Ace Borger

(Find A Grave)

(Wikipedia) Asa Phillip (Ace) Borger (April 12, 1888 – August 31, 1934), the founder of Borger, Texas, was born to Phillip Borger and the former Minnie Ann West on a family farm near Carthage, Missouri.
... Borger began his career as a town promoter at the time of World War I. In 1915 Borger and his younger brother Lester Andrew, known as Pete Borger, sold land in Picher, Oklahoma, which was in the center of valuable lead and zinc deposits. In 1917 the Borgers, partnered with noted oilman Tom Slick, set up the oil town of Slick near Bristow, Oklahoma. At each town the Borgers and their associates opened hotels, gasoline stations, lumberyards, sold land, and pushed for the building of railroad lines to their towns. In 1922 they successfully started Cromwell, Oklahoma, as a boomtown. Though Borger and his family maintained a home for a short time in each of his new towns, he continued to use Carthage as his main base of operations.
Borger soon became interested in the discovery of oil in the Texas Panhandle. Continued

The Challenge Timken Roller Bearing Windmill

It's rare to see an old windmill still attached to its original reservoir.
You can always spot a Challenge Timken model by the wedge shaped box behind the blades.

Old House 94

This house seems to have an indoor pool, or perhaps,
indoor cattle. It's in Hassell, New Mexico.

Clovis Carver Public Library

Photo by Clairz  City-Data.com

We lost some good friends at the Clovis Carver Public Library yesterday.
Dead and wounded, at the library. It’s heartbreaking.
Besides for the books, libraries have always been something of a sanctuary for anyone who needed it. Whether you were getting away from a bad situation at home or just a bad day, there was always the library.
I hope we can get back to that.

Newt Gresham founds Farmers Union

(Texas Day by Day) On this day in 1902, Newt Gresham and nine other men founded the Farmers Educational and Cooperative Union of America, now known as the National Farmers Union. Sources have made claims for three different Rains County communities as the site of the first charter, including Smyrna, Point, and Emory. Gresham, an Alabama native, had arrived in Texas with his tenant-farmer parents shortly after the Civil War.
In 1902 he helped found the Farmers Union as a successor to the old Farmers' Alliance.
Gresham wanted to emphasize economic cooperation and avoid the involvement in partisan politics that he believed had destroyed earlier farm organizations. Continued

Country Churches: Hassell

Hassell Church was built in 1907, it sits on the western edge of the
Llano Estacado in Quay County, New Mexico.

Redeemed captive begins trip home

(Texas Day by Day) On this day in 1866, Elizabeth Ann Carter Clifton finally began her six-week trip home after being a captive of Plains Indians for two years.
Her capture in the Elm Creek Raid in Young County was just one of a series of tragedies she endured during her life.
Born in 1825 and married at age sixteen, Elizabeth and her first husband, Alexander Joseph Carter, a free black, started a ranch near Fort Belknap in Young County. Continued

Drought washed away

Rainy road in Quay County (Sixgun Siding)

(Eastern New Mexico News) ... For the first time in the 18-year history of the U.S. Drought Monitor Program, New Mexico is drought free.
This time last year, the Drought Monitor Program showed that 87 percent of the state was experiencing drought conditions at some level. At that time, Curry and Roosevelt counties were classified as experiencing “moderate drought.”
No more. Continued

Sonny Davis

Kenna Cemetery

(ProRodeo Hall of Fame) With his unconventional technique, Sonny Davis was credited with putting some “zip” into the single steer roping, which until that time was something of a perfectionist event.
Davis, born Jan. 2, 1935, in Kenna, N.M., handled himself with catlike quickness and superb coordination, despite his 6-foot-3 inch, 220-pound frame. He won three world championships in five years. Continued

Some Historic Quay County Schools

Norton School (Pinterest)

Here is a list of Quay County, New Mexico schools in 1908:
Tucumcari, Revuelto, Endee, Puerto, Quay, Montoya, Ojodellano, Moore, Pajarito, Dodson, San Jon, Allen, Ogle, Lloyd, Liberty,  New Home, Pleasant Valley, Smith, House, Mountain View, Barancos, Erwin, Grady, Hollene, Brake, Jerrell, Hemlock, Rice, Buttles, Norton, Shady Grove, Logan, Nara Visa, Baker, Charco, Drake, Ward, Bell, Walker, Muniz, Dunlap, York, Phillips, Mount Valley, Paradise, Blair, Hope, Jonesville, Perry, Bonito, Jordan, Plain, McAlister, Borquez, Ford, Curry, Alamo, Landon, Kirk, Art, Hassell, Eagleson, Antioch, Forrest, Stockton, Kelley, and McDearman.
It comes from the Quay County Poll Tax Collection List of 1908, reproduced in "High Plains History" by Don McAlavy and Harold Kilmer. Some of the schools (Grady, Hollene, perhaps others), were located in what's now Curry County.

Plain School, 1906 (Pinterest)

Bill Moore

Pleasant Valley Cemetery

“She packed two six-shooters, and they all said she shore could use ’em....”

 

(Paul Andrew Hutton) In late August 1890, a detachment from the U.S. Army Quartermasters Department began the arduous task of exhuming the bodies of the soldiers in the long abandoned and overgrown Fort Yuma cemetery to be reburied at the Presidio in San Francisco, California.

Of the 159 bodies disinterred, only one was that of a woman, yet it was the largest of all the remains. Around her neck was an oversized Catholic medallion. This was the body of Sarah Bowman—the Great Western. Continued

The Things You Find on Google Maps

Abandoned airfield, De Baca County, NM (Google Maps)

Such as this abandoned airport, some miles north of Taiban, along Route 252. It was built during World War Two, and was officially known as Fort Sumner Auxiliary Airfield #5. Sumner trained bomber pilots, B-17's and B-24's. I imagine #5 was a bit nerve-wracking for those trainees to land on as it sits out on a finger of the Caprock. Today, it just sits, a weird squiggle on a satellite map.

Book Review: The Three Battles of Sand Creek

Depiction of the Sand Creek Massacre by Cheyenne eyewitness and artist Howling Wolf, circa 1875

(Wild West) Sand Creek never seems to run dry on paper, as words keep flowing about the controversial Nov. 29, 1864, clash along its banks in eastern Colorado Territory. Most historians and authors deem it a massacre, as Colorado Volunteers led by Colonel John Chivington attacked and destroyed a peaceful village of Cheyennes and Arapahos, slaughtering women and children in the process. But soldiers died there, too, and some historians prefer to label it—if it must be labeled—a fight or a battle. Continued

Quay School

 

Quay School was built in 1929 and closed in 1955. Quay County had a lot of schools, back in the homesteading days. It seems like too many, until you consider the size of the place, 2,882 square miles, a good deal bigger than the state of Delaware. If one was to place a 160 acre homestead on every square inch of Quay County, you'd have 11, 528 of them. A lot of farms and a whole lot of kids.
According to local historian Lynn Moncus, Quay County had 86 school districts in 1908. Over the years, there were little schools in Obar, House, McAlister, Norton, Lesbia, Glenrio, Montoya, and Ima, to name a few. There were larger schools in Tucumcari, Logan, Nara Visa, Quay, San Jon, Forrest, and Wheatland.
Eastern New Mexico, a hundred years ago, was booming: crop prices were through the roof (because of the war), and the rain was plentiful. An Albuquerque Newspaper referred to the Quay Valley as "The garden spot of New Mexico."
There was a saying back then, coined by Charles Dana Wilber, "The rain follows the plough," that many people took as gospel. And why wouldn't they? That part of the west, formerly known as The Great American Desert, was blooming like it never had before. It seemed like the good times would go on forever.

Bill Standifer: The Protection Man

(Old West) An important employee of the ranchers during the days of the great open, unfenced cattle range was the "protection man," a fellow known for his fearlessness, skill with guns, and willingness to use them.

          The protection man, as one early rangeland chronicler put it, "carried his only authority in his holsters," but he was paid "to patrol the ranges, find as many rustlers as he could, and kill them where he found them."  How he accomplished his mission was rarely questioned in the early days, and the protection man was responsible for many a lonely unmarked rustler's grave on the prairie.

          At roundup time when cowboys from the various ranches hunted down the cattle, wild as deer, and drove them to a central location for sorting and branding, the protection man represented his employer and protected his interest.  Later, when the ranchers formed associations, they shared range-riders' expenses and carried them on their books as "cattle detectives" or "association men."  Small ranchers and settlers, who were frequently harassed as suspected cow thieves by the association men, often referred to them by other, less polite names; they called them "scalpers" or "hired killers." Continued

Country Churches: First Baptist, House, New Mexico

How to Make a Pinhole Camera to Safely View the Eclipse

Eclipse, Tucumcari, New Mexico 2012.

(Sierra Sun Times) You don't need fancy glasses or equipment to watch one of the sky's most awesome shows: a solar eclipse. With just a few simple supplies, you can make a pinhole camera that lets you watch a solar eclipse safely and easily from anywhere. Continued

Also: NM State parks provide chances to see eclipse

Demi Lovato

(Wikipedia) Demetria Devonne Lovato is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. After making her debut as a child actress in Barney & Friends, Lovato rose to prominence in 2008 when she starred in the Disney Channel television film Camp Rock and released her debut single "This Is Me" which peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100.
The success of the film and its soundtrack resulted in a recording contract with Hollywood Records. Her debut album, Don't Forget (2008), debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200.
... Lovato was born on August 20, 1992, in Albuquerque, New Mexico to engineer and musician Patrick Martin Lovato and former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Dianna De La Garza (nee Dianna Lee Smith). Continued

"Our Father's Friend"

Farwell, Texas

John Selman kills John Wesley Hardin

(TDbD) On this day in 1895, Constable John Selman killed the notorious John Wesley Hardin at El Paso's Acme Saloon.
Hardin was born in 1853 in Bonham and revealed a violent personality at an early age. In 1867 he stabbed another youth in a schoolyard squabble, and at age fifteen he shot and killed a black man during an argument.
In the fall of 1868 he claimed to have killed three Union soldiers, and within a year another soldier. He killed at least ten others as he made his way up the Chisholm Trail, and then four more upon returning to Gonzales County. Continued

Nara Visa Lodge 61 AF&AM

The Great Wagon Train Heist

 

(America's Civil War) On a bright moonlit night, Confederate Brig. Gen. Richard M. Gano, a former physician and respected Indian fighter from Grapevine, Texas, advanced his troopers toward the Union post of Cabin Creek in northeastern Indian Territory. Under the moon’s glare, they could see hundreds of covered wagons. Captain Patrick Cosgrove, commander of the Union pickets, noticed a line of dim shapes approaching. After one of his pickets fired a warning shot, Cosgrove, in a distinctly Irish brogue, barked out a command to halt. Continued

Black Jack Ketchum captured

(Texas Day by Day) On this day in 1899, the criminal career of Thomas Edward (Black Jack) Ketchum ended.
Tom and his brother Sam were members of a gang of outlaws that terrorized Arizona, New Mexico, and West Texas.
Tom was born in San Saba County, Sam in Caldwell County. Continued

Solano, NM: Junked Cars

America’s Best Female Sharpshooter: Princess Winona?

 

(True West) While Annie Oakley is well known as the demure darling of the lady sharpshooters of the Wild West shows of old, only the more ardent Western aficionados recall Lillian Frances Smith.

Better known as “Winona,” Smith often outshined—and outshot “Little Sure Shot”—while starring with the top showmen of the era, including Buffalo Bill, Pawnee Bill, and the Miller Brothers. Continued

Old House 93

Cuervo, NM, not much left of this one.

Wiley Post

(Wikipedia) Wiley Hardeman Post (November 22, 1898 – August 15, 1935) was a famed American aviator during the interwar period, the first pilot to fly solo around the world. Also known for his work in high-altitude flying, Post helped develop one of the first pressure suits and discovered the jet stream. On August 15, 1935, Post and American humorist Will Rogers were killed when Post's aircraft crashed on takeoff from a lagoon near Point Barrow in the Territory of Alaska.
Post's Lockheed Vega aircraft, the Winnie Mae, was on display at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center from 2003 to 2011. It is now featured in the "Time and Navigation" gallery on the second floor of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Continued

Cuervo, New Mexico: Abandoned Truck

A lot of scenes in Cuervo look almost Pompeiian, but not this one.

Doc Holliday

(Wikipedia) John Henry "Doc" Holliday (August 14, 1851 – November 8, 1887) was an American gambler, gunfighter, and dentist, and a good friend of Wyatt Earp. He is best known for his role as a temporary deputy marshal in the events leading up to and following the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
At age 21 Holliday earned a degree in dentistry from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery. He set up practice in Atlanta, Georgia, but he was soon diagnosed with tuberculosis, the same disease that had claimed his mother when he was 15, having acquired it while tending to her needs while she was still in the contagious phase of the illness. Hoping the climate in the American Southwest would ease his symptoms, he moved to that region and became a gambler ... Continued

Signage: Ira's Bar, Nara Visa

Avalon Theatre in McLean torn down

Mural, Route 66, McLean, Texas by Carol Highsmith (Library of Congress)

(Route 66 News) The historic but long-closed Avalon Theatre in downtown McLean, Texas, was torn down Saturday.
Leigh Ann Isbell of McLean, listed as manager of the nearby Devil’s Rope Barbwire Museum in town, posted this photo on Facebook of the theater being razed, with a “Route 66 Roadside Attraction” sign barely hanging from a nearby utility pole. Continued

Annie Oakley

(Wikipedia) Annie Oakley (born Phoebe Ann Mosey; August 13, 1860 – November 3, 1926) was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter.
Her "amazing talent" first came to light when she was 15 years old, when she won a shooting match with traveling-show marksman Frank E. Butler, whom she eventually married. The couple joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West show a few years later.
Oakley became a renowned international star, performing before royalty and heads of state. Continued

Dusk on the Plains

You don't get skies like this everywhere.
People who don't think the Great Plains are scenic aren't looking up.

Q: What do you think of stormwater management in Clovis, NM? A: I think it would be a good idea.

Flooded Grand.

Waiting for the water to recede so that I can drive to work - an all too often occurrence.

Battle of Plum Creek

Battle of Plum Creek by Don Yena

(Wikipedia) The Battle of Plum Creek was a clash between allied Tonkawa, militia, and Rangers of the Republic of Texas and a huge Comanche war party under Chief Buffalo Hump, which took place near Lockhart, Texas, on August 12, 1840, following the Great Raid of 1840 as the Comanche war party returned to west Texas. Following the Council House Fight of 1840 a group of Comanches led by the Penateka Comanche War Chief Buffalo Hump, warriors from his own band plus allies from various other Comanche bands, raided from West Texas all the way to the coast and the sea. These Comanches were angered by the events of the Council House, in which Texans had killed the Comanche Chiefs when the Texans had raised a white flag of truce. Continued

Looking Around: Transitional Plans

Side-Gabled house in Muleshoe, Texas. 
One of the many vintage houses featured at the Muleshoe Heritage Center.

(McMansion Hell) Hello Friends! Today we’ll be talking about the detached houses that marked the period when the railroads were just beginning to expand, and resources started reaching more and more remote locations. Sure, railroads and streetcars were expanding, but modern mass-industrialization was still working out its kinks. Thus, transitionary. This period occurred for most localities between 1800 and 1860. Plans from this period would remain popular well into the 1910s, though the later four-square and bungalow plans would soon overtake them in popularity. Continued

Monsoon Madness

Storm over Broadview, New Mexico (Sixgun Siding)

(True West) ... We’ve had it up to here with the 24/7 oven blasts and we’re all about to have a psychotic break. The weather seems to sense this and uncannily matches our mood, with wild swings of weather from hot to cool, sprinkles to deluges. Continued

Jimmy Dean

(Wikipedia) Jimmy Ray Dean (August 10, 1928 – June 13, 2010) was an American country music singer, television host, actor, and businessman, best known today as the creator of the Jimmy Dean sausage brand. He became a national television personality starting on CBS in 1957.
He rose to fame for his 1961 country crossover hit "Big Bad John" and his 1963 ABC television series, The Jimmy Dean Show, which also gave puppeteer Jim Henson his first national media exposure. His acting career included a supporting role as Willard Whyte in the James Bond movie, Diamonds Are Forever (1971).
He lived near Richmond, Virginia, and was nominated for the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2010, although he was formally inducted posthumously. Continued

Wheatland School

Wheatland School was completed by the WPA in 1939.

Smokey Bear

(Wikipedia) ... The living symbol of Smokey Bear was an American black bear three-month-old cub who in the spring of 1950 was caught in the Capitan Gap fire, a wildfire that burned 17,000 acres in the Lincoln National Forest, in the Capitan Mountains of New Mexico.
Smokey had climbed a tree to escape the blaze, but his paws and hind legs had been burned. According to some stories, he was rescued by a game warden after the fire, but according to the New Mexico State Forestry Division, it was actually a group of soldiers from Fort Bliss, Texas, who had come to help fight the fire, that discovered the bear cub and brought him back to the camp.
At first he was called Hotfoot Teddy, but he was later renamed Smokey, after the mascot. Continued

Nara Visa, NM: Gateway Courts

Cowboy Rangers of the early U.S. Forest Service

"The Forest Ranger" by W. Herbert Dunton,
 c1913 (Library of Congress)

(True West) Today, a forest ranger may call to mind a friendly guide who leads nature walks and gives campfire talks. But 100 years ago, forest rangers who worked west of the Mississippi River were closer in spirit and appearance to cowboys.
During the early days of the U.S. Forest Service, these rangers rode horses, packed mules, and carried Colts and Winchesters. Their story is a little-told chapter in the history of the American West. Continued

The Road to Endee Redux

I posted a similar picture to this one earlier, but wasn't quite satisfied, so here's another. Here's the first one, so you can decide for yourself which one you like more.

Santa Rosa revitalization plan would reduce Route 66 from four lanes to two

 

(Route 66 News) Traffic lanes on much of Route 66 in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, would be reduced from four lanes to two as one aspect of a revitalization plan proposed by a consultant.
Planning consultant Sarah Ijadi presented the ideas for the Downtown Santa Rosa Revitalization Plan in the city-county government complex in Santa Rosa, according to the July 27 print edition of The Communicator.
The newspaper reported: Continued

Nara Visa: Cafe

Book Review: Sharps Firearms

(Wild West) “You could not hit a man at 300 yards if your gun was resting on Gibraltar,” Rooster Cogburn tells Texas Ranger LaBoeuf in the 2010 remake of True Grit. “The Sharps carbine is an instrument of uncanny power and precision,” LaBoeuf insists. “I have no doubt that the gun is sound,” Cogburn shoots back.
All jesting aside, a sharpshooter with a Sharps carbine could and did hit targets at 300 yards and beyond, as it was powerful and precise—in the right hands. The uncanny rifle is the subject of this truly epic book. Continued