After about 100 miles of click clack we arrive at the depot in El Paso. Last time we were here was in the middle of 1882 for the funeral of our friend Marshall Dallas Stoudemire. Right away I could tell this place was on the move it was right close to being a St Louis, Topeka , or Phoenix a big city kind of place. If you could not find what you wanted here, you did not need it. Less than a mile ride we come to San Jacinto plaza in the middle of city center and check into the Grand Central Hotel .
The lobby is all brass ,polished wood and porcelain, marble floors high ceilings. Staff all uniformed up, we like it . Even has a private livery, well hell yes! We set the boys accommodations and go take a look. Individual stalls fresh hay, leather feed bags ,
clean water bucket. grooms ,an outdoor corral . “Dangnabbit it was perfect in every way.” After unpacking we untie the boys from the hitching post where they have had their fill from the water trough and head out to look around town.
Banks, stores of every type , every kind if service provider you could think of all either brick or stone a few adobe but not the majority. Wide clean streets, sewer and running water. I’m thinking this place is going to be electrified before you know it. It’s kind of squeezed between the tail end of the Rocky Mountains to the North and the Rio Grande and Mexico to the South. Lots of Spanish and Mexican influences about. We tie up at the gem saloon and get to recollecting.
Dear reader since you have read this at least to this part we will let you in on a few things of interest. When all our families headed out from Texas to white oaks in early 1880s must have been twelve wagons full of people and things they all set up in town me and Steve kept on heading West. We stumbled upon what would become Lake Valley as we wandered around with no idea where we were going or what we expected to find or do. A fella named James a McKenna (link to find a grave) comes our way with his partner john Leavitt the 4 of us made up a small party and wander around.
Steve saves Leavitt when a rattler crawls up Leavitt pant leg while he is asleep on the ground. He was told to tuck his pants leg bottom into his boot at night to keep this from occurring as rattler seek warmth at night out here in the desert. But hell no he knows better well now he is laying there stone still feeling the snake up near his private parts we can see about two foot of snake out the pants leg bottom so I figure it’s about a 6 footer packed with enough venom that if you got bit by it you had just enough time to dig yourself an eternal hole to rest in . Steve grabs that snakes tail and yanks it out faster than you could see then blows its head off with the sawed off in his other hand. Rattler makes a fine breakfast.
Since McKenna was from the Mogollon area, we tag along and end up in Pinos Alto’s. In early 1882 we get a letter from Leavitt telling him that we are silent partners in a silver mine over in Lake City called the bridal chamber at is assaying $15,000 a ton (that’s $420,000) a ton today) as a thank you for saving his life from the rattler and it is in a bank in El Paso. When we come over for Dallas Stoudemire funeral we go to the bank and find out we have $26,245 on deposit (that is over $700,000 today)
The only family members that knew were the Capt on Steve’s side and James a on mine. We set up shop at the buckhorn kept everything lowkey. No flashing. Bragging or just acting nutty cause that kind of fool was not who either of us was or is. Along the way we help McKenna become an author he publishes the book black range tails in 1936 you should read it. Many weary prospectors, down on their luck family men our kinfolk ,starting out stockman, and the like were assisted behind the scenes.
Over the years ,other than the capt and james a, no one ever knew where the help came from.
We never got involved in politics ,town issues, made investments and we never helped out a “self made bum” Never married either of us but had a string of girlfriends scattered around that we treated as wives ,respectful . So we did travel the territory a lot. If there is a heaven we think we will be accepted as our many misadventures only effected ourselves.
I come back to reality when I hear a manly man voice bellow from the back of the gem saloon: “Who let these two mangy coyotes in here ?” Steve places the sawed off on the table just incase. “Hell Wes I heard you had been kilt 6 or 7 times” I responded when I saw who it was “no only twice” John Wesley Hardin, tells me. Hand shakes all around ,smiles, order two new bottles we three sit down and commence to starting a new adventure. After a few hours of catching up on news and lies Hardin reaches in his coat pocket and tosses a handful of coins on the table.
“Help yourself, ” Hardin says.
Steve takes a few more tokens than I do cause he is younger and the three of us set off into the still night in el Paso full of piss and vinegar. If the people we came across that night did not know me or Steve they sure as hell knew Wes. So with a pocket full of tokens and all the respect you could want in this city the night became one we never forgot at least the parts we remembered we never forgot.
Sometime the next day I’ve spent about 20 minutes trying to come down the one flight of stairs from my room to the hotel lobby. Safety in the lobby I see Steve in a big dark red leather chair with brass tacks and polished wood work his legs straight out boots pointing away from each other sound asleep. I kick his left boot “wake up you drunken bum” Thinking I’m going to puke I head to the porch and hold on to the wall. Steve comes out I ask him “well? He tells me “I thought I was dancing till some sob stepped on my tongue ” That sums the whole thing up.
Pick up the boys they look a lot better than we do and head out to Hueco tanks East of town. Always on the lookout for history this place was a change over station for the pony Express then a stop for the Butterfield over land stage line. Before that it was an Indian camp as can be seen from the rock painting they left here. On the way back we stop in at the Ysleta an Indian city it’s a cross between Spain Mexico and Tiguan Indians. Adobe white plastered curving walls fencing and roof lines in all the buildings here even the church the old Spanish built eons ago to covert the natives is curved gracefully. Very nice peaceful clean beautiful place, one of our favorite stops.
Head back to hotel put the boys up eat one biscuit for dinner we both shut it off soon after the sun goes down. At dawn we have eggs ,coffee, rasher of bacon, warm biscuits with butter guess we are over the bust head flu. Get the boys and head to depot, making plans to head 200 miles up to Carthage in the next day or so. First time we have seen one train at platform one on siding heading West and one on another siding pointed East. That my friend is what progress looks like here in El Paso Texas 1885. Who knows if that is good or bad news for the future what is known it’s not going to be stopped.
Oro Grande will be our next stop on way to Carthage the train plans are made we will all go in a cattle car like before but we pay extra and don’t mind everything going north costs way more than East or West. We head over to America smelter and refinery co Asarco to have our gold spike looked at. At the Asarco gate we halt and look it over , it’s all steam plumes ,fire, smoke and noise. Tin buildings 3 stories tall full of fire inside. One smokestack has to be 200 feet tall and 15 feet or more in diameter belching thick black smoke continually. Banging clanging iron on iron sounds yard engines chug around. Its huge and it’s dead serious, primary function is refining copper concentrations from Tyrone and Playess
Main line trains loaded with incoming raw material and outgoing finish goods sit in line waiting their turn. We dismount and pay the guard $2; which is $56. Today to watch the boys as we don’t want them spooked entering this hellish machine. Walking thru the gate we head for a tin shack labeled assay office a young man college boy for sure asks us what we need. I hand him the spike he looks at it and weighs it in his hand ,takes a pocket knife out and scrapes the surface ,off comes the paint and there is the iron spike inside. Feeling dumb as Ned n the third grade ,Steve asks if they can plate it in copper as a joke for a friend up North . The young man says no we don’t do that here we thank him for his time. Offer him $3 for his time which he refuses. We get the hell out of there and point the boys to the acne saloon back in town.
It’s a new day ,sky crystal clear blue ,no wind ,mild temperature. After breakfast and getting the boys we commence to go shopping for May Lee’s birthday heading out like two wart hogs rooting in a potato patch. First stop is the bank ,we take out $286 cause we have no idea how much we spent on the adventure with John Wesley Hardin and we sure as hell don’t want to know. Next at the jewelry store a sterling silver tea set is selected for may lee ,8 cups a pitcher and a large serving tray .the tray is engraved old English style with the date the city and every family members name at the bottom it says Happy Birthday May Lee from all of us .
A New York dandy looking fellow comes to us complements us on the tea set choice says must be for someone special Steve tells him it is she’s up North. He shakes our hands I’m Jay Gould from New York. I’m with the railroad I tell him our names and add we are excellent beer drinkers and cigarettes smokers. Jay invites us to lunch we accept. As we walk over to Del Monaco’s, I notice there are 5 fellas behind us in top hats. We get our table for three the 5 guys sit together in a different table. It turns out Jay owns 10 or so railroad companies and is out here looking for opportunities, going Northeast of the existing line . We just listened mostly, made no comment
We finish our steak potatoes and collard greens lunch wish him well in his endeavors. We would see him next in Nov 1892. Steve saw that tea set at his mom’s house in 2012.
Rest of the shopping list
- 100 pounds if hard candy
- 5 gallons each molasses, honey
- 50 pound sack brown sugar
- 4 barrel of beer
- One case Cuban cigars
- A new fangle ice cream making machine
- 5 pounds vanilla beans
- 2 pounds mezcal beans
- 1 pound peyote buttons
- 5 pounds jalapeno pepper
- 100 pounds firecracker
- 8 100 pound blocks of ice covered with straw
- And wet burlap they should last for a few weeks
- 10 proper Boston top hats for the fellows
- 10 Mirror brush and comb sets for the girls ivory handles beige extremely soft brush
- 1,500 pounds of the finest horse feed we could find
- Two cases dynamite
- 16 arc light mining helmets
- 30 red and white checkered table clothes with blue boarder
- 50 pounds rock salt
- 8 50 pound salt licks
- One case each 44 40 52 and 45cal ammunition
- A new Henry 52 and a new 1873 44 rifle one fir James a one for the capt
- 4 single row plows
- 6 double edged plum axes
- 10 Stanley pick axes
- 6 garden rakes
- 2,000 feet barb wire
- 2 000 feet 3/4 hemp rope
- 8 lanterns
- 1 barrel kerosene
- 100 pounds jerky
Figure it will take 4 wagons to haul all this from Carthage to white oaks we will hire a freighter in Carthage. Plans made to get it all loaded on the train when we decide to head out. Decide we are finished here for this trip and will board the train for Carthage tomorrow.
