Pioneer story
from WPA Writers' Project, 1936 to 1940
•
Pioneer Story of Mrs. Sarah Hughes in Southeastern New Mexico
Here is the pioneer story of Mrs. Sarah Hughes who was 81 years old
in 1938. This oral history was obtained by Edith L. Crawford of Carrizozo
on May 24, 1938. Mrs. Crawford was working for a WPA Writers' Project
that paid local authors to collect oral histories of pioneers in New
Mexico. This pioneer story is now archived at the Library of Congress.
Mrs. Hughes said:
"I was married to George Madison Hughes, October 22, 1882, in Junction City,
Texas, and ten children were born to this union--two girls and eight boys.
We lived on a ranch seven miles north of Junction City on the north Llano
River where we raised hogs for the market and had a few head of cattle.
The country was wide open in those days, there were no fences, and our hogs
fattened on pecans and acorns.
"All of our children were sick most of the time, so Mr. Hughes decided to
move to New Mexico, as we had heard about the wonderful climate and
that it was a wonderful cattle country. In the spring of 1902, we sold
our ranch and hogs, keeping eighty head of cattle, ten horses, and three
hound dogs. We loaded our bedding, clothing, and provisions into three
covered wagons, and left Junction City, Texas, the twenty-second day of
August, 1902, for New Mexico.
"One wagon had a chuck box in the back and where we kept our dishes and
food. We had a cow hide streched under the wagon to carry our cooking
utensils and our water kegs were tied on the side of the wagon. This
wagon carried our provisions and bedding. The other two wagons were for
the family. I drove a spring wagon and had a pair of bed springs in the
back of the wagon for the smaller children to play and sleep on during
the day.
"The three oldest boys were the cowboys and drove the cattle. Mr. Hughes and
one of the other boys drove the other two wagons. We traveled very slowly
on account of the cattle. We slept out in the open at night as the weather
was very warm when we left Texas but it was awful dry. We spread a wagon
sheet down on the ground and made our beds on this and had another wagon
sheet to spread over us in case it rained at night. It only rained on us
twice during the whole trip.
"I did all the cooking with the help of my oldest girl. We made biscuits
and corn bread and baked them in dutch ovens. I used cream of tartar and
soda to make my bread with. We had three cows in the herd with young
calves and the boys milked the cows and we had plenty of fresh milk for the
children to drink.
"We brought all of our meat that we had smoked before leaving Texas. We
also brought a ten-gallon keg of homemade syrup that we traded hogs for.
We lost a lot of our syrup while crossing the plains as it got too warm and
it boiled over.
"When we stopped to camp at night the children would run wild on the flats
and we were always afraid they would get bit by a rattle snake as we saw so
many on the road during the day.
"Our stock suffered quite a bit for water and feed while we were crossing
the plains. One day in paticular I remember the cattle were badly in need
of water. We noticed a ranch house in the distance with a windmill and
tank. We drove by with the wagons to see if they would let us water the
cattle, but when the horses smelled the water they made a run for the
tank. We just couldn't hold them back and about that time two women came
out of the ranch house and ordered us off of the place as they said
'they only had water enough for their own stock.'
"We couldn't get the horses away until they got enough to drink. We didn't
even ask them to let us fill our water kegs after they acted so rude
towards us. The children all got a drink and we drove on. I thought those
were the meanest two women I ever heard of.
"We drove on and found a watering place that night at the Concho River.
We camped on the banks of the river for two days and let the cattle
rest and get all the water they wanted. We drove on across the plains
with the cattle. When we struck the line between Texas and New Mexico
they quarantined our cattle on account of ticks, and we had to leave them
in a pasture. We came on to hunt a location before the weather got too
cold.
"As we crossed the line into New Mexico we met a family by the name of
Turk, and they traveled with us as far as Roswell. We struck the Pecos
River at Eddy, New Mexico, where we camped on the river several days and
rested ourselves and teams. Here I did the family washing.
"There was lots of hard work and responsibility for me on this trip looking
after ten children and keeping them clean and fed. But the trip was well
worth all the hardships that we had as the children became healthy and tanned.
"One evening while we were camped on the Pecos River we were cooking supper,
I heard a shot and a woman scream. I told Mr. Hughes "to run quick as I
just know someone has shot Mrs. Turk." Mr. Hughes went over to the Turk
camp and found that one of the Turk boys had shot a big rattle snake that
had coiled and was just ready to strike his mother on the ankle when he shot.
We moved our camp that night for we were afraid there was another rattler
around.
"We left Eddy and came on to Roswell where we camped for a few days.
We decided we had rather be in the mountains than on the plains
so we we followed the Hondo River until we came to the Capitan Mountians.
We crossed over to the north side of the mountians and camped for the
winter. Mr. Hughes and the three oldest boys went back to the state line
after our cattle and brought them back to the Capitan Mountians and turned
them loose for the winter.
"Mr. Hughes began to look around for a place for us to live. He found a
place on the Bonito River three miles northeast of Angus, which is located
twenty-six miles southeast of Carrizozo. We moved our cattle over to this
place and turned them loose as the ranges were wide open in those days.
"We did some farming and sent the children to school at Angus (we also got
our mail at Angus) and the children rode horse back to school. We landed
on the Bonito May 12, 1903 and we lived on this place about four years.
"We needed better schools for our children so we sold our place and
cattle and moved to Carrizozo in 1907, where I have lived ever since.
The narrator of this pioneer story was Mrs. Sarah Hughes, who was 81
years old in 1938 and then living in Carrizozo, New Mexico.
New Mexico Wanderings
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