Part Four – A Trip To Ralston City.
There have been many discussions held and suppositions made over which of the Cienega’s “residents” went down to Ralston City (Shakespeare) to inspect the new silver discoveries there, with varying combinations of people, up to 8 in number, named as members of the party which first went to Ralston. Rose names the Bullard brothers, John Swisshelm and Joseph Yankie; Ashenfelter the two Bullard brothers. Naegle devotes a lengthy footnote to discussion of the subject and cites the Las Cruces Borderer of March 16, 1871, which he says provides the earliest contemporary account of the event, but which says only that the party was led by the Bullards.
The confusion and misinformation continues to be disseminated into the present day, as is illustrated by the plaque erected by Silver City’s Centennial Committee on the grounds of the Grant County Courthouse in Silver City.
Dedicated on May 10, 1970, the plaque was intended to mark :
“… the duplication of the ride by the Grant County Sheriff’s posse of the ride of: John Bullard, James Bullard, Andrew Hurlburt, Joseph Yankie, John Swisshelm, Henry Fuson, Elijah Weeks, Richard Yeaman 100 years ago, and the discovery at this site of silver ore, which led to the opening of the Legal Tender mine causing the establishment of the town of Silver City.”
(A photograph of the plaque can be viewed at: http://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=126684)
The Las Cruces Borderer item was, however, not the earliest and therefore not the most contemporary account. The Santa Fe Daily New Mexican of April 18, 1870, had, one year earlier, described the “great rush of the people of Pinos Altos, Rio Mimbres, Las Cruces, Mesilla and the lower country” to the Ralston mines, and further stated that “a number of gentlemen – namely Messrs. McDonald, Judge Hudson, Milby, Yeomans, Bullard, Bisby, Lemon, Jones and others, have visited the new mines”. The article makes no claim that all of these people visited as a single group, but of this list, 5 had definite associations with Pinos Altos and, or soon would have, an association with Silver City: Hudson, Yeomans/Yeamans, Milby, Bullard and McDonald*.
Richard “Dick”Hudson. Undated photo (#1.23.1) from the Harlan collection. Courtesy of Silver City Museum collection. Hudson was the first Sheriff of Grant County, and Probate Judge (1871-1873) at the County Seat in Pinos Altos. Pinos Altos was the County’s second location for the seat, the first being Central City when the County was formed in 1868. The seat was subsequently relocated to Silver City in 1874.
Once again we return to William Milby. As stated earlier, we believe that he was a key figure in the events that led to the first mining claims here. Amidst the many discussions of exactly who it was that comprised the party that went to Ralston his name is given little attention. This has led to one piece of information being completely overlooked – Milby had been physically present at Ralston since at least April 22, 1870, appointed to the position of Deputy Probate Clerk, and assigned to the Virginia Mining District.
It is highly likely that the large number of claims and sales being generated at Ralston necessitated the presence there of an on-site County officer to make the official entries into the County Records. The Mining Deed Book for 1868-1870 shows that Milby made his first such entry “at Ralston” on April 22, and that he remained there until the 19th of May; after this date the majority of Virginia Mining District transactions are sanctioned by Henry O. Rogers, Notary Public.
We now know from the Daily New Mexican that Milby had gone to Ralston by April 18, 1870, and that Hudson, Yeamans, McDonald and at least one of the Bullards had also visited there by the same date. It is inconceivable that any of these men would have traveled the distance of over 50 miles from Pinos Altos alone, through the heart of Apache territory. It is conceivable that they traveled as a group, or as part of an even larger group, with the dual purposes of both casting an eye over the claims at Ralston and providing an escort for Milby who was being sent there as a County official. Perhaps with John Bullard, Captain of the local militia, heading the party. This may well have been the “Grant County Sheriff’s posse” referred to in the Courthouse memorial plaque.
As regards the famous exclamation “Well boys! If that’s silver ore, I know where there’s plenty of it!” of one thing we can be absolutely sure – the high grade silver chloride which they saw at Ralston most definitely did not originate from the ledges around that settlement. There was no such ore in the dikes and outcroppings visible in those hills immediate to Ralston … but that is another story altogether!
After seeing the specimens of silver chloride at Ralston, and recognizing that there was an abundance of the exact same mineral right on their own doorsteps, the party (Hudson, Yeamans, McDonald, and one of the Bullards) saddled up, galloped for home, collected samples for assay, staked out their first three claims, formed the “Bullard Mining Company”, and the mining boom at La Cienega de San Vicente was under way. The rest, as they say, is history. The boom would lead to a rapid influx of settlers in the vicinity of “La Cienega de San Vicente”, and within a very short period of time the old name would be replaced by that of Silver City, and that is how our town came to be. Well, that may be A history but it is not THE history; certainly not all of it anyway. Here it is important to stress that Silver City began life a a mining town, not a cattle town as is sometimes claimed. Ranching would not become a viable, profitable, or practical proposition until the arrival of the railroad. The SPRR did not reach Lordsburg until the Fall of 1880; it reached Deming in March of the following year. It would not be until 1883 that the Silver City, Deming & Pacific narrow gauge line was construced from Deming to Silver City. It was converted to standard gauge the following year
Grant County records reveal that John and James Bullard and their associates – Richard Yeamans, Joseph T. Yankie, Henry Fuson, Elijah Weeks, Andrew J. Hurlburt and John Swisshelm – were not the only ones who staked their claims to the mineral wealth in the hills west of the spring on May 27, 1870. What is more, the Bullard contingent in fact made 5 claims, the “Summit” and the “N.E. “, as well as the three most often talked about – the “Legal Tender”, the “Twin Lode No. 1” and the “Twin Lode No. 2”. On the very same date claims were made by two other groups of men. Firstly, James Fresh, Felix DeMoss, George Spears, James B. Woods and Silas Tidwell, who made a claim of 1,000 feet on the “Summit” lode, the claim witnessed by Henry Fuson, Silver Flat Mining District Recorder, and Joseph Yankie.
John Swisshelm. Undated photo (#1.40.1) from the Harlan collection. Courtesy of Silver City Museum collection.
Plat of the Legal Tender mining claim, Silver Flat Mining District. Fraser survey, October 1879.
Secondly, A. B. Jerome, H. P. Sherman, Charles Steelhammer, Henry Humphreys, John A. Miller, John S. Mason, William Kelly, Edward Whittimore, A. Judson Gray and William H. Eckles who together claimed the “Democrat” ledge, recorded as having been discovered by John Eckles. The claim was witnessed by John Bullard and John Swisshelm.
This is a particularly interesting group. Fort Bayard post returns for May of 1870 give the following information about them:
Brevet Brigadier General John S. Mason, Major, 15th U. S. Infantry, on Detached Service at Fort Bayard, Commander of the Post since October of 1869.
Brevet Major William Kelly, Captain, 8th U. S. Cavalry.
Captain Charles Steelhammer, 15th U. S. Infantry.
Brevet Captain A. B. Jerome, 1st Lieutenant, 8th U. S. Cavalry.
Brevet Major Whittimore, Captain, 15th U. S. Infantry.
Brevet Major John Eckles, 1st Lieutenant, 15th U. S. Infantry, Post Quartermaster since October of 1869.
Henry Sherman, 2nd Lieutenant, Post Adjutant and Treasurer since January 1870.
A. J. Gray, citizen, Physician, assigned to Post November 1869.
Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Henry Humphreys, 1st Lieutenant, 15th U. S. Infantry, absent on Detached Service.
J. A. Miller was listed as Post Trader at the Garrison of Fort Bayard on the 1870 Census.
William H. Eckles, also listed as Post Trader, Fort Bayard, on the 1870 Census.
Fort Bayard soldiers had also been among the first to record claims in the Virginia Mining District (Ralston City). On April 7, 1870 four enlisted men, together with Adam Mower, a domestic servant at Fort Bayard, made two claims there. In June of that year numerous claims were made at Ralston by Fort Bayard personnel, many of those claims in the names of those listed above. What was perhaps one of the earliest buildings at Ralston – the old mercantile store – also had a connection to Fort Bayard; it was built by William Eckles and Martin Bremen some time before August of 1870, with William selling his one half interest in it to his brother Samuel in that month. Samuel H. Eckles is listed as a clerk in the store at Fort Bayard on the 1870 Census.
May 27th was not the only busy day in the vicinity of the Ojo de San Vicente. The following day, the Bullard brothers, Yankie, Yeamans, Swisshelm, Fuson, Weeks, and Hurlburt made a sixth claim; this time for water. Together they located and claimed 1,600 feet (200 feet per person) of water rights “beginning at the boundary of Bullard and Milby’s ranch thence running in a southern direction for sixteen hundred feet to a monument of stones erected by us on the right hand side of the stream”, the stream of course being that which ran southward in the gulch below the Ojo de San Vicente. The land originally preempted by Milby and Bullard included the site of the spring itself. This May 28th preemption now gave this group absolute claim over all the water in the valley. Water was crucial not only to farming, but also to the processing of ore.
The records of the first seven mining claims reveal more information essential to an understanding of the early history of Silver City:
– The Silver Flat Mining District was in existence at the time of the first claims. It was not named as the result of a miner’s meeting held in early June of 1870, as claimed by Ashenfelter. It was standard practice that a Mining District be organized before any claims were recorded; its rules and laws had to be drawn up, adopted and approved by the miners ( See section “Mining History” at https://westernmininghistory.com ). A District Recorder had to be elected and of course, a name for the district had to be chosen. The “Silver Flat Mining District” is referred to by name in the location notices of the majority of these first seven claims.
-There was no “Bullard Mining Company” organized to work these first claims. The records for these claims state only that: “We of the County of Grant and Territory of New Mexico associate ourselves together as a mining company …” (location notice for “Legal Tender”). The location notice for the “Twin Lode No. 2” is very similarly worded. The notice for the “N.E. ” mine states that it was “discovered by the above named company”. The word “company” in this sense should be taken to mean that there was an affiliation between this group of men, that their claims were a co-operative venture. The “company” was not an officially incorporated body as such; there are no Articles of Incorporation for such a company.
– Finally we come to what is probably the most enduring myth of all; the myth of the naming of Silver City. Ashenfelter’s piece includes an account of the “heated discussions” held at the Legal Tender corral in the early summer of 1870, shortly after the corral had been established. She describes how “a considerable number” of the residents of the new town “insisted upon retaining the name of San Vicente.” Rose too writes of the disharmony which arose from the debate over a name, and says that “after much wrangling and lengthy discussion” the name Silver City was finally decided upon.
In truth, the townsite had always been “Silver City” – neither “La Cienega de San Vicente” nor “San Vicente”, nor indeed anything else. It had borne the name Silver City probably since before it had more than a handful of residents, and certainly before the Legal Tender corral was erected. Richard Hudson did not purchase the land on which it was to stand until the end of June of 1870 when, on June 27th, William and Rebecca Milby sold to him “a one half undivided interest in the ranch preempted by Wm. M. Milby … said ranch being situated on the Cienega de San Vicente.”
Silver City had been Silver City since the day the very first claims were made – perhaps even since shortly before – by Bullard et al on May 27, 1870, as illustrated by the following entries:
Mining Deed Book 1868-1870, P. 306. Claim for the “Summit Lode”, May 27, 1870:
“Situated in Precinct No. 1 (one) Silver Flat Mining District County of Grant … beginning at a certain monument of stone erected by us on the ledge or near the summit of the Hill west of Silver City”.
Mining Locations and Deeds, 1870. P. 238. Claim for the “N. E.” mine. May 27, 1870:
“… beginning at a certain monument of stone erected by us about one fourth of a mile west of Silver City”.
On May 30 we find another reference to Silver City in the claim made by J. S. Campbell and Henry Barton for the “Bullion” lode “about ¾ of one mile Southwest of Silver City in Silver Flat Mining District.”
There is little room for doubt that Silver City was named by Bullard et al sometime between mid-April of 1870, after the trip to Ralston, and May 27, 1870, the date of the first claims. Information received from Mr. Gerald Yankie of Santa Barbara, CA states that Joseph Trimble Yankie himself laid claim to the naming of Silver City**. The fact that it was named by this latter date leads us to the conclusion that the townsite had been laid out and a name decided upon prior to this date, and that at least some of the first claims had been marked off before May 27. It would have physically impossible to have done all of this in one day.
The 5 claims made by Bullard and his associates on May 27, together with their water location of the following day and the original land preemption still retained by Milby and Bullard meant that this group of men owned not only the majority of the first mining claims adjacent to Silver City, but also Silver City itself. It might be said that the nascent Silver City was to all intents and purposes akin to being a “company” town, and perhaps that’s what it was intended to be.
No doubt readers will have noticed that in the MIlby/Hudson sale mentioned above, there is indeed a reference to “the Cienega de San Vicente”. Might this throw doubt upon our assertion that this was not the old name of Silver City? No so. It was the name given to the small stream which flowed from the Ojo de San Vicente.
In 1873 a survey of the Silver City townsite was carried out. It was done, at the request of the town’s inhabitants, by Robert M. Kidder, Deputy Surveyor, under contract to James K. Proudfit, Surveyor General of New Mexico. Marked on the plat is the stream, which is clearly labeled as “Cienega de San Vicente”. The February 1870 McGhee to Searcy sale also refers to the “small stream of water called the Senega”, as does the record of Martin Bremen’s September 1871 notice that he had “taken out a Ditch on the stream known as the Cieneg de San Vicente”.
Section of Kidder’s 1873 Silver City Townsite Survey showing the location of the Legal Tender mine in relation to the townsite
Enlarged to show “Cienega de San Vicente”
In July of 1870 we find in Grant County record books the first record of a sale of lots in Silver City. On July 2nd John Bullard and John Swisshelm sold Lot No. 5 in Block No. 17 to Frederick Mercier. By cross referencing these numbers with John R. Fraser’s 1879 map of Silver City, we know that this small lot fronted onto Main Street and was situated just north of the intersection of Main and Broadway. On August 18th William Milby sold Lot No. 2 in Block No. 5 to one James McLeod. This lot also fronted onto Main Street and ran parallel with Spring Street; it was situated at the southeast corner of the intersection of these two streets, on the north side of Spring Street.
Unlike the vast majority of boom camps and towns, the strikes of the Silver Flat Mining District did not generate an immediate and rapid influx of large numbers of miners, speculators and promoters; neither was there a similar surge in the number of service industries which went hand in hand with any such strike. Most noticeable is, as per the 1870 Census, the complete absence of saloons and retail liquor merchants. In this aspect Silver City was a notable oddity. It seems that in the early months the town’s growth proceeded at a somewhat sedate pace. At the time of the Census it had a total population of only 80 people, 41 of whom were miners, divided amongst a total number of 30 dwellings. Only one merchant is listed – Richard Yeamans, who gives his occupation as retail grocer. If Silver City could have been compared at this time to a “company” town, it might be perhaps fair to say that Yeamans, one of the locators on the first claims, was in charge of the “company” store.
Compare this with Ralston City; approximately one month older than Silver City, the Census return for this settlement gives a total population of 174 and includes 2 retail liquor dealers, 2 retail grocers, 2 dry goods merchants, 2 butchers, a baker and even a restaurateur.
Yes, Silver City was putting down roots; it would of course become established and it would thrive – unlike so many other short-lived settlements founded on silver or gold strikes, which died as soon as they were born. However, one cannot help but wonder if Silver City might not have suffered the same fate if the even richer and more abundant ores of the Chloride Flat Mining District, located about 2 miles west of the town, had not existed, for it was only after the discovery of these in September of 1870 that Silver City really began to thrive and grow at a much faster rate.
*See again 1870 Federal Census at: files.usgwarchives.net/nm/grant/census/1870/grnt1870.txt
** The Yankie family history (yankie.net) states that Yankie and Swisshelm were cousins, and that he, Swisshelm, and James Bullard had discovered rich copper oredeposits about a mile west of Morenci in 1870, returning there in 1872 with William Rynerson to stake claims
Thanks go to Ashley Smith, Registrar/Collections Manager at Silver City Museum.
©2007-2023 Jim & Erica Parson
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