Schools of Tularosa; The Early Years As told by Joe Bend Sanders & submitted by Katherine Tyler
I
n 1880, 23 children attended school in Tularosa. Their were 8 boys and 15 girls. Their ages range from 6 years to 23 years of age, with most being 10 and 11 years.
escape poles were placed. In 1941 or so, the school was razed and the old police and fire station were built and then second fire station in 1958 and the village offices in the 1970's.
The village population in 1880 was housed in 130 dwellings.48 households had at least one literate person. There were literate persons in Tularosa at a time when the village population was about 535. One in seven persons was literate or a 14% percent literacy rate.
In 1909, to accommodate the village and Monterrey, a railroad community to the west of village, another beautiful school was built on Clayton Lane , or just south of modern football field. The school was used until it was abandoned sometime later and burned in 1959.
School was not mandatory in New Mexico until 1909. In 1880, the village people likely provided a salary and room and board for the teacher without government funding. In 1905, a beautiful school was built in the plaza in front of the Catholic Church. Before that the school was housed in available adobe houses that were not being used. In 1911, the roof was removed and Tularosa had a two-story school of Victorian splendor and a village beauty. In 1915, fire
The red brick school building was built in 1916 and in 1937 the pueblo-style school. In 1958, the grade school was built and a decade later the present high school was built. The first picture is of the Central or Plaza School across the street from Saint Francis de Paula Church showing it as it appeared after secondstory and before the fire escapes were added. The second picture is of the school house on Clayton Lane.
New Mexico Style Sopapillas Ingredients 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 tablespoon sugar 2 teaspoons salt 1 tablespoon honey 3/4 cup whole milk Shortening, canola oil, peanut oil or lard,
Directions In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Next, create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the honey and whole milk. Using a spoon or your hands, mix the dough together until it forms a sticky mass. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel
and allow the dough to rest for about 20 minutes. I know frying this is a bit of a bummer but I’ll say that with these it’s needed and worth it. Since I had shortening leftover from my first batch of dough, I used it to fry these sopapillas; canola oil or peanut oil or lard will also work. In a cast iron skillet (or medium pot), add enough fat so it reaches 3-inches up the sides of the skillet/pot. Heat up your oil to around 300 degrees. (Right before we fry them off, we’ll heat it up even further.) Lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin. If the dough is at all sticky (it shouldn’t be after it rested) feel free to sprinkle it with a bit of flour so it doesn’t adhere to the surface. Dump the dough onto the counter and roll the dough into a thin (1/8-inch thick) square. (It doesn’t have to be a perfect square either, just do your best.) Cut the sopapillas into 4 x 3-inch rectangles. Again, the measurements don’t
have to be exact, you can definitely eyeball this. Before you fry them up, be sure to get your powdered sugar and honey ready. Line a baking sheet or plate with a few layers of paper towels. Heat the oil up again to 375 degrees F. Drop the sopapillas in the hot oil, frying two to three at a time, for about a minute, flipping them over at the halfway point. (If they don’t puff up, they’ll still be tasty! But it may mean the dough isn’t rolled thin enough.) They should be lightly golden brown—not too crispy. Transfer them to the bed of paper towels to drain. Repeat with the remaining sopapillas. These taste best straight from the fryer to a plate to being consumed but if you want, you can keep the sopapillas warm in an 200 degree pre-heated oven while you fry up the rest. Dust them with powdered sugar and serve them alongside some honey and apricot preserves.
YOU CAN BEAT UNCLE SAM
A born cattleman and lifelong rancher, John Prather didn’t much resemble a revolutionary. Yet by the end of his days, he would not only do battle against the U.S. government—he would win. Prather’s family arrived in the New Mexico Territory when it was little more than largely uninhabited desert. His father ran some cattle, and as soon as Prather was old enough to pick cotton, he worked and saved for his own herd. He bought two calves off his father when he turned 9 years old, and by 1903, he and his brother Owen had enough cattle to branch out on their own. They pushed south to the Otero Mesa, a beautiful but dry region beneath the Sacramento Mountains. They spent years digging trenches and damming creeks with only a two-horse scraper. Then, one very wet year, they dug a well. Their hard-fought sweat paid off. By middle age, Prather was the proud owner of 200 sections of what he affectionately called, “the finest damned grass in New Mexico.” He bred horses, raised cattle, and was one of the largest suppliers of mules to the U.S. Army during both World
Wars. By all accounts, he earned the right to live out his old age in peace. But his fighting days were far from over. On July 1, 1956, the federal court condemned 28,000 acres of Prather’s best grasslands for absorption into the Army’s McGregor Missile Range. Prather was offered a handsome sum of more than $100,000 and politely asked to move on. He refused. Tensions escalated until August 6, 1957, when a district judge ordered Prather’s eviction. The following day, three armed U.S. Marshals met Prather on his way back from tending cows. Caught without his Winchester .30-30, Prather brandished the only weapon at his disposal— a pocket knife. It was enough to keep the marshals at bay. The standoff went on for hours, with Prather refusing to go, “come missiles, hell, or high water.” Reporters began arriving in the afternoon, flying in over military roadblocks stationed at all entrances to the ranch. Finally, when Prather proposed an Old West-style shootout, the wearied marshals left empty handed. Cowed by the publicity and the weathered rancher’s iron will, the court gave in to some degree. Prather was granted the right to remain in his home and the 15 acres surrounding it for the rest of his life. Unworried by these restrictions, Prather continued to run cattle over all 28,000 acres of grassland that he still called his own. It took a bout of double pneumonia and two strokes to take the stalwart pioneer off his land, and even that didn’t keep him away for long. In 1965, he was buried next to his wife, a few feet from ranch headquarters, where he’s still holding his ground today.
It Was Meant To Be PART TWO
"Hi, I'm Alice Weinman, I'm here to help you". And she looked at me, "Hi, I’m Janet, and I can't pay you."
So I took the area where my desk is and the vault back are and opened a small wedding shop.
While I knew a little about it from the Houston area before I came out , I tell you And you know the next thing about that hat little dress shop , my bridal shop, flew was when I walked out of there a few hours even before I got a sample dress in it. later, I had the keys to the front door. Word just got out. I think I had 3 The deal that we made was that the area samples. s I opened up the vault area and behind the counter ( where my desk and ladies, brides, brides mothers and jewelry are now) and vault area in the back grandmothers started coming in. was to be my area rent free for running the I was in the wedding business from store for her. 1986 to 2000. I did total weddings for I did everything here, I even went to the Alamagordo and surrounding area. market with her. She had never went to But I tell you, this fancy woman from market because she made her beautiful florals and beautiful arrangements from the Houston would direct the whole wedding. You know, no one is going to tell me how eighties; when the Victorian look was around, it was ivory roses and pink colors, to do a wedding after they found out how much help I could after they settled down purse, gazebos and that type of thing. and let be control whole wedding here in That was Victoria's look, very Victorian. Alamagordo, And I loved doing it.
Some of brides came back to visit me and would you believe they are grandmothers now, it's been that many years, so I'm a great grandmother to the brides grandchildren. It was meant to be. I just sit here on New York Street. I am nobody special, but I'm sort of a take over kind of person and can' help it, but I like what I do. Before Mr. Bill and I were to be and own this little store. Well you know years ago back when we were in back in Katy, Texas, about 30 years ago or so, a friend and I were discussing what we'd like a business to be and I said that I'd like to have the best shop in the southwest. Guess what here it is.......VICTORIA. QUESTION ASKED BY REPORTER How did you come to own the building and the store? Janet and her husband were having some difficulty and they needed to sell Victoria and I was here and had the funds to buy it. But I also own the building. Using no names, the young man that owned the building had a real cash crunch and he came by to see me. He told me that he needed x amount of dollars for the venture he had going for at the time. I asked what he would want for the building and he named this ridiculous price. It turned out that Mr. Bill was here and I know what I had to spend and told my young man that this is what I have and I will pay you this much for this wonderful old building. He turns and looks at Mr, Bill and says , " Tell her that's no going to work. "
Mr. Bill says, “You better take it cause that's all you're going to get� ... and he did, I wrote him a check and that's is how I got this building and I don't owe anything else. We're still here and we are thrilled to death.
Ingredients 5 Hatch chile peppers, stems removed 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with roasted garlic 1/2 onion, roughly chopped 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro 1 pinch garlic powder, or to taste
Preparation Set oven rack about 6 inches from the heat source and preheat the oven's broiler. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil; add Hatch chile peppers. Cook under the preheated broiler until the skin of the peppers has blackened and blistered, 5 to 8 minutes. Place blackened peppers into a bowl and tightly seal with plastic wrap. Allow peppers to steam as they cool, about 20 minutes. Remove and discard skins. Blend roasted Hatch chile peppers, diced tomatoes, diced tomatoes with roasted garlic, onion, cilantro, and garlic powder in a food processor or blender until desired consistency is reached.
Libra October Monthly Horoscope 2016 The time is now right for critical decisions and for bringing things that have been problematic or tapering off to a close. Look to concluding any project or activity in your life that is no longer providing value for time or money. Do it now – is the motto for in October 2016 for you, dear Libra. Balancing the amount of time and energy you spend on yourself versus others is also crucial – you may have been spending too much time on yourself selfishly and now the special people around you have begun to feel neglected, or it may be that you have been people-pleasing to such a degree that you have lost yourself, and you need to claim backspace and time to be you and to redefine your identity. The emphasis is not on what you have done, but on who you are and how you want to be seen by others. Relationships (both business and personal) and how these contribute to your selfimage and confidence will have to be analyzed – it is time to cut contact with those who make you feel negative and bring you down. Put a red ring around the Debbie Downers, the Gary Gossips and the Toxic Tanyas you know and show them the door. In October 2016 ask yourself what you are waiting for – we are always waiting for the right time and often there is not ‘right time’ we must just take the chance and do it. October 2016 is a very good time for all careers involving communications. You are very verbal and eloquent right now, especially when you talk about subjects close to your heart. October 2016 is an excellent time for dealing with facts, figures, words and ideas which bodes well for accountants, bankers, teachers, journalists, copywriters and promoters. However, since most jobs or business ventures involve using words or figures to some degree, October gives a boost to every Libran’s confidence when using these. You may be a masseuse placing an ad in the paper and you find you are very good at coming up with an eye-catching slogan for your business, you may be a creative person who suddenly finds the financial side of your business easier to grasp and more interesting. In whatever business or line of work you are in, be bold with words and numbers: expand your knowledge of basic accounting and improve your vocabulary. October 2016 is an excellent month for negotiation and deal making – you are very persuasive and diplomatic. A good time for lawyers, arbitrators and politicians.
Recollections of Alto School As told by Louise Coe Runnels
Alto School, a one-room big building about 46 by 30 feet, was located 4 miles west of our ranch on Hwy 48. It was near the present day turn-off to Sierra Blanca Ski Area and the High Country Lodge; The Easley Store was also near, but it was torn down in the 1920's. In the 1920's the Williams family had a home nearby and Barney Luck had built a few lumber cabins to rent up on a north hillide. Mr.Willams was the only known carpenter in the whole country around Alto. The schoolhouse had pebbledashed walls outside and a tin roof. Inside, a big wire was stretched from north and south sides. The front of the school faced east, with two double doors and several steps going to the entrance. We lined up here when the teacher rang the bell from the door, and we marched in on command. The 6th, 7th, and 8th grades had seats on the north side. There was an aisle and the other grade were seated in the south side seats. At the east end of the building was a shelf for the water bucket and dipper.
Coats were hung on the nails at the east end ,too. A stage about one foot high went across the west end and a big wire was stretched from north to south, which held a curtain to pull for the Christmas program. Auctioneers stood on the stage when we had box suppers or pie suppers. The money made from these occasions was for school needs, like blackboards, chalk, Christmas tree decorations, or other school needs. Neighbor men took turns getting coal or wood for the stove ( coal was hauled from some coal mines near Capain). The teacher or bigger kids carried the drinking water from the spring at the creek. There seemed to be no problem in drinking from the same dipper and bucket. Some of he kids had those oldfashion aluminum cups that folded together and they kept them on their desks. Also, the bigger kids had a pen and ink on their desks. The ink bottle sat in a little hole in the desk. It was a treat for us lower grade kids to be able to write a
little bit with the pen. I wonder now, how they made the ink work on those 5-cent Big Chief tablets? The paper was different from ours today. We had 15 minute recesses. Classes were, in turn, at the benches up front near the teacher' desk. The blackboard was on the west, a big one. The erasers got pretty chalky and privileged kids got to go outside and dust the erasers on rocks. Our Valentines we made from wallpaper sample books brought from home. A few had storebought Valentines from the catalogue, or maybe Titworth's Store in Captain. The teacher made a pretty Valentine box.
homemade baseballs and bats, and Follow the Leader. When lots of snow was on the ground, there was a great south hillside where we rode homemade sleds , some had store-bought ones. Sometimes when the weather was not too bad, we would play inside- Thimble, Thimble Who's got Thimble, or Spin the Bottle, or the game Gossip was fun. Lots of times on Friday evenings, the teacher would make pull candy on op of the stove, or we would have spelling bees,or play games at the blackboard.
There were no school buses. Kids walked, or rode horseback or burros. One of our lady teacher's, Miss Estelle Howard's transportation was a one-horse buggy. She lived with her parents about 4 miles to the north and would make her horse trot. My There were school board members, a younger brother, Ross, and I could smell County School Superintendent, a nurse and Miss Howard's ole mare's hair burning doctor. Once a year, we got vaccinated for from the pops she put her butt with the something. The nurse horse whip. Miss Howard was a strict teacher. Like then, like now, I was and am told all of us to give her our left arms. a blabber mouth. Miss Howard reminded When my turn came, I didn't know which me one too many times to quit whispering was my left arm and I gave her my right .She made me eat a piece of soap. It arm. she vaccinated it. I had an ugly scar all probably was a pretty good example for he the rest of my life about the size of a dime. whole bunch of kids. I did a lot of spitting When recess came and the weather was and bawling outside. good, we played games like Blind Man's Christmas time in those days, winters were Bluff and Red Rover, Red Rover, Let so most fierce. Snow would be up to the horse and so Come over. The boys layed marbles, bellies. Our Christmas programs were but the teacher wouldn't let them gamble ( prepared anyway. Playing for Keeps). We also played Hop Scotch, London Bridge, baseball with Continued on page 30
HAM IN SPACE
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Ham the Chimp was a chimpanzee and the first hominid launched into space, on 31 January 1961, as part of America's space program. Ham's name is an acronym for the lab which prepared him for his historic mission — the Holloman Aerospace Medical Center, located at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. Officially, Ham was known as No. 65 before his flight, and only renamed "Ham" upon his successful return to Earth. This was reportedly because officials did not want the bad press that would come from the death of a "named" chimpanzee if the mission were a failure. Beginning in July 1959, Ham was trained under the direction of neuroscientist Joseph V. Brady at Holloman Air Force Base Aero Medical Field Laboratory to do simple, timed tasks in response to electric lights and sounds. Failure to do so resulted a mild electric shock to the soles of his feet, while a correct response earned him a banana pellet. On January 31, 1961, Ham launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a sub-orbital flight. His vital signs and tasks monitored using computers on Earth. The capsule suffered a partial loss of pressure during the flight, but Ham's space suit prevented him from suffering any harm. Ham's lever-pushing performance in space was only a fraction of a second slower than on Earth, demonstrating that tasks could be performed in space. Ham's capsule splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean and was recovered by a rescue ship later that day, He only suffered a bruised nose. His flight was 16 minutes and 39 seconds long. After the flight, Ham lived for 17 years in the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. After his death in 1983, Ham's remains were buried at the International Space Hall of Fame in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Colonel John Stapp gave the eulogy at the memorial service.
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Alto School Con’t from page 25
Kids not performing were back off the curtain, on the north side of the stage, and Always a daddy or two would get a pretty silver spruce tree about 10 feet high and set appeared onstage as their part was announced by the teacher. Old Santa was it up on the stage, Mamas got together a ready outside as soon as the program was day before Christmas to decorate the tree. over. He would have bells to ring and he They used popcorn and cranberry strings dashed up the aisle to the stage to present around it from top to bottom and many gifts that the parents had bought. We got beautiful bulbs. One outstanding decoration generous bags of hard candy, nuts, popcorn was many colored paraffin candles, which and fruit. were placed in holders, clipped safely on a One Santa that I remember is still around. tree limb, and lit with matches. Shining tinsel waved through the branches. Coal-oil He is Rayford Burnett. He was a great Santa. We had one rancher couple in the lamps and tree candles were lit, it was area, Bruce and Maude, who seldom took beautiful sight. Some parent must have stood or sat near the tree to watch the safety part in a community gathering by giving volunteer time or money. of the candles during the program and Santa's visit. At one program when Red was Santa, he noticed Bruce in the audience. He took an Entertainment began at a certain time for the audience seated in the kid's eats-recited apple on a string that was part of the tree decorations and yelled out, " To Bruce poems, roup sons, and a Christmas play. Stuart from Bruce Stuart." Parents made their kids Christmas costumes. Some were made of crepe paper.
HUBBARD’S MUSIC & MORE Open to everyone to come in and enjoy gear and get questions answered. Family owned and operated, with the ultimate goal of providing the southwest with music and education.
108 Wyatt Dr, Las Cruces
(575) 526-8884
BLOOD in the SAND
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he mysterious disappearance of Colonel Albert Fountain and his son Henry is one of the most intriguing stories to come out of Southern New Mexico during the tumultuous late 19th century. lbert Jennings Fountain was a Civil War veteran, New Mexico legislator and prominent lawyer. Colonel Fountain and his young son were presumed murdered near White Sands while traveling between Lincoln and Las Cruces on February 1, 1896. Their bodies have never been found. Oliver Lee and James Gilliland were tried for their murder in 1898. Both were acquitted.
F
ountain was born in New York, and moved to El Paso, Texas after the Civil War. During the Civil War, he helped retake the New Mexico Territory for the Union. In El Paso, Fountain worked his way up to the Texas Senate. His right leaning Republican views didn't make him very popular in the
A F O F T
t the time, cattle rustling and rustler gangs were rampant in the area, particularly along the eastern and western slopes of the Organ Mountains.
ountain was involved in the prosecution of alleged cattle rustlers and local ranchers Oliver Lee and William McNew. The court hearings were taking place in Lincoln, site of the Grand Jury. Fountain made the trip in a horse drawn carriage along with his nine-year-old son, Henry.
n their return, it is said that there were men, three riders, like specters in the distance, that seemed to be awaiting something. Numerous passers by claimed to witness the men in the distance. ountain and his son were never seen again.
he next morning, an anxious Saturnino Barela, at the Chalk Hill crossing on his return trip to Las Cruces and Mesilla, discovered the tracks of Fountain’s waylaid buckboard. He found the hoof prints of strange horses. He saw no sign of the carriage, the horses, or Fountain and his son. He rushed across San Augustine Pass and down the mountain slope to Fountain’s home in Mesilla to alert the family. Story continues on page 42
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area. Eventually he decided it was too dangerous to live in El Paso and moved back to his wife's hometown, Mesilla where Fountain became a lawyer, and founded the Mesilla Valley Independent Newspaper
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Elf The Musical Tuesday, November 1 at 7pm, Wednesday, November 2 at 7pm ELF The Musical is about Buddy, a young orphan Child who crawls into Santa's bag of gifts one snowy Christmas night and is unknowingly transported back to the North Pole. Once discovered, he ends up being raised by Santa and taught to make toys alongside Santa's crew of elves. While Buddy out-jollies his elf peers by far with a true love of elfhood, his comparatively enormous size and pathetic toy-making skills prompts Buddy to face an agonizing truth: He simply doesn't fit in. Spencer Theater for the Performing Arts • 108 Spencer Road (888) 818-7872 & (575) 336-4800
VALLEY OF FIRES
The Carrizozo Malpais are a lava flow that formed by magma pouring out of a small crack in the earth's surface in a "Hawaiian-style" volcanic eruption. This type of eruption is very passive and is typically characterized by lava pouring from a small vent, and then traveling either across the earth's surface or through a series of lava tubes until it cools and solidifies. Geologists estimate that the entire Carrizozo eruption would have taken between 2 to 3 decades and that the eruption would have proceeded at a slow, steady rate. The vent from which the Carrizozo lava flows issued is at the north end of the lava flow field, and is called "Little Black Peak". Little Black Peak is a very small cinder cone, only 88 feet tall and appears surprisingly small to have produced the entire 4.3 cubic kilometers of lava the form the Carrizozo Malpais The Valley of Fires lava fields are reached by driving 4 miles northwest along US 380 from the junction with US 54 at Carrizozo. A short side road ends at a BLM-managed campsite, on a ridge of Dakota sandstone which overlooks a large expanse of lava, extending to low hills over 10 miles away on the hazy horizon. The ridge is a small remnant of the land before the eruption, just high enough to remain uncovered.
Continued from page 35 Two search parties, one of them led by Fountain’s son, rushed through the darkness of the icy night to the murder site. Helped by two Mescalero Apache scouts, they began piecing together the evidence as the sun rose over the Sacramento Mountains, on the eastern horizon. They found where a man had knelt and fired from behind a growth of shrubs, leaving shell casings on the ground. They discovered the site where two men had tended three horses. They followed wagon tracks and discovered a pool of blood. One man discovered a blood-soaked handkerchief with a nickel and a dime tied carefully in its corner. They followed the wagon tracks of the buckboard and the hoof tracks of six horses east for some 12 miles, into sand dunes west of the Jarillas. There, they discovered the carriage, which had been plundered and abandoned. They tried to follow the tracks of the killers. One trail led toward one of Oliver Lee’s ranches, where trackers found a threatening reception In the days to come, new posses joined the search, hoping the find the bodies of Fountain and his son. Rumors swirled throughout the desert and across the country. Newspapers covered the story in detail. The governor of New Mexico offered a reward for the capture of the killers. The Republican Party and the regional cattlemen mourned Fountain’s passing. So all that was ever found was a bloodsoaked handkerchief, some tracks, and tracker based evidence of a gunfight, or massacre.
CAPITAN Scenes from the 1920’s
Family waiting for Train at the Three Rivers Station
Home of Galindo’s Monster Green Chili Burger
Al-O-Mar Restaurant
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205 Central Ave, Tularosa (575) 585-2129