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Episode 36 - From Billy the Kid to Mr. Coal
Michael Swickard here. Welcome to Enchanting Stories of New Mexico sponsored by the Fresh Chile Company in Las Cruces, N M. Our award-winning Hatch Green and Red Chile is brought to you from locally owned farms in Hatch, NM, The Chile Capital of the World.
First things first. Did you know that today is World Green and Red Chile Day. World Green and Red Chile Day runs January 1st to December 31st each year. Every Day Yum is the word.
As all NFL, College and High School fans know it is Football Season at the Football Stadiums where there are good things to eat. The Fresh Chile Company has a new product that can take a good Hotdog and make it Extraordinarily Great. It is a taste sensation which combines Mustard, Pickle Relish, Medium heat Jalapeño and Sweet Onions. This condiment in a jar has lots of flavor and a very nice kick to it with medium heat Jalapeño. The name you will find in the Fresh Chile Company website is Hatch Jalapeño Mustard Relish. Now friends I have slathered this condiment on a hotdog and bun. Let me tell you, it is a touchdown of good taste. One of my friends used it while making Deviled Eggs and found himself making another batch the very same day because everyone liked it so much and they just wanted a couple more Deviled Eggs. In the company cooking area it is informally called Stadium because it is like what you get at Major League Stadiums, both Football and Baseball only we contend, better. You know it is Major League Baseball’s Playoff Season. While watching the Baseball playoffs, have some friends over and serve them some of this on Bratwurst. Get your Football Tailgate grilling going with Hatch Jalapeño Mustard Relish. It is amazingly good.
One of my passions is to study all aspects of western history. I have looked at the coming of the Pony Express, then the Railroads and Telegraphs. The building of the commercial community and the design and research of the agriculture efforts. But I also looked at the gunfights which were, how shall I say, more dramatic. I saw something interesting the other day. I found a website listing Old West Outlaws and what happened to them. I also have a 1991 book, Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters by Bill O’Neil. Not to tell any tales out of school but as you can imagine, those who lived by the gun often died by the gun, though there was a few like Wyatt Earp who made it to 80 years of age. Here was the entry that caught my eye and there is no other data. Name: Blind Joe. A New Mexico gunman killed in a gunfight January 1908. Hmm, seems not fair if he was blind. Further research is warranted. Stay tuned.
Speaking of Old West Outlaws, especially those who were at one time or another in the Mesilla Valley, well that would be Billy the Kid. He was a boy in Silver City and fought in the Lincoln County War in 1878. And at one time he was in jail in Mesilla where he was found guilty. Territorial Third District Judge Warren Bristol sentenced Billy the Kid hang, in Lincoln, New Mexico, with his execution scheduled for May 13, 1881 and he escaped as you would know if you attended the Lincoln New Mexico Last Escape of Billy the Kid celebrations each and every year since 1940, almost 50 years after Billy’s death.
His real name was Henry McCarty and had an alias of William Bonney but is known to us as Billy the Kid. Want to know something interesting? There were several Billy the Kid gunmen back in the day and several were at the time also known as Billy the Kid. The Billy the Kid we know of book and movie fame was Henry McCarty. But there were others such as Billy The Kid Allen, Billy The Kid Campbell and William The Kid Morton who were all in the Lincoln County War. It appears that our Billy the Kid didn’t have a copyright on the name.
Michael Swickard here with Enchanting Stories of New Mexico sponsored by the Fresh Chile Company in Las Cruces, N M. Hit subscribe to automatically get these podcasts.
New Mexico population is 2 million 110 thousand and about 40 percent or about 830,000 people of the total New Mexico population live within 50 miles of Albuquerque. But let us think of smaller. What are the ten smallest towns? Out of the about 500, yes, I said 500 New Mexico towns smallest is a tie between Purty Rock, New Mexico about nine miles west of Gallup, New Mexico and Stoneridge New Mexico which each has two residents. The very small Stoneridge is on the northern side of Bluewater Lake and is just south of Homer C Jones town which lists three residents. So, the five residents live close enough to have coffee in the morning. I guess each person could be the mayor but that is all I know. About seventy people make up the bottom ten towns which includes one I have lived around, Oscuro, New Mexico which is 16 miles south of Carrizozo. Oh, don’t know where Carrizozo is. It is sixty mile north of Alamogordo. I lived for a number of years just east two miles from the town of Oscuro which at one time, a very long time ago had about a thousand residents but now it is a handful at best. My grandparents had what we called a ranch there with cows. You see, my grandfather said he wanted to live far enough away from the neighbors that he couldn’t hear their dogs bark. And he did for the last forty years of his life. Oscuro.
Now one of the stories I heard from my grandparents was at one time when there were many people living in Oscuro one man by himself would shovel and load an entire boxcar with coal since there was a coal mine half a mile from town in Milagro Hill which had a type of coal low in Sulphur and therefore attractive to the Railroads. So this fellow whose name seems lost to history would load forty tons of coal each week and was paid in cash by the railroad master. He did this for several years and, I was told, one day he wasn’t around, and the boxcar was half full. It seems, they figured out that he was buried in the coal mine by a collapse of one of the coal mine shafts. But he must have been strong to load 80 thousand pounds of coal each week with a pick, shovel and wheelbarrow onto a box car sitting right next to the mine’s entrance. Rumor has it, according to my grandfather this gentleman came from over the Atlantic somewhere but didn’t see fit to tell anyone where he was from, or get this, what was his name. Evidently, he just growled at anyone with the temerity to bother him while he was outside the entrance to the mine and evidently everyone called him Mr. Coal and left it at that as to his story.
Michael Swickard here with Enchanting Stories of New Mexico sponsored by the Fresh Chile Company in Las Cruces, N M. Hit subscribe to automatically get these podcasts.
A little history. New Mexico officially became a U. S. Territory in September of 1850. In 1851 The Vatican appointed Jean-Baptiste Lamy, a French cleric the Bishop of the Diocese of Santa Fe. There is a Lamy, New Mexico still in the Santa Fe New Mexico area. Along with Bishop Lamy came nine priests. St. Francis Cathedral was built between 1869 and 1886. It was finished just before Bishop Lamy died. What started slowly in the 1866 time was cattle coming to New Mexico to meet Federal Government contracts for forts and their soldiers. Charles Goodnight brought the first of thousands upon thousands of head of cattle up the Texas trail now referred to as the Goodnight-Loving Trail which started at Fort Belknap in Texas and followed the route of the Butterfield Overland Mail through Central Texas along the Staked Plains until it reached the Pecos River and continued to Fort Sumner where the cattle were sold to the Military. Any cattle not bought were then driven to Denver and a few were even driven into Wyoming. At that time John Chisum also was instrumental in bringing cattle into eastern New Mexico. Speaking of Southern New Mexico, the Butterfield Trail stopped in what is now Las Cruces. Then it was Fort Fillmore which is no more. In fact, the foundations of the Fort are in a Pecan Grove . The Butterfield operation started in 1858 and finished when the railroad arrived in Southern New Mexico in 1881. The railroads coming to New Mexico spelled the end of long cattle drives.
One thing the railroads brought was homesteaders which came for the quote free land where you could get 160 acres if you stayed on it five years and improved it. In 1886 there was the New Mexico Education Association of School Teachers which spent lots of time recruiting teachers from Back East to New Mexico. My grandmother, Frieda Greenberg came to New Mexico to teach in 1908 and started in Cloudcroft that year in a one room school. She later taught in White Oaks for several years and ended up in Silver City.
Michael Swickard here with Enchanting Stories of New Mexico sponsored by the Fresh Chile Company in Las Cruces, N M. Hit subscribe to automatically get these podcasts.
Say, do you like homemade biscuits? Sourdough biscuits? I certainly do and one thing I found was that biscuits could be improved with some Hatch Hot Honey which is Sweet and Spicy. It is Local Honey from the Mesilla Valley which is infused with real Sun-Dried Hatch Red Chile. The taste is wonderful with honey and our Sun-Dried Hatch Red Chile. This Hot Honey is thick and rich with just enough heat to make everything better! Me, I like it best on sourdough homemade biscuits.
Speaking of Sun-Dried Hatch Red Chile, it is one of the best tastes of the Fresh Chile Company. If you are making posole, this is what brings out the best taste of New Mexico.
I talked of this earlier but want to remind you that The Fresh Chile Company has a new product that can take a good Hotdog and make it Extraordinarily Great. It is a taste sensation which combines Mustard, Pickle Relish, Medium heat Jalapeño and Sweet Onions. This condiment in a jar has lots of flavor and a very nice kick to it with medium heat Jalapeño. The name you will find in the Fresh Chile Company website is Hatch Jalapeño Mustard Relish.
One thing that happens when people live in Las Cruces or is in our slice of paradise. They can come by the Fresh Chile Company Gift Shop at 1160 El Paseo Rd, Suite D7A in Las Cruces, NM. It is open Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Come by the Fresh Chile Company Gift Shop. There is a big sign over the entrance saying The Fresh Chile Company.
This is Michael Swickard with Enchanting Stories of New Mexico brought to you by The Fresh Chile Company. Thank you for your time today. We will have lots of News and stories about New Mexico for you on these Podcasts, If you have something or someone you want me to talk about, write to: michael@freshchileco.com
Have a great rest of your day. Oh yes and eat plenty of that good Hatch Valley Chile. Like I always say, “Some Chile is good, more is better as long as it is Hatch Valley Chile.” Bye for now.