~ Est 1983 ~
History of Roswell, New Mexico on the Goodnight-Loving Trail
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ROSWELL HISTORY
From the Jornado Mogollon to the Goodnight-Loving Trail to UFOs
Pre-History
Ten to twenty thousand years ago ancient peoples including Sandia
(“san-DEE-ah”) Man, Clovis Man, and Folsom Man—all named after the New
Mexico locations where their artifacts were first discovered—roamed the
plains of eastern New Mexico hunting ice-age mammals.
By 100 AD their semi-nomadic descendents were cultivating crops of corn,
then beans, squash, and cotton: a skill that spread north from central
Mexico along with pottery making, weaving, and religious beliefs.
Then by 900 AD, the Jornada Mogollon (“hor-NA-da moggy-YAWN”) people lived in
small villages of pit houses and adobe structures throughout
Southeastern New Mexico. In addition to small-scale farming, the
Jornado Mogollon depended on the abundant bison in the fertile Pecos Valley for
food and clothing materials. Beginning in the 1400s nomadic bands of
Apaches and Navajos, then Comanches, moving into the Southwest from the
Northern Plains replaced the Jornado Mogollon.
The Rule of Spain and Mexico
Spaniards Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca in 1536, Francisco Coronado in
1540, and Antonio de Espejo in 1583 led the first European explorers
into the Pecos Valley. All were just passing through. In 1590 Gaspar
Castano de Sosa led an unauthorized group of 170 potential settlers up
the Pecos River from Mexico to near Taos in Northern New Mexico, but he
was promptly arrested for his efforts. (Easterners please note: all of
this took place long before anyone ever heard of Jamestown or Plymouth
Rock.)
The Roswell area was pretty much ignored by Europeans and Native
Americans, other than roving bands of Apaches and Comanches, for the
rest of Spain’s rule of our region (until 1821) and throughout Mexican
sovereignty (1821-1848).
Early Settlers in the American Era
The Roswell area and most of New Mexico became an American Territory in
1850 as a result of the 1848 Mexican War.
During the 1850s groups of Mexican farmers began to migrate north into
this new area of the United States looking for better economic
opportunities—sound familiar?
About 1865 a group of Hispanics already living in Northern New Mexico
moved south and established a settlement 15 miles (24 km) west of
today’s Roswell on the Hondo River, a tributary of the Pecos River. They
named their village—among other things—Plaza de Missouri, not because
they were Missourians but because some had worked as freighters on the
Santa Fe Trail, which originated in Missouri, and they thought this name
would give their town “class.”
Another group moving north from Mexico settled 15 miles (24 km) down the
Hondo River at the site of the present-day Roswell neighborhood of
Chihuahuita (“chee-hwah-HWEE-tah”). They evidently had fewer aspirations
than their upstream neighbors and simply called their settlement Rio
Hondo.
A third group of Hispanics settled a few miles to the northeast of Rio
Hondo on another small tributary of the Pecos, and similarly called
their settlement and river, El Berrendo (“beh-REN-doh”), which means
“the mottled one,” referring to the abundant herds of pronghorn antelope
in the area.
Plaza de Missouri initially flourished by raising crops to supply Fort
Stanton to the west, but as upstream farmers and ranchers diverted more
and more water from the Hondo River for irrigation, their agriculture
suffered. Settlers had abandoned the town by 1872.
El Berrendo also flourished until raids by renegade cowboys during the
Lincoln County War routed out all of the settlers in 1878.
Rio Hondo managed to persist, but underwent substantial changes.
Cattlemen and Cowboys
After the Civil War, Manifest Destiny and the Homestead Act brought
Americans westward in droves where they rapidly overwhelmed Hispanic
culture in Southeastern New Mexico.
In 1866 Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving brought their herd of Texas
longhorns westward to the Pecos River at a point 200 miles (320 km)
south of Roswell. From there they drove their cattle up the Pecos River
through the Roswell area to Fort Sumner, 85 miles (135 km) to the north,
and sold most of the herd to the United States Army to feed the
(eventually) 9,000 Navajos and Apaches held in captivity at nearby
Bosque Redondo (“BOS-kay reh-DON-doh”). Oliver Loving continued on
northward another 450 miles (725 km) to Denver with the rest of the
herd. Their Goodnight-Loving Trail became the standard route for cattle
drives from southern Texas and New Mexico to markets farther north in
New Mexico and in Colorado and Wyoming.
The following year, 1867, Texas cattleman John Chisum began driving his
own cattle up the Goodnight-Loving Trail, acquiring land along the way
in Southeastern New Mexico. He also drove herds from the Roswell area up
the Hondo River to Fort Stanton, or on westward through the Organ
Mountain Gap and across the plains of southern New Mexico to Arizona.
This route became known as the Chisum Trail—not to be confused with the
“Come a tie yie yippee, yippee yea” Chisholm Trail in Texas.
The Anglo town of Roswell got its start as a camping spot on the
Goodnight-Loving Trail about that same time. Abundant water and grass
where the Hondo River flowed into the Pecos River satisfied the herds. A
trading post appeared, followed by gambling halls and other
establishments designed to satisfy the hard-living cowpunchers.
Professional gambler Van Smith purchased these few buildings from the
original owner in 1869 and called the settlement “Roswell” after his
father, Roswell Smith, establishing a Post Office here in 1873.
Anglo settlers, most with ties to the Old South, rapidly came to
dominate Southeastern New Mexico, making it distinctly different from
the rest of the Hispanic-dominated Territory and giving rise to its
nickname, “Little Texas.” In 1875 Chisum moved his headquarters to South
Spring Ranch, four miles (6 km) southeast of “downtown” Roswell. First
John Chisum, then Captain Joseph Lea (“LEE”), then many other settlers,
established vast cattle empires throughout the area. Cattle ranching
dominated Southeastern New Mexico from 1870 through 1900. The Lincoln
County War from about 1878 to about 1881, fought between two rival
factions each trying to establish economic dominance, took its toll here
but made Billy the Kid and our Sheriff Pat Garrett famous.
Artesian Water, Agriculture, and the County Seat
After the discovery of artesian water in Roswell in 1890, agriculture
grew in importance and Roswell’s population boomed. Now that abundant
water was available for irrigation, cotton and alfalfa farming began to
develop, along with vast apple orchards. When the railroad arrived in
1894 it brought even more new settlers, as well as “lungers”—TB patients
looking for a therapeutic climate. The railroad also allowed export of
agricultural and ranching products. About this time cattle ranching
declined here because of drought, overproduction, and the end of the
open range, but sheep ranching and the wool industry grew.
As the county seat of newly formed Chaves County—carved out of Lincoln
County in 1889—Roswell attracted lawyers as well as bankers and
merchants. Settlers also moved here because of its educational
opportunities: good public schools, then the New Mexico Military
Institute and much later, Eastern New Mexico University at Roswell.
Roswell rapidly became the agricultural, commercial, political, and
cultural center of Southeastern New Mexico.
The Oil Patch
Wildcat oil drilling moved west from Texas into New Mexico in the 1920s.
Early wells produced signs of oil, but not until 1924 did wildcatters
bring in their first gusher near Artesia, 50 miles (80 km) south of
Roswell. Over the next few years it became clear that eastern New Mexico
was an important part of the Oil Patch—the Permian Basin Oilfield that
underlies eastern New Mexico and western Texas. Roswell developed as a
business center for oil field exploration and production companies, and
as a place for roughnecks and roustabouts, like cattle punchers before
them, to spend their hard-earned money.
The Military
The Great Depression interrupted steady growth in Roswell during the
1930s as it did everywhere else, but the economic boom resumed with
World War II, helped by the establishment of Roswell Army Air Field just
south of town in 1941. The RAAF trained pilots and bombardiers
throughout World War II. After the Air Force became independent from the
Army in 1947, the RAAF became Walker Air Force Base, an important
Strategic Air Command location.
From Struggling Little Town to the Hub of Southeastern New Mexico
Roswell lost one-third of its population when Walker Air Force Base
closed in 1967. Economic recovery was slow, but an initiative to promote
Roswell’s warm climate and low cost of living to retirees aided growth.
The facilities of the former Air Force base were developed as the
Roswell Industrial Air Center, attracting light manufacturing and
businesses related to air transportation.
Fruit orchards had declined in the 1930s after a severe freeze but
agriculture remained strong. Important crops in Roswell today include
cotton, alfalfa, chile, and in recent years, pecans. Dairy farming has
grown steadily over the last 20 years.
Tourism, based primarily on Roswell’s status as the world’s premier UFO
site, increased steadily after publicity surrounding the 1997 Fiftieth
Anniversary celebration of the Roswell UFO Crash. Talk of an
alien-themed amusement park and resort complex promises even greater
growth.
Roswell moves into the Twenty-First Century promoting itself as the Hub
of Southeastern New Mexico. Its historical enterprises of ranching and
farming, oil and gas, business and commerce, education, and medical care
continue strong today, while tourism is rapidly becoming a major
economic force.
To read more about the history of Roswell . . .
BUY the paperback version
(single copies or in bulk) of Lynn Michelsohn's guidebook
Roswell,
Your Travel Guide to the UFO Capital of the World!
also $9.99 on
Kindle
and available from other online booksellers, through your local
bookstore, or on
NOOK.
Also available . . .
Roswell, NM: The Ten Best FREE Things To Do (Plus a Few More)
Your Brief Travel Guide to Fun in the UFO Capital of the World!
$2.99 on
Kindle
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