Learn more about Rio Pecos Compound: Book Six of The Clint Mason Series
Copyright William F. Martin. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter 15.
Rio Pecos Compound was gradually developing into an active little village. Clint was busy just keeping materials available to the builders. The blanket-weaving needed for the trade with Sr. Bond was almost complete. A meeting was scheduled for the upcoming November weekend at the Western Plaza Hotel.
The drivers from the Bond Ranch should have the needed information about the Apache territory. The Navajos were already making plans to return to their homeland come spring or early summer. Clint just hoped that it would be safe enough for them to make the trip.
The meeting to discuss the sheep drive at the Western Plaza Hotel presented Clint with some real surprises. The sheep owner who was north of Las Vegas, Sr. Manuel Ortega, brought up the names of Atkinson and Johnson as the reasons he had gotten out of the sheep business. His land had been split by a new survey done by Atkinson for a firm out of St. Louis. A firm with a partner named Claude Johnson from Española.
The land title work had been done by a lawyer from St. Louis with both Atkinson and Johnson testifying at the land title hearing. The judge had ruled that Sr. Ortega’s land grant was about one-half of what his original grant had provided. So he had lost some of his best grazing land and water rights. In addition to these legal problems with his land titles, the raids against his herds were continuing. Several of his shepherds had been killed and now the rest were afraid to tend the sheep. He was going to have to get rid of all his sheep with this one last drive. He had doubts that his men would ever help. They were so afraid for their lives and for their sheep. If Sr. Bond would bring more guards and maybe another shepherd, he might be able to persuade his men to make the final drive to Kansas.
Clint then heard a story about a dozen of these Atkinson gunmen being left on foot down on the Santa Fe Trail south of Las Vegas. The bandits had been robbed of everything including their horses and pack mules. Clint used his well-trained poker face so that he did not display any of the smiles he felt inside.
The story included a big ruckus that had happened when these dozen or so men walked back into Las Vegas and faced up to the raging Atkinson. His men had been bushwhacked and outwitted and they were mad and mean over the next few weeks, causing numerous fights and shootings as they went about reestablishing their reputations as top guns.
Clint felt sorry for the harm that had come Sr. Ortega’s way. His problems had started long before Clint had bushwhacked Atkinson’s men, but the cruelty had intensified after Clint’s handiwork. Besides, Clint had no idea that the men that had been planning a raid against his people were associated with neither Atkinson nor the illegal claims against Rio Pecos Ranch.
This armed and organized Atkinson crew was a real problem for Clint’s planned drive north. The safety of his men and Ortega’s people would be at risk if they joined the drive. Clint knew he had spooked Johnson. Maybe a little extra pressure just before the drive could divert the Atkinson gang’s attention and keep them away from the sheep drive.
Clint could see a pattern with Atkinson’s land purchases. Most of the land was top grazing land with good water. The sheep herds were not stolen, but scattered or killed. The sheep ranching business was being seriously disrupted or driven out. This looked like the same process that had been used in Texas to replace sheep ranching with cattle. Clint felt sure that there was somehow a connection with the cattle business.
It was also becoming clear that all these problems led back to St. Louis. Ortega was convinced that Atkinson was behind all of this, but had no proof. The Ortega family had owned the land grant for over 100 years without any claims against it until this new Atkinson survey had been presented.
Part of the meeting was the selecting of blankets by both Ortega and Bond. It soon became obvious that Ortega was not lacking funds. He selected and paid in gold for some of the best Rio Pecos blankets. Sr. Bond was satisfied with his trade of lumber and logs. The two Navajos who were with Clint carried the balance of blankets to their wagon outside. These blankets needed to be taken back to the market square and put on display. The Rio Pecos people were having some great trading days.
Bond, Ortega and Clint had agreed to start the drive from Española and Rio Pecos on the night of the last full moon in May. Ortega would try to have his men and sheep ready two weeks later to join Clint’s herd. If the Ortega men were not willing to go on the drive, then Clint agreed to add the Ortega sheep to his drive at three cents per head. Everyone agreed they could get three times that amount if delivered to the Abilene, Kansas, rail head.
Sr. Bond then reported on the Apache territory. The U.S. Government had sent more troops to the Durango area to protect the miners and government surveyors. They had succeeded in reducing the raids against the settlers and had partially confined the Apaches to an area due south of Durango in the New Mexico Territory.
If you traveled north through the Raton Pass, then turned due west along the trail to Durango, you would miss the area where the Apache were being contained. The government was not providing sufficient protection for the Hopi and Navajo tribes, so some raiding continued among these three Indian tribes. Apache raiding parties were also still hitting wagon trains and sheep and cattle herds down along the Choma River south of the Apache area. The Apache had even carried out some raids down on the Rio Grande against some of the northern Pueblo villages. Sr. Bond was aware of these raids. In fact, his men had helped to drive the Apache range warriors back north. Sr. Bond painted a somewhat mixed picture of the Apache conditions the Navajos would face if they tried to return to their homeland.
Sr. Bond thought that the Ute Indians may prove to be a bigger problem for the Navajos as they went from Durango southwest to their homeland. Two Ute tribes were being squeezed by the westward movement of settlers. The mining around Durango had driven the Utes out of their good hunting areas, so they were fighting back with some vicious raids against anyone they could find. This included the miners, settlers, ranchers and even other Indian tribes.
Clint then learned from Sr. Ortega that he was headed to the Perez Ranch and Albuquerque for a month. He would be there for the New Year’s meeting with the Spanish land grant holders. Sr. Ortega often spent the winter in Albuquerque with its warmer climate, home to many Spanish people. It was time to socialize and tell their old stories of their ancestors. The influence of the Mexican culture was taking over many of their customs, but Ortega’s group was doing what they could to preserve their heritage in this wild and lawless land.
Clint offered to send two or three of his best mares with Ortega to the Perez Ranch. This would give the Perez family a chance to look at the quality of the horses that Clint had developed so far. If they would agree to breed his mares, he would retrieve them come summer. Ortega had seen some of Clint’s horses and he felt that Clint had already developed a breed line almost as good as the Perez horses. He would be glad and proud to present Clint’s breeding option to the Perez family.
Clint’s help on the sheep drive north was greatly appreciated, so Ortega would be more than willing to help pay back the favor by working with the Perez family on Clint’s horse deal.
The return trip to Rio Pecos gave Clint plenty of time to go over the risks and possible options with some of the Navajos. He could tell that the Navajos were set on returning to their homeland. However, it was also revealed that two or three of the Navajo people wanted to stay on at Rio Pecos Ranch. It seems that two of the young Navajo girls had made friends with two young men from the ranch. One of the Pueblo boys and one of the Mexican guards had already asked the Navajo leader for permission to court the girls. The Navajo leader was not happy about the arrangement, but knew he faced many risks of getting these young ladies back to Navajo land. Besides, the security and living conditions at Rio Pecos were getting better all the time. So he had reluctantly agreed for the young women to see their young men. Juan Cruz was just as opposed to one of his Pueblo girls dating a Navajo, but he also was persuaded by the girl to give his blessing. The two Navajo young women were among the best new talents in blanket-weaving that the community had produced. They had been very receptive to incorporating some of the Basque dyes and wool into the Navajo blanket patterns. Their blankets were getting the highest prices on the market square.
The third Navajo that wanted to stay at Rio Pecos was a young man who made Navajo silver and turquoise jewelry. He had developed some excellent skills in using the new turquoise stone from the nearby mountains. His jewelry had also been well received at the Santa Fe trading square. He wanted to continue his craft here and in Santa Fe. The desire to return to the old ways and hardships of his family’s homeland did not seem attractive to him. His youth and energies were drawing him more toward Santa Fe. The good life and protection of the Rio Pecos Compound allowed him to concentrate on his art of jewelry making.