Granada, Colorado (cont.)

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The seriousness of the situation lead the troops being called from Fort Union, N.Mex., to protect the section. We had at Granada a troop of the Eighth Cavalry, commanded by Captain McClave, that took entire charge of the guard duty which had formerly been attended too by the citizens' committee. I became well acquainted with both Captain McClave and the young surgeon accompanying the troops, Luis A. LaGrade, and as both of them were very fond of hunting, we enjoyed many expeditions together. Finally the Indians were drive back to the reservation, and things became quiet and orderly once more. The soldiers stationed at Granada returned to their post, and I lost the two boon companions.

About this time my uncle, Ambrosio Armijo, sent his large mule train to Granada, loaded with wool, which was to be reloaded with freight for New Mexico. The outfit was in charge of his son, Mariano Armijo, who was as "wild as a March hare" and whose only thought was to spend money and have a good time. He soon talked my brother Page and Mike Harkins, the youngman who had ridden my pony, Kiowa, in the race, to return with him to Las Cruces, N.Mex. Poor Mike Harkins was killed soon after his arrival in the Territory during an altercation with a drunken soldier. Page remained in New Mexico until ordered back by my father on his return to Granada.

The great herds of buffalo were moving north, and buffalo meat and hides were becoming scarce around Granada, although south of Dodge City, Kan., and, as late as 1874, many small herds were grazing round the station at Lakin, Kans. The building of the railroads and the incoming of settlers soon solved the buffalo question; very few were seen south of the Arkansas River after 1873, and the following year scarcely a buffalo could be found south of the Kansas-Pacific Railroad.

Otero, Sellar & Co., in addition to their regular line of business, were large Government contractors, receiving and forwarding supplies to the different military posts and Indian reservations throughout the southwest. One of the many routes extended from Dodge City, south into the Indian Territory. "Routes, " as designated by the Government, means simply an established wagon road. For instance, the Fort Bascom route went to Fort Bascom; the Silver City route went to Silver City' the Camp Supply route went to Camp Supply; the Canadian River route was the route going by way of the Canadian river. All intermediate points were billed Via certain "routes," etc. A "time contract"' as designated by the Government, meant that you were given so many days in which to deliver the freight. For instance, under our contract with the Government, we would pay the freighting teams, let us say, eight cents a pound for hauling the freight from the end of the railroad to Fort Bayard, N.Mex., via the Silver City route, the said freight to be delivered at Fort Bayard in forty-five days. Should the freighter fail to deliver the goods within the specified time, he would be subject to a demurrage charge for every day he took over the forty-five, in accordance with a provision printed in the bill of lading.

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In all such cases a board of survey would be called by the commanding officer at the point of delivery and the cause of the delay would be submitted to the board. It was found to be unavoidable and not the result of neglect, the board would waive the penalties. After the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad reached Dodge City, the Canadian route and the Camp Supply route, both in the Indian Territory, were started from Dodge City, rather than from Granada, Colo., where the Otero, Sellar & Co., the government contractors, had located. This made it necessary either to establish a branch house at Dodge City to handle our Government contract for those routes or to have some representatives at the point designated by the Government. We chose the latter alternative and appointed Charles Rath and Robert Wright of Dodge City to represent our interests at that point. As a consequence, it became necessary at times for some member of the firm of Otero, Sellar & Co. to visit Dodge City and confer with Charles Rath and Robert Wright. Very frequently it became a matter of considerable importance to hasten large outfits of freighting wagons from Granada to Dodge City, in order to meet the requirements of the Government. Many of these shipments were time-contracts, and in case of demurrage the penalties were heavy. On most of these trips to Dodge City, I accompanied my father, as I was anxious to renew my acquaintance with some of my old Kit Carson friends-Jake Collar, Chalk Beeson, F C Zimmerman among others. On one of these trips I first met Bat Masterson and Dave Mathers, known as "Mysterious Dave."

In the spring of 1874 my father went on a trip to New Mexico for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, leaving my mother, two sisters and myself in Granada. On his way back, he was taken down with an attack of pneumonia at Cimarron, N.Mex., and the family was notified by telegraph of his serious conditions. My mother decided to go at once and to take all of the children along, excepting my brother Page, who was away with our cousin, Mariano Armijo, in southern New Mexico. So, having secured a Government ambulance form Fort Lyon and with Frank Davenport as driver, we started for Cimarron. Although the plains Indians were again troublesome and the Navajos were on the warpath in the vicinity of Bent's Canon, we were fortunate in making the trip to Cimarron without misadventure.

During our stay at Cimarron, we stopped at the Nation Hotel, kept by John McCulloch, formerly of Kit Carson. My father was rooming there, and we found that he had been a very sick man. After several more weeks in bed he recovered sufficiently under Doctor J M Cunningham's treatment to be allowed to return to Granada.

At this time the Utes and Apaches were located near Cimarron, and I well remember a little trouble that occurred between them while I was there. One night they came into Cimarron and shot up the town with bows and arrows. It was simply a case of poor whiskey and a friendly drunk winding up into a rumpus among the two Indian tribes, but some of the arrows they exchanged at one another happened to go through windows of certain houses in Cimarron. One instance was very amusing. The bookkeeper at the large Aztec Flour Mill, located in the center of Cimarron, was hard at work that night and, being almost totally deaf, he did not become aware of the excitement, until he saw two arrows sticking in the wall just above his head. He did not linger long at his work, but jumped from the high stool and made a hasty escape from the building.

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After things had quieted down I went with Doctor Cunningham and a party of citizens, including Indian Agent Rinehart, to see what damages had been done. A little distance from the flour mill we came across a dead Indian, a fine looking Ute, about twenty-five years of age. He had been shot in the left side, the arrow being passed through his heart. While we were taking the body to a vacant room his mother and several other Utes came up, and we allowed them to take the body with them to their camp.

On our return trip to Granada after my father's recovery we were not so fortunate as to escape trouble with Indians. Some Navajos chased us into a stage station at Bent's Canon, where we were compelled to stay for several days until the scouts reported the country clear of Indians. We had no further trouble until we reached the Arkansas valley, where we saw a band of plains Indians near Caddoa, who gave us a lively chase until we reached the protection of a sheep ranch belonging to some Englishmen, where we stayed for the night. The Indians were afraid to come too near us during the chase, for we had a couple of 50-caliber Sharp riffles, and had taken a few ineffectual shots at them merely to show them what we had in the way of arms.

The next morning we started before daylight with an escort of four men heavily armed, traveling as rapidly as possible, and reached Granada before dark. Our friends seemed surprised to see us alive, as they had concluded from information they had received that he Indians would probably attack and kill us as they had done with quite a number of herders in the section we had come through.

News soon reached us that the Kansas-Pacific Railroad had determined to run a branch line into New Mexico, and had already started to build south from Kit Carson toward Las Animas. Immediately, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad put on pressure so that both roads reached La Junta about the same time. The Santa Fe continuing on to Pueblo.

(MY LIFE ON THE FRONTIER-Otero)

Part of page 54, page 55 and page 56 transcribed in altered form for the net by Larry Green

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