ISSN 1076-9072 SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW Pasajero del Camino Real Doña Ana County Historical Society Volume IV, No.1 Las Cruces, New Mexico January 1997 PUBLISHER Doña Ana County Historical Society EDITOR Winifred Y. Jacobs ASSOCIATE EDITOR M.A. Walton PUBLICATION COMMITTEE Doris Gemoets, Martin Gemoets, Robert Hart, Theresia Lewis, Judith Putney, Julia Wilke, Agnes Youngs TYPOGRAPHY, DESIGN, PRINTING lnsta-Copy Printing/Office Supply Las Cruces, New Mexico COVER DRAWING BY Jose Cisneros Property of the Doña Ana County Historical Society The Southern New Mexico Historical Review (ISSN-1076-9072) is published by the Doña Ana County Historical Society for its members and others interested in the history of the region. The opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Doña Ana County Historical Society. Articles may be quoted with credit to the author and the Southern New Mexico Historical Review. The per-copy price of the Review is $5.00. If ordering by mail, please add $2.00 for postage and handling. Correspondence regarding articles for the Southern New Mexico Historical Review may be directed to the Editor at the Doña Ana County Historical Society (500 North Water Street, Las Cruces, NM 88001-1224). Inquiries for society membership also may be sent to this address. Click on Article to Go There Southern New Mexico Historical Review Volume IV, No. 1 Las Cruces, New Mexico January 1997 ARTICLES Yes, You Can! A.C. Hernandez, as recorded by Norma Lane ....................................................................................................... 1 New Mexico in the Big Picture: 1846 Thomas E. Chavez ...................................................................................................................................................3 1950 — Alamogordo’s Year of Decision Jean Culbertson ........................................................................................................................................................................8 My Personal Space Age Patricia Tombaugh ....................................................................................................................................................... 11 Land, Cattle and Water: the Business Dealings of Oliver Lee Kenneth Faunce ........................................................................................................................................................... 16 Organ As It Was Vesta Siemers ...................................................................................................................................................... 21 Lucky Al Gordon Owens ..............................................................................................................................................................23 Education, Enlightenment and Improvement: W.L.C.–W.I.A. llka Feather Minter ...................................................................................................................................................... 26 The NMSU Presidents’ Residence: Nason House M.A. Walton ............................................................................................................................................ 29 Recollections of a County School Teacher Edith Berrier, as recorded by Eloise Evans ........................................................................................................................ 34 Fields & Dreams Jesse Gonzales with Lee Gemoets ...................................................................................................................................... 37 Tomas J. Fountain: Revolutionary or Patriot Andrew Alexander .........................................................................................................................................................................38 Swastika: Peace Symbol Destroyed by War Gerald A. Thomas ........................................................................................................................................................ 41 Colonel Hatch and the Territorial Press During the Vittorio War Robert Hart ................................................................................................................................................................. 44 Inter-Ethnic Relations Along the New Mexico-Mexico Border During the Mexican Revolution John W. Sandin, III ............................................................................................................................................................. 50 Silver City — A Frontier Market Michael Rock .......................................................................................................................................... 54 Doña Ana in Fact and Fiction Nancy Jenkins ..................................................................................................................................................... 60 Four Generations of Community Service: An Hispanic Family Named Smith Josephine and C.B. Smith .............................................................................................................................................................62 BOOK REVIEWS Frank Edwards, Campaign in New Mexico with Col. Doniphan Bill Adams, El Rancho Kid reviewed by John Bloom ............................................................................................................................................................65 Gordon R. Owen, The Two Alberts: Fountain and Fall reviewed by Julia Wilke ..............................................................................................................................................................66 Jerry Thompson, Confederate General of the West: Henry Hopkins Sibley reviewed by Robert Hart ..................................................................................................................................... 67 INQUIRY The Hill Home Place: A House in Search of its History by Sylvia and Jack Spray ................................................................................................................................... 68 The Doña Ana County historical Society thanks the following for supporting this issue of the Southern New Mexico Historical review: Daniel D. Aranda Ray and Kathy Black Ira G. Clark COAS: My Bookstore Coldwell Banker RR, Barbara Schoen Arlene Ehly, Century 21, Bankers Realty, Inc. Eloise S. Evans Clarence H. Fielder First National Bank of Doha Ana County Tom and Mary Gale Doris and Martin Gemoets J. Henry and Caroline Gustafson Robert L. Hart Lt. Col. (Ret.) Frank E. and Geneva Holiar Jacobs Associates Las Cruces Hilton Joseph E. Lopez, “The Old Vaquero West” William L. Madden Matrix Capital Bank Tito Meyer, Lawyer Chuck and Jean Miles Carl Miner and Margie Walton Morgan Nelson John Nunemaker Dr. and Mrs. Gordon Owen Robert 0. and Pamela Pick Simmie Plummer Red Sky Publishing, Susie and Keith Whelpley, publishers of Southern New Mexico Magazine Sierra Bank: Las Cruces, Truth or Consequences, Ruidoso, Alamogordo, Belen, Socorro Lou and Pat Sisbarro Jerri Spoehel Col. Leonard R. Sugerman, USAF (Ret.) Sunwest Bank Gerald and Jean Thomas 3 Crosses Laundry Western Bank Harvey and Julia Wilke Yucca Tree Press Click for Table of Contents Yes, You Can! by A.C. “Bill” Hernandez, as recorded by Norma Lane evolution was brewing, particularly in the northern state station at AscenciOn. We were not allowed to go quietly. Rof Chihuahua, when I was born Ambrocio Castaneda Pancho Villa and his gang pursued the departing families Hernandez in Janos, Chihuahua, Mexico, on 7 December and caught our little group. The women and chil- dren were 1908. My parents were Francisco and Piedad Hernandez. forced to watch while the six men who were protecting us My father worked for the Corralitos Cattle Company and we were hanged. One of those men was my uncle. I will never lived at the Hacienda, the ruins of which still stand about forget his bright red hair gleaming in the desert sunlight as 175 miles northwest of Chihuahua City. Our house was his lifeless body dangled from the noose. one of about twenty small adobe dwell- ings with common The remainder of the grieving party was allowed to walls, like modern townhouses, that surrounded on three go on our way eastward by train to Ciudad Juarez, where sides a small, dusty open space that might be referred to we were met by my father and the other men who had been as a plaza. The north side of the plaza was bounded by an in the advance party. Across the mighty Rio Grande to El enclosure for horses. Paso, Texas, and north on another train to Mesilla Park, The great Porfirio Diaz already had been president near Las Cruces, New Mexico. We were starting a new life for 32 years. He had kept the peace, had sponsored the in a new state which had been the Territory of New Mexico erection of magnificent monuments and public buildings in only two years before. the capital, and had encouraged the investment of for- eign The Corralitos Cattle Company headquarters in capital to develop Mexico’s resources. However, he was Mesilla Park was in a large two-story gray house that still surrounded by well-to-do and loyal people, and he did not stands not far from the Sara Lee Company’s “L’eggs” ho- hear the unhappy voices of the vast majority of landless, siery factory. We lived near there in a modest home where poorly-housed, resentful people of the country. my sister Gregoria was born.