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Show 414 LEADING FACTS OF NEW MEXICAN NEW HISTORY for waste paper purposes. Many of them have since come to light. The counties of Colfax and Lincoln were created at this time. There was considerable advance in the mining industry during this administration.?*° enemy and reach Commodore Stockton at San Diego. Lieutenant Beale, U.S. N,, volunteered to accompany him. These brave men left the camp as soon as it was dark. They removed their shoes, in order to insure silence while passing the triple line of sentries around the foot of the hill. Several times, as they crept cautiously along, these sentinels could have touched them with their rifles. Their advance was very slow, but finally they cleared the Mexican lines. For a distance of more than two miles they had crawled upon the ground, sometimes each hearing the other’s heart beat, so deathly was the stillness. Through the thorny bushes and cactus they trod with shoeless feet. All that night and the day following and into the night they continued their journey. At last the challenge of the sentinel at San Diego was heard. They were taken into the presence of Commodore Stockton, their story was told and at once a force of 200 men was sent by forced marches to relieve Kearny and his men. Carson was detained in San Diego, as without proper care there was danger of losing both of his feet, so severely had they been lacerated. Lieu- tenant Beale was partially deranged by the hardship of the journey, and did not fully recover his health for more than two years. Returning to the east, by way of Santa Fé, bearing despatches, Carson was entertained at St. Louis, Missouri, by Thomas H. Benton. Reaching Washington, Mrs. J. C. Fremont met him at the station, declaring that her husband’s description of him .made an introduction unnecessary, and conducted him to her own and her father’s house. Carson was lionized while in Washington. From 1849 to 1854 Carson had many adventures with the Indians, relation. After the peace with Mexico, some of which are marvelous in the Carson built a home on the Rayado, where he lived with his wife and his niece, Teresina Bent, afterward the wife of Aloys Scheurich, who was with him when he died. was appointed Indian agent for the Ute, Apache In the year 1854, Carson and Pueblo tribes. This position he held until 1861. In the preceding year, on a trip to the San Juan country, in northwestern New Mexico, Carson fell from his horse and received injuries which were indirectly the cause of his death eight years later. When the Civil War broke out Carson immediately began the organization of @ regiment of volunteers, which became the 1st New Mexico cavalry, of which Colonel Céran St. Vrain was made colonel. This regiment was mustered at Fort Union. St. Vrain soon resigned and Carson became the commander. The regiment fought at Valverde and acquitted itself with credit. In 1863, Carson led an expedition against the Navajés. A portion of his command was mustered out at Alburquerque in 1865, the remainder of the regtment later garrisoning Fort Garland, Colorado. These were mustered out 0 Service at Santa Fé in 1867. During the last years of his life Carson lived with Thomas Boggs near the mouth of the Purgatoire river in Colorado. His wife died on the 27th day of April, 1867, and Carson passed away on the 23d day of May the year following, at Fort Lyon. A. monument to his memory stands in front of the Federal building at Santa Fé, erected by the G. A. R. A statue of Carson caps the frontiersman’s monument in Denver. Carson was physically a man of small stature; his forehead was large and his eyes €* pressive. He was fearless and a man of great intelligence although uneducated, and often had the officers of his command read to him, thus storing away 1? . retentive mind a wealth of knowledge that few of his time could equal. 840 According to the census of 1860, the population of the territory, ©* clusive of Indians was 80,567. The census of 1870 showed an increase 0 MEXICO DURING THE CIVIL WAR 415 In 1871 Marsh Giddings was appointed governor by President Grant. This period marked the first investment of foreign capital in lands in New Mexico. Lucien B. MaxADMINISTRATION OF well,**? son-in-law of Carlos Beaubien, GOVERNOR MARSH GIDDINGS one of the original grantees of the famous Beaubien and Miranda land grant, at this time known as the ‘‘Maxwell Ranch,’’ sold the property to Jerome B. Chaffee, David H. Moffatt, and Wilson Waddingham, who six 90,573, of which 82,193 were natives of the territory ; 2,760 born in other parts of the United States; 3,903 Mexicans, and 1,717 other foreigners. The assessed valuation of property in 1870 was $18,000,000, less than in 1860, when it was $20,000,000; the decrease was brought about mainly through the cutting off of Arizona and the lower portion of the state of Colorado. The Moreno mines were still being successfully worked and yielded in 1869, $200,000 while in 1870 the production showed a marked increase. Many rich silver lodes were discovered in Grant county. Silver and copper were found in Socorro county and anthracite coal was being mined in Santa F% county, near the placer workings. On July 8, 1869, telegraphic communication was opened to the east. In this year was published the first newspaper in Colfax county, the Lantern, issued at Elizabethtown, then a thriving mining community. The Sisters of at Las Vegas. a school established Loretto There were no public buildings in New Mexico during this period with the exception of the old palace which was used for all public purposes. On this structure, Sum of five thousand in 1866-67, repairs were made The condition dollars. at government expense in of this building was made the the subject of many reports by many governors. In 1868-69 the secretary of the territory was made ex-officio superintendent of public buildings, with a salary additional of $1,000; the salary clause was repealed in 1872. See 42d cong., 2d There were estimates as to repairs made by various sess., H. Hx. Doc. 128. Sovernors and secretaries, but little was ever done. ' The finances of the territory from 1864 to 1871 seem to have been fairly In the first named year, there was surplus in the treasury of $5,416. good. Three years later this surplus only amounted to $15 and in the following year had increased to $17,029. In 1871 the debt amounted to $70,000. ‘ The imposed 1869-70 act of revenue a tax territorial and five cents for county purposes. was ina exempted $41 Lucien also taxation; from county was Benjamin created Maxwell for Property to the value of $500 implements certain January cents on the $100 of twenty 16, and certain and Colfax county was a native of Kaskaskia, stock. live January 25, Illinois, and be- Every came one of the most striking figures of the early mountain frontier. Beaubien, trader and plainsman in the Rocky Mountain region knew Maxwell. the father-in-law of Maxwell, and Guadalupe Miranda received from the Mex- can government, during the administration of governor Manuel Armijo, the Beaubien stant of land which later became famous as the Maxwell land grant. Beaubien died in 1864 finally purchased Miranda’s interest in the property. and Maxwell purchased the grant from the heirs, becoming its sole proprietor. He made large sums of money thereafter in various ways and finally built for himself a great house at Cimarron, where he entertained lavishly. This house, at the time, was as much of a palace as the times and the country could afford. Many men famous in those days were his guests. His table service was for the most part of sterling silver. Covers were laid daily for more than two dozen |