Learn more about Rio Pecos Compound: Book Six of The Clint Mason Series
Copyright William F. Martin. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter 20.
A full community meeting was called to discuss the last trading trip to Santa Fe before winter and review progress and the future of the Rio Pecos Compound. Each family group or clan went over their needs and items available for trade. Most of the people wanted to make the Santa Fe trip, but enough agreed to stay at the village to maintain everything and to tend the livestock and herds. The Pueblos were making a big haul of specialty clay back to San Juan Pueblo. They also had a lot of top quality pottery to sell on the market square.
The Navajo family had the new blanket designs and jewelry to sell. The Basque families were sending about half their people to trade wool, mutton and blankets, and then purchase their supplies for next year. The rest of the Basques would tend all the sheep left on Rio Pecos Ranch. All the Kansas settlers wanted to make the trip. Even the young blacksmith was looking forward to a holiday in Santa Fe. The Juan Perez family, the newest Rio Pecos arrivals, wanted to stay in their new homes. They had had enough adventure for a time. They would pay their dues by covering for anyone that wanted to make the trip.
The final item of business was the discussion on the railroad’s plans to extend their tracks down the Santa Fe Trail, through the Raton Pass, then pass through the western edge of the Rio Pecos Ranch on through the Gloriata Pass, then head south of Santa Fe down the Rio Grande to Albuquerque. Clint estimated that this section of the rail system would be built in the next ten to fifteen years. He presented his plan to survey out the best rail route and then sell that route at a cheap price to the railroad company. This would help control the location of the railroad right-of-way. The next step was dividing up Rio Pecos Ranch into small sections of land, all fronting on the railroad right-of-way. Ownership would be placed in the names of individuals to have and to hold permanently. This should discourage the railroad land purchasing agents from choosing alternate routes for the rail lines. Clint cited some examples of how the U.S. Congress and some land reformers back east wanted to break up the large land grant holdings. By breaking up this large tract of land into smaller pieces,
it might avoid or at least discourage a break-up of the Rio Pecos Compound lands. Clint informed the group that he had obtained a surveyor license from the government and would be working with all the families to plot out the lands and get them recorded in the Santa Fe land title office.
He would also be meeting with some of the large ranch owners in Santa Fe. One proposal that Clint was hoping to work out with these owners was the concept of open range. If all the land owners would agree to large movements of sheep from the colder high mountain pastures all the way to the warmer southern plains toward Tucumcari, it would create an ideal sheep-raising country. Most of the sheep owners at Rio Pecos were very interested. This was the type of sheep ranching the Basques were used to from the old country in Europe. None of Clint’s people had ever lived in Spain or other parts of Europe, but their family stories told of those places and times. The Navajo matriarch was not excited about the idea because their tradition had been to stay pretty much in a small area. However, she would not object as long as she was allowed to maintain her own area and continue the traditional living conditions.
The next few weeks were spent preparing for the Santa Fe trading days and putting together the survey documents needed to record the individual land tracks.
Twenty-four individual deeds and surveys were prepared, plus the long strip of land for the proposed railroad right-of-way. Each deed held 1,280 acres or two sections of land with a one-half mile frontage along the proposed railroad right-of-way. The balance of the land Clint held in his own name including the original ranch house, well and stables, plus the almost 3,000 acres in and around the canyon where he was raising and hiding his horses, and all the land east of the Rio Pecos River.
Payment for the land was an agreement to occupy and improve the land for at least five years, allow the free movement of livestock for grazing and trail drives, and to participate in the protection of the Rio Pecos Compound and its people.
The trip into Santa Fe was full of joy, excitement and hope for a good future as new property owners. Some of the families expressed a little concern about their new responsibilities as landowners, but everyone wanted to get started on their land. The Santa Fe land title office accepted all the new deeds when Clint provided his proof of master surveyor certification and U.S. Government identification.
The Rio Pecos camping area at the traders’ campsite looked almost like a town in itself. One family moved into the old house in town and watched over the trading goods. After a little cleaning, Clint set himself up in the other house. The Rio Pecos people had agreed on a 10-day trading session on the market square.
Clint set out to make contact with the other ranchers – Bond, Ortega, and Perez. He also needed to find out what Claude Johnson had been up to over the past few months. Sr. Bond was in town for his annual meeting in Santa Fe, plus preparing for his winter visit to Albuquerque and the annual meeting with the Spanish land grant holders. Sr. Bond was all praise for Clint and the successful drive to Abilene. A southern sheep drive was being planned for the upcoming summer to either El Paso or Mexico City. The final details would be worked out at the Albuquerque conference.
Clint was sure Rio Pecos Ranch would have about 50,000 head ready by that time. His Basque herders may not want to go, but he was sure his Mexican guards would make the trip.
Sr. Bond accepted Clint’s offer to send two or three of his guards to Albuquerque with him to retrieve Clint’s mares if the horse breeding had been successful. Clint then presented Sr. Bond with one of the colt revolvers that he had purchased in Chicago. After that, Sr. Bond would not allow Clint to buy anything: All meals and drinks were on him. The revolver represented the finest workmanship that Sr. Bond had ever seen.
A meeting with Mr. Jenson confirmed that the gold had made its way from Abilene to Clint’s account in the Santa Fe bank. The bank was most appreciative of Clint’s trust in them. If Clint would agree, the bank would lend out some of Clint’s account value and split the profit from interest.
Clint authorized Mr. Jenson to loan out 50% of his gold value to businesses and ranchers in the area. When Clint added a restriction that none of the money could be loaned to the Claude Johnson Ranch or any of its activities, Mr. Jenson said that the railroad detectives and Johnson’s men were still investigating the relationship between the Rio Pecos people and the murders in and around Santa Fe. Clint was surprised to learn that Johnson was openly contending that the Rio Pecos people were behind the killings and the burning of his barn. Clint had thought that Claude Johnson had been chastened enough to mind his own business. Clint’s St. Louis information that Johnson had almost bankrupted his wife’s family should have cut off his funding. A second look would have to be made into Johnson’s activities and his source of funding.
The next stop was the Santa Fe railroad office to present his surveyor credentials and the availability of the right-of-way across the Rio Pecos Ranch. He then learned that Claude Johnson’s real estate agency out of St. Louis had been paid for other sections of land north of Las Vegas. This was probably the source of Johnson’s new money. It was also the same land that was in dispute with Sr. Ortega and his land grant.
Clint asked to see the surveys and titles for the northern railroad right-of-ways. This confirmed that it was the same land that Atkinson had falsified with surveys against Sr. Ortega’s land grant holdings. Clint alerted the Santa Fe office that these right-of-ways may be fraudulent, and suggested that the clerk should contact the railroad head office to authorize a new title search and resurvey. All payments to Johnson’s real estate agency should be stopped, in Clint’s opinion. At the very least, they should withhold any additional payments until the railroad could investigate those land deals more thoroughly.
With his mission complete in Santa Fe, Clint settled into his hobby of gambling. Or put another way, he would help redistribute the wealth of reckless and rich card players. This time Clint played the part of the rich land owner as he dressed in his finest clothes and with the new handguns from Chicago. Clint watched the faces of the other gamblers to see if any spark of recognition ever showed. This clean and well-dressed businessman was a long way from the lowly Mexican hide-trader of last year. Clint was surprised at the number of invites he received to join the big money tables of the rich. This never would have happened to the old hide-trader. Clint enjoyed his deception and the easy money of the rich and foolish. It was on the fourth or fifth day of gambling when Claude Johnson joined the card game. When the introductions went around, Clint made the point that he was a new surveyor that the U.S. Government had certified to help with the railroad right-of-way problems. That information was a shock to Johnson even though his surprise was covered fairly well. Clint enjoyed taking Johnson for a big sum of money that night before Claude excused himself. Clint could see the fire in the man’s eyes. This loss of money in front of the Santa Fe businessmen just might push him into drastic action. Clint would have to be increasingly alert. It would be a good idea to gather his guards and put them on alert also. His trading people could also be the target of Johnson’s revenge or pure frustration. Clint’s pleasure of fleecing Johnson could come back and bite him or his people. After some reflection, Clint wished he had been a bit gentler with Johnson, but he sure did enjoy those few hours of watching him lose hand after hand.
Clint sought out his guards and put them on alert to the possible revenge from Johnson and his men. Clint had his men identify as many of the Johnson gunmen as they could. He helped to point out the ones he had seen either at the ranch or riding with Johnson. Several of the men were the gunmen from the Las Vegas connection to Atkinson. It took two more days of watching to identify about 12 men that seemed to make up the core of Johnson’s crew. Clint then put spies to watch the Johnson Ranch and the movements of Johnson and four of his key men. If anything was initiated, Clint should have an early warning from his spies. Clint had recognized about six of the men as the same ones that had tried to rob his supply wagons the year before. It was Clint’s best guess that they would try to rob his traders when they headed back to Rio Pecos loaded with supplies and money from their trading on the market square.
Clint had his guards pick up the crate of new guns from the freight office. The shipment had arrived from Abilene the month before. Clint’s men took turns learning to reload shells and practicing with the new repeating rifles and revolvers.
The last preparation before the wagons left Santa Fe headed back to Rio Pecos was a change in costumes. Six extra Mexican guard suits were prepared in black and trimmed with silver on saddles, belts and holsters. His Mexican guards were then dressed in work clothes and sent out ahead of time to occupy posts along the trail. The Mexican guards were not happy to put their expensive and showy clothing in their saddlebags, but they went along with the plan. Six of the men from the wagon train were outfitted in the made-up uniforms of the Mexican guards and rode some of Clint’s best horses. They would ride close to the wagons. A few of the new rifles would be placed inside the wagons with the best shooters. The Mexican guards in their work cloths would all have the top quality firearms. If the attack was made on the wagon train, Clint’s hope was to catch Johnson’s men in crossfire between the rifles in the wagons and his guards up on the ridges. Clint’s spies reported that Johnson had left the ranch with 14 men. Seven gunmen in two parties had ridden around Santa Fe and were headed toward Gloriata Pass.
Clint had taken three young men with him to a good lookout spot. Each of them had a fast horse and knew how to ride. They were going to be the messengers for this battle, if it came to that. The wagon train left the Santa Fe traders’ camp on schedule as was planned. The first group of Johnson riders was spotted about noon moving along parallel with the Santa Fe Trail just north about one-quarter of a mile.
The first young rider was sent back to the wagon train with this information. Shortly after the first messenger rider had left, the second group of Johnson riders was seen some distance behind the first group. This group of seven was staying on the Santa Fe Trail, but moving very slowly. It was Clint’s guess that the ambush would occur about four miles up the trail when the first set of the Johnson riders would be able to pass the wagons and block the trail. This would put the wagon train between the two groups without a way out. The country was very rough, so the wagons would not be able to leave the main trail. Clint sent the second messenger on a fast trip to the wagons hoping he could get through before the rear gang closed the gap with the wagon train. The last messenger moved with Clint as they snuck along the southern rim overlooking the wagon train. It was slow-going in very rocky terrain and heavy underbrush. Clint could tell by their pace that the rear Johnson groups would reach the wagon train before he could get into a position to help from the rim above. He then changed his plan and tore-off down the steep mountain slope to the trail. This put him almost a half-mile behind the Johnson gang. The third messenger was sent on along the rim with instruction to place a few shots toward the Johnson gang when the fighting got started. Assuming that his Mexican guards would be close enough to join the fight from the other end, this would make the ambushers think they were surrounded.
The gunfire started up ahead before Clint was close enough to see the action. He quickly tied a rope across the trail between two big pine trees just about rider height. He then moved toward the fight cautiously, not wanting to walk right into an ambush. Then, he heard a shot from the upper ridge, which would be his young man. The rapid fire of the repeating rifles was very clear now, so the wagon train was putting up a fight. It was less than 20 minutes before he heard three or four horses riding hard down the trail toward him.
The attack must have been broken and some of the Johnson gang was retreating. Clint had moved off the trail behind some big boulders for cover. Four riders came around the curve just above the rope trap at top speed. When they saw the rope, it was almost too late. The front riders tried to stop, but the slower reaction of the rear two caused a huge pile-up with men and horses flying everywhere. Clint called out for the downed gunmen to drop their weapons. Their answer was a hail of bullets toward Clint’s hiding place. Clint dropped two of the three standing and this fight was over. The fourth rider had apparently been killed in the pile-up.
The shooting had stopped coming from the wagons. Clint tied up the lone surviving gunman. All four horses seemed to be okay, so Clint led them up the trail toward the wagon train. By the time Clint reached the wagons, everything was under the control of his Mexican guards. Two of Clint’s people had been killed and several people had minor wounds. The guards had two of the gang tied up with minor wounds. All the rest of Johnson’s gunmen had been killed.
Two of the horses that were pulling the wagons had been hit during the gun fight. One was dead and the other had to be put down. All the Johnson gang horses were rounded up. Roadside graves were dug for the dead. Markers were placed for the two Rio Pecos people giving names and dates. The grave markers for the Johnson gang just said, “Here lie 11 bandits who killed 2 Rio Pecos people.” The final ride into Rio Pecos Compound was somber as everyone mourned the loss of their two friends. The killing of so many people, even in defense, was very painful and a waste of human life.
The three captured robbers were released with a message to Claude Johnson that he was next to account for his bad deeds and his plotting against the Rio Pecos people.