drouth periods.
I remember once very soon after arriving at the ranch
we were without supplies. Some one told us there was a
wagon load of Oerked (dried) buffalo meat, on a trail near
by. We bought and ate some, by candlelight. The next
morning we found the entire lot of meat alive with hide bugs.
Ve got our groceries by ox wagon from Las Vegas, 160
miles. Once supplies ordered by mother for Thanksgiving
arrived the feedowing
The post office was at fort Sumner. When we could go
for mail it was usually old when we receivea news from
back home. Father's mother, sick in A.saouri, had been d
dead three weeks, before we received the letter saying she
was sick.
une time mother was bitten by a mad dog and was taken
by buckboard, 60 miles to Roswell, and was sent from there
INTER VIE' -3-
Georgia 3. Reafield
William. Cooley Urton
to Abeline, Texas for mad -stone treatment.
"Once on Friday a messenger was sent to Roswell for
Dr. E. H. Skipwith to attend Brother Ben who had &sables.
Dr. Skipwith, arriving the following Sunday noon, said he
knew the boy would be well or dead so he had taken his
time.
Mother must have often been very lonely. Sometimes
six months would pass in which she would not see a white
woman. She would lose count of time. One time she worked
hard all day Sunday preparing for the Sabbath which she
thought would be the next day and observed the Sabbath on
Monday.
"Some members of our family were once stricken with
ptomain poisoning, a cowboy happened in and gave his spec-
ial emergency treatment without which, some of us might
have died.
"For schooling, a district school and teacher were
established on the ranch. The teachers and expenses were
paid for only three months of school. For the rest of the
term it became a private school paid for by my parents, a
and parents of children on our ranch and neignboring ranches.
"My brother and I one day saw the first Indian we had
ever seen. he was standing stately and silent on a big
rock, in the place now known as Bomeroville. We got away
tram there as quickly as we possibly could, and when we
INTERVIEW
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Georgia B. Redfield
William Cooley Urton
had reached a safe distance, brother Ben said 'Let's go
back and shoot that olf Indians'
A thrilling sight, one day after Indian uprisings,
was 50C Indians with sixteen soldier guards, passing the
ranch, the Indians were being changed from one reservation
to another.
"In 1889 J. J. Cox on the adjoining ranch died. His
ranch and the ranch holdings of some others who grew dis-
couraged were bought and the Cass Land and Cattle Company
became the largest and most important cattle owners on the
Pecos River ia New Mexico. The stockholders were J. D.
Cooley, Lee Easley and my father, W. G. Urton.
The name of the ranch was changed from Seven libto
Bar V.
"There were always a number of cowboys working at the
ranch, who were called by new names, selected by them,
when they cams to the new clean country, where they wished
0
to start with a slate wiped clean. According to the well
known tradition of the west, no questions were ever asked
at the Baz-V Ranch.
"Some criminals, who came never reformed. For two
years "Black Jack" Tom Ketchem, and his brother Sall (who
were two notorious desperadoes) worked on our ranch.
"They stole and were riding Bar -V horses when they
robbed a train at Folsom in 1900 or 1901. That was the
INTERVIEW -5-
Georgia B. Redfield
William Cooley Urton
last train robbed in New Mexico. Sam was shot in an arm
and died later of bloodpoison from the wound. "Black
Jack" Tom had one arm shot off, but was captured, tried,
and hanged his head jerked entirely from his body by a
clumsy hangman.
"About forty cowboys were employed at times, and five
hundred saddle horses were used by the outfit.
"My father would not keep a dangerous horse. Re pro-
tected the men in every way he could. In all the time
twenty-seven years he was in the cattle business, there
never was an accident, nor a death among his men.
"We moved to our present home three miles northeast of
Roswell in 1900. Mother died here in 1909 and father in 1988.
"I W. C. Urton was married in 1915 to Miss Mamie
Spencer. We have one daughter, Frances, born in Roswell
in 1920.
"My brother Benjamin Worrell, was married in 1909
to Miss Bess James. One on was born to them, whom they
named Jason James. lle&, James Urton died in 1929. Ben's
second marria6e to ;,:rs. Underwood took place in Altus,
Oklahoma in 1932."
Sources of Information
William Cooley Urton, 3 miles northeast of Roswell
Some dates checked from "First Ranches" New Mexico Mag-
azine, June 1936 Page 47. (They misspelled name Urton)