Histories - Quay County NMGenWeb, New Mexico genealogy, family history

Above is the letter to the territorial authority written in Santa Fe on November 8, 1824, three years after Mexico had gained its independence from Spanish dominion. Montoya's petition was granted only 12 days later, on the 20th day of November 1824. The Pablo Montoya Land Grant was created which contained 655,468 acres. A few years later this Pablo Montoya Land Grant was to become the Bell Ranch.

Wilson Waddingham, a Canadian, showed up in New Mexico ca. 1870 and he ended up in control of the Pablo Montoya Grant. He also acquired the Baca II Grant and several ranches around the grants. Waddingham also gave the ranch its name after a butte in the shape of a bell near ranch headquarters. This bell-shaped butte has been an area landmark from the earliest sighting of it by the Spanish. From the beginning it was referred to it as "la campana," The Bell. The "Bell" brand was recorded in San Miguel County, New Mexico Territory, on March 15, 1875 by Wilson Waddingham.

From 1890 due to falling cattle prices, persistent drouth and unable to borrow more money, Wilson Waddingham lost control of The Bell. Ezekiel G. Stoddard an Eastern banker, and Edward Bradley formed the Red River Valley Co. and took control of The Bell. The Red River Valley Co. controlled The Bell from 1899 until it was sold in 1947. During these fifty years The Bell enjoyed a period of stability that it had not known.

In 1947, some new owners, Ed T. Springer of the Charles Springer Cattle Company, Cimarron, New Mexico and Louis Stoddard divided the more than 400,000 acres remaining in the Bell Ranch into six segments and they sold the segments. The last of the giants was gone. A segment of The Bell ranch still continued but it was small compared to the giant it once was. To this day the bell-shaped butte can be seen as a reminder of things the way they were.

Sources

Bell Ranch as I Knew It by George F. Ellis.
New Mexico Place Names by T. M. Pearce, 1965.
New Mexico, American Guide Series, 1940, by the Coronado Cuarto Centennial Commission.

Caprock

The "BLUFFS OF LLANO ESTACADO," called the CAPROCK by locals, is located between Clovis and San Jon, New Mexico.

Above picture is taken from the Valley and is looking up to the top of the caprock. Clovis is on top of the caprock.

Early settlers hauled firewood and cedar post from the caprock for use on the High Plains.

Logan

"A trading point for ranchers on the Rock Island Railroad near the Canadian River. 24 miles northeast of Tucumcari, New Mexico. It was named for Captain H. Logan, a Texas ranger who had filed a claim on this site. Also, on New Mexico 39 and US 54. Has had a post office since 1901.
"Logan was nearly a ghost town when Ute lake was built on the Canadian below where Ute creek joined it. Logan is now (1997) a fishing resort town. It is going strong again."
--Harold Kilmer

The following article was written by Sim McFarland in 1910 on McFarland Brothers stationery for advertising purposes

Logan was named after an old ex-Texas ranger and United States Marshal, who was wounded in helping move the Marlow boys from one jail to another, and Logan came into existence when the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad came down to build the railroad bridge. J.H. Conlin was superintendent and M. Bishop was superintendent of bridge construction. The only special mark at this time was a little cedar tree on the north bank of the river.

The townsite of Logan was filed on by Olie E. Smith, a Clayton attorney, by Power of Attorney from Wiliam Kirkpatrick, an old Union soldier, under a law that gave the old Union soldiers a right to sell their homestead rights by what they called script.

Olie E. Smith complied with the law to prove up on this eighty acres of the townsite and received patent for William Kirkpatrick dated June 22, 1904.

Olie E. Smith, by Power of Attorney by William Kirkpatirck and Nancy Kirkpatrick, his wife, sold the townsite to M. Bishop and Eugene Logan for the consideration of $400.00 on August 7, 1901. M. Bishop sold his interest to J.E. Johnson.

The streets and alleys were dedicated to the public by J.E. Johnson November 15, 1901, by filing map with the County Clerk of Union County, as we were in Union County at that time.

Streets running east and west are 100 feet wide and streets running north and south are 80 feet wide. The name of the north street running east and west is Gallegos Street, the second Street running west from the depot is Martinez Street, the next street south is Armijo Street, the next is Garcia Street, and the next is Vigil Street, and the next is Fuentez Street.

The first street on the east edge of the townsite is First Street, the next is Second Street, the next is Third Street, the next is Fourth Street, and the fifth Street being on the west edge of the townsite being 40 feet, but later made 40 feet more by the west land owners.

This is the history of Logan until lots were sold to various parties.

The first merchant was John Burns. The first school teacher in Logan was Miss Petra Gallegos of Clayton, teaching one month at Logan (in a 16 by 24 frame building), one month at Bryantine, and one month at Gallegos. The Second teacher was Elatorio Baca, and the third teacher was W. W. Moore.

Nepomoseno Martinez, father of Manuel Martinez, was one of the first school board members.

The first school house was built in Logan in 1901 and is now one of the Hilly buildings. The first part of the present school building was built in 1910 and the members of the school board were Sim McFarland, E. L. Merrill, and J.H. Shollenbarger.

The first postmistress was Mrs. John Burns. W. L. Besse was the first resident depot agent. The first resident railroad pumper was Tom Goodrich and the first railroad section foreman was J.W. Furlow. The first merchant was John Burns. The first resident doctor was Abijah Jones.

The First church was the Baptist Church built in 1910. The first religious services in Logan was Sunday School conducted by Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Besse in 1902 in the lobby of the depot. Mr. Besse was railroad depot agent.

The first plot used for a cemetery was located on the Mariana Montoya place now owned by J. D. Meeks. The present cemetery was filed on by the First Baptist Church of Logan in 1910. The first party buried on it was Waddie Peacock, an old L.S. cowpuncher, on Lot 1, Block 4.

The first lumber yard was owned by Fox-worth Lumber Company, operated by W.L. Besse, later purchased by Shollenbarger and Woodard.

The first blacksmith shop in Logan was owned by D. W. Clark.

The first water well in town was the Charlie Meeks well owned then by Jeff Woodard, furnishing water for everybody in town.

You will note that the patent for this land was issued June 22, 1904, and the land was sold by Kirkpatrick to M. Bishop and Eugene Logan August 7, 1901. When final proof was made on this land the Government issued a blue print and the patent followed later.

Now with our new highway bridge and the prospects for irrigation water wells, the E. Goggins well about a mile northwest of town and the R. N. Rogers and Thurman Thomas wells about five miles northwest of town, furnishing plenty of Irrigation water at about 140 feet, and the Dunes Dam which will back water up to about Logan, we hope that the ambitions of the original owner, M. Bishop, who stated that you never saw a city amount to anything that was not located on a water course is now coming true.

Contributed by Don Harrold, who is researching his family history. Don is the Great-Grandson of Sim McFarland.

Roosevelt

Roosevelt, New Mexico was located in Quay County four miles southwest of McAlister, New Mexico, near the Roosevelt County line. Roosevelt was founded in 1906 when a townsite was laid out by some realtors who were trying to sell lots. The townsite was bought by Sam Noffsker in 1911. By then there was only a store, a post office operated by a Mr. Clinton Morris, a two story hotel, a few houses, a cemetery and a school. The school consolidated with House in 1919 and the post Office was closed. Postal records show a Roosevelt Post Office 1906 – 1919.

Brush arbor at Roosevelt ca. 1906.
Families include the Reeds, Elronds, Lorings, Browns, Wootons, Morris and Barrs. Rufe and Alice Choate on right.

Written on the back of the picture:
James “Jim” and Minnie Gillam in the alfalfa field east of large elm tree. I have a bunch of Alfalfa on my hands. See how tall it is. The light streaks Are the wheat fields. The trees north of that are the trees along the river. These hills are the bluffs on the north side of the river.

Written on the back of the picture:
This is taken in the field where they are bringing the hay to the bailer and Jim is hauling it to the train. Jim, Raymond, Ruth, the man working for us, Jim’s brother Edd, Minnie's mother Susan Seale Jeter, colored man, Minnie, Mary, and Maude are the people left to right.

San Jon

A ranching and farming community 23 miles east of Tucumcari on the CRI&P RR. Tom Jones built the first building in 1902.

Construction of the railroad in 1904 caused the town to boom. It was named in October of 1906 by W. D. Bennett, the first postmaster, and has had a postoffice since that date.

It is also a Registration Station on I 40 (old US 66).

Tucumcari

Just north of the Pajarito Creek, Liberty was founded for the soldiers stationed at Fort Bascom during the war between the states. When the railroad built through the country Tucumcari was born. All of the businesses from Liberty that wanted to survive moved to Tucumcari and this was the death of Liberty. Fort Bascom had already been closed.

In 1900 the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad decided to build a line across New Mexico to connect with the El Paso and Northeastern Railroad at Santa Rosa. The line was built in 1901 and 1902. The first passenger train was through Tucumcari March 12, 1902. Soon there were four passenger trains through Tucumcari each day. Two west bound and two east bound. There was also a mail train, an express, and at least one freight train each way every day.

Tucumcari was founded November 22, 1901 on the Rock Island Railroad in the Territory of New Mexico, Union County. The town was named for Tucumcari mountain which dominated the landscape. A tent city appeared almost overnight. J. A. Street is acknowledged as the first person to erect a tent. Tucumcari was still a tent city in 1903 when Quay County was formed.

There it was. Tucumcari (the Infant Wonder) with no streets, no water, no sewer; just a railroad and a million dreams. The fathers of Tucumcari would be the five business men from Liberty who filed on the land, then donated 120 acres of land for townsite of Tucumcari and were the ones who organized the town in 1901. They were: M. B. Goldenberg, A. D. Goldenberg, Jacob Wertheim, J. A. Street, and Lee K. Smith.

Wells were dugbut the hard ground and failure to locate water discouraged drilling wells. Water was not found. Water had to be hauled each day and delivered to the water barrel by each house. Water would cost fifty cents a barrel. Some of the men were working for the railroad by then. The people stayed. They over came the water problem. These people were real pioneers.

Five million acres of land had been opened for homesteading. Many people came west with their dreams and hopes only to move on to greener pastures when they fell victim to the dry arid climate. Dry land farming just wasn't in God's plan for the area surrounding Tucumcari. Irrigation came at a latter point in history. The same climate which was a problem for the farmers was thought to cure tuberculosis. Numbers of people soon arrived hoping to be cured of TB.

Some of the first businesses to open in 1902 were the Barnes and Rankin furniture store, the A. B. Simpson hardware, A. A. Blankenship's livery barn, a hotel , and of course the Monarch Saloon. A boarding house operated by Mr. and Mrs. Turner was located at First and Turner. Other businesses swere the Pioneer Bakery, Arcade Restaurant, Waldorf-Astoria Hotel with rooms for $2 a day, the Owl Saloon, Weldon and Young Real Estate and Investments, Jackson and Foxworth Lumber Company, and the Exchange Bank. Then there was the Gross Kelly Company of Las Vegas, offering general merchandise. The M. B. Goldenberg's Merchantile Company opened. The Berry Brothers Dairy. Max Goldenberg's home was the first permanent home built in Tucumcari, contained the post office.

By 1910 there were over 70 business in Tucumcari. There were four doctors and two lawyers. There was always the railroad in the early days. A school system and several churches were very active by 1910.

Chester A. Berry
Co-founder of the Berry Brothers Dairy in Tucumcari.

Prentice Berry and the Sunshine Dairy wagon.

Sources

Quay County, 1903-1985, by the Quay County Book Committee, published 1985.
Tucumcari and Quay County, New Mexico's best kept secret.
A Mark of Time, A History of New Mexico, by Mary Grooms Clark, published 1983.
High Plains History of East Central New Mexico co-edited by Don McAlavy and Harold Kilmer, 1980.
New Mexico, American Guide Series, 1940 , by the Coronado Cuarto Centennial Commission.