The Black Range

THE ISSUE OF FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 1883

The periodical printing of 1883 was not as refined as it is today, or as it was in 1922.  The first edition of “Life” (see image of cover to the right) was published on January 4, 1883.  It was issued every Thursday and sold for 10¢ a copy.  

The Front Page

“Kingston is trying to secure a calaboose.”

“Almost every week one or two men are murdered in the Organs.  There appears to be bad air in that vicinity.”

“Heavy Rains have washed out bridges and track on the Mexican Central railroad and greatly interfered with travel lately.”

“The Lone Star says that the new ruling which admits free of duty all stock shipped into this country for breeding purposes cuts off three-fourths of the revenue from customs of El Paso.  This permits Old Mexico cattle and sheep to cross the border without money and without price.”

“The formal opening of the Brooklyn bridge to public use on the 24th ult, was made the occasion of grand celebration in the two cities connected to it.  The day was also the birth day of the Queen of England.  President Arthur and most of the cabinet were present besides many distinguished people from other countries.”

The remainder of the front page was dedicated to ads, humorous stories, and a funeral oration by Ingersoll.

Page Two

The reprinted articles to the right, re: the Hagan’s peak Tunnel appear on page two.

Page Three

“Competition has reduced the price of milk to forty cents per gallon.”

“The Occidental was cleared of water last week and the work of sinking is going on, five men being engaged in the business.  There is little doubt that one or two hundred feet in that shaft will show up big bodies of ore and give the property a permanent value.”

“The Alaska at Grafton has temporarily suspended work and Judge Adams has gone east.  This is understood to be just a loosening up to spit on the hands for a firmer grip.  The stoppage had been threatened for some time so it was not unlooked for.  Grafton misses the voice of the only steam whistle in the range.”

The fight over Canada de Alamosa water rights continues in this issue, with the Black Range newspaper leaving little doubt that its sympathies are with the “Americans” rather than the “Mexicans”.  Wrap your self in the stars-and-stripes and promise jobs and you can still do anything in this country.

Fairview:  “Mr. and Mrs. Day, Harve Taylor and a number of kindred sports are out on a hunting excursion.  Their camping ground is somewhere on Diamond Creek.”

Fairview: “Quail hunting is always considered good sport among the gunning fraternity but there seems to be rather too much excitement about it when the hunter takes a cowboy for a quail, as happened the other day.  It appears a party of Grafton gentlemen on a visit to friends in Fairview had a gun along with them, and one of the crowd (who don’t live more than a hundred miles from the post office) had left the buggy in the hope of having quail on toast for breakfast the next day.  Just at the junction of a small gulch with Turkey creek and where timber is plenty, Mr. J. Yapie was more than surprised to find himself the center of a charge of bird shot.  Fortunately for Mr. Y., his head happened to be behind the trunk of a tree and thus he escaped what might otherwise have been a serious injury.  The hunter on finding what he had done, instead of waiting to ascertain the effect of his carelessness, starts off on a trot with one eye over his shoulder, and when he had put a safe distance between himself and the injured, hallowed back to find if he was hurt.  Mr. Y says that if the Grafton gentleman has any grudge against him on account of lady acquaintances he would prefer to make out quit claim deeds to be disposed of as small game.”

Chloride: “Silver Monument ore is becoming filled with native silver.”

Chloride:  “S. R. Biggs is over on Canada de Alamosa  creek surveying ranches for Joe Aragon and others who are in haste to obtain title to their lands.”

Chloride:  “Oehl & Eckhardt have bought the interest of their partner Dickey in the butcher business, have closed their shop at Grafton and both reside in Chloride.  They have built a slaughter pen on Mineral Creek.”

Chloride: “Billy Kellem’s restaurant has closed up.  A lack of business was the chief cause, but this generally appears to be sufficient to accomplish such a results.  Billy thinks that his next opening will be at Hermosa.”

Chloride: “The suspension of work on the Adirondack is but temporary as operations will soon be resumed.  Three tons of first-class ore has been shipped to the reduction works at Denver which is expected to run high in silver.  This is the ninth mine in the range to ship ore.”

Chloride: “A subscription paper is being circulated to secure funds with which to pay for maps of the Apache and Black range districts that are now in the hands of the printers in New York city, the same being made from the drawings of George Beebe.  It is the intention to distribute the maps as advertising mediums at the Santa Fe and Denver expositions.”

Chloride: “Parker & Son, blacksmiths and wagon makers, turned out their first piece of new work this week which presents the shape of a buckboard which was built on order from L. M. Lampton.  To an unprofessional eye at least, the vehicle presents a handsome appearance and Knight Parker says he will warrant it to posses all the qualities of the celebrated “one hoss shay” for durability.  As Knight has not yet learned the tricks of the trade his bork is bound to be good.”

A complete copy of this issue is found at: The Black Range Newspaper, issue of June 1, 1883, the file is 2.2 MB in size.

THE ISSUE OF FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1883

Just how cut-off from the world was Chloride in the first part of the 1880’s?  The Black Range newspaper regularly carried ads from businesses from around New Mexico and some parts of Texas; visitors from all over the nation passed through on occasion; residents traveled to and from their points of origin (often in the mid-west and eastern United States or parts of Mexico); and news articles from around the world dominated the front page.  The answer to the question is mixed.  In one sense it wasn’t cut-off from the world at all, in another sense, it was often difficult to obtain items and services which were easy to obtain in urban areas of the east.

From the Front Page

“At the scene of the gold discovery in southern California men and horses are dying for want of water.  Nothing can be done there till the rainy season begins.”

“The board of overseers of Harvard college have refused to confer the degree of LL. D. on Governor Butler.  Old Ben finds some things harder to get than the governorship.”

“Lieutenant Colonel A. P. Morrow, better known in New Mexico as Major Morrow, is in disgrace in Washington.  He has been gambling, losing money and selling his pay accounts several times to get money to pay his debts.”

“The Lake Valley Herald, the New Mexican at Santa Fe, the Albuquerque Review and the San Pedro Herald are newspapers which have suspended since a new paper has started in New Mexico.  The newspapers of New Mexico have a precarious existence.”

“The El Paso Lone Star started the item that “Hagan’s Peak tunnel located near San Pedro is showing fine ore and stock is rising” and it has gone the rounds of the territorial papers.  The Range thinks that the only Hagan’s Peak tunnel in New Mexico is near Chloride, and it has not reached the point as yet where ore is expected to be found.”

“Prof. Longuemare in his Bullion says that the Black Knife smelter is cold by reason of lack of  fluxes, which is totally untrue, and he also states that the Silver Monument mine is preparing to ship ore to the reduction works.  The Silver Monument began shipping ore two months ago and is keeping it up.  The Bullion seems to pay little attention to its Black Range items.” 

From Page Three

“A spring near Hermosa is a repository of petrified moss which is rare and pretty.”

“J.W. Nash a merchant lately of Grafton, has returned to Janesville, Wisconsin.”

“John F. Dowling, one of the earliest prospectors here in the range is now at Zacatecas, Mexico, about fifty miles beyond the end of the Mexican Central railroad.  Mark Edwards is there also.”

“The Amajacano at Hermosa is bothered with foul air and work is at a temporary standstill.  The shaft is fifty feet deep and cross-cut is being run toward the east wall.  Last Friday a handsome crevice of horn and native silver was struck in the crosscut but not much work has been done since for the causes stated.”

“Geo. H. Utter of Santa Fe, chief owner of the Norhausen mine on Bear creek, came to the range last Friday and settled up all the outstanding indebtedness of that property.  He has interested other men with him in this valuable mine and it is likely that ere long work be resumed upon it.  When it does start it will be in such shape that the claim will be thoroughly proved ere any let up will be made.  That it will make a good mine is not doubted.”

Fairview: “Henry Chandler and Johnny Cloudman are getting out timber and cutting shake shingles to roof the building they have been erecting.  Mud roofs have gone out of fashion since the last heavy storm.”

Fairview: “Not withstanding the apparent dullness around our city the freighters report themselves as  having all they can do, and in some instances a month or two work ahead.”

Fairview: “Geo. Richardson and Mrs. Mayer have been digging a well in partnership on the line of their property.  Thirty-five feet gives them about two and a half feet of water.  The well is walled up and completed in a manner to make it one the best in town.”

Chloride: “The ball on Friday night was fairly well attended and much enjoyed by those present.”

Chloride: “Ferree and Shadrick were added to the working force in the shaft of the King No. 2 mine this week.”

Chloride: “Charley Canfield has a scheme in his mind for digging a well at the edge of the mesa near his house, and putting a wind-mill in it so that by building a tank and laying pipes every house along that row could have water in their kitchens by simply turning a faucet.  The enterprise is feasible and can be carried out at comparatively small expense.”

Chloride: “The shaft of Beebe and Breson’s Silver Prince mine on Monument creek, which Messrs. Yates, Stone and Love are working had reached a depth of ninety feet when last heard from and it still showed a fine crevice of mineral.  The formation was become more solid and although the mineral was not so high grade as it was on the surface, yet there was every reason to be encouraged by the prospect.”

THE ISSUE OF FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 1883

From Page One

“The Central and Southern Pacific railroads have entered into a contract to run Pullman sleeping cars hereafter.  This will obviate the present necessity of changing cars at Ogden and Deming to those who occupy palace accommodations.”

“The depredating Indians whom the Mexicans and Crook have been chasing are beginning to come into the San Carlos agency for refuge.  For a wonder agent Wilcox advises that these chaps be arrested and punished.  It is not likely that they will be however.”

“Deming is to have a second paper to be called the Progress.  This is always the way.  As soon as a town has attained the size and business to decently support the paper which has struggled along with its infancy some idiot comes along and by dividing the patronage keeps up the starvation racket.”

“Eastern papers are anticipating a boom in certain New Mexico mines, as soon as Ingersoll and Dorsey are let loose from the star route trials.  Ingersoll is said to have lost heavily on the Ivanhoe stocks, and expresses the determination of getting even by developing his property, and demonstrating that it is even more valuable than ever claimed by speculators.  If Bob shows his pluck in this manner, the Black Range may look for a boom - Silver City Southwest”

From Page Two

“The county commissioners at their meeting last week decided to build a bridge across the Rio Grande at Socorro.  This improvement will be of great importance to the the county seat as it will bring to it the trade of White Oaks and the adjacent country.  The mail route to White Oaks which was changed to San Antonio will then be brought back to Socorro for its western terminus.”

“It has been known in Albuquerque for a few days among a narrow circle of interested persons that the  Mexican government has granted a vast subsidy for a new railroad, but the facts did leak out until last night, when a reporter “caught on” to them by mere chance.  The subsidy was passed by the Mexican congress May 5th, was signed by the president and has been formally promulgated.  It involves the large amount of nearly six million dollars, being $6,000 per mile for nearly one thousand miles of road beginning at Zacatecas and running northward through Sinalo and Sonora to a point on the boundary line of New Mexico or Arizona, with a branch line to Topolovamdo at the mouth of the Gulf of California, affording complete railroad connection between the city of Mexico and Pacific coast.  The subsidy has been engendered by Mr Franklin.  Capitalists of Washington, St. Louis, Illinois, and New Mexico are interested in the scheme which has been kept a perfect secret until now.  It is stated that a meeting of the directors will be held in Santa Fe on the 20th instant to take steps looking to the speedy construction of the road. - Albuquerque Democrat”

From Page Three

“Fifteen Mexicans from Canada de Alamosa town are stationed continually at the upper American ranches on the stream of the same name to prevent the settlers there from turning the water from the stream into their ditches for irrigating purposes.”

“C. C. Harris has moved his family back to Chloride from Hermosa, and Mr. H. is giving his undivided attention to his photographic work.  He is making a series of Black range views that will be interesting and attractive.  The work is excellent the pictures being remarkably clear and distinct.”

“The King No. 2 stopped work temporarily this week awaiting instructions from San Francisco.  The tunnel has reached a length of one hundred and fifteen feet and  three seams of quartz have been cut but the ledge is not yet struck.  The shaft is forty-seven feet deep and gives pretty mineral, so the  prospect is nowise discouraging and the present dullness will not continue long.”

“The Buffum shaft is two hundred and thirty feet deep.  When the change in the formation was struck and the granite wall was reached at two hundred and fifteen feet the ledge appeared to break up and get loose, and during this change the mineral streak did not look so well as formerly, but now the vein is solidifying and the mineral crevice is growing constantly larger and apparently richer than ever.  The granite composing the walls is becoming more distinct and less porphyretic in its character and the property looks much more permanent and promising than ever before.”

This entire issue is available at: The Black Range Newspaper, issue of June 15, 1883, the file size is 2.2 MB.

THE ISSUE OF FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 1883

The first page of this issue was dedicated to advertisements and assorted fictional stories, mostly meant to be humorous.  Legal notices and ads made up more than half of page two.  Also on page two were the following tidbits:

“The Dona Ana company of militia are in the field again, and it is intimated that they are after a gang of rustlers recently organized in Kingston.”

“Frank James is this week having his trial at Gallatin, Missouri, for the murder of Sheets at the time of the bank robbery at that place.  There is small hopes of convicting him.”

And the article about Gen. Crook’s activities in Arizona and Mexico (right)

From Page Three

Fairview: “The town well in Robinson went dry and Ben Cook took the pump to use in a well in his yard which he is digging.”

Fairview: “The Black Knife will let a contract of one hundred feet shortly, according to advice furnished (by) W. C. Sharon, their agent here.”

Fairview: “Thomas Dodds has been a guest of Fairview since swearing out warrants for the arrest of eighteen hombres of Canada de Alamosa, making his headquarters at the Fairview hotel.”

Fairview: “About thirty Mexicans armed to the teeth passed through here yesterday morning, their arrival threw some of the weaker and more sinful of our citizens into a sweat but when it was found out they they were after justice in place of scalpsthis feeling quickly subsided.”

Fairview: “The growth of Fairview nurtured by the bright outlook of last spring has been steady and permanent, buildings...”

Fairview: “Every week witnesses the exodus of some of the boys that have stayed by the camp through Indian scares, hard times, and prosperity.  The reason is only two apparent.  Mismanagement of mines and the consequent dullness that is born of distrust.  Never in the history of Fairview has times been so dull as at present.  Many of the prospectors have done their assessments and are skinning south to get something to live on, while others go to earn sufficient money to be able to do their assessments this fall. The mineral distributed over the district may be rich but when through the blundering ignorance of so-called mining superintendents $10,000 is thrown away on a hundred foot hole with variations and refreshments, the industry may well be looked upon with distrust.”

Chloride: Charles Myers is at Socorro on business connected with the Silver Monument.”

Chloride: “Austin Crawford brought back with him from Craig the noblest two-seated carriage there is in the range, which he has added to the equipments of this stable.”

Chloride: “Everybody who owns a well takes advantage of the present season of drouth to put the same in running order for another year.  Henry Rickert will have his well walled up with rock.”

Chloride: “Charley Myers received word last week that the Colossal company had levied an assessment for the purpose of paying of its debts and with which additional work will be conducted.  Future work will be done by contract.”

Chloride: “Messrs. Yates, Stone, and Love have completed their 100-feet contract on the Silver Prince on Monument creek, for Beebe and Beeson.  The mineral showing at the bottom was not much different than at the surface, but the assays were much better.”

Chloride: “When Smith’s Mexican prisoners asked for breakfast yesterday morning he told them where they would find good grass.  The spectacle of some forty hungry natives looking to him for grub was a bluff he had to pass.  The prisoners boarded themselves and saved cost to he county.”

Chloride: “Work on the Hagan’s Peak tunnel has been discontinued because no money for the payment of the workmen has ever been seen hereand the fun of job had worn off.  Mr. Briggs has been absent several weeks and there was an air of uncertainty pervading the affairs that the workmen did not like.  It will no doubt come out all right, however, for the tunnel shows all the promise that was expected at the depth gained, and it would be very foolish to permit the enterprise to fail at this point.”

Chloride: “Lewy Cruise has been pounding away in the White Signal tunnel for the past three weeks and the improved appearance of the opening has more than repaid him for his labor.  When work was discontinued the face of the tunnel presented a discouraging appearance - more than it had shown at any previous, and more than it was likely to show at any future spot.  Mr. Cruise appreciated this and went to work to remedy it.  He has, since he began work, taken out as pretty mineral as ever came out of this mine, and every day’s work adds to the value of the property.”

Chloride: “A new strike was made in the cross-cut of the Amajacano at Hermosa, last week which has highly elated the owners of that valuable property.  The cut had reached a length of twenty-seven feet running toward the hanging wall of the ledge, when it suddenly entered a magnificent body of mineral which fills the face and all sides of the cut with a further extent unknown.  The mineral is of a sulphide character, similiar to that of the American Flag and in the absence of assays is supposed to have a value of $150 per ton or thereabouts.”

An article about the Canada de Alamosa water disputes notes that a number of the Mexicans were arrested on attempted murder charges but “Justice Holmes decided that the complaint was notsustained and discharged the prisoners...the Mexicans have employed the Santa Fe lawyer on an eight hundred dollar fee to adjust this difficulty for them...”

The article about the merits of child labor in Chloride was included in the third column (see right).

“The Royal Arch property has passed into the hands of Martin Nixon, a wealthy paper manufacturer of Philadelphia, and A. Rush Bowe the superintendent, they being sole owners now, the former having three-fourths, and the latter one-fourth interest.  This valuable property comprises three claims, vis: the Lucky Loo, Lottie, and the Royal Arch, situated between Dry and Bear creeks nearly equal distances between the two.   The latternamed location has received most of the attention of the owners to date and it is developed by a shaft on the ledge one hundred and sixty feet deep beside several smaller prospecting holes.  The deep shaft is 5x7 feet in dimensions in the clear, and is nicely timbered to the water which fills up some distance from the bottom.  The ledge has two perfect walls which at the bottom are six feet apart and widening.  Two feet of the ledge matter is porphyry thoroughly impregnated with native silver and giving an average assay of $57.70 per ton in silver and black sulphurets, average specimens of the former running $878 and of the latter $227 and $212 in silver with gold to an amount as high as twenty-three ounces per ton.  The ore is free milling. “ This article continues to the immediate right.

A full copy of this edition is available at: The Black Range Newspaper, issue of June 22, 1883, the file is 2.2 MB in size.

THE ISSUE OF FRIDAY, JUNE 29, 1883

From Page One

“The military telegraph has vacated Silver City and the S. C. D. & P. railroad takes the business.”

“General Socfield wants the Indian prisoners taken by Crook put back upon the reservation just as they always have done.  His advice will probably be taken and the late campaign will go for naught.”

“Gen. Crook went down into Mexico and captured nearly four hundred Indian Squaws and papooses and hardly gets into the United States ere his biography as published in the newspapers goes galavanting about over the land.  He knew of course that there was much public feeling against destroying poor Lo or his family, but he could hardly have expected that this action would instigate such unkind treatment.”

“Fountain’s militia by its active work is making the office of sheriff in Dona Ana county a sinecure.  The sheriff complains because the warrants are not placed in his hands rather than in the militiamen’s.  Other people, however, are too well satisfied with the work of Major Fountain to ask what the sheriff was elected for.”

From Page Two

“Vera Cruz is full of yellow fever and United States seaport towns are already beginning to quarantine against this disease.”

“England is following in the foot steps of Switzerland and sends her paupers to America.  Steps have been taken at New York to prevent the landing of these indigent persons.  The United States has plenty of paupers of her own.”

“The late dispatches from the San Carlos reservation state that against the protest of Agent Wilcox and the orders of Secretary Lincoln, Crook’s Apache prisoners have been placed upon the reservation.  The reservation Indians do not like the additions but Nana and Loco et al. are glad to get back and be protected.”

From Page Three

Fairview: “A dog fight occurred in Blun’s store Wednesday which livened things for a few minutes.”

Fairview: “M. Weghman’s building here is taking on an assessment in shape of walls before the rainy season commences.  The roof is a question that time will solve if the rains should not dissolve the walls in the meantime.”

The article about the Silver Monument (right) was published on page 3.

Fairview: (re A. R. Bowe of the Royal Arch Mine) “D. H. Wenger and A. Rush Bowe were among the arrivals on Monday’s stage.  Wenger looked quite natural, but Bowe had on a new hat and a pair of boots that belonged to that class of individuals know (sic) as dudes.”

Fairview: “ Thos. H. Dodds returned on Wednesday’s coach from a visit to Socorro.  Mr. D. is corresponding with the Interior department in regard to the water troubles, and says that if he can’t get the water he requires from the creek he will get $10,000 worth of windmills before giving up the ground.”

Fairview: “Major Day reports a strike of ten inches of very rich ore in the German in the one hundred and twelve foot level...”

Fairview:  “A herd of sheep has been allowed to graze around Fairview on several occasions and the citizens are getting tired of it.   Three leagues or nine miles is the distance prescribed by law as the nearest that quadrupeds of that denomination are allowed to approach and should the offense be repeated the owners may find something to their disadvantage.”

Fairview: “Mineral on the surface of the ground is a very sure indication of mineral below and during the eruptive period the mineral that was thrown to the surface came from a like body lower down, but have gone through leaching, oxidizing and other processes and changes of centuries together with the admixture of higher bodies of formation may not prove so remunerative on the surface, but the idea that the whole mineral lies on the surface is indulged in (by) some so called miners is utterly preposterous.  In formations like the Cuchillos and the Black Range, we need not expect to find large truce fissure veins, for geology teaches us that true fissures only exist in the older and more compact and stratified formations, that vertical veins exist is an undeniable fact, but the fact of them being vertical and existing with walls of similiar formation (porphyry for instance) does not make them true fissure and the instances are rare below a contact...”

Grafton: “Mrs. Scales has recovered her health, so that the Grafton hotel has again opened up with renewed energy.”

Grafton: “A. Rush Bowe has just returned from  Socorro where he has purchased a stock of groceries and canned goods for his men at the mine.”

Grafton: “Mr. La Grange, ex-director of the U. S. mint at San Francisco, is in the range booking after the Ivanhoe ranches at Ojo Caliente.  The actin of the company depends on his report.”

Chloride: “Allen McMillen has finally heard from the Colossal company.  They have sent for a statement of outstanding indebtedness here for the purpose of paying up and resuming work.”

Chloride: “The thunderstorms each day warn us that the rainy season is almost here.  The Palomas has had a heavy rain already as has also the eastern side of the Cuchillo Negro range while Chloride got a soaker last night.”

Chloride: “J. M. Shaw wishes the Range to state that he is d----d sick of this country and that a numerous contribution of small sums and to him paid would induce him to take a trip east.”

Chloride: “C. C. Harris informs the citizens of the range that he is prepared to take photographs and outside views and guarantee satisfaction.  He will  remain at Chloride not longer than three weeks, so those wishing pictures should call at once.”

Chloride: “Cuchillo Negro Town has a post-office now, the first mail sack being left there last Friday night.  Mail from here, however, must still go in the way pouch of the coach because the sack only comes out from Engle and not continuing on to the range.”

Chloride: “The shaft of the Silver Monument mine is something over one hundred feet below the surface and the air is too bad for continuing further work until a remedy in some form is secured.  Air pipes are being put in this week.  When this is finished work will continue.”

Chloride: “W. M. Rogers and J. H. Drake are working on the Lucky Boy situated in the neighborhood of the White Signal.  Mr. Rogers has been at work for some time and he is now in thirty feet on a tunnel which he  is running to cut the ledge.  With a seventy foot tunnel he expects to cut the vein at eight feet.  There is a shaft already sunk on the property which shows nice mineral and the tunnel will probably make an improvement still.”

Chloride: “Henry Westerman mourns the loss of his mule, which gave up the ghost last week.  Fred Bumbaugh had the animal up at the head of the range near the Silver Monument mine.  He had him staked out to graze and the mule getting tangled in his rope was thrown down among the rocks and could not get up alone, even when Fred who discovered him in this situation, had cut the lariat.  So fast did the boulders hold the mule that Fred unassisted could not get him up so he ran to the Silver Monument camp for assistance.  Before he got back the animal in his struggles had dashed his brains upon the stones and had expired.  Henry valued the animal at two hundred dollars and the loss is therefore a serious one.”

And lastly an article about the Hagan’s Peak Tunnel which may be read in The Black Range Newspaper, issue of June 29, 1883, on page 3.  This copy of the entire issue is 2.3 MB in size.