After the discovery of the brothers’ activities, two miners were murdered near Fairplay, Colorado. A party of miners tracked the murderers and found a camp where a man was saddling a horse. He was identified as one of the Espinosa brothers. The miners opened fire on the man and in a quick gunfight, were able to shoot him down. In the confusion that followed, the other brother was able to slip away, posing as a member of the posse. The miners were unable to pick up the younger Espinosa’s trail and after a few days returned home.
By September, Espinosa recruited his nephew and failed in an attempt to ambush and kill Colorado Governor John Evans. The enraged Evans offered a reward of $2,500 to anyone who could capture the Espinosas dead or alive.
Colonel Tappan, who had replaced Carson at Fort Garland, summoned Tom Tobin to the post. He offered Tobin the reward if he could lead his troops to the location of the outlaws.
Tobin was reluctant as he did not trust the soldiers of the post, fearing that they might kill him so they could claim the reward. Tobin offered to go alone but Tappan wanted it to be a military action. Tobin was finally persuaded to take Lieutenant H. W. Baldwin and fifteen troopers in pursuit of the outlaws. The scout also arranged for a local named Loring Jinks and a Mexican boy named Juan Montolly to accompany the group.
Tobin came upon the Espinosas the first day out but lost them in heavy stands of pine and aspen. He relocated their trail and began tracking the outlaws. He was able to follow them until he reached the branch of a stream. Tobin went up stream while he sent Baldwin down. Juan, the Mexican boy, went with Baldwin and spotted the brothers. He was unable to get Baldwin to understand him until it was too late and the brothers had disappeared. After Tobin rejoined the group, he led them to a local rancher’s place to spend the night. They resumed their search the following day by working through a pass in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
During the day, the men came upon the pony tracks of a band of Ute Indians and the force broke up. Tobin took the Mexican boy, Baldwin, and six soldiers in one direction while Loring Jinks and the other troopers went in another. The groups lost track of each other. That night Tobin had his men camp along LaVeta Creek.
The following morning Tobin came upon some oxen tracks and became suspicious. He examined the tracks and determined that the Espinosas were driving the beasts. He reasoned the Espinosas had taken the two oxen to be butchered. The trail of the brothers was extremely difficult to follow as it worked into the mountains. When the landscape became too treacherous for horses, Tobin sent Baldwin back to a prearranged meeting spot and continued the trail on foot with the Mexican boy and two troopers. Eventually they came upon a location where Tobin saw a concentration of crows hovering ahead. Tobin reasoned that the brothers had butchered one of the oxen. He sent a soldier back for Baldwin. As he approached the position where he thought the Espinosas would probably be, a soldier that Baldwin had sent to him joined the group.
Tobin ordered the soldiers to take a position and to wait for his signal before firing. He crept up on the location. Just as he came upon one of the men, he stepped on a stick. The resulting cracking sound alerted the outlaw. As the outlaw grabbed for his gun, Tobin fired his Hawken rifle first and struck the outlaw in the side. As the man went down, he shouted a warning to the other that was running to provide aid. Tobin ordered the soldiers to fire as he recharged his muzzleloader. The soldiers and the Mexican boy fired at the other outlaw but missed. As the outlaw turned to make an escape, Tobin raised his reloaded rifle and shot the bandit in the back.
Tobin sent the Mexican boy to get Baldwin. He held his position while he watched the wounded Espinosa take cover. When the other soldiers arrived, the group worked its way toward Espinosa’s position. They found him bracing himself against some fallen trees, waving a pistol and shouting challenges. As the men approached, Tobin warned the soldiers to be careful.
As the men worked their way toward Espinosa in an arch, Tobin ordered him to drop his gun and surrender. The outlaw shot at one of the soldiers. Tobin rushed upon the Mexican, bent him backward over a log and cut off his head. Some accounts of the incident report that the Mexican begged Tobin for his life, his pleas falling upon deaf ears. Whatever the case, Tobin had the Mexican boy cut off the other outlaw’s head. The scout put them in a gunnysack. He hung the sack in a tree and finished cooking the outlaws’ meal.
There are accounts that during the night Tobin dreamed that his heads were being stolen. He jumped from his blankets and placed the heads under a saddle. He slept soundly through the remainder of the night. The reward was a fortune for Tobin and this action is understandable considering his distrust of the soldiers.
Two days later, Tobin rode into Fort Garland and rolled the severed heads at Colonel Tappan’s feet. He also presented Tappan with a diary, letters and papers that proved the men to be the Espinosas and associated them with several crimes.
Former Colorado Governor Gilpin, one of Tobin’s commanders during the Ute campaign of 1848, invited the scout to a banquet in his honor in Denver. At the conclusion Tobin was presented a fine rifle. Tobin shocked the crowd when he immediately seized the rifle and flung it across the room, demanding the reward that he was entitled to. Seven hundred and fifty dollars was given Tobin after the incident but the scout claimed throughout his remaining days that the reward was never totally paid. The heads vanished a short time later. Several stories of what happened to the heads circulated but no one knows for certain what eventually became of them. Unless, of course, it is common practice to store severed heads in the basement of state capitol buildings.
Tobin settled into obscurity on his ranch until the late 1880s. Tobin’s daughter married Billy Carson, one of Kit Carson’s sons. Billy had been the sheriff of Costillo County but became a merchant in Fort Garland.
On a Tuesday in late April, 1888, Tobin and his son-in-law were drinking together. They argued over Tobin’s daughter. Tobin accused Carson of abuse. After some hot exchanges, Tobin called Carson a liar. Carson responded by delivering a blow to the old man’s eye, sending him crashing to the floor. Tobin, who was never without a side arm, drew his pistol and took a shot at his son-in-law. Carson scrambled into his store and made for his counter as Tobin sent another bullet ricocheting through the building. As the old Indian fighter came into the store, Carson pulled a Winchester from under the counter and shot Tobin through the groin. The bullet exited the old man’s left hip. As Tobin went down, he emptied his revolver in Carson’s general direction. He raised himself to one elbow and tried to reload before collapsing. Tobin was carried to a nearby house and a doctor was summoned. Carson surrendered himself to the local Justice of the Peace and was released on $5,000 bond.
No one expected the old man to live. Tobin stated that he expected he would pass on to glory. He was disappointed that he was unable to get even. Carson was cleared of the charge as a matter of self-defense. Because of Tobin’s popularity with the local Mexicans, Carson was afraid he would be lynched and took to habitually packing a pistol in his belt.
The old man didn’t die. It took him over a year to completely recover. In January of the following year, Carson was putting away a team when one of his horses kicked him. The hoof struck the revolver stuffed in his belt. The gun went off sending a bullet into Carson’s thigh lodging itself in his knee joint. Although the wound wasn’t considered serious, Carson succumbed to lockjaw several days later. There is no record of Tobin’s comments concerning Carson’s demise. One can only surmise that he didn’t shed many tears.
In April, Tobin returned to his ranch and remained there for sixteen more years. The old Indian fighter and man hunter passed away May 16, 1904, at 81 years of age evidently as feisty as ever until the end. In his obituary he was honored as one of the last of the mighty breed of men who tamed the West. Tobin’s grave is now located in a pasture near present-day Fort Garland, Colorado. Although he is not as famous as his old comrade, Kit Carson, he is an interesting character of Southwestern history and a good reason for
visiting Fort Garland’s museum.
Chapter 11
Lucien Maxwell and Rayado Ranch
Lucien Maxwell
Destined to become one of the largest and richest landholdings of the frontier, the early years of settlement of the Rayado Ranch were plagued by hostile encounters with Indians along the Santa Fe Trail.
Modern restoration of Rayado Ranch Headquarters
In January, 1841, Charles Beaubien, a French Canadian who had married into a prominent Taos, New Mexico, family and Santa Fe resident, Guadalupe Miranda, petitioned New Mexico Governor Manuel Armijo for a grant of land east of Taos along the Santa Fe Trail. They argued that in spite of superior natural resources of timber, water, fertile soil and rich mineral deposits, New Mexico was one of the least developed areas of the Mexican Republic. Enterprising individuals were needed who could utilize unproductive labor in the province to develop idle land. The grant application requested a vast stretch of scenic and rich land along the east range of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The grant included a lengthy portion of the mountain branch of the Santa Fe Trail, commencing at the junction of the Rayado and Canadian rivers and proceeding north to Una de Gato Creek, east to the summit of the mountains and south to the first corner. Hundreds of thousands of acres were requested yet Governor Armijo, wanting to encourage the development of the area as a buffer against United States encroachment, gave his approval.
The land along the Cimarron and Rayado Rivers was ideal for settlement. Fertile land along the valley could produce food for several hundred families and the nearby mountains held a wealth of timber for construction and firewood. The climate was mild and summer rainstorms alleviated oppressive heat. Grassy meadows provided excellent grazing and low hills protected the area from calamitous winter storms. The land was level enough that the waters could be diverted easily for irrigation of corn and wheat. It was also open enough that surprise attack from hostiles was unlikely.
Because of anti-foreign sentiments brought on by an 1841 invasion of New Mexico by Texas, the grantees did not ask Taos Justice of the Peace Cornelio Vigil for formal possession rites until February 1843. One quarter of the land was then deeded to Governor Armijo, undoubtedly as a pay off and assurance of continued support from the government in Santa Fe.
Beaubien and Miranda were too old and burdened by responsibilities to assume the actual task of establishing a frontier settlement. Charles Bent of the Bent, St. Vrain
Company was recruited because of close personal business ties with Beaubien, and Bent’s previous success at negotiating with Indians, founding trading posts and establishing settlements on the high plains. Bent received a quarter interest in the property at the same time as Armijo.
Almost immediately, challenges to the legality of the grant began to surface. Jose Antonio Martinez, a Taos priest, was a major influential voice of opposition and challenged the grant as an illegal American takeover of New Mexico. Using wealth, political influence and outright lies the partners defended the grant and eventually won legal challenges.
Cattle were purchased and Mexican settlers were brought over the mountains to establish a settlement called El Ponil, near where Ponel Creek left the mountains. Cornelio Vigil established another settlement on the Cimarron River. Within the year a number of Anglo settlers entered the territory to establish farms along the rivers. Father Martinez’s fears of an American takeover of the lands were quickly becoming fact.
Other interests that were not happy with establishment of the grant were the Jicarilla Apache, Moache Ute and Comanche Indian tribes of the region. The Jicarilla held the strongest claim to the area. The tribe had been living along the edge of the Sangre de Cristos for several generations, farming, hunting and gathering natural resources. They were constantly pressed to defend their claim against the other tribes. The natural wealth, location and climate of the region made it highly valuable territory for several tribes. Constant belligerence and warfare among the Indians for the territory was another reason for Spain and Mexico’s slow pace of settlement in the region. Whoever wanted the land would almost certainly end up fighting for it no matter how many land grants existed.
Settlement slowed during the Mexican War and New Mexico invasion by Stephen Kearney’s troops. Charles Bent was named provisional governor of the newly conquered territory. On January 18, 1847, Taos rebelled against the American invasion. Among the victims were Bent, Beaubien’s nephew Narciso, Cornelio Vigil, District Attorney J. W. Leal and a number of other citizens. When the rebellion was subdued, American authority had been clearly established but the land grant faced serious challenges.
Miranda and Armijo fled to Mexico, Bent was dead and Charles Beaubien, shaken by the death of his nephew, was the only one left to manage the grant. Beaubien tried to sell the grant to a company of American soldiers, but the deal fell through. Eventually he turned to Lucien Bonaparte Maxwell, the husband of his daughter, Luz, to assume the active role of developing the land grant.
Thirty-year-old Lucien Maxwell was a renowned frontiersman. He was a robust, powerfully built man known positively for his strength of character and dependability; negatively for his violent temper and stubborn resolve. He had been a trapper with men such as Tom Fitzpatrick, Jim Bridger and Milton Sublette. He had functioned as a professional hunter for the Bent Brothers and had accompanied his good friend, Kit Carson, on John C. Fremont’s three transcontinental expeditions. Although his formal education was limited, Maxwell had grown to maturity exposed to his father’s trading activities on the Illinois and Wisconsin frontiers, and he was trained in wilderness survival by his trapping and exploration duties with Fremont and Carson.
With financing from his wealthy father-in-law, Maxwell chose a site on the Rayado River next to the Mountain Branch of the Santa Fe Trail to begin his settlement. Leaving his wife in Taos to give birth to their second child, Maxwell was accompanied by experienced mountain men and traders. Manuel LaFavre moved his trading post from the Arkansas River country to Rayado. Tim Goodale, Calvin Jones and James White, a carpenter, were among the first to support Maxwell’s endeavor. Herds of cattle and building supplies were brought into the area.
On a second trip Maxwell managed to recruit Santa Fe trader Preston Beck, mountaineer Tom Boggs and storekeeper John Brown. He also recruited Indian George, a valued servant of Charles Bent and Maxwell for the settlement. Jicarilla Apache attacked them along Apache Creek and stole their horses. Three Indians were killed and the Americans retreated north toward the Greenhorn River. Maxwell waited a week before again attempting to return. Fearing attack he avoided Raton Pass and swung east over Manco Burro Pass. On June 29, 1848, the party was camped atop the pass to eat dinner when they heard Indians driving off their stock. After a few shots the band mistakenly assumed that they had driven off the Indians. The Jicarillas set grass fires to force the traders away from their goods and the men found themselves in desperate straits. During a four-hour battle that followed, five of the Americans were wounded and one killed. One man, Charles Town, had a bullet crush his leg and was left to the mercy of the Indians. Maxwell was shot in the neck and fainted. Indian George crossed open ground hauling Maxwell on his back to get to water. At nightfall, the survivors managed a retreat from the mountains with little more than the clothes on their backs. After several days of starvation and exposure to the elements, the band was rescued by a group of forty soldiers guided by Dick Wootton.
The incident seriously limited Maxwell’s ability to return to Rayado. The bullet, lodged deep in his neck, had to be removed by a physician in Santa Fe. It took a long time for Maxwell to regain his strength, and rather than return to Rayado, he went home to Taos to recover. Maxwell and his partners had lost over seven thousand dollars worth of mules, horses and deerskins. Income from those lost goods was vital to paying the expenses at Rayado. Maxwell worked in Beaubien’s Taos store through the winter while he tried to recover his health and manage finances.
In April, 1849, Christopher “Kit” Carson joine
d several others immigrating to Rayado. Carson had accumulated a cash reserve from his wages as a guide and scout for John Fremont during three daring expeditions in the 1840s. He loaned Maxwell one thousand dollars toward development costs and the pair made plans for establishment of a stock farm. They bought stock, seed and supplies and, with the help of a few Mexican laborers, began making improvements in 1849.
Kit Carson’s presence was a major contribution to the settlement of Rayado. Carson had achieved national fame as a valued scout and guide for the Fremont expeditions. Carson’s reputation as a mountain man, hunter and Indian scout increased the confidence of other settlers and provided valuable guidance to Maxwell, who was ten years his junior. Carson was also one of the best of the Anglo frontiersmen at negotiating and communicating with the Indian tribes of the Rockies and Plains. Finally, Kit had excellent relations with the army. He had the prestige and influence to persuade troops to support the settlement. But Carson’s presence did not significantly lessen the threat of Indian hostility.
In October of 1849, the James White caravan was massacred about forty-five miles east of Rayado. White’s wife, daughter and black female servant were kidnapped.
Carson acted as chief scout, along with Dick Wootton, Tom Tobin and Entienne Leroux, for the failed Major William Grier military expedition to rescue the women. The experience caused Carson to question the competency of Grier as a military officer. Maxwell remained at Rayado to oversee the construction of the permanent buildings.
Rayado, by this time, was made up of log houses and adobe buildings inside high adobe walls. Outside were several more huts, a corral, stables and a slaughterhouse.
A noncommissioned officer and ten to fifteen dragoons with specific orders to “protect life and property along the Santa Fe Trail” were on guard. In actuality, such a small number of soldiers could do nothing to protect the trail but were excellent for defense of the ranch headquarters. Two miles west of Rayado, Maxwell set up a small rancho presided over by two men, where riding stock grazed. Such assignments were necessary to keep from severely overgrazing the immediate area of the compound. In March, 1850, Indians swept down on the pair and severely wounded both. Help was summoned and the next morning, Carson led the dragoons and three civilians in pursuit. After twenty-five miles of chase they found the Indians, charged them, killed five and took the scalps back to Rayado.
Heroes of the Santa Fe Trail Page 10
