The Pinos Altos Story

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Dorothy Watson. The Pinos Altos Story

The Pinos Altos Story

Early History

80’s And 90’s

The 1900’s

Schools

Churches

Mines And Mining

The Family

TODAY

Acknowledgements

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Early one spring a party of twelve scouts left Tucson for the Rio Grande. When they reached Mesilla they decided to prospect in the mountains to the northwest. They stopped in Santa Rita to replenish supplies and then moved westward. On May 18, 1860, three prospectors, from that party, named Birch, Snively and Hicks, camped on what is now known as Bear Creek. Birch went to the stream for water and found chispas—small nuggets of gold, in the bed of the stream. Scooping up a handful he returned to his companions. Then began a frantic exploration of Bear Creek and every nearby gulch. Their findings were sufficient to justify the establishment of a more permanent camp but additional tools and supplies were needed. They went to Santa Rita where they confided their discovery to the Marston brothers and Langston whom they found working there. Returning, they christened their camp “Birchville” in honor of the discoverer and erected structures more adequate for comfort and protection. They were joined by the three Americans who knew of their discovery, and by many others, both American and Mexican, for the secret was out. By September there were 700 men in the field and a few families of the Mexican miners. While Santa Rita could supply staples, it was necessary to go to Mesilla for hardware, clothing, groceries in quantity, which they paid for with 1 · 2 or 3 fingers of gold. The first year was spent placer mining and prospecting to find the “mother lode”. The Apaches were very troublesome, confining their activities to waylaying small parties, the driving off of stock, and to gathering on the hills above the workers, taunting the “Goddammies” as they called the Americans, from the words heard frequently from the men. The second year a few lodes were located but only the surface was scratched. Quartz bearing ore was crushed in arrastras, century-old mills such as the Egyptians and Phoenicians had used to crush olives for oil and grapes for wine, and which had come down through the ages to the Mexicans. A circular pit was dug, sides and bottom lined with flat stones, a stout pole was placed in the center to which an arm was attached and a burro, mule or horse could be hitched. Heavy rounded boulders were placed in the pit and attached to the other end of the arm. The quartz was thrown into the pit and broken up as the beast walked around and around. The rubble was thrown out and the bottom scraped of the fine material which was then washed in the ordinary rocker. (Only one arrastra in good condition is intact today). As more and more miners came in the settlement moved up the creek to a more central location for all placer grounds. The Mesilla Times in 1861 carried items and advertisements from the gold camp. It stated that “Thomas J. Marston was pushing ahead his work of grinding quartz and doing well although constantly annoyed by Indians,” that, “The Pinos Altos Hotel served bread and meals,” that “Samuel G. and Roy Bean (Law West of the Pecos) were dealers in merchandise and liquors and had a fine billiard table”, and that “Thos. Marston wanted 200 quartz miners at $1.00 and $2.00 a day.”

With the establishment of the Confederacy this part of the West was claimed by the South. On August 1, 1861, Col. John R. Baylor as Governor at Mesilla, proclaimed the establishment of the Territory of Arizona. This included the part of New Mexico below the 34th parallel. Miners had been asking the United States Government for military protection but little action had been taken. However, Governor Baylor recognized the importance of controlling the Indians and of protecting the scattered inhabitants. Captain Snively’s Arizona Guards were assigned to watch the Apaches under Cochise and Mangas Colorado, and Thomas Marston was named Captain in the Arizona Scouts with nine men under his control to protect Birchville. At the same time he appointed Justices of the Peace for Dona Ana County, which then included Dona Ana, Luna, Hidalgo and Grant. Among them was M. M. Steinhal of Birchville, who became the first Justice of Peace in what is now Grant County. The Apaches were determined to drive all Americans from their land. Cochise brought his warriors from the Chiricahuas and joined Mangas Colorado and his Mimbrenos for a concerted attack on the miners. Cochise was in command. Early on the morning of September 22, 1861, 400 Apaches made a bold, but unsuccessful attempt to destroy the camp and drive the miners out. The conflict raged along the Continental Divide until one o’clock, when with fifteen Apaches killed, one by a dog belonging to a Mexican named Carlos Norero, the Indians withdrew. Three Americans lost their lives, including Thomas Marston who had been fatally wounded and died a few days later. He was buried beneath the large juniper tree in the Pinos Altos cemetery. Many of the remaining Americans decided that their scalps were more valuable than gold and left to join either the Union or Confederate Forces. The Beans were among them. On October 10th Governor Baylor responded to a desperate call for help from the weakened settlement by sending a detachment of 100 men under Major E. Waller to relieve the miners and to protect their rich workings.

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A band of Navajos succeeded in driving off 31 yoke of oxen belonging to Hartford and Groves on the night of June 16, 1867. A company of 50 men under the command of Richard Hudson, (a member of the California Column and an uncle, by marriage, of Mrs. Robert K. Bell) took the trail and followed it for eight days before they came upon the band. In the running fight thirteen Navajos were killed and seven taken as prisoners. Hudson reported that one of his men had a cheek grazed by a bullet. This is the only record of the camp being raided by any Indians other than Apaches.

After the war the policy of the government regarding the West changed. The point that affected the Southwest most was the establishing of forts to protect travel and trade—even to protect the miners at Pinos Altos. In the general field orders for the establishing of forts it was stated “that one was to be in the vicinity of Pinos Altos, to consist of one company of infantry and two of cavalry to protect the miners of southwest New Mexico from the Warm Springs Apaches.” The Military Reservation of Fort Bayard was established in 1869.

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