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Mrs. Frances Totty
Silver City, L.
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'ads. 790 r
JUN 1 6 107
Grant Co. in'49
I first passed through this country with my father,
Uncle Bob and John Shackleford, who afterward died on Duck
Creek in the summer of '49. The ctravan was mostly southern-
ers.
We outfitted in Weston An, and came up the Platte and
to Denver, a city they only in name and the:4°n to Santa re,
where a part of our original party left us. We came out as
far as Santa -lee without any mishap and with only one incident
worthy of note. A professional gambler by the name of Elliot
was along with the train, and he lost no time in getting
acquainted and after the first few week's had skinned the boy's
pretty much out of their chane and loose personal property,
he sson became so unpopular that few of the men would speak to
him, and no one asked him to eat in their mess.
There was a correspondent of the iew Orleans Picayune
along, by the name of i-acy Burns. He was young rather pert
and decidely unpopular.
One day when we were camped on the Platte Blevins remark-
ed that, "he did not believe there was a virtuous woman in the
world." No one said a word for a moment, but all realized that
something terrible was aobut to happen. It was in the air, and
communicated from man to man like an. electric current.
Finally Elliot who was sitting alone under a tree, got
up and remarked that he had a mother and sister back home".
He picked up a shot gun and beat young Bevins up so badly that
he died next morning about daybreak.
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That -2_orming we dug a shallow grave in the sands of the
Platte, and not a single tear was shed, or prayer said, as we
lay the yeunF blasphemer away forever.
Elliot the gambler v'ho we all despised from that time on
_
was the hero of the hour. He was elected captain of the train
before we broke camp, and it was considered an honor to have
Am dine et anyone mess more than one meal in succession.
Santa Fe was then in the zenith of her glory. Great
freight teams were arriving and departing daily. It seemed
to be general headquarters for the whole western country, and
there was no end of it's gambling and wealth.
Our captain left us there. Thirty-nine of us came on
down to Socorro where we made a slight halt to rest out team.
Under the guidance of soe friendly Indians we came on across
the ceuntry to the ..i.mbres, and from there to Santa Rita,
following an old Indian trial now known as Camp Villines.
There were no Mexicans at Santa Rita, they having long since
been driven out of the country by the Indians.
The old dumps still appear just about as they are today,
but the kneeling nun was fully as high as the main cliff.
From there we passed on down the ;ihitewater to Hudson's Springs
where we camped for VNO week's. .The country was literally
full of wild horses and cattle, and antelope and deer could be
seen in any direction. Hudson's Springs used to be called
Ojo Toro, or bull spring, deriving its name from the large
number of wild bulls that drank there daily.
The warm springs now owned by iiead and Hearst's were
c€ia.led Ocp Bernado, .Veer springs, while the spring still further
to the southwest was called Ujo Vaca, cow springs. A name
which is retained to this day.
It seemed to me the water of -udson Spring's was much
warmer than it is today. I remember that we would kill and
draw a rabbit, fill it with a little bacon and salt, shove it
far down in the springs, and in an hour or so it was well
cooke. The boy's never built a fire to make their coffee or
tea --the water was warm enough for that.
Tens of thousands of Quai:_ and rabbits came in every
evening to get water and you bere lived fat wine we were
there.
One fellow who was a sort of a wag sugcested that when
the country settled uP we could come back and organize the
"Toro Soup Co." ne said it would be such an easy matter to
throw in some cf=ttle and pipe the soup out over the plains.
Poor ,ellow he famished a few dy's after that for water on the
plains south of where Lordsburg now stands.
Our Itidies would go no farther than liudson, but put us on
the trail to Cjo Vaca, but the country was so badly cut up by
cattle trails that we missed the springs and for t -o and a half
day's and two nights we traveled on and on without -::ater. he
who has not been there cannot imagine the extreme torture of
thirst.
hell we finally arrived at 6 nta Dominga ranch, now known
as Cloverdale. Two of our men and thirty-seven head of horses
perished on the trip.
There was no one living there then, but there was the
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remains of e corral and some peach trees. The Indians had
driven the people away or killed them. We found the water
by watching tbe c-r2ttle.
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