Learn more about Rio Pecos Compound: Book Six of The Clint Mason Series
Copyright William F. Martin. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter 19.
Clint returned to his old room in the St. Louis Grand Hotel without being questioned by anyone. He had arranged to pay for the room a month at a time. A few inquiries reduced his concerns about the Atkinson murder. The U.S. Marshal and the railroad detectives had concluded that it was a mugging; a robbery that went bad with Atkinson and his body guard being killed in the process. A third robber was looked for as an accomplice, but they had turned up nothing in over a month. The hotel clerk told Clint that the U.S. Marshall had tried to contact him several times and when they received word that Clint was in Chicago on business the inquiry had been dropped.
Clint cleaned out his room, paid up all his bills and caught the train to Abilene. It was time to head off the railroad’s push to acquire a big section of the Rio Pecos Ranch. A scheme had hatched in Clint’s mind during the many discussions he had overhead in Chicago. The railroad executives wanted to buy large tracts of land along the route to develop and sell later. They did not want to deal with a lot of small parcels of land from multiple owners.
So, Clint’s scheme would be to deed out the entire route the train should take to individual Rio Pecos Compound families. Then the Rio Pecos Compound would hold in common the proposed railroad right-of-way.
Clint’s survey skills could locate the most desirable route for the rail lines and set that land aside. Then, the land along the right-of-way could be divided up into parcels with individual ownerships. Clint could then offer that strip of right-of-way to the railroad at a bargain price, thus leading the railroad through Rio Pecos Ranch at the most compatible location for the Rio Pecos Compound land owners. It was just a plan; now, to implement it in gradual stages without his true identity being discovered.
Clint loaded his possessions onto the train out of St. Louis and headed back to Abilene. It would be good to pick up his horses in Abilene and hit the trail back to Rio Pecos. He was carrying a new survey instrument that he had bought in Chicago. It would be a real help in laying out the railroad right-of-way and new property lines. It was with some sadness that he was planning to break up the Rio Pecos Ranch into much smaller pieces. The families at the ranch had worked very hard to make a community and one way to ensure its continuation was to share ownership. People respond to ownership and take much greater pride in their own home and land. Clint reasoned with himself that the ranch had been obtained by gambling, sleight of hand and by blackmail.
It was only fair that hardworking, needy families would inherit some of the land. Clint was going to carve out the canyon and stream where he had kept the horses as his hidden place. He would hold onto the original adobe house as his main home if or until his past caught up with him.
His horses were in great shape when he picked them up from the stable in Abilene. They were well-feed and full of energy. The horses were ready to run as soon as he hit the trail, but he had to hold them back. They would need a little conditioning for a few days because they had been in the stable and corrals for almost two months. Being in the open air with good horses under him put joy back into his spirits. His shoulder wound was almost completely healed.
As Clint rode through the Raton Pass onto the grassy plains of the upper Canadian River basin, the cool fall air was starting to color the aspen leaves. The chill was in the air. Some snow was on the mountain peaks and the streams were already ice cold. He headed into Las Vegas to check on the status of land claims and try to find out what Claude Johnson was doing.
Clint went to the land title office first. The only notice on the bulletin board that identified his property was his own counter claim against the Johnson/Atkinson land title challenge. It was past due. When Clint asked the clerk about its status, the clerk took the notice down. He reported that no one had shown up at the hearing so the challenge had been closed. He had just forgotten to remove it from the bulletin board.
The clerk said he had not seen Claude Johnson or Charlie Atkinson for at least two months. Clint reported that he had heard a rumor that Atkinson had been killed in St. Louis. This news caught the clerk by complete surprise. Clint then told the clerk that he was a registered land surveyor and was looking into some of the past surveys in the region for the railroads and government.
Clint spent two days circulating around the Las Vegas cafés and saloons picking up what information he could find. It would appear that Johnson had just about withdrawn from public view. Atkinson and his gunmen had left the area. Most of the rumors had him going back east. By the second day, Clint’s rumor about Atkinson’s death was coming back to him at the card tables. Clint was a little surprised how quickly and widespread his leaked rumor to the land office clerk had made its way around Las Vegas.
Clint was still in Las Vegas when some freight wagons stopped on their way to Santa Fe. They had some newspapers from St. Louis that told the story about the Atkinson and bodyguard killings. This produced quite a buzz around the town as the facts backed up the rumors. Atkinson had made a big footprint in this area. His men had intimidated most of the ranchers for years and he had been a part of land claims against most of the large land holders. There was a collective sigh of relief when the official news got around that he was dead.
The final leg of his journey back to Rio Pecos went rapidly. It was a feeling of coming home after being off fighting a war. He rested on the high overlook of the Rio Pecos Compound. The village had really taken shape. People were busy working on new buildings. He could see smoke coming out of the blacksmith shop forge and people were walking in and out of the trading post. It truly had become a small town in less than three years. Clint had just started off the bluff toward his ranch house when two of his Mexican guards rode up. They were doing their regular surveillance when Clint had been spotted about an hour earlier. A brief report was given. Everyone had returned safely from the sheep drive to Abilene. While Clint was gone, a family from up above Las Vegas had come to the compound with a small herd of sheep. They were looking to join the Rio Pecos Ranch. Their sheep were being held in a separate area even though everything seemed okay with the new people and their livestock. In fact, one of the men had joined the guard unit and was an excellent rifle shot. The rest of the family had settled into work in the village.
Clint’s house was clean and warm. It was good to be home. A visit to the trading post brought him up-to-speed on the happenings of the last few months around Rio Pecos. The restocking of supplies from Abilene had been a real help. The trading post was in good position to get through the winter. One more trading trip was scheduled to the Santa Fe market before bad weather. At least three weddings were in the planning stage. While the parents were in worry mode, the young people were very excited.
The new family of sheepherders from up north seemed real nice and industrious. The Juan Cruz family had finished off two houses for them. The new sheep tenders were working their own herd over on the northwest range, but keeping them separate from the Navajo and Basque herds.
Joe Black had received the three new wagons from Abilene with the extra spare wheels. One of the Kansas boys had become a good helper for Joe Black. He was learning the blacksmith trade and doing a good job. There was getting to be too much work for Joe by himself. It also allowed Joe to spend more time upgrading the guns with the extra gunsmith supplies Clint had sent back from Abilene with the Basque herders.
A visit to Joe Black’s shop was impressive. Joe had expanded his forge and added work tables. Clint could see two wagons in the process of being rebuilt to an almost new condition. Joe’s helper was busy shoeing two horses and demonstrating almost professional skills. Joe was proud of his student and for good reason. Clint told Joe he had ordered ten new handguns and rifles that used reload cartridges. These new supplies would be in Santa Fe by now. He had also ordered some extra parts that Joe may be able to use in converting some of their existing handguns so they could use the new reload cartridges.
Clint then went out with three of the Mexican guards to look over the horses in the hidden canyon. The guards were reporting that all the horses were broken to ride with the exception of some young colts. All the horses that had made the sheep herd drive returned in good shape. The new horse that Clint had purchased in Abilene had been turned loose in the canyon. The only horses missing from Clint’s herd were the mares that had been sent to Albuquerque for breeding. The guards were volunteering to make the trip to bring them back. Clint let them know that a late November to mid-December meeting in Santa Fe with the Spanish land grant holders would be a good time to make the pick-up arrangements. Señors Ortega, Bond and Perez would be holding their annual meeting in Santa Fe before the end of year meeting in Albuquerque with the Spanish land grant lobbyist.
Clint laid praise on the Mexican guards for the excellent condition of the horse herd. The young colts were an excellent crop this year. Clint’s horse breed was developing as he had hoped. He was looking forward to adding the strength of the Spanish strain to his herd.