Issue No. 71: April 2007
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ZIM CSWR OVS F 791 , C7x __ no. r0J11Ca 71 oe Nuevo Mexico ~ Published since 1976 - The Official Publication of the Historical Society ofNew Mexico C6 April 2007 Issue Nurnber 71 The Butterfield Trail in New Mexico by George Hackler Soon after California became a state called Thorne's Well. which was not a passed by Hart's Milland the future site of when it cut a new channel down the west in 1850. the rich and influential residents well but a cistern fed and sheltered by a the ASARCO plant scrambltnq over the side of the Mesilla Valley. beqan clamorinq for a SJovernment cave. Today a man-made modern rocky pass above the river. The ~ 10 , Augustin subsidized overland mail service to cistern has been constructed inside the Butterfield Trail re-entered New Mexico ?s improve upon the slow, undependable ~rotto which collects water. The remains at a station called Cottonwoods near ~/~ and expensive over water route. of the station can be found nine hundred present day Anthony, Texas.' The station / Congress through the Post Office feet due south of Thorn's Well at the toe probably straddled today's state line. The DDna~a a S,nloO'" TDmas ... Department requested proposals for of a small limestone hill." road made its way north rollinq over the movinq mail in passenger coaches from Amerindians developed and used the :1\ ~1t~~~ ~ : . : y. : ~~~; \ :C;~~~~;, : :;;i7 . sand hills east of the Rio Grande to the Q Saint Louis to San Francisco. John water hole 10nSJ before the arrival of the next New Mexico station, Fort Fillmore . l , - )'- ~ Butterfield pulled a SJroup of investors white man and left numerous About halfway to Fort Fillmore the trail so :hroed ;.. to fortrebstc:Y it t.4esilla Valley by Uan sfield tOSJether and orqanized the Overland petroqlyphs and plctographs to watch on M ilb~ s River join$.f\ Websler road Reportedby Conklinn 1854 crossed the battleqround where Colonel bddfMagdalenaGap ~ Mail Company. The Overland Mail over the water source. Alexander Doniphan and his Missouri '-----=------::;__~" Butt.m.ldTr.lI !n Ncwlolcxico Company's proposal was accepted and Volunteers met and fought a force of the LA MESILLA Butterfield was awarded the contract in Mexican Army at what Doniphan called The town of La Mesilla was first the summer of 1857 . The Company the Battle of Brazito and the Mexicans recognized by the United States in 1851. beqan building roads and stations along called the Battle of Los Temescalitos. John Russell Bartlett with the the southern route, designated by the fORT fILLMORE International Boundary Commission Post Office Department. The first Mansfield inspected the fort in October arrived in Dona Ana on 13 January 1851. sraqecoaches would rumble through 1853 and left us this sketch. His mission was to set the boundary New Mexico in September of 1858. :tcNft ~ between Mexico and the United States in NEW MEXICO ! accordance with the Treaty of Guadalupe !....e~.:.~.~ Hidalqo. which ended the War with Mexico . The east-west line was to run just Guardian of Thorn 5 WeII south of the villaqe of Dona Ana. About LOS OIOS DE LOS ALAMOS half of the residents did not wish to live in (Cottonwoods Springs) the United States and asked Bartlett to Cottonwoods Springs is on a SJently verify that the location of La Mesilla sloplnq flat on the western flank of would indeed be in Mexico. which he Alamo Mountain. The walls were eleven did. Those who wished to reside in feet hiSJh and in exact aliqnment with the Mexico moved their families and cardinal points of the compass. The possessions. SJivinSJ up their lives and land For the first eleven months of longer wall is aligned north-south. There The next station after Fort Fillmore in Dona Ana. La Mesilla of that time was operations, the Butterfield mail coaches were two gates on the west side in a stone was La Mesilla. only six miles away across on the west side of the Rio Grande. Land followed a wa~on road up the east bank wall corral two hundred feet by one the Rio Grande Valley. About one mile east of the river was in the United States. of the Pecos River from Horsehead hundred and eiqhry feet by five feet hi~h. out of Fort Fillmore the coaches could The river was defined by the treaty as the Crossing to a point just under the New The road came in along the west side ford the river or ~o further upstream and north-south boundary between Mexico Mexico border. The trail moved over to with two turnouts leading through the cross on a ferry. Ormsby reported: and the United States and 32 deSJ. 22 min. the Delaware Creek and followed it west ~ates into the corral. An acequia ran "Between Fort Fillmore and Mesilla [sic] 00 sec . latitude was the assumed east toward the Guadalupe Mountains. This through the corral to a tank inside. The we forded the Rio Grande-at this point west line. waSJon road made a short loop up to the ruins are in SJood condition compared to but an insignificant puddle... ."5 This was Sam Bean recalled the excitement and Cornudas and Los Ojos de los Alamos the other New Mexico stations. The on 30 September 1858. well after the anticipation over the arrival of the first Stations. which are in New Mexico . In details of wall locations are discernable sprinq run-off. The scant remains of the stages in La Mesilla. 1859, on 1 AUSJust, the Post Master from the ruins and the remains are over fort today lie arnonq pecan orchards For several days the community had General ordered Butterfield to chance his six feet hiSJh in places.' belonqinq to the estate of John Salopek. sent riders out to locate and report back route to the Comanche Sprlnqs-Davls Today there is nothlnq above SJround that on the progress of the stages. The stage Mountain crossing already betng used by resembles the fort depicted in Mansfield's from the west arrivedfirst. preceded by a the San Antonio-San Diego Mail map. Members of the Salopek families charging rider. The news aroused the Company (SA&SD). The SA&SD Mail have erected a monument in memory of viI/age andsoon the plaza was fiIIed with Company crossed the Pecos at John Salopek over the site and planted a a raucous crowd to greet this first steqe" Horsehead Crossing. proceeding due lawn over the south east corner of the The divisional headquarters for the west to Comanche Springs (Fort fort. They also uncovered and protected Butterfield Overland Mail Company was Los Ojos De Los A1am~l1I; OlS it miaht have appeared Stockton) and then over the Davis from the hill ea st et me steuen a portion of one of the enlisted men's in the buildlnq that housed the EI Patio Mountains to the Rio Grande.' barracks. Restaurant and Bar. The main street '--- Butterf ie ld TtalllnNtw ... ecdcc CORNUDAS (Calle Principal) passed on the west side When Conklinq visited the site in 1930 of the transportation block with Calle de the cottonwoods. for which the site was Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe on the !U O.. odt named, were still SJrowinSJ hiSJh up on the east side. Corrals comprised the southern slope of Alamo Mountain. Today the half of the block and could be entered cottonwoods and the sprlnqs have all but from either street by north- and disappeared. A very faint image of the southbound staqes. old waSJon road departs to the southwest Three staee lines connected La Mesilla in a straiqht line toward Cerro Alta in the with the outside world in 1858: The Hueco Mountains. The road forks at Overland Mail Company (Butterfield). Cerro Alto. The north fork around Cerro the Santa Fe Mail Branch Line. and the L....- ButterfieldTrailinNr:w~c:xico Alta was longer but not as rough as the Mansfield included a draWing of the San Antonio and San Diego Mail Line. A The first station in New Mexico was south fork. Even so. Conzltnq points out Mesilla Valley in his report. This drawtnq fourth trreqular freiqht and passenger named Cornudas because the rock that rock Iedqes had to be blasted down shows a road Ieavinq Fort Fillmore ~oin~ service, the Catlett Express. operated formations looked like horns to early to step the waSJon road over limestone southwest to cross the river before between La Mesilla and the Pinos Altos Spanish explorers. The lone Cornudas Iedqes on this north fork. The forks joininq the road from Santo Tomas north mlninq area. formation is the same SJeoloSJY as the converged at the base of Cerro Alto, two to La Mesilla on the west side of the river. Departing La Mesilla. the route went Hueco Tanks formation. The route and miles from Hueco Tanks. Mansfield's drawinSJ also shows the north on Calle de Principal to San Albino landscape of Otero Mesa have changed EL PASO (franklin) position of the river relative to Fort Church and then turned west onto Calle little over the one hundred and forty Both of the roads used by Butterfield Fillmore, La Mesilla, Dona Ana . and Las de Santlaqo. The Butterfield route turned ei~ht years since the first Butterfield sta~e converged on EI Paso. the upper road Cruces. The river meandered down the north somewhere after Calle de Picacho passed. from the east and the lower road from east side of the valley in 1853. The river's and headed for Rancho Picacho four and The water source at this station was the south. Departing EI Paso the road position changed dramatically in 1865 three-fourths miles to the north.