el cronicón · valley to the northwest. once referred to as the “killer road” due to its...

At 1:30 , Prior to, and after the the regular program DIRK VAN HART will sell and sign his new book “ Old Forty Four” . If you enjoyedhis lecture you will enjoy his book even more . it is packed with fascinat-ing details and history about the old highway.

El CronicónEl Cronicón

President:Ken Kloeppel Editor: Roy C. Skeens

Official Quarterly Publication of theSANDOVAL COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Volume 24, No2 June , 2013

JUNE MEETINGSunday JUNE 9th 1.30 & 2pm

Lt Col. Ret. David C. de Baca will give the first of a two partpresentation, the result of 35 years of research , on the history of the C de Bacafamily, beginning in Spain in the year 512 and highlighting family memberswhose patriotism and sacrifice helped shape the history of the Kingdom ofCastile, the Americas and the settlement of New Mexico and Sandoval County.

AT 2PM

June 013 qxp_Dec 07 5/20/13 8:39 PM

El Cronicón

Hola amigos,As the summer months move rapidly to a reality, we are constantly reminded ofour current three year drought cycle that has no signs of waning.In the 1930s a long drought and poor dry land farming methods created an agri-cultural disaster that lasted for years. The DUST BOWL or DIRTY THIRTIESwas a period of severe dust storms that ruined millions of acres in the middle ofour country.

This spring, top soil from Arizona, Gallup, Grants, Chaco Canyon, and theRio Puerco Valley have blown through Sandoval County on a trip somewhere tothe east.My hope is that rain and moisture will soon return to our beautiful state. It willtake a very wet summer to end our drought. In the mean time, please be carefulwith your use of our precious resource. Use water wisely, don't waste and makeeveryone around you aware that they can do their part to ease our concerns.

Don’t miss the June 9th mtg . on the C de Baca family . We shall fill the hallwith Bacas and C de Bacas and all their primos Have a wonderful July andAugust, see you in September for Antonio Manzanares.

Sincerely, Ken Kloeppel

President’s Message

Check out our web site that Ben Blackwell putstogether for all current information on the Society:

www.sandovalhistory.org

June 013 qxp_Dec 07 5/20/13 8:39 PM Page 2

June 2013

MARCH MEETING

This presentation revealed some of the geol-ogy along the 152-mile-long “Old NewMexico Route 44” (a.k.a. Old 44), which con-nects Bernalillo in the central Rio GrandeValley with Bloomfield in the San Juan RiverValley to the northwest. Once referred to asthe “killer road” due to its deadly narrowstretches, in 2000 Old 44 was reconstructedas a modern four-lane thoroughfare and re-designated as the southern leg of US-550.Old 44 no longer exists, except in memory.

I designed this talk for the non-geologist,and employed a minimum of technical lan-guage. Emphasis was placed on abundantillustrations and less on oratory. Most mem-bers of the Sandoval County HistoricalSociety have traveled this route many times

in the past, so this was familiar ground.

Some of the vignettes about the route’salmost-forgotten history and the humancharacters included the tragic, ruined farm-lands of the Middle Rio Puerco Valley, thetrading-post operators Jim and AnnCounselor of the 1930s, the “lost” CivilianConservation Corps camp SCS-8-N of thelate 1930s, and the Cuba-area kid EuellGibbons, health-food nut of the 1960s andearly 1970s.

Hopefully, this unusual blend of geology andhistory resonated with the Society members.Perhaps it will provide them a new and inter-esting lens thru which to perceive this fasci-nating road.

A Geological and Historical Excursion along Old New Mexico Route 44 (today the southern segment of US-550):A PowerPoint presentation by Dirk Van Hart, geologist

Gibbons family dugout, west of Cuba Reconstruction of ruins of Haynes Trading Post,north of Counselor.


El Cronicón

APRIL MEETING

Bill presented much informationand a slideshow, some of whichwas illustrated by his wifeAngie. Bill graduated from theUniv. of California at Berkleywith a degree in Wildlife man-agement and Zoology. He hasworked at Yosemite,Yellowstone, and our CarlsbadCaverns. In his spare time he hasalso worked for the NationalConservancy in New Mexico. Wedo appreciate that he is also anHistorical society member here..New Mexico is unique due to the early colo-nization, the native peoples, and the manycultures that co-exist here. Chaco Canyonhad many crops including corn, beans,squash, and cotton, but only turkeys for earlylivestock. In 1493 Columbus returned to theNew World and brought 117 ships with him,which carried cattle, sheep, mares, asses, andchickens. Hogs had been taken to theCarribean for use on the sugar mills grindingthe sugar cane.Coronado brought about 5,000 sheep to NM

in 1540 which were left at Pecos Pueblo. In1598 Onate brought 7,000 livestock as well assoldiers and missionaries to Isabella, andthey were later taken to Santa Fe. He also

brought tools-including hoes and a sim-ple wooden plow. The livestock

included burros, mules, horses, cat-tle, and sheep (the Churro sheep,which was good for weaving).Spain had the merino sheep,but those were being kept inSpain, and the Churro sheepsurvived very well in NM.Churro havebeen brought back near TierraAmarilla and a weaving COOPexists there as well as herds forfood.

By the 1620’s there were 30 mis-sions in NM and they introduced

the Pueblo people to livestock. Thelivestock were used to thresh wheat

among other things. The missions wereinstrumental in teaching the Pueblo peopleabout the livestock- care, uses, husbandry,etc. Carts were also introduced to thePueblos.By the 1820’s sheep were king in NM—records show 62,000 sheep and 1450 cattle.This trend remained until the early 1900’s.The Navajo described the sheep as mostimportant and used them for weaving as wellas food. The Navajo were sent to BosqueRedondo in 1863, on the Long Walk, from

THE LIVESTOCK OF EARLYNEW MEXICO.Bill W. Dunmire


June 2013

Canyon de Chelly, and there they learned toraise and tend angora goats. Years later, theirtribe decimated from disease, they wouldreturn to the Canyon.Cattle were raised on the eastern plains, andalso at Fort Union near Las Vegas and in Silvercity, in southern NM. The vaqueros fromSpain brought their wooden saddle horns andstirrups as well as ear cropping and branding.By th1870’s the Lincoln County War occurredover livestock and ranges, and the policitianCatron would accumulate and/or manage morethat 3 million acres of land in NM—the largestranch in US history. New breeds of cattle werecoming to NM, including the Hereford, Angus,and Holstein milk cows, and the face of live-stock was beginning to change.Frank Bond was a member of the Santa Fe ringof politicians, along with Catron, and operateda partido system for sheep in NM. FrankHubbell , also one of the “ring” had a largesheep herd on the plains of San Agustin nearQuemado. He would be the first to shear sheepby gas powered machines in the early 1900’s.Wagon Mound may have been the earliestRodeo in NM, and in 1847 it was reported thata rodeo included “roping, throwing cattle,branding, whiskey, and dancing in the streetsafter dark”. Soon, the first State Fair would beheld in NM in 1881, and shortly horse racing.Dude Ranches became popular in NM (at onetime as many as 6), and 4H clubs, Cattle dri-ves, and the Metanza were all traditions thatwere firmly established by the many culturesin NM.

Bill reported that from his perspective theimpact of livestock on the land in NM was notvery positive, and many have reported thatsheep in the Rio Puerco made it the largest“ditch” in the U.S. and destroyed the“Breadbasket of NM” .Overgrazing often leadsto the invasive spread of Juniper—which myallergies tell me is BAD…. Wooten alsoreported that the overstocking led to runoff ofvaluable water and the destruction of the land.In short Bill left us with the words:KEEP OFF Reported by Karen Lermuseaux

Child of the Rio Puerco Tough and resilient as one had to be to

survive A Natural politician A realist who called a spade a spade That rare bird: an honest public servant We are richer for having had her among us

She will be missedMartha Liebert

A TRIBUTE TO

M, HELEN SANDOVAL1933-2013


El Cronicón

MAY MEETING

OnSunday we were treated to a very specialprogram - International singing starConsuelo Luz recounted to a packedhouse her personal journey from aCuban- Chilean Catholic background todiscovering her Jewish roots in NewMexico.She left Peru,where she grew up tocome to America at age 18 , Shetold how she did not like living inNew York or San Francisco so shetook off in her little ‘48 breadtruck but didn’t feel relaxed untilshe reached New Mexico. Thereshe found the Woman’s Center inAlbuquerque where a woman whis-pered to her “ You have to go toTaos”. In Taos she found a hippie communeand promptly became a hippie. Moving around NorthernNew Mexico shesettled inTrampas, marrying a Jewish manlead to her researching the hidden Jewishtraditions,and stories of the “Conversos”and also discovering her own roots.As she talked she emphasized differentpoints with her soulful singing and guitarplaying, Altogether it was a magical afternoon.

RS/CA

A Magical a f t ernoon of history , music and song


June 2013

Hispanic Albuquerque 1706-1846Marc SimmonsUNM Press 1982Paperback 2003

f you are doing research on our state’s past,invariably the work of Marc Simmons popsinto view. The Society’s library holds a few ofhis books, and this one, donated by Joe andMartha Liebert, is a fascinating account of thedevelopment of our big neighbor to the southfrom its founding to the American takeover in1846.

Of course the Hispanic period beginswith the arrival of Coronado in 1540. Simmonstries to get at the character of these first con-quistadores, as he calls them “restless, undisci-plined, prideful,” but with a great enthusiasmfor adventure. The first contact with the Tiwapueblos in this area was made by one ofCoronado’s men, Hernando de Alvarado. TheSpaniards were always on the alert for preciousmetals, but the areas of the Rio Grande were toprove barren of treasure. The more theyexplored, the more the great wealth theyexpected to find appeared as myth.In the end, the weather, the hostilities of theIndians, and the lack of riches forced Coronadoto retreat back to Mexico. Except for a fewnames on the map, his expedition failed.Simmons finds it extremely ironic that thelargest shopping mall in New Mexico has hisname attached. “Albuquerque’s multimillion-

dollar Coronado Center commemorates theregion’s first entrepreneur, a man who wentbroke.”

While leading up to the founding ofDuke City, including the Oñate story and thePueblo Revolt of 1680, Simmons touches onthe beginnings of Bernalillo, named after theBernal family, and the confusion regarding itsstatus. Various accounts call it a real—a min-ing town—a villa or a puesto, in Spanish liter-ally “a place.” Established by Governor Vargasin 1695, “…Bernalillo was the first regularcommunity developed in the Middle Valley,and the focal point of Spanish activity thereduring the final five years of the 17th centu-ry…”

So Bernalillo can claim to be 318 yearsold. On April 23, 1706, seventy years before theAmerican Revolution, Governor FranciscoCuervo y Valdés of New Mexico sat at a writingtable in the dimly lit halls of his mud palace onthe Santa Fe plaza.” This is how Simmonsbegins his chapter on the founding of the citynamed after the Duke of Alburquerque (theextra r was later dropped), in a letter the gover-nor was writing to the viceroy in Mexico City.

According to the royal code, thereneeded to be 30 families, and they broughttheir herds of sheep and goats; also, ten sol-diers, with their families, led by CaptainMartin Hurtado, were assigned. These troopswere necessary as the settlements were underconstant threat from marauding bands ofNavajos and Apaches. This threat kept thelands of the mid-Rio Grande sparsely populat-ed.

BOOK REVIEWby JOHN J. HUNT

Continued


El Cronicón

We learn about the governor’s stretch-ing of the truth when it came to his officialreports; also, we find that in Spain, the town ofAlburquerque, which dates from Roman times, was derived from Latin albus quercus, mean-ing “white oak.” There is also an interestingstory of how San Felipe Neri became the town’sofficial patron. This, and Governor Cuervo’s fallfrom power, close out the first phase of devel-opment of the place we affectionately call theDuke City.

The coming of Don Juan Bautista deAnza, who had helped found the city of SanFrancisco two years before, assumed the gover-norship in 1778, as an old military manbrought new tactics to the Indian battles, andhe carried the fight to the Comanches inSouthern Colorado, leading to a general peace.This led to new settlements in the MiddleValley.

However, the 18th century saw a longstruggle to repopulate the lands surroundingAlbuquerque. The stories of Sandia and IsletaPueblos, the areas known as the Ranchos deAlbuquerque and the Elena Gallegos grant; theestablishment of the communities of LosMontoyas, Los Poblanos, Los Griegos andCorrales add to our understanding of the ori-gins of the Valley before the coming of theAmericans.

“Boundary squabbles, leading to bitterfamily feuds and endless litigation, irritatedAlbuquerque’s early social life like recurringcanker sores,” Simmons comments acidly. Andthere was constant trouble with the Natives, aswell as periodic droughts. Stories around these

travails add to our picture of the not alwaysquiet and peaceful view we may have of theHispanic period. As the author says, “…thewaters beneath the seemingly placid surface ofAlbuquerque’s social life were fraught with dis-cord.”

The Winds of Change he calls it whenthe trade barriers imposed by Spain on itscolonies began to crumble. But it wasLieutenant Zebulon Pike who “represented thevanguard of an American wave that…wouldstorm the fortress of Hispanic culture on theRio Grande.” Pike reached Albuquerque inMarch of 1807. These stories are fascinatingand give us a good picture of what life was likein the political and social milieu of the times.

How political upheavals in Spain andNew Spain affected New Mexico is wellresearched and sharply drawn. The 1818Navajo war, the 2-way traffic in slaves (bothsides engaged), the upper crust of the RioAbajo, the Armijo family (his profile of ManuelArmijo is worth every dime), taking us up tothe arrival of General Kearny, who on his waydown river stopped at the Perea house inBernalillo.

Summing up the development of thecity of Albuquerque, he writes, “The growth ofthe Santa Fe trade and Kearny’s conquest of1846 marked the beginnings of theAmericanization of Albuquerque. Thatprocess, developing slowly at first, would notcome full circle to completion until 1949 whenthe Old Town, centering on the plaza of colo-nial days, would finally be annexed andabsorbed by the New Town, the twentieth-cen-


June 2013

tury metropolis that sprang from the railroadboom of the 1880s.”

Simmons says his book is “intendedfor the general reader,” and is written in adirect and easy style, not meant for the acade-mic world. He does include an Index and ahelpful list of Suggested Readings. Sprinkledwith photos, paintings and maps, the 154-pagebook is certainly one of the most compact andunderstandably enjoyable histories of the citythat is now 307-years-old and has grown to bethe largest in the state. NOTE: [I mentioned this book wasdonated by the Lieberts. The library needs toexpand its collection, needs more donations, weneed books that focus onNew Mexico history,and of course local history references, whetherprint or graphic arts; photographs are alwayswelcome. Contact Martha or Dirk.]

I grew up in a small house inBernalillo just down the street from Joe and

Martha Liebert—a married couple who helpeddefine life in Bernalillo to many residents. Myparents, Gene and Faye, were close friends with

them, and so our two families shared in theexperience of watching Bernalillo grow fromthe 1930s to the present. I recently had the

pleasure to talk with the Lieberts about theirpast over tea and Joe’s oatmeal cookies.

Joe Liebert was born in 1924 in La Jara,Colorado. His maternal parents, originallyfrom Denmark, came to America as Mormonleaders and settled in the San Luis Valley ofColorado to become farmers. His paternal rela-tives—the Ledoux—were French trappers. Joe

The Lieberts: a town

treasure

By Karen Lermuseaux

Continued

MEMBERSHIPYou can check your membershipstatus from the date on yourCronicon’s address label .If you arenot current ,you may not receive thenewsletter. Also make sure we haveyour mailing address if the PO doesnot deliver to your street address.andyour E-Mail laddress correctly

Rusty Van Hart, Membership chair.293-2073


El Cronicón

grew up in Taos where his family lived untilhis parents divorced when he was fourteen.

He and his mother Jenny then moved toBernalillo where she was assigned to a WorksProject Administration (WPA) job teachingsewing and later cooking for the districtschools. Joe recalls a brief period of adjust-ment with the locals, but his proficiency inSpanish helped quite a lot. Joe told me that mygrandfather, Victor Lermuseaux, was a fatherfigure to him during that time and ever since.

Joe’s friends included a group of kids fromCorrales who went to school in Bernalillo. Joesaid, “I liked driving my friends around in the1933 Ford sedan with the suicide doors (doorsthat opened backwards) that my motherbought me. We had a lot of fun.”

Joe graduated in 1943 from Bernalillo HighSchool as salutatorian of his senior class. Heremembers: “I had no thoughts of going to col-lege at that time. In fact, the military hadalready taken us to Santa Fe for our physicals.So, in less than one week after my graduation,we were headed to the Fort Bliss Army Post inEl Paso.” In January 1944, he was shipped over-seas and eventually was assigned to the med-ical unit.

In June, Joe’s Second Division landed onOmaha Beach and marched into France. Hesaid, “I don’t really recall my thoughts aboutthose wounded soldiers. I was just busy tryingto get them off the battlefield and stay in onepiece at the same time.”

Later that year, Joe was sent to the front line

of the Battle of the Bulge in which his divisionwas victorious in the most decisive campaignof the war. He had served more than two yearsin the army.

Joe happily returned to New Mexico and FortBayard where his mother was working. Heworked as a maintenance man for a housingproject, and then at the Santa Rita Mines help-ing to drill holes for explosives.

Joe returned to Bernalillo and lived with mygrandparents’ family, as well as the RobertEsparza family at various times. He worked forthe Seligmans in the local hardware store as hetried to decide the path his life would take. Joeand his mother also started and ran a smallrestaurant called Liebert’s Café for about twoyears, in Anastacio Baca’s building.

Joe attended the University of New Mexico(UNM) on the G. I. Bill, graduated in 1955, andbecame an industrial arts teacher. He receivedhis Master’s Degree in 1960. It was during thattime that Joe met his future wife, Martha Barr.

“I started talking with Martha and realizedthat she was the one for me,” he said. “So, later,I took all the fixin’s for tacos over to her apart-ment and made dinner for her and her room-mate.” Martha laughed, “We ate so many, wewere almost sick, but they were the best.”Maybe it was Joe’s good cooking that won overMartha, because, soon after, in 1957, they weremarried.

Martha grew up in North Dakota and gradu-ated from Grand Forks High School. She wenton to receive her Bachelor’s Degree from the


June 2013

University of North Dakota. She then traveledto New Mexico to attend UNM for her Master’sDegree, which she received in 1957. She mar-ried Joe, and they returned to his family homein Bernalillo. She remembers, “I have loved his-tory ever since my grandfather told me the his-tory of the Mandan Indians.” She said, “He hadbeen the State Historian in North Dakota.”Martha loved hearing those stories, and to thisday still loves to listen and talk about local his-tory—especially that of Bernalillo andSandoval County. Martha was active in theSandoval County Historical Society beginningin 1980, serving as president as well as acquir-ing several grants to maintain the Society,which moved to the Edmond J. DeLavy housein 1990.

Martha raised three boys with Joe, Paul,Thor and Mark and took an active role in com-munity life. She began with other youngmothers trying to create a town library toserve the area. She remembers collectingbooks from the old New Mexico State Libraryand from friends, including our current countycommissioner Orlando Lucero who was a stu-dent at a college that was closing. She scouredgarage sales and collected books from mem-bers of the Bernalillo Women’s Club, as well asfrom other people and businesses.

In 1965, H.J. Torres, mayor of Bernalillo atthe time, offered her the north end of the newBernalillo Town Hall for the library. My motherFaye told me, “I remember the many wonder-ful story hours, and taking the younger chil-

dren to see the snakes and animals thatMartha arranged to have brought to thelibrary. She also organized great paintingclasses there.”

Eventually, the library’s collection of bookswas moved to the original RooseveltElementary School and named the MarthaLiebert Public Library in honor of her hardwork and foresight.

Joe taught drafting and woodworking classesat Valley High School in Albuquerque for 28years until he retired in 1981. He had alwayskept a garden behind their house, and now hehas expanded it. He told me, “My ‘Fun To-DoList’ and my ‘Work To-Do List’ are one and thesame.” T&T Supermarket in Bernalillo carriedJoe’s excellent garlic for many years.

Joe kept busy with the local Rotary Club andwas a charter member, along with H.J. Torres,Swede Hill, and Al Briley. They attended con-ventions and were instrumental in developingscholarship funds for local youth. They namedthe streets of Bernalillo. Joe was also busy withthe Westerner’s Club—a group inAlbuquerque that presented historical pro-grams.

The Liebert family has been an importantpart of my life as well as to many others inBernalillo—from his mother Jenny’s cookingand sewing, to Joe’s woodworking and farm-ing, to Martha’s cooking and creating thelibrary, to playing with their children when wewere young.

Today, Joe and Martha Liebert still live inContinued


El Cronicón

Joe’s childhood home—the old Seligmanhouse on main street Bernalillo. Joe remem-bers fondly all his friends and neighbors—with the Esparza family, the Romero familynext door, Ramon Salazar, and Nene Navarro.Joe and Martha are active in the community,keep up with local politics and communitynews, and continue to be a pleasure to theirmany friends and neighbors. How lucky am Ithat my family and the Lieberts became inter-twined in this little town we share.

This article was reprinted from the April 2013Sandoval Signpost newspaper (www.sandoval-signpost.com).

DIGGING THE SUFFERING PLACEBy Matthew J. Barbour and

Donald E. TatumFort Sumner was established in 1862

as a long-term solution for confining dissidentIndian populations at the newly mintedBosque Redondo Indian Reservation. Situatedalong the Pecos River, it was to BosqueRedondo that Colonel Christopher “Kit” Carsonbrought approximately 400 Mescalero Apachesand 7,000 Navajos. There the Apache andNavajo were kept under guard and forced topractice agriculture, a pursuit for which theirformer chosen ways of life were ill suited. Cropfailure due to drought and insect infestationquickly followed and the reservation becameincreasingly reliant on extremely limited andsubstandard provisions provided by the U.S.Government. Disease was rampant. Over thecourse of four years, pneumonia and dysenteryresulted in the death of nearly 2,000 NativeAmericans —roughly a quarter of the totalBosque Redondo population. In earlyNovember of 1865, the Mescalero fled thereservation under cover of darkness. TheNavajo remained until permitted to returnhome from the place they had come to call“Hweeldi”, or Land of Suffering, under theterms of the Treaty of Bosque Redondo inJune, 1868. Deemed an absolute failure, thepost was abandoned by the U.S. Army in 1869.

Between September 17 and 21, 2012,archaeologist conducted investigations inpreparation of ground disturbing activities atFort Sumner / Bosque Redondo StateMonument in De Baca County, New Mexico.State Monuments planned irrigation improve-ments and the introduction of a small herd of


June 2013

Churro sheep on a vacant lot within the monu-ment grounds. The area considered for agricul-ture was known historically to have housedthree structures associated with the FortSumner military installation: the fort stables,the Indian commissary, and one of fort’s fourcorn cribs. However, the area in which thestructures once stood was subjected to flood-ing from the Pecos River and intensive farmingduring the mid-twentieth century. It wasunclear whether any physical evidence of thestructures remained.

The purpose of the archaeologicalinvestigation was to determine if culturaldeposits and features remained in the areaproposed for development. To accomplish thistask, OAS conducted a survey of the field andexcavated four 4-by-0.5 m test trenches inareas in which the structures once stood.Nearly 900 surface artifacts were found duringthe survey of the field. Many artifacts werediagnostic to the period of the Fort Sumneroccupation and appeared to be concentrated inareas directly associated with the former loca-tions of military post auxiliary buildings.Artifacts included fragments of native ceram-ics, hand-forged horse shoes and harnesshardware, U.S. military buttons, and lead bul-lets. One of the trenches uncovered packedearth, or puddled adobe, foundations associat-ed with the Fort Sumner stables. While theplowing of the field and flooding of the Pecoshad a visible impact on cultural resources, por-tions of the Fort appeared to be preservedunder the current ground surface. Moreimportantly, the artifacts and features associat-ed with Fort Sumner and the Bosque Redondo

Indian Reservation could offer importantinsight into the daily lives of both the soldiersand Indians residing at the post.

Two examples of how these investiga-tions are reshaping our knowledge of the pastare the presence of the packed earth founda-tions and the fauna assemblage recovered fromthe test trenches. Packed earth foundations areatypical of U.S. military construction practices.Other contemporaneous installations through-out the territory utilized quarried limestone orsandstone blocks for their subsurface support.The use of packed earth or puddled adobebuilding practices was an Indian building styleand the presence of these foundations couldreflect the use of Indian labor when construct-ing the military post.

In the case of the faunal remains, ani-mal bone recovered from the test trenches sug-gested the consumption of beef, lamb, and buf-falo. Beef was supplied to the U.S. Army by cat-tle barons such as John Chisum, CharlesGoodnight, and Oliver Loving; sheep wereraised by the Navajo on the reservation.However, the presence of buffalo came assomewhat of a surprise. It presumably reflectsforaging expeditions onto the eastern plainsand encroachment into areas controlled by theComanche.

The presence of intact subsurfacestructural features along with hundreds ofartifacts was both unanticipated and exciting.It proves that there is always the potential foradding to our understanding of historythrough archaeological investigation anddemonstrates the need to protect New Mexico’shistoric places.


El Cronicón

LIBRARY NEWS from our new Librarian

Gunther Wiemann really didn’t have muchagainst factory-made cigarettes. They just costtoo much and they never gave the taste of roll-your-owns. He had decided that a long timeago. He could roll one in· thirty seconds flat ifhe had to, but he only did that on a bet andusually preferred to take his time and makeeach one a work of art. After all, he had rolledthem for forty years at least. It was old habitfor one of the pockets on the pale shirt withthe snap buttons which he always wore.

It wasn’t that he had but one shirt. All of hisshirts had snap buttons and were pale in colorand gave the impression they were one and thesame unless one carefully studied the faintpatterns in the material. Hanging on a stringand dangling outside the flap of the left pocketwas always the same small piece of paper withthe words “Bull Durham” on it. He felt likechanging something, but not the Bull Durham.He made a smoke, touched a lighted woodenkitchen match to it, and inhaled.

He lay down on his back on the cot he hadbought years ago at the army surplus store inRaton. The ceiling of the room was just like theceiling in the other room. The paint was peel-ing and the plywood sections were curled insome of the corners by moisture which hadleaked in from the roof. The two rooms hadonce been single room cabins for railroadtrack gangs and had been moved to the ranch.The two cabins had been joined together

GUNTHER a short story by Sam Mcilhaney

Don’t forget We ask you to bring alonga little something.Joy Barclay at 867-9769 will help coordinate

FOOD

The SandovalCounty HistoricalSociety has anexcellent referencelibrary as well as alending library. Thereference librarybooks may be usedonly at IheHistorical Societyand cannot bechecked out. If Youneed to use it,please contact me, Katherine Pomonis, and Iwill be glad to open the library for you to doresearch needed. The lending library books may be checked outduring one of the lectures and the books maybe kept out or one month, if needed longer,please let me know and I \vill be glad to extendyour time. There are numerous books that have been bor-rowed from the reference library \withoutbeing checked out, and according to the inven-tory I have been conducting, there are manybooks missing. Please return them for others,to use. Thank you, Katherine Pomonis, librarian


June 2013

Continued

which afforded one room for cooking on acast-iron wood-burning stove and the otherroom for sleeping.

It was good that mama had died after thewinter had passed. He knew she would havehated to have been buried during a storm. Theweather had been nice that day. He suddenlyrealized he needn’t sleep on the cot any longer.He would take the bed with him. He couldn’tsee any use in giving it to old lady McNabb.Mama was gone and he might as well use it.That was all there had ever been: the two ofthem. He couldn’t remember when it had beendifferent. Mama slept on the big bed and heSlept on a cot. He imagined the bed would stillbe in pretty fair shape even though before shedied mama hit over four hundred pounds onthe scales over at Doc Bell’s office Mountainair.

He raised his right hand and examined theindex finger. He could see a slight cut, not wideat all, but it had penetrated deeply through thecalloused skin and it hurt. He looked over bothhands carefully. He thought they surely did notlook like an educated man’s hands. An educat-ed man he was not. He had made it throughthe fifth grade. No, they aren’t an educatedman’s hands; they’re a workingman’s hands, hethought. They were heavily calloused andchapped with small cuts here and there. Dirtand grease could be seen under the fingernailsand some of the nails were partially missingfrom old accidents. They aren’t pretty, hethought, but they get the job done.

He sat up on the cot and looked around theroom. He didn’t care for having to constantlymove. It had always been a matter of a job.

Angus McNabb had said the job on hisranch would only last through the winterand he had meant just that. That verymorning, Angus had paid Gunther theremainder of his wages: $400. It was timeto move on.

Gunther Wiemann knew he was one ofthe best carpenters around. By the timehe was twenty years of age, his mentorhad acknowledged that as fact. Old manLange had come off the boat fromBremerhaven, Germany, straight to WagonMound, New Mexico. The old man hadgiven up everything back in the old coun-try including his shop, which over a peri-od of thirty years had become famous forhandcrafted wooden furniture. He hadcome to Wagon Mound to live with hisbrother and his family on their ranchbecause they were the only living relativeshe had left in the world. The old man haddeveloped a strong affection for the skin-ny neighbor boy who lived down the road.In the old man’s little shop in his brother’sbarn, he had taught Gunther his skillswith wood. And through the years, work-ing with the old man on projects aroundthe community, the boy had learned thebuilding trade. Gunther had learned fastand Mama Wiemann would say to herson, “Gunny, you will always be able tofeed us with what you learn from that oldman. Keep learning good. Get all you canget.”

Gunther blew smoke from his nostrils


El Cronicón

and tried to think about his dad. He tried buthe had no memories of him for he had diedbefore he could remember. Mama Wiemannhad used hired men and neighbors to work theland on the homestead but all their efforts hadproved useless. Dry farming with years of nomoisture and land taxes which could not bepaid created the life of moving for Gunther andhis mother. They lost the homestead. MamaWiemann had been right about Gunther’s abil-ity to feed them with his skills. But movingfrom one construction site to another andfrom one ranch to another was a habit he haddecided to try and change.

He put everything into cardboard boxesexcept his tools. He had special metal boxes forthem, even for his circular power saw. Heplaced the boxes containing Mama Wiemann’sdresses and other assorted garments on theflatbed of the one-tonInternational and droveto the McNabb ranch house. His dog Karl wentalong. Old lady McNabb seemed glad to get theclothes. He didn’t see how she could wear anyof the dresses because she looked about onehundred pounds short of filling them out. Heand Karl drove back to the shack. Karl alwaysrode on the flat-bed rather than inside thetruck cab because the right door of the cabwas invariably difficult to open after Guntherclipped it on a fence post once upon a time.

Inside the shack, Gunther found a clean setof clothes the McNabb woman had ironed forhim the week before. He gathered up theclothes, some clean underwear, and a toweland went outdoors to the water tank behindthe shack. The slight breeze was moving the

rotors of the windmill and water was pumpingcold and clear into the open metal tank. Hetook off his clothes, climbed the makeshiftstile on the side of the tank and jumped intothe water. He thought nothing of bathing in thenude. There wasn’t a neighbor within a half-mile. Seeing a man in the nude wouldn’t beanything new for any of the neighbors he knewaround there anyway. The air wasn’t very warmand the water was ice-cold. He swam three lapsacross the tank and climbed out to dry. He feltclean enough.

Gunther had been lean and lanky since hewas a kid. It wasn’t that Mama Wiemann had-n’t fed him well as a boy. Mama had said hewas always “skinny as a bean pole.” One thingwas certain, there was no fat anywhere on hissix foot, one inch frame. He slipped on the pairof khaki trousers.

It wasn’t that he had anything against Levisor slacks, or bib-overalls. He just liked khakipants. They were comfortable and that was allthat mattered to him. No one could rememberseeing him in any other type of trousers. ForChristmas one year, mama had given him apair of J.C. Penney jeans. He found them whenhe was packing her clothes for old ladyMcNabb. The store tags were still on them. Helooked at himself in a jagged piece of mirrorwhich was wrapped in a section of baling wireand was hanging from a crossbrace of thewindmill. He rubbed his hand over the two-day growth of graying hair on his face anddecided against shaving.

Shaving was a lot of trouble. It wasn’t thathe didn’t feel good about the whole thing after


June 2013

Continued

he did shave, rather it was getting around to itthat was a pain in the ass. Besides that, work-ing construction, or on an isolated ranchrepairing a barn, or in some small town mak-ing kitchen cabinets for someone did not ignitemuch incentive in Gunther to look clean andfresh. Mama Wiemann had never objected oneway or another. Now she was gone. He had onlyhimself to please and that was exactly what heintended to do: damn well as he pleased.Perhaps he should have taken a wife. His firstconcern had always been for mama. Oh yes, hehad courted a girl a time or two but nothinghad developed from all the effort. Maybe heshould have given more to the effort. It was toolate to worry about that now.

He was going to find a permanent job evenif it meant going to the big city. He and mamahad always avoided Albuquerque or placessuch as Santa Fe or Clovis and yet he foundhimself thinking of actually living in such aplace. If that was what it took to get a perma-nent job, that was what he would do. He put onthe western style shirt with the pattern of tinyblue flowers on it and walked barefooted backinto the shack. He put on the scratched andfaded pair of Justin boots and noticed Karlcurled up in the corner of the room. He shouldhave thrown him in the water for a bath.

He lifted the sweat-stained gray Stetsonfrom the nail on the wall and placed it care-lessly on his thick crop of silver-streaked hair.Karl watched him load the cardboard boxes,the mattresses and boxspring, and sundrypieces of furniture onto the one-ton. When hehad finished, he looked through the two rooms

again and into the cookstove, whistled at Karl,walked outside and got into the truck. Whenthe truck began to move Karl jumped onto theflatbed amid the boxes and furniture andsawhorses.

The early March wind blew dust across theruts in the road ahead of the truck, and faracross the Estancia Valley, Gunther could see adust-devil as it sucked a column of dust sky-ward. Karl had difficulty remaining on all fourfeet because of the roughness of the road andhe continually bounced against a low side-board one minute and against a tall sawhorsethe next.

Upon reaching the pavement, Guntherheaded the International toward Estancia andat the edge of town·he turned into the ceme-tery grounds. He and Karl walked over to thegrave. It had only been three days, but theflowers were faded and dry. Gunther held theStetson by the brim with both hands andlooked down at the freshly turned earth. “I’mgonna go look for work in Albuquerque,mama, so don’t look for me back here for aspell.” He suddenly felt a slight mist in his eyes.They re-boarded the truck and drove towardMoriarity as the sun began to paint the hori-zon with shades of orange and red above theManzano Mountains.

The parking lot of Tranquilino’s Bar wasalready full. He parked in the back and wentinside. The room was thick with people andsmoke and he gently maneuvered his waytowards a table at the far end of the room. Oneof the three men seated at the table recognizedhim and smiied. “Hey Gunny, what are you


El Cronicón

doing here this time of day?iComo /e ha ido?’The man’s large belly rubbed against the tablewhen he reached up and shook Gunther’shand. “Sit down. What’ll you have, primo?”

Gunther sat without saying much. Hesipped on the Coors and listened toTranquilino and his two friends. After a fewminutes, he was ready to say what was on hismind. “Tunky, I’ve been thinking about whatyou said. You remember the job your cuñadosaid might be for me over in Albuquerque?Well, I’m about decided to quit this half-assstuff and get something like that. I told youback then, when you told me about it, that Ididn’t want to go to town. I didn’t think I want-ed anything permanent. But I’ve aboutchanged my mind. I want something perma-nent and something that pays halfway decenttoo.”

Tranquilino Barela was relighting thealmost banana-size cigar in his mouth.“Bueno, primo. I don’t know if there’s still anopening. I don’t know, maybe the sisters havealready given it to somebody else but I’ll surefind out.” He glanced at his wristwatch. “Thatcuñado of mine should be home from work bynow, unless he stopped off for a short one. I’llcall him right now. Hang on.” He got up andwalked around behind the bar, placed a tele-phone on the counter and began dialing. Gunther had no idea what he would do fromhere if hay job was gone. He thought aboutwhat he had told himself: he had only himselfto please now . He had a check for four hun-dred dollars and he had a pair of skilledhands. He wasn’t hurting. He would just seewhat happened.

Tranquilano coughed all the way back to thetable,sat down and took a dip of Wild Turkey.He relighted his cigar,turning it slowly for theflame of the match to burn. evenly. Julio says”get your ass over there as soon as you can. Thesisters are about to give it to somebody elsebut they haven’t made up their minds yet. Hesays you still got a chance, primo. So getgoing.”

“I’ll drive over in the morning, I guess, andcheck it out.” There was still some beer in thebottle but it was half-warm. He let it sit there,Tranquilino emphasized his point. “Julio sayshe’ll call the sisters and even if you get therelate this evening, he’ll see that they talk to you.He’s got some pull with them sisters, no?”Gunther looked up as he rolled a cigarette. “Youmean go now?” “Damn right. Get going!”Tranquilino grinned and began a five-minutecoughing spell. One of the men at the tablegave Gunther directions on how to find thepotential job. Tranquilino’s friends bade himluck, Tranquilino raised a feeble hand infarewell, and Gunther left the bar.

He drove into Albuquerque just in time tobe welcomed by an evening sand storm. Karlhad his mouth open and looked as though hewas smiling all the way through town. His tailnever did stop wagging. In an older part of thecity, the International pulled into a paved drivewhich was guarded by massive wrought-irongates. Darkness had settled over the RioGrande Valley and the sand storm raged on.Gunther parked the truck and climbed thesteps to the main doors of Saint TheresaAcademy. Karl curled up between two card-


board boxes on the flatbed. The limbs of hugeChinese elms moved back and forth over hishead.

Sister Maria Antoinette talked withGunther for at least an hour before Karl sawhim come back down the steps of the three-story building. Gunther told Karl it was timethey found something to eat. After they hadeaten four Lata’ Burgers between them,Gunther carried the cardboard boxes and fur-niture into a small house behind the maincomplex of buildings. Karl went to sleep on thefloor and Gunther slept on Mama Wiemann’sbare boxspring and mattress using an oldarmy field jacket as covering.

At 8:15 the next morning, Gunther was onthe job. Sister Maria told him that she wasimpressed with what Julio had said about him.She was willing to hire him on the spot, andwould provide living quarters for him - andKarl and he would be on maintenance.Gunther knew he could repair or make justabout anything she might need and told herso. She assured him that if he proved himself acapable craftsman and was a responsible per-son, his possible future could be as head ofmaintenance for the entire academy, But fornow, he would begin by building a new doorframe in the library. The nun guided him tothe site of the project and then introduced himto the academy’s small but modern mainte-nance shop.

By 10:30, Gunther had framed the doorwayand was working on duplicating the fancy old-fashioned molding and trim. He was alone inthe shop but didn’t mind. He preferred to work

alone. The molding wouldn’t take hut a minuteto cut and shape. This was alright, he thought,being able to use their tools. It would just cutdown on the wear and tear on his own equip-ment.

Placing a strip of molding across the benchand onto a sawhorse, he turned on the powersaw and steadied it on the pencil mark. Thenext instant, he turned off the saw, set it downwhining on the bench, and stared at his hand.Blood was streaming from two nubs where hisindex and middle fingers had been. The bloodwas running down his arm and onto the con-crete floor. “Damn it! Now how am I gonnaroll a smoke?”

The Lighter Side

My mind works like lightning,one brilliant flash and its gone


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The Rawhiders by Ed DeLavy

June 013 qxp_Dec 07 5/20/13 8:39 PM

el cronicón · valley to the northwest. once referred to as the “killer road” due to its...

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