The L. & H. Huning Mercantile Company
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository History ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations Spring 4-10-2017 The L. & H. Huning Mercantile Company: A Case Study of Mercantile Conquest in the Rio Abajo Region of New Mexico, 1848-1880 Ricardo S. Gonzales University of New Mexico Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/hist_etds Part of the Economic History Commons, Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations Commons, Military History Commons, and the Social History Commons Recommended Citation Gonzales, Ricardo S.. "The L. & H. Huning Mercantile Company: A Case Study of Mercantile Conquest in the Rio Abajo Region of New Mexico, 1848-1880." (2017). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/hist_etds/164 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in History ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Ricardo “Rico” Santos Gonzales Candidate History Department This thesis is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Thesis Committee: Durwood Ball, Chairperson Jason Scott Smith Paul Andrew Hutton Richard Melzer THE L. & H. HUNING MERCANTILE COMPANY: A CASE STUDY OF MERCANTILE CONQUEST IN THE RIO ABAJO REGION OF NEW MEXICO, 1848–1880 By Ricardo “Rico” Santos Gonzales B.A., Philosophy, cum laude, University of New Mexico, 2009 THESIS Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts History The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico May, 2017 Acknowledgements I wish to thank my thesis advisor, Dr. Durwood Ball, for his support, scholarly guidance, careful editing, and suggestions in the development of this thesis. His critical readings of early drafts have made this work into something I could not have done on my own. I wish to thank Dr. Jason Scott Smith for inciting my interest in economic history at an early stage in my graduate studies. I would also like to thank Dr. Paul Hutton for his advice on becoming a disciplined writer and scholar. Thank you to Dr. Richard Melzer for encouraging me to pursue a master’s degree while I was an archivist at the Los Lunas Museum of Heritage and Arts. His work on the history of the Rio Abajo inspired this thesis. I would also like to express a large thanks to the Center for Regional Studies, especially Dr. Tobias Duran, for providing financial support during my graduate studies. My conversations with Dr. Duran reminded me of the importance of writing community and regional history. I would also like to thank Michael Montoya for assistance with analyzing the business archives of the L. & H. Huning Mercantile Company. Dr. Louis Hyman, Dr. Dan Bouk, Dr. Bryan Turo, Dr. Anand Toprani, and the entire cohort at the “Economic Methods for Historians” workshop at Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations School during the summer of 2016 motivated me to complete this research and helped me place this local history in the larger context of U.S. economic history. Thank you to Samuel Sisneros, Nancy Brown-Martinez, and Chris Geherin at the Center for Southwest Research for their archival expertise and assistance in tracking down sources on the Huning family and the Rio Abajo. My colleagues at the New Mexico Historical Review have been a continual source of inspiration. I have been lucky to be surrounded by such talented historians and editors. Thank you to the Department of History faculty and staff for making my graduate experience iii enjoyable. Most important, I would like to express my love and gratitude to my parents, Joe Gonzales and Nancy Montoya-Gonzales, my brother and sisters, Nancy Jo, Santino, Gina, and Cristina, and my partner, Ashley Torrens. iv THE L. & H. HUNING MERCANTILE COMPANY: A CASE STUDY OF MERCANTILE CONQUEST IN THE RIO ABAJO REGION OF NEW MEXICO, 1848–1880 By RICARDO “RICO” SANTOS GONZALES B.A., Philosophy, cum laude, University of New Mexico, 2009 M.A., History, University of New Mexico, 2017 ABSTRACT This master’s thesis is a case study of the L. & H. Huning Mercantile Company, a mercantile partnership in New Mexico during the territorial period. Louis and Henry Huning, a pair of brothers who immigrated to New Mexico from Germany in 1859, established wholesale and retail enterprises in the Arizona and New Mexico territories. Their main storehouse was founded in Los Lunas, New Mexico, in 1871 following the departure of Erhardt Franz to St. Louis. L. & H. Huning became a successful merchandising business in the Rio Abajo by establishing a mercantile monopoly in Los Lunas. The introduction of free-market exchanges, the extension of credit in traditional communities, and the creation of a market for locally grown crops—these factors contributed to their success over the Hispano merchants in the post–Civil War era. In addition, federal supply contracts entrenched L. & H. Huning in New Mexico, providing the store’s main source of cash flow. This component allowed the store to anchor its foundations in the community and structure the local economy. Through selling merchandise, providing a market for local crops, and extending credit to their customers, L. v & H. Huning was able to acquire its assets (wool and land) from store debtors in New Mexico and Arizona. The partnership ultimately made its fortune by selling wool to eastern industrialists. Merchants, such as the Huning brothers, wielded visible influence over the frontier economy through retailing, wholesaling, banking, importing and exporting, freighting merchandise, facilitating transactions, and receiving federal contracts. This thesis concludes with the dissolution of the L. & H. Huning partnership in 1888. The decline of the business was due to the end of the Indian Wars in 1886 (no more supply contracts), the closure of frontier posts, the decline of wool, and the importation of cheaper grains from Kansas via the railroad. In all, New Mexican merchant capitalists, such as the Huning brothers, established roots in their communities, earned fair reputations, adapted to New Mexican culture, provided economic services, and spawned multi-generational family businesses. Merchants replaced the Hispano patrons in the economic hierarchy, but created new social and economic dependencies in a changing capitalist landscape. vi Table of Contents List of Figures .......................................................................................................................... x Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1: From Competition to Monopoly: The Contest for Mercantile Supremacy in the Rio Abajo, 1848–1871 ......................................................................................... 36 Moses Sachs: The First Merchant of Los Lunas ......................................................... 38 The Impact of the California Gold Rush on the Hispanos of the Rio Abajo .............. 46 Erhardt Franz and the Relative Decline of Hispano Merchants ................................. 54 The Huning Family in New Mexico, 1848–1871: The Strength of Kinship Ties ...... 66 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 81 Chapter 2: Quartermaster and Commissary Contracts as Cash-Flow: The Entrenchment of the L. & H. Huning Mercantile Company, 1871–1884 ............ 83 Agricultural Productivity in New Mexico Territory, 1850–1880 ............................... 86 The Business of Occupation and War: The Huning Brothers’ Military Contracts during the Indian Wars.................................................................................... 89 Wheat and Corn Production in Valencia County and Champions Mill .................... 107 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 117 Appendix 2.1: L. & H. Huning Quartermaster and Commissary Contracts, 1871–1884 ....................................................................................................................... 119 Chapter 3: The Webs of Mercantile Exchange and Credit in Arizona and New Mexico: The L. & H. Huning Mercantile Company, 1878–1880....................................... 121 Region 1, the Command Center of L. & H. Huning: Los Lunas, Los Lentes, and Los Chavez........................................................................................................... 131 vii Region 2, Supply Base for L. & H. Huning’s Flour Contracts: Los Pinos, Peralta, Tome, and Valencia ...................................................................................... 141 Region 3, the South Central Rio Grande Corridor: Belen, Jarales, Sabinal, La Joya, Socorro, and San Marcial .............................................................................. 148 Region 4, Women and Pueblo Indians in Military Contracting: Isleta ..................... 158 Region 5, A Grazing and Farming Region: Cebolleta, Cubero, San Mateo, and San Rafael ............................................................................................................ 161 Region 6, Freighting and Timber Area: Manzano .................................................... 166 Region 7, Customers Who Resided on or Near Army Posts in Arizona and New Mexico .........................................................................................................