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Chronology
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for the
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Carlsbad NM Area
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Lets Be Honest
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(Note: If the strange punctuation in this chronology drives you crazy, we known the feeling. The
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only computer program currently available that works does not recognize quotation marks, the
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apostrophe, or the double dash and replaces all of them with a question mark. These had to be
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removed. So please just pretend that they are there.)
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When information from the local newspapers begins to appear in this chronology, the following
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abbreviations will be used to identify the newspaper:
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EA The Eddy Argus: The first local newspaper, it was owned by the Town
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Company. It is published from 12 Oct 1889 to 15 Feb 1924. (It is a weekly
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that is initially published on Saturdays.) Its political affiliation was
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Republican.
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ECC The Eddy County Citizen: first Editor,  A.J.Howe, publishes from
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28 Nov 1891 to 02 Feb 1894.  (It is a weekly that is published on Saturdays)
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Its political affiliation was Democrat.
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EC  The Eddy Current: Editor William H.(Bill) Mullane, publishes from
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16 Nov 1892 to 23 Jan 1934. (It is a weekly that is soon published on
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Fridays.) Its political affiliation was Democrat.
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PVA On the 1st of February, 1895, shortly after the railroad reaches Roswell NM,
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the Eddy Argus rechristens itself the Pecos Valley Argus.
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CC With the change of name from Eddy to Carlsbad on 23 May 1899 the
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Eddy Current quickly becomes the Carlsbad Current.
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CA The Pecos Valley Argus becomes the Carlsbad Argus in Jan 1901.
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CCA The Current and the Argus combined in Nov 1926 to become the
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Carlsbad Current Argus.
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100AD to 800AD  The Basketmaker Indians are present across the Guadalupes to our west
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1400  The nomadic Apache tribe spreads into the region.
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1520  The Comanche, making use of the horse, which came to this area with the
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Spanish, move with the buffalo herds and become the dominant group east
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of the Pecos. They tend to force the Apache into the highlands to the west.
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1536  Cabeza de Vaca and his three companions cross the continent from Florida
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to California. Their route is probably to the south of our area, although one
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theory suggests that they crossed through the Sacramento Mountains by way
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of the Penasco Valley.
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1583  Spain’s Antonio de Espejo brings an expedition of exploration down the
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Pecos River, which he names the Rio Salado.
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1590  Gaspar Castano de Sosa brings a colony of 170 people up the Rio Salado in
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ox carts, settling them near the start of the river at Pecos Pueblo.
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1600 to 1820  The Spanish, finding no valuable minerals in this area, choose to leave the
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Middle Pecos Valley in the hands of the Comanche and the Mescalero
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Apache rather than fighting them for its control.
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1821  With Mexico’s independence this area passes from the hands of Spain
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to become part of the Province of Nuevo Mexico.
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1848  Col. Steven Kearny occupies the Territory of New Mexico for the U.S.
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1849  An 1849 map labels future Upper Black River Todos Santos, and labels
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future Rattlesnake Spring as Ojo del Camino.
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1850 to 1870  The Comanchero Trade is at its height on the Staked Plains. Siete Rios
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(Seven Rivers) is apparently one of the trading grounds. The name appears
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on very early maps.
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1850  Hispanic settlements have begun to show up on the Upper Hondo and
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Bonito Rivers.
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1852  Future Eddy County is at this time part of Doña Ana County. The
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Dona Aña County Seat is at Mesilla.
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1854  Capt. Pope makes several attempts to establish water wells for a proposed
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trans-continental railroad paralleling Delaware Creek to our south.
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1855  The defeated Mescalero Apache are restricted to their current territory.
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1855-02  Scout Jose Maria Palancho, a member of the Longstreet Expedition, is
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killed by Indians at the Point of the Guadalupes (where he is buried.)
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1855-05-04  Ft Stanton is established in the Capitan Mountains near La Placita (later
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to be renamed Lincoln.)
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1856  With control now established over the Mescalero and the Comanche,
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Hispanic families begin to reside for the first time along the Middle Pecos.
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They subsist by raising goats and a few sheep. They do have to be almost
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totally self-sufficient because any source of supplies is as far away as
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El Paso.
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1858 to 1859  The Butterfield Overland Stage route moves up the Delaware River from
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the Pecos and through Pine Springs Station from early 1858 to Aug 1859
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1862  R.M.Gilbert settles near the mouth of the Penasco.
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1862  The Homestead Act is passed.
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1862  Ft. Sumner and the Bosque Redondo Reservation are started on the Pecos.
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Kit Carson shifts the Mescalero Apaches to the new reservation.
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1866  The Heiskell Jones family arrives in New Mexico, living briefly near future
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Roswell and then briefly at Plaza San Jose (later called Missouri Plaza) in 1867.
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1866-06-01  Charles Goodnight & Oliver Loving bring their first Texas cattle herd up the Pecos. Within three
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years, the valley held thousands of grazing cattle as other ranchers followed.
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1867  The Pecos Valley, we are told, was at this time a sea of grass with not a single
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large tree for 50 miles. Because the nearest timber in the Guadalupes could not
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be brought in due to lack of roads, early settlers in this area, for years, had
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to be content with living in tents or chosas so small that they could be roofed
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with the cane and small willows that did grow along the banks of the river.
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1867  Tom Jones was born 29 Sep 1867 in an adobe house that stood where the Main
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Street bridge now crosses the Hondo on the north side of Roswell.
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1867  Plaza San Jose (later called Missouri Plaza) is established on the Lower Hondo
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(It is abandoned by the 1870’s.)
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1867 John Chisum brings his first Texas cattle herd up the Pecos and establishes a
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ranch for his wet stuff (cows & calves) south of Ft. Sumner at Bosque
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Grande.
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1867  The first Anglo settlers arrive at Siete Rios, calling it Dog Town because of the large population of
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prairie dogs. (In 1878 it begins to be called Seven Rivers.)
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1867-09-03  Oliver Loving is attacked by Indians 7 miles south of future Carlsbad. He
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dies at Ft. Sumner 22 days later.
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1868  The area where Carlsbad later appears will begin to be called Lovings Bend
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(with an apostrophe.) It is the location of one of the few safe fords across the
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Pecos, then notorious for its quicksand.
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1868  The Indian Reservation at Bosque Redondo is shut down and the Mescalero are