Vol 21 No. 05 - February 1944

Alsate, Last Of The Chisos Apaches

By Judge O. W. Williams, Fort Stockton, Texas

The area of Texas lying between the Pecos and Rio Grande rivers and south of New Mexico was the last foot hold in this state of the wild untrammeled Indian. in 1873 the Comanches and Kiowas gave up their privilege of making a home in the Panhandle and, when in 1882 the Chisos Apaches were trapped by the insidious policy of Porfirio Diaz and distributed as slaves one by one in various parts of Yucatan and Campeche, the Indian ceased to be a factor on the Texas border. Here is the account of Alsate, the last of the Chisos Apache chiefs.

Mentions: Mescalero Apaches * San Elizario and El Paso del Norte * the Pilares * Lionecio Castillo * prison of the Acordado * Carmel Mountain * Cueva de Alsate * Alsate's Cave *

Frank Gray Writing His Memoirs

Account of Frank S. Gray, native of San Saba county, and some of the history of his county—notably about Indian incidents, cattle moving up the trail, the feud between the cattlemen and the sheepmen, and memoirs of pioneer days.

Mentions: Cherokee * Sol Mayer * R. W. Gray * Fort Sumner * Mustang Lake * John Chisum

The Race Of The Railroads

Fred Mosebach

It was a transcontinental race of railroad giants to tap the rich resources of Mexico and to establish a rail route through Texas to the Pacific Coast with Collis P. Huntington, Thomas W. Pierce and Jay Gould as the controlling factors of their respective lines. That was in 1881 after Huntington had built the Southern Pacific from California to El Paso, when Pierce was building the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio west from San Antonio to connect with Mexico at Eagle Pass and running westward to connect with the Southern Pacific, while Jay Gould as the operator of two lines was building the International & Great Northern south from San Antonio to Laredo to connect with Mexico and also building the Texas & Pacific west from Dallas, headed for El Paso and the Pacific Coast. It was a race to command nationwide attention. Here is the story.1

Mentions: Sierra Blanca to El Paso * the GH&SA and the T&P * Mayor Joseph Magoffin of El Paso * Mayor James H. French of San Antonio * the Sunset Route from San Francisco to New Orleans * The I&GN * Contractors Ross & Harris * Ed Stoves & Sons and Martin & Sehryver * Tom Taylor's play "Mary Warner," * Short and Shure Lone Star Route * Ed Parker * John Dickerson * A. A. Talmage * Superintendent Super of the Iron Mountain, R, S. Hays * Sam Sloan * H. M. Hoxie * O. Petitpaing * Col. Augustus Belknap * David S. Stanley * Gen. E. O. C. Ord * Fort Sam Houston * Governor Naranjo * Louis Giraud * F. A. Piper of Uvalde * Grayson street, then known as the Lower Post * Major James Converse * Thomas W. Pierce of the GH&SA * Major H. B. Andrews * the Medina * Uriah Lott * Mifflin Kenedy * the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railroad * San Diego & Rio Grande Railroad * Pleasanton and Tilden * William Lytle * Buck Creek * Captain Jarvis * Maj. Walther * William Sprague, J. E. Van Riper, Louis Giraud, Eugene Giraud, James Trueheart, Jr., Albert Raphael, Wm. Campbell * Mrs. and Miss Howard * Misses Jarvis * Mrs. Albert McLane, Mrs. Walsh, Miss Mudd * Misses Russell * Captain Bill Elliott * Owen Shaw * James H. Fisk * James Dunn * Marucheau's warehouse now is on Military Plaza * Spofford * the Central Pacific, the Chesapeake & Ohio * the Trans-Mississippi * the Wabash, the Kansas & Texas, Union Pacific, Baltimore & Ohio, the Iron Mountain Route, Missouri Pacific * Raymond-Whitcomb excursions * Grafton excursions * the Huntington lines * Samuel Huntington * Bishop F. D. Huntington * Daniel Huntington * Mark Hopkins * the Pacific Railroad Bill * Henry Clews

The Killing In The Melon Patch

By J. Marvin Hunter

Account of a "bloody" night and a gruesome "killing" that took place in Mason County, TX.

Mentions: Uncle Gainey Westbrook of the Honey Creek region * Uncle Taz Saunders south of Mason * Frank Hubbard north of Mason * Bill Leslie east of Mason * Lace Bridges * John Mayo, Billy Todd * Dr. Grandstaff * Sheriff Gibbs

From Cattle Range To Cotton Patch

By Don H. Biggers (Continued from Last Month.)

Excellent ongoing account of the history of the cattle industry in Texas from it's inception to the rise of the giant ranches, the great drives and drovers and the coming of the sheepmen, barbed wire, etc.

Mentions: the T. & P. railroad * R. K. Wylie, of Ballinger * the Renderbrook ranch, near Colorado City * Chas. Goodnight * Maj. W. V. Johnson * the Magnolia pasture * the MT ranch * Baker's Neck * Jeff Davis, Buchel and Foley * R. Bean * Carter & Grounds * Mulberry Canyon * the Hash Knife ranch, owned by J. B. Simpson * the Dunn ranch * G. H. Connell and Brooks Lee established a ranch near where Buffalo Gap now stands * The Dunn ranch was first managed by Sam Gholson, afterward by T. B. Cross * the Connell & Lee ranch was managed by P. P. Clark * M. C. Lambeth * Abe Hunter, Dick Keen, Jep Clayton, Jim Cooksey and John Hay * Rodney Knight * W. K. Ray * Belle Plain, in Callahan county * Mr. Shooter * J. R. Flemming * Merkel * Colonel Berry, * Abilene

Peralta Canyon Holds A Secret

By J. Marvin Hunter

The Indians who live along the Rio Grande valley in Northern New Mexico, particularly the Cochiti and Pueblo tribes, are a proud, ancient, self-sustaining, and in many respects, a lucky people. The region holds an ancient secret of mines, gold and silver. Here is the story.

Mentions: the Mexican village of Pena Blanca * Mert Waggoner * Mrs. Mulligan's boarding house * Bland * Thornton * Will Aleuts * John O'Connor, Phil Barber, J. C. Overhulls, J. G. Creager, Dr. Grace, Fred Cook. Jim Bentley, Sam Young, Wayman Callender, Dan Callender, Frank Blanke, H. R. Anderson, J. T. Rogers, Martin Hart, B. II. Shaw, Charles Scheurieh, Edwin Routledge; Bob Hennessey, Andrew Horn, Ed Marksbury, George Ostrander, Wilbur Crowell, Charlie Stein, George Munshower, Hank Ritter, T. H. Benson, Charles Worlen, Harry Lockhart, B. D. Wilson, Col. Bohlen, Clarence Callender, Thomas West and S. D. Arnott * Bland Canyon * Cella Canyon * the Albemarle * George Ostrander * Frank M. Wynkoop * Juan de Onate

Then And Now... Now And Then

By J. D. Dillingham

Mentions: Chappel Hill, in Washington county * the old Wilbarger camp ground on Brushy Creek * Wilbarger Springs * Round Rock

Indians Fighting In Global War

By Elton L. Miller

Mentions: Indians of the Fighting 45th Division, which came to the aid of the 36th at bloody Salerno * Fort Parker * Groesbeck * Killoughs at Larissa * Mexia * LaRue, in Henderson county * Mrs. Emma Costlow * Cynthia Ann Parker * Chief Peta Nocona * Texas Ranger Captain Sul Ross * the Battle of Pease River in 1861 * Weatherford * Quanah Parker

Treasures In The Southwest

By Mary Austin

Account details various lost mines and buried treasures, valuable metals and precious gems scattered throughout the Southwest.

Mentions: the "Mine with the Iron Door," which is reputed to be somewhere in the mountains near Tucson, Arizona * the great Superstition Mountain country, just outside of the city of Phoenix, Arizona * The Lost Dutchman's Mine * a renegade band of Apache Indians living among the forbidding peaks and deep canyons, along the Sonora-Chihuahua border * Geronimo * "Bronco" Apaches * the buried "Skeleton Canyon Loot," some where in the Santa Rita Mountains * "La Mina Perdida,"

Great Flood At Coleman In 1900

This account is a narrative by an eye witness of the Coleman Flood of 1901, when several people were drowned.

Mentions: Mrs. R. L. Dunman * William Averitt, of Coleman * Hord's Creek * Theo Dunman * Harry Hubert and Perry Roscoe * Crawford Jackson and Ode Spat * John Enlestine * Heck Rogers * the Schoolcraft family * Miss Ethel Brown * Mrs. Pate

Perils Of Early Day Freighting

By August Santleben.

The author, August Santleben for several years owned and operated a freight line from San Antonio, Texas, to Chihuahua, Mexico. He was one of the foremost frontier freighters of Texas.

Mentions: Devil's River * Painted Cave * General Mackenzie * California Springs * Beaver Lake * Dead Man's Pass * Fort Hudson * Dr. Livingston * Lacoste Station * Mrs. Salaman * Fort Clark * San Felipe * Head Boone * Lost Pond * James P. Newcomb * Pecos Springs * Messrs Heick & Bros. at Indianola * Mr. McChalton * W. W. Mills of the El Paso custom house * Mr. E. A. Mills * Presidio del Norte * Wiley Miller * George Koerner * Miss Amelia Sternly * Castroville * Miss Maggie Burns * Mrs. Mary Arnold * Charlotta * Turkey Creek

Gall, A Sioux Chieftain

On the front cover this month is a portrait of Chief Gall of the Sioux tribe. This story is a brief account of this chief of the Huukpapa Teton Sioux.

Mentions: the Moreau river in South Dakota * Oak Creek, South Dakota * the Little Big Horn * Sitting Bull * Poplar River camp, Montana * Standing Rock