Document text
AUG 1 01936
Q..4\aAY.„4.
th.:,
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OTHY CLEVE NOAIA, GRANDChTER
Cr/ GEORGE HENIMIX a PIONEER SETTLER
OF ELK Georgie. B. Redfield
V..3 I-- words
The Community settlement "Klkiderived its name
from large herds of elk found, during the early days of
its settlement, in Elk Canyon, which runs northwest through
the farms and ranching lands of that district.
There are four hundred and seventy-five peo#14: in
the ilk community.
With an altitude of 5,350 feet, Elk is located in a
beautiful part of flew kexico, eighty-five miles southwest
of Roswell, on the upper Penasoo hiver in the southwestern
part of Chaves County on U. S. Highway 83.
ladle Elk does not have ei railroad or train service,
there is a daily bus transportation service connecting
artesia east and Cloudcroft west. The Southern Pacific
Aailroad gives transportation service :from Oleudcroft
(thirty-one miles) with connections at Alamogordo. ,here
is a school bus for transportation of children from the
ranching ,,nd farming districts, to the Kik school.
IN•2,:',11V
0OiwfilY GL111
41.1.
Georgia :Aedfield
.)plendid ranch -house accommodations may be had for
regular boarders, or tourists on the ‘;leve ranch. The
rates are from up. Arrangements may be mkde for
tours (horseback or cars) to the many points of interest
in the Llk districts. There tire no tourist camps.
The winters are mild and uummers are delightfully
cool. The average temperature for January, is 39.4, min-
imum maximum b5.1
The early -day settlement of the .11t community and
the establishment of the first ranches in that loctAtion
is of unusual historical interest, -b given by
_orothy Laew: or ton, i;randcUAlgater of 'ioorge uendrix,
and daughter of Bernard ;3.eve pioneer settlers of the Elk
communi t;y.
wile L)aran lihabeth ,A:ndrix
coven of their eight c;d1dren arrived in tIle 1.1k anyon
country in :Jecember, 1J7. i'ney had stertetl on their
journdy to uw 40;1(3o, from Johnson Ity, texas, L,eptem-
ber 12th 1d7. There were four other fauAlies (twenty-
five peoplealtogether) in the c:c.v._An. ...here were five
covered wa6ons, ohe (the enuok wa6on) vLiti drwn by oxen.
.LiTzeiVre -3-
eToN
eeorgia J. eedfield
The wagons were followed by about five hundred head of
stock and thirty-five horses.
"The country was suffering from a severe druuth sea-
son during the months of their traveling across the plains.
Very little water wes found on the long hard drives be-
tween their campine places. The curevan people as well
as the stock suffered acutely from alkali weter, which was
boiled and useu for coffee. The starved cattle becume
poor and weak, some gave out entirely and were lost.
-2ee stock and caravan were held up at the state line
on the thlack elver for catele inspection.
"frevel worn, exneusteu and hungry the caravan ar-
rived et :iope, Jecember E3rd .1687. ihey made camp just
ueiow -Y e erossine" near e rock house.
".2here was a four foot snow eovering the camp ground,
the next morniae the 24th welch cuused sufferine, and the
disbending of the caravan
""hat reveiiried of the five hundred need of stock had
drifted away, in the wind and snow; only four remained.
ereee re deee on the camp erounds.
"The eendrix femily we. taken into the shelter of a
dirt -roofed hozeesteed house of John 'eeul, who Was the first
INnhVIEW -4-
1410;. )OIiOTHY CLF.VE NOkTull
Georgia B. Hodfield
man who settled in the town of hope.
"aeorge Hendrix never fully recovered from the hard-
ships endured on the journey, and from a blow on the head
with a walnut limb given by a companion, when asked by
Mr. Hendrix to pay his part of the expenses of the caravan.
as state of health caused the girls, as well as the boys,
of the family, to labor in the fields, au few pioneers
are ever compelled to labor.
"They improved and cultivated a rented place on the
Penasco hiver, which was owned by the C A Bar Cattle Ciaa-
pany. This place was afterwards owned byl Angie Hendrix
Cleve and her husband Bernard Cleve, to whom she was mar-
ried April Und 1894. They were married in the home of
her sister who had previously married T. C. Tillotson of
Elk.
"Bernard Cleve, owned in partnership with a cousin,
J. F. Hinkle. the Elk store and some cattle. In 1887 Mr.
Cleve bought out Ur. Hinkle's interests and built the
home on the Cleve estate, where Mrs. Cleve lives at pres-
ent, and where the five children, Katherine, Bernard,Jr.,
Dorothy (Mrs. M. L. Norton), Marjorie and One were born.
"Bernard Cleve was born February 8th, 1863, on a farm
INTERVIEW- -5-
MRS. DOROTHY CLEVE NORTON
Georgia B. Redfield
two miles west of Washington, issouri.
"Recoess to New Mexico and settled on the Penas00
River at Elk in 1885, where he worked as a cow -boy and
later a stock -man, postmaster and merchant, owning the
Elk store and one at Cloudoroft. He was prominent as a
community builder and political organizer. Mr. Cleve
died March 26th 1913."
At the time of the establishment of the postoffioe
at Elk in 1885 mail was brought in once a week. It is
now delivered daily. Mrs. Cleve is postmistress and owner
of the store in which the postiefice is established.
Sheep and stock raising, farming and lumber are the
chief industries of Elk. There is one store and a saw-
mill.
The Elk country is rich in undeveloped archaeological
sites. Mrs. Cleve has found numerous valuable specimens
of pottery on her estate. Most interesting among these
is a pottery bowl (inbroken) with burned food (apparently
beans) in the bottom.
These archaeological sites, the old hones of the
first settlers George hendrix,vd. F. Hinkle and the
INTERVIEW
M:16 DOROTHY CLEVE NORTON
Georgia 3. Redfield
Bernard Cleve families, the trees and springs and the
Apache Indian chuck wagon meals served seven miles from
Spur Ranch, are some of the many points of interest to be
found in the Elk Canyon districts surrounded by the
Sacramento Xountains.
Big game hunting in the mountains, where game is
plentiful, is enjoyed by the people of ilk.
There is a good school, with one teacher and thirty
pupils.
A splendid cattle country, delightful climate and
ideally located, Elk has much to offer in colorful history,
seenerY, and romance.
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AS given in an interview by Mrs. Dorothy Cleve Norton.
802 N. Richardson, Roswell, N. Mex.