The Ralston City – Gila River Railroad
As well as the many references to transporting water from the San Simon or Gila rivers to Ralston, there are also several references to the planned construction of a railroad from Ralston City to the Gila River, most notably by Arnold and Cooper during their “promotional campaign” in November of 1870. The pair even went so far as to tell Editor Wasson of the Arizona Citizen that Asbury Harpending was already in the process of acquiring the machinery necessary to begin construction.⁹⁸ The railroad was to be used for the transportation of ore from the Virginia Mining District to the river, where mills would be erected to process it.
Some have, mistakenly, come to the conclusion that this railroad was indeed part of Harpending’s great plan for Ralston City, referring to it as a tramway which was to be constructed by engineers employed by the New Mexico Mining Company, managed by Asbury Harpending. The prospectus for the Pyramid Range Silver Mountain Company refers to a tramway. According to the “traditional” account, the tramway failed to materialize partly because the “rich pockets of ore” at Ralston quickly became depleted, the plan subsequently falling to the wayside amidst the turmoil of the Diamond Hoax.⁹⁹ In fact, the railroad proposal had nothing to do with either Asbury Harpending or the New Mexico Mining Company.
On June 15, 1870, a meeting was held at Ralston City, at which an association was formed “for the purpose of building a railroad” between the Virginia Mining District and the Gila River. The project was deemed essential to the development of any mines at Ralston; access was needed to both wood and a reliable volume of water, both of which were sorely lacking more immediate to the Virginia Mining District claims. The meeting was reported in the Weekly New Mexican of July 5th, and appeared in the form of a letter written by “Aztec” and addressed to the editors of the paper. It gives the names of those who had formed the association: Col. W. L. Rynerson, Col. Sam J. Jones, D. D. McCarthy [D. O. McCarthy], Captain John S. Crouch, and Col. H. H. Humphreys, who were to be the association’s directors, and George W. Hamor, Secretary and Treasurer of the association.
An interesting mix of names, but not one of which can be associated directly with the operations of the San Franciscans. It will be recalled that both Jones and McCarthy were described by Superintendent Power as being the leaders of those who had allegedly jumped several of the claims controlled by the San Francisco contingent.
McCarthy was one of the Incorporators of the San Diego and Arizona Mining Company, and was both President of and agent for that Company. Henry H. Humphreys is associated with that group of men from Fort Bayard, who were some of the earliest to record claims at both the Virginia Mining District and the Silver Flat Mining District; he was also one of the Incorporators of the Bayard Mining Company. Sam J. Jones, Rynerson, Crouch and Hamor are all found in association with Robert B. Willison and the Willison Silver Mining Company.
In May of 1870, Senate Bill S.955 was introduced by Senator Alexander McDonald of Arkansas. The bill requested that a grant of land be made to the Ralston City and Gila River Railroad Company of New Mexico; it was referred to the Committee on Public Lands.¹⁰⁰ The following month it went before the House of Representatives as H. R. No. 2107. It was presented by Jose Francisco Chavez, Delegate for New Mexico, to the House of Representatives; again it was referred. No further action was taken, and the bill was never enacted.¹⁰¹
On July 5, 1870, the Articles of Incorporation for the Ralston City and Gila River Railroad Company were filed, the Company having been formed on June 25th. The Company was incorporated with a capital stock of $1,500,000, consisting of 15,000 shares at $100 each, and Las Cruces was to be its principal place of business. It was formed “for the purpose of constructing and operating a Railroad from Ralston City to the Gila river, New Mexico at the most practicable point on said river.” The Articles of Incorporation are signed by William L. Rynerson, Robert B. Willison and Aaron H. Hackney, Directors. The name José de Jesus Baca also appears in the body of the document, along with those of Rynerson, Willison, and Hackney as the founders of the Company, Baca’s name however is struck through and he does not appear as one of the signatories.¹⁰²
The history of the Ralston-Gila river railroad involves much more than the mere incorporation of a company to carry out the project; it also provides us with some insight into the dynamics which were being played out between the various groups operating at Ralston in 1870.
Aztec’s letter of June 15 indicates that an alliance had been agreed upon between at least three different groups with interests in the Virginia Mining District – McCarthy representing the San Diego and Arizona Mining Company, Humphreys representing those associated with Fort Bayard, and Jones, Rynerson, Crouch and Hamor who were involved with Robert B. Willison. That the railroad company’s incorporation papers carry the names of Rynerson, Willison, and Hackney indicates that these were the originators of the plan, and that the other groups were in support of it. It is probable that these groups had a genuine desire to work and process the ores from their claims, and to try to make those claims viable and profitable; many of the claims owned by the San Diego and Arizona company were in the vicinity of Leitendorf’s Well, and were worth developing.
Of these names it was Rynerson who had the clout needed for laying the political groundwork for the construction of the railroad.
William L. Rynerson
William Logan Rynerson had first arrived in New Mexico with the California Volunteers during the Civil War. A Kentuckian by birth, he had gone to California during the gold rush days of the 1850s. On January 1, 1862, he enlisted in Company C, 1st Infantry, California Volunteers. By 1864, he was an Assistant Quarter Master with the rank of Captain, and was honorably mustered out as Captain and Brevet Lieut. Col. on November 3, 1866. After being mustered out, Rynerson settled in Doña Ana County and became deeply involved in politics, both at County and Territorial level, and had been admitted to the New Mexico Territorial Bar. He attended the 17th, 18th, and 19th Territorial Legislative Assemblies in 1867, 1868, and 1869; the first as the member for Doña Ana County, the latter two as member for both Doña Ana and Grant counties.¹⁰⁵
One of the more notorious incidents in Rynerson’s life was his shooting of John P. Slough who was at the time Chief Justice of the Territorial Supreme Court. In December of 1867, Rynerson was tried on a charge of murder, but was acquitted on the grounds of it having been an act of self defense. By mid-August of 1870, Rynerson was a post trader at Fort Bayard; in the same year he had also been appointed Adjutant General of New Mexico.
As well as his political career Rynerson, like many ex-California Volunteers, was heavily involved in mining enterprises within New Mexico Territory. Over the years he had owned outright or shared ownership in claims at Pinos Altos (where he also owned a quartz mill), Ralston City, Silver City and, later, the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces.
He was well acquainted with all of the other politically powerful figures of southern New Mexico and was, not surprisingly, a key member of what was known as the Santa Fe Ring, which was so succinctly described by Lamar as “essentially a set of lawyers, politicians, and businessmen who united to run the territory and to make money out of this particular region.”¹⁰⁴ Although a somewhat flexible association dependent on the requirements of any given undertaking, the Ring at various times included in its ranks such figures as Thomas B. Catron, Stephen B. Elkins and his law partner Henry Waldo, an assortment of County Probate Judges, and even a handful of Federal Judges; the latter including L. Bradford Prince who would later become Governor of New Mexico Territory, and who at one time described Rynerson both as having been a member of the Ring for 20 years, and as the man in charge of Doña Ana County. Lamar goes so far as to state that “from the late 1860s until 1885, nearly every governor appears to have been a member [of the Santa Fe Ring], as well as other federal officers.”¹⁰⁵ Rynerson would also be associated with the Lincoln County War of the late 1870s; Lawrence G. Murphy retaining both Rynerson and Catron as his attorneys.
It must have been a simple matter for the founders of the Ralston City to Gila River Railroad Company to have a bill introduced.
The construction of a railroad was only one part of the plan. The Weekly New Mexican of June 28, 1870 quotes a letter from Ralston which states that:
A town is to be laid out immediately upon the Gila river, two very eligible sites having been selected, one or both of which … will be improved, the land acquired under the town-site law of congress …
The July 5, 1870, Weekly New Mexican article referred to earlier also reported that the plan was not only to construct a railroad, but also to dig a canal and locate a town on the Gila River. On August 16th, the Weekly New Mexican reported that the paucity of both wood and water close to Ralston had:
Induced a company of gentlemen here to select and locate town and mill sites on the Gila river, some twenty-four miles from this place. This they have done to the great annoyance of the San Francisco empresarios who thought to undertake and secure the enterprise for themselves. Town, farm and mill sites are all secured, and the city is baptized AZTEC; so Aztec is to be the emporium of southwestern New Mexico.
The choice of name for the town site may well be of some significance. Mining Locations, Notices and Deeds, 1 (1870) contains two references to another town site, this one in the Virginia Mining District. Page 7 refers to a mining claim, the “Bowman” mine, made on the 18th of June, 1870. The claim was situated “about two miles North of the Town of Montazuma formerly [known] as the ‘Leidendorf’s Wells’.” The second reference, found on page 13, is to another mining claim, the “Flower” ledge and mine. This too is dated June 18th, and describes the claim as being “near the town of Montazuma formerly known as the ‘Leidendorf’s Wells’.” Both claims were made in the names of those who comprised the San Diego and Arizona Mining Company, including D. O. McCarthy who signs himself as “President, S. D. & A. M. Co.”
Montezuma and Aztec were the names of two of the three Lodges of the Free and Accepted Masons in New Mexico Territory at this time; Lodge # 109, Montezuma, at Santa Fe, and Lodge # 108, Aztec, at Las Cruces. Rynerson was one of the organizing members of the Grand Lodge in New Mexico in August of 1877.¹⁰⁶ Among its members, Montezuma Lodge counted such notables as Kirby Benedict, Charles P. Clever, Stephen B. Elkins, John S. Riley, Robert B. Willison and John S. Crouch, who we believe to be the owner of the nom de plume “Aztec.” William L. Rynerson was also a member of Montezuma Lodge, and had been a Past Master of Aztec Lodge; Lawrence G. Murphy was also a member of Montezuma Lodge at one time, as was Thomas B. Catron. It is probable that these town sites were named for these two Lodges.
The Willison Silver Mining Company
The next event of any significance to occur after the failure of the Pyramid Range Silver Mountain Company was the formation and incorporation of the Willison Silver Mining Company on January 25, 1871. The Incorporators were Lehman Spiegelberg,¹⁰⁷ Stephen B. Elkins, Thomas B. Catron, and the Governor of New Mexico Territory, William A. Pile. The Company was incorporated:
To acquire, to hold, to buy, to sell or convey mining property to work, smelt, or reduce silver ores, gold ores, erect machinery, construct roads, ditches, or tramways and do whatever is necessary for the prosecution of a general mining business.
Willison, Elkins, and Pile were to be the Company’s Directors for the first three months, and Santa Fe would be the principal place of business. The incorporation papers were filed on February 8, 1871.¹⁰⁸ At this time Willison still held the position of Draftsman in the Office of T. Rush Spence, Surveyor General of New Mexico, at Santa Fe.
Unfortunately, all of the claims purchased in the name of the Willison Silver Mining Company were situated on the much hyped “Brown” and “Harpending” ledges; ledges which held little or no silver ore of any practical worth. As well as these claims, Willison also made purchases in his name alone and made several new location claims. These new locations were made in conjunction with various combinations of people, most notably Aaron Hackney, John S. Crouch, Kirby Benedict, Thomas B. Catron, Governor Pile and Stephen B. Elkins.
Like so many other mining ventures in the Virginia Mining District, it seems that nothing much ever became of the Willison Silver Mining Company or any of the other proposals. No railroad or tramway to the Gila was ever constructed, no quartz mills were erected at Aztec, and no fortunes were ever realized on the strength of the District’s silver mines.
Both Rynerson and Hackney transferred their interests to newer and more profitable areas. The Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the year 1872 stated that Rynerson was running five large steam powered arrastras at the “flourishing young mining town of Silver City”, and was “doing a good business” with them. Hackney was reported as having recently commenced operations of “a fine ten-stamp mill” at the Lone Mountain Mining District. By 1873, Rynerson was advertising his services as an Attorney at Law in Mesilla.
Willison must also have been thankful that he had the foresight to acquire properties in the Silver Flat and Chloride Flat Mining Districts of Silver City in June of 1870 and February of 1871. In April of 1874, it was reported that he had made a rich strike on his “Texas” mine at Chloride Flat.
The next installment will be the final installment of Part IV. It will cover the decline of Ralston City, and the exodus of many of its inhabitants to the thriving new settlement of Silver City and its prospering mining districts. After that, we will commence Part V which covers Ralston City’s life under its new name of Shakespeare; a life every bit as interesting as it had been as Ralston City, and one which carries to this day its own share of myth and misinformation.
©2007-2024 Jim & Erica Parson
REFERENCES FOR THIS INSTALLMENT
⁹⁸Arizona Citizen. November 19, 1870. See also Daily Alta California. November 24, 1870.
⁹⁹Hill, Janaloo (1976) 1870-1970, One Hundred Years For Virden, New Mexico in: In The Shadow Of The Pyramids. Lordsburg Bicentennial Committee Publication. Pages 8-10.
¹⁰⁰Journal Of The Senate Of The United States Of America. Second Session of the Forty-First Congress, begun on December 6, 1969. Washington: Government Printing Office. Page 728.
¹⁰¹Information on the Ralston City and Gila River Railroad Company bill courtesy of Bernadine Goldman, Reference and Information Services Manager, and Margaret M. Wood, Legal Reference Librarian, both of Los Alamos County’s Mesa Public Library, 2400 Central Ave, Los Alamos, NM 87544.
¹⁰²Copy of Articles of Incorporation for the Ralston City and Gila River Railroad Company obtained from New Mexico State Records Center and Archives, New Mexico Library, Archives and Records Center Building, 1205 Camino Carlos Rey, Santa Fe, NM 87507.
¹⁰³Ritch, William G. (Secretary of the Territory) (1887) The Legislative Blue-Book, Of The Territory Of New Mexico. Santa Fe: Chas. W. Greene. Pages 112-113. Hereafter referred to as Ritch (1887).
¹⁰⁴Lamar, Howard Roberts (1966) The Far Southwest 1846-1912. A Territorial History. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. Page 146. Chapter 6 of this book provides an excellent account of the history of the Santa Fe Ring, those associated with it, and its far reaching influences.
¹⁰⁵Ibid. Page 147.
¹⁰⁶Ritch (1887). Page 33.
¹⁰⁷One of five Spiegelberg brothers, all born in Germany, Lehman was born in 1841. When he first arrived in New Mexico Territory, he began work as a clerk in the Spiegelberg Bros. mercantile store in Santa Fe. The firm had been established by Lehman’s two older brothers, Levi and Solomon, who had emigrated some years earlier. Lehman was later made a full partner in the firm. After 1866, Spiegelberg Bros. concentrated exclusively on the wholesale trade, closing down their retail business. They became major suppliers of goods to Indian reservations, with Lehman being awarded the first trading license issued at Fort Defiance for the Navajo reservation. In 1872, the brothers founded the Second National Bank of Santa Fe with Lehman as President. As well as being prominent and highly successful in the business world, the Spiegelbergs were leading figures in civic affairs.
They had held an interest in mining since the 1860s. Lehman was a New Mexico Territorial representative at both the National Silver Convention held at St. Louis in 1889, and the National Mining Congress held in Montana a few years later. [Jewish Museum of the American West. http://www.jmaw.org accessed February 11, 2015, and: Tobias, Henry J. A History of the Jews in New Mexico (1990). Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.]
David L. Caffey [Chasing The Santa Fe Ring. Power And Privilege In Territorial New Mexico (2014). Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.] writes that the Spiegelberg brothers have been associated with the Santa Fe Ring, with Lehman’s name connected to other alleged Ring members in, for example, the Santa Fe and Denver Railroad Company. As far as the Willison Silver Mining Company is concerned, Elkins, Catron, and Pile were known to have been part of the Ring.
¹⁰⁸Articles of Incorporation for the Willison Silver Mining Company obtained from the New Mexico Records Center and Archives. Santa Fe.
¹⁰⁹Annual Report Of The Secretary Of The Interior On The Operations Of The Department For The Year 1872. Washington: Government Printing Office (1872). Page 126.
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