Rambles on the frontier

In 1928, retired judge O. W. Williams of Ft. Stockton, Texas wrote down recollections of his life on the New Mexico frontier 50 years before. They provide a glimpse into the activity in two interesting mining camps: Carbonateville and Shakespeare. Williams graduated from Harvard Law School in 1876. But upon developing lung trouble, his doctor sent him to the arid Southwest to recover. Landing in Dallas, he found that place already overstocked with lawyers. So he turned his interest to mining speculation. Hearing of a new boom in Leadville, Colorado, he enlisted the company of several friends. One of the men was J. W. Bell, an ex-Texas Ranger. Commented Williams long afterward: "For Bell the fates here began to spin a thread of life with an evil ending. He was killed by Billy the Kid at the Lincoln County Courthouse two years later."...His return to New Mexico the following spring was made by lurching stagecoach, via Ft. Worth, San Angelo, Ft. Stockton and El Paso. At the latter place he stopped over briefly at an adobe hotel next to the stage corral. El Pasoans were then much excited over the approach of two railroads. Williams declares with astonishment that downtown property was selling "at the exorbitant price of $100 a lot." Continuing into New Mexico, Williams changed coaches at Mesilla for Shakespeare. The passengers were all frightened with dire warnings of Apache attack. Half way to Ft. Cummings (above present Deming), they encountered dead oxen and burned out freight wagons. A little beyond was a curious sight: stamped envelopes stuck to the tops of dry yucca stems, leading in a straight line across the desert....