Third Posting On Cañada Alamosa Mineral Rights Issues

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Posting on Cañada Alamosa Mineral Issues

Here's what I posted yesterday in regards to the decision on drilling on the Sullivan's land there @ Cañada Alamosa.
I would suggest that the legal fees for an appeal will be in favor right now of the defendants.
The plaintiffs have a harder road to go in terms of burden of proof.
That means, lots of legal research & time in court.
Big money for a law suit @ this point.
I would suggest also that Chihene N'de try & research previous land claims that were adjudicated in the 1960s & 1970s. They are referred to specifically in the bibliography of "Loco: Apache Peace Maker," the new book on the life & times of Loco.
Albert Schroeder worked on some of those cases in terms of researching the homelands of various Apache
groups.
Some of that material may be available @ the New Mexico State Records & Archives Center, in Santa Fe.
The Chihene N'de, if I'm not mistaken, were given the chance to return to Ojo Caliente in 1910 or 1911, and chose
not to return. They chose Mescalero & Ft. Sill.
I think there was yet another attempt @ taking back the land there @ Ojo Caliente, part of which the Sullivan's might have owned.
Not sure of the disposition. Perhaps there was a settlement?
The case is clear that the drilling sites are on private land & that the mineral rights are private.
If the Chihene N'de have not historically considered & claimed the Red Paint Cañon in other legal cases, then
this would be a "new claim" that would fall outside, even, of previous claims. That would work against the Band, I
think.
Tying the Cañon to previous claims would help if the claims are it is sacred land.
I hope that the 1000 foot wells will NOT leak into the aquifer when drilled.
It sounds like if there is a road into the Red Paint Cañon, that will minimize the amount of traffic coming across
the Rio Alamosa, but if traffic comes down from Magdalena, then that could add silt problems in the rainy season,
by trucks driving across the ford.
I hope there is at least another meeting on this, but right now, the cards are stacked against the Chihene N'de, and
those who wish to keep the Cañada as pristine as possible.


I got the following letter from the office of Bill Branchard, under the New Mexico Energy Minerals and Natural Resources Department

RE: Notice of Permit Approval, Sullivan Ranch, Part 4 Exploration Project, Permit No. SO014ER, BE Resources Inc., Socorro County, New Mexico

The New Mexico Mining and Minerals Division (MMD) is providing notice of the approval of BE Permit N0. SO014ER. The Sullivan Ranch Part 4 Exploration Project area is located approximately 16 miles north of Winston, in Socorro County, New Mexico within Special Section 2, in T9-8S, R7W (township & range information), N.M.P.M. The exploration drilling project area is situated upon private mineral claims located on private land owned by Kenneth and Cherrill Sullivan and consists of 5 drill holes, from 5 to 10 inches wide, and up to 1,000 feet deep. The application states that less than 0.5 acres will be disturbed. Surface distribution will include the construction of no more than 5 drill pad areas. Some overland travel within the project area will be used to access each exploration drilling site, as well as existing roads. A copy of the approved Sullivan Ranch Part 4 Exploration Permit is available for review at the MMD offices, in Santa Fe, NM (Wendell Chino Building, 3d floor, 1220 South St. St. Francis Drive). Additionally, the approved permit, as well as supporting documentation, is available by visiting the MMD Website at: http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us, and then clicking on Pending
Permit Applications.
http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/MMD/MARP/MARPNewPermitApplicationsandCloseoutPlans.htm#ExpApproved
If you go through these, in order, you'll see @ least one map of the proposed area for drilling. If I understand it correctly, the access road to the proposed drilling site will be via an access road of some kind off the road from Winston to Dusty. It would appear, if that's the case, that truck traffic would not be needed to cross Rio Alamosa, but that's just a very tentative purview.
I would appreciate it if any of you have photos that can be sent of the Red Paint Cañon, so that I could gain a better
understanding of proximity of the drill hole areas in relation to the Red Paint Cave.
I'd guess there are appeal rights to this permit approval, but that is likely where legal fees get sticky, and costly.
Appeals are generally not overturned if all the procedural wickets were followed precisely.
Sometimes, appeals can be overturned if based on faulty factual evidence provided, or, some pertinent information
was NOT reviewed as part of supporting documentation to either seek approval or denial of such claims.
The letter finally states:
"If you have any questioins, please contact me @ (505) 476-3435, or Joe Vinson of my staff @ (505) 476-3414."
Chuck Thomas


I'd guess any of you who wrote letters will get similiar notices. I sent an email protest to Mr. Branchard's office some
months back.
Here's a few photos of Ojo Caliente in early April. Hoopefully, most have visited the site.
I learned in April that there are TWO warm springs on the east or north side of the river. Also, a third spring was
coming into the Rio Alamosa from the same side of the river.
I will see if I can download the entire package & post on my web site:
www.hikingapacheria.com
I made my pitch on a spiritual basis, while I know others suggested this was a sacred tribal site, or that it had
employment advantages that should be considered.
I noted that other applications on file appeared to be connected with Native Lands.

Jerry Eagan
Silver City

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New Photos - Copper Kettle Cañon & Florida Poppies

Photos are: Left top: Copper Kettle Cañon, Florida Mountains; Right top: possible Apache site, Copper Kettle Cañon; Bottom left: poppies along east slope of the Florida Mountains; Bottom right: south end of the Florida Mountains & adjacent to Copper Kettle Cañon.
Copper Kettle Cañon is a place where a Lieutenant Wright fought Apaches from Victorio's group, in 1876. It is also where Corporal Greaves won the Medal Of Honor, as he pulled Lt. Wright and a badly wounded fellow Buffalo Soldier back out of an ambush. Lt. Wright, according to Dan Thrapp's "Encyclopedia Of The Frontier" fought the Apaches four or five times in the period, 1876-1880.
Victorio and a # of his Chihene N'de Apaches were killed @ Tres Castillos, Chihuahua, Mexico, in October, 1880. All the surviving women & children (and a few men), were sold into slavery, killing work in mines, or "adopted" by various Mexican families.
Some were returned to the U.S., but most disappeared forever into Mexico. Some wound up being sent to Cuba
by the Mexican government. This would mean that they were likely sold as slaves, even though that was illegal in
Mexico, and Spanish colonized Cuba.

I'm in the process of working on a massive bibliography that will support my book.
Likely title will include either "Zen," or "The Tao," "Hiking Apacheria;"
The bibliography, still roughly two weeks away from completion, must be sent along with other material for an
editor to read;
If blog readers are supportive of a book, please note so on the blog;
Photos I've taken out in "Apacheria;"
Many microfilm rolls on portable hard drive, adding to the list of official government records;
Books or pamphlets published by the U.S. Government;
Letters of Endorsement;
Index;
Foot notes/end notes.
It's a big undertaking.
Also, a marketing plan for "selling a book."
Right now, I could see book signings in: Albuquerque; Benson, AZ; Carlsbad; Deming; El Paso, TX; Farmington; Gallup or Grants; maybe somewhere associated with Rice University, Houston, TX; Las Cruces; possibly San Angelo, TX; Santa Fe; Taos?; Truth or Consequences; Tucson, AZ; Wilcox, AZ; Fort Bowie (see Wilcox).
I will also have ways for those interested in different quality levels of photos to be able to purchase them on line,
and download. These would be photos of places associated with the Apache, & include rock art; possible fighting positions; forts & camps; rivers & streams of note in the history of Apacheria. If Brian Huberman would want it, an outlet for documentaries he's made and sells.
I'm hoping to submit this material for the centennial anniversary of New Mexico Statehood, 2012.
I appreciate your interest.



The Lipan Apaches: People of Wind and Lightning by Thomas A. Britten;

A Partial Bibliography of the Apache Indians and Apacheria:
The Topic for 03-13-2010 Interview on KVOI -AM Radio, 1030, Tucson, "Voices Of The West."
UPDATED ON: 04-20-2010
A Buffalo Soldier's Story: Medal Of Honor Recipient Sergeant Thomas Boyce and His Comrades:
1864-1889: William Aleshire
In The Days of Victorio: Eve Ball;
The Warrior Apaches: Gordon C. Baldwin;
Geronimo: In His Own Words: As Told to S. M. Barrett;
Living Life's Circle: Keith Basso;
Western Apache Raiding & Warfare: Keith Basso;
Wisdom Sits In Places: Keith Basso
Portraits of the Whiteman: Keith Basso;
Historical Atlas of New Mexico: Warren A. Beck and Ynez D. Haie;
The Lipan Apaches: People of Lightning and Wind: Thomas Britten;
I Fought With Geroimo: Jason Betzinez;
New Mexico's Buffalo Soldiers: Monroe Lee Billington;
The Apache Indians: Sonia Bleeker;
On The Border With Crook: John Bourke
Adventures In The Apache Country: John Ross Brown;
The Civil War in Apacheland: Sergeant George Hand's Diary: California, Arizona, West Texas;
New Mexico:1861-1864; George Hand and Neil B. Carmony;
Victorio: Apache Warrior & Chief: Katherine Chamberlain;
The Chiricahua Apache: 1846-1876: From War To Reservation: D. C. Cole
Apache Nightmare: The Battle at Cibecue Creek: Collins;
Apache: Will Levington Comfort;
Joseph Reddeford Walker and the Arizona Adventure: Daniel Ellis Conner; University of Oklahoma Press; Norman; 1956;
Fifty Years On The Frontier: as Cowboy, Hunter, Guide, Scout, and Ranchman: James H. Cook; University of Oklahoma Press; Norman; 1923;
The Struggle For Apacheria: Volume I: Peter Cozzens (Eyewitnesses to the Indian Wars: 1865-1890);
Life Among The Apaches: George Cremony;
Cabeza de Vaca: Adventures In Unknown Interior of America: Translated by Cyclone Covey;
Rimfire: Tom Diamond;
The Truth About Geronimo: Britten Davis;
Geronimo: Angie Debo;
The Southwest of John Horton Slaughter: Allen A. Erwin; The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1965; Spokane, Washington
Mountain Scouting: A Handbook For Officers and Soldiers Of The Frontier: Edward Farrow;
The Athabaskan Languages: Fernald, Platero;
Recollections of a Western Ranchman: Captain Wm. French. Vol. I & II
Geronimo: Volume II: Stories of an American Legend: Sharon MaGee Wild West Collection;
The Geronimo Campaign: Odie Faulk;
No Settlement, No Conquest: Richard Flynt;
Apaches Navahos and Spaniard: Jack Forbes;
A Biography: Geronimo: Mark L. Gardner;
Forts of New Mexico: Dale Giese;
The Apaches: Leaders, Warriors, Renegades; and Scouts:Toby Giese
Like A Brother: Granville Goodwin;
Apache Diaries: Neil Goodwin;
Apaches at War and Peace: Janos Presidio: William Griffen;
Apaches: A Handbook and Cultural Portrait: James L.Haley;
Handbook Of American Indians V: 2: North Of Mexico Part Two: Frederick Webb Hodge;
Fort Selden: 1865-1891: The Birth, Life and Death of a Frontier Fort in New Mexico: Alan Holmes;
The Apaches: Jason Hook;
Apache Land from Those Who Lived It: Keith J. Humphries;
The Apache Indians: Helge Ingstad;
A Brief History Of New Mexico: Myra Ellen Jenkins; Albert H. Schroeder;
The Place Names of New Mexico: Robert Julyan;
Mountains Of New Mexico: Robert Julyan;
Gatewood And Geronimo: Louis Kraft;
Lt. Charles Gatewood & His Apache War Memoirs: Louis Kraft;
Hembrillo: An Apache Battlefield of the Victorio War: Karl Laumbach;
Nana's Raid: Apache Warfare In Southwestern New Mexico: 1881: Stephen Lekson;
The Apache Indians: Frank Lockwood;
The People Called Apache: Thomas Mails
Ft. Bowie, Arizona: Douglas C. McChristian;
Forever Frontier: The Gila Cliff Dwellings: Elizabeth McFarland;
Trailing Geronimo: Anton Mazzonivich;
Encyclopedia Of Indian Wars: Western Battles and Skirmishes: 1850-1890: Gregory F. Michno;
Apache Life Way: Morris Opler;
Myths and Tales of the Chiricahua Apache Indians: Morris Opler;
Rock Art Symbols Of The Ancient Southwest: Alex Patterson;
Echoes of the Bugle: Phelps-Dodge Mining Corporation;
Ghosts: Kingston: Hillsboro: Bill Rakocy;
Forty Miles A Day On Beans and Hay: Don Rickey, Jr.;
New Mexico Frontier Military Place Names: Rathburn & Alexander;
Once They Moved Like The Wind: David Roberts;
Apache Voices: Sherry Robinson;
One Hundred and Three Fights and Scrimmages: The Story of General Reuben F. Bernard:
Frontier Classic Series: Don Russell;
Field Uniforms of the Indian War Army: 1866-1871: Lee A. Rutledge;
Josanie's War: Karl Schlesier;
Apache Indians: Volume IV: A Study of The Apache Indians: Vol IV and V: Albert Schroeder*
The Last Conquistador: Marc Simmons;
Massacre On The Lordsburg Road: Marc Simmons;
A Handbook Of North American Indians: Volume X: Smithsonian Institute; (Primary Contributor: Morris Opler)
Geronimo and the End of The Apache Wars: C. L. Sonnischen;
The Mescalero Apaches: C. L. Sonnischen;
Cycles Of Conquest: Edwin Spicer;
Shame And Endurance: Henrietta Stockel;
On The Bloody Road To Jesus: Henrietta Stockel;
Making Peace with Cochise: Edwin Sweeney;
Cochise: Captain Sladen: Edwin Sweeney;
Mangas Coloradas: Edwin Sweeney;
Merijildo Grijalva: Edwin Sweeney;
Apache Chronicles: John Upton Terrell;
Arizona in the '50s: Captain James H. Tevis;
Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography: Vol. I: A-F: Dan Thrapp;
Victorio and The Mimbres Apaches: Dan Thrapp;
General Crook and the Sierra Madre Adventure: Dan Thrapp;
Juh: An Incredible Indian: Dan Thrapp;
Dateline Fort Bowie: Dan Thrapp;
The Conquest of Apacheria: Dan Thrapp;
A Compendium Of The Overland Mail Company On The South Route 1858-1861
and The Period Surrounding It: G.C. (Tom) Tompkins;
Geronimo's Surrender: The 1886 C.S. Fly Photographs:
Museum Monograph No. 8, Arizona Historical Society Jay Van Orden;
The Spanish Frontier In North America: David J. Weber;
Life On The Rocks: One Woman's Adventures in Petroglyph Preservation: Katherine Wells;
Unpublished Manuscript: The autograph diary kept by (Apache Wars); Leonard Wood from Mar 4 to
September 27, 1886;
The Apaches: Eagles Of The Southwest: Donald E. Worcester.

Civil War: Related Subjects:
A Just And Righteous Cause: (Col.) Benjamin H. Grierson's Civil War Memoir;
Edited by Bruce J. Dinges and Shirley A. Leckie;
Grierson's Raid: Tom Lalicki;
New Mexico & Arizona Men of the California Column: Darliss Miller;
Grierson's Raids and Hatch's Sixty-Four Day March: Robert Surby;
Stone Magic Of The Ancients: James R. Kunkle;
Rock Art Symbols Of The Ancient Southwest: Alex Patterson;
Anthropology and Linguistics:
Teach Yourself Linguistics: Jane Aitchison;
The Horse the Wheel and Language: How Bronze Age Riders from The Eurasian Steppes Shaped The
Modern World: David Anthony;
Language & Species: Derek Bickerton;
Breaking The Mayan Code: Michael D. Coe;
The Peopling Of The Americas: Robinson Bonnischen & D. Gentry Steele;
In Search of The Indo-Europeans: J. P. Mallory;
Tracking and Hiking:
Grandfather: Tom Brown, Jr;
Gila Country Legend: Quentin Hulse: Nancy Coggeshall
Hiking Guide to The Gila Wilderness Area:
Hiking Guide to the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Area:
Wilderness Areas of New Mexico:
Suggested by Readers, Listeners:
The People Called Apache: Thomas Mails.

Third Posting of Cañada Alamosa

Here are a few more photos of Cañada Alamosa. The Rio Alamosa flows from west to east, from the lower Plains of San Augustin, and Sierra Wahoo, Black Range, to the Rio Grande. Cañada Alamosa was the homeland of the Chihene N'de Apache ("Red Paint Apache"), also known as the "Warm Spring Apaches." Or, "Warm SPRINGS Apache." Why the difference? Is there a difference?
Well, I learned last week (April 4), that there actually ARE TWO "ojos" @ Cañada Alamosa.
The second warm spring was separate from the other, but, taken together, they constitute Warm SPRINGS.
Both may have been used by Apaches. Until last weekend, I did not even KNOW there was a second springs.
As the Apaches could be prudish, and were certainly "correct" and "fastidious" about separation of the sexes, possibly one spring was used by men and boys and another by women and girls.
In addition to these two springs, both of which began with seeps, and springs, "streams" flowed into the Rio Alamosa. As such, those springs may have flowed for decades, perhaps centuries. And, according to my source, the Rio Alamosa has not run dry in historical times.
The Rio Alamosa itself is a beautiful drive of 18 miles - one way to the other.

The Second Hot Spring

I posted earlier in the week that recently, I learned there's a second warm spring near the famous War Spring
just west of the Monticello Box.
In 2002, I visited Ojo Caliente for the first time. It was that same time when my friend, Bob Bissett, and I, that we found what looked like a "crow's nest" like assembly of rocks on one of the large peaks looming over the Box itself.
In a series of reports I read on the Army's attempts to corner Victorio, in the period before the Victorio Band finally broke away, and made life miserable for everyone on the American & Mexican sides of the border (i.e., circa 1878-1880), I read where Victorio may have actually been on that peak, where the rock "crow's nest" is located, and challenged an Army officer to come up and parlay with him.
These are some photos of those objects.
I include photos taken of the second "warm spring" that confirms that the term "Warm SPRINGS" is also
legitimate.

The following photos are just a few from a recent visit over Good Friday-Easter Sunday weekend @ Cañada Alamosa, Rio Alamosa, the old Ojo Caliente (Warm Springs), Southern Apache Agency, near Monticello, New Mexico. There has been some debate, over time, as to whether it is appropriate to use the term "Warm Spring," or "Warm Springs." Much to my surprise, I was shown a less known Ojo Caliente, within half a mile of the much more well known warm spring.
It seemed to me that the latter was not quite as "warm" as the one most people are accustomed to visiting. The second confirms that for the area in general, for the area certainly enclosed on the BLM Map for Truth or Consquences, NM, there are at least TWO Springs that are warm.
However, the gushing waters you will see on this post are from EL Ojo Caliente: THE Warm Spring. Homeland to the Chihene N'de Apache, I've been to these lovey springs a half dozen times now. I first saw them on Labor Day weekend, 2002. Working @ the Cliff Dwellings National Monument, my friend Bob Bissett and I visited them.
The waters were deeper near the "dam" that has been erected, and cleaner (no surface algae to speak of). Bob and I camped there two & a half days, and we bathed four times. To me, the air wasn't warm enough to do that this time.
Here are a few more photos of El Ojo Caliente.



Included today are just a few pictographs of what I personally believe are Apache pictographs. I've seen one similar to the pictographs at the right.
I've seen one that I call "Toad Man," or "Toad Spirit," which is remarkable in the same colors, but far, far more detail. There are two hoops being "held" by the Toad, which also has a symbol, I believe, on the back.
Those pictographs were found about 10 or 20 miles south and west of Ojo Caliente. Under an overhang, they were far better protected from the elements.
The photos also include one of Montoya Butte, which is, without a doubt, one of the Strongholds of the Chihene I know the owners and might be able to take folks there, if they want to do a hard climb. In my mind, there's no doubt that was a stronghold. It might
as well also have had terraces on some of the less steep slopes. To have tried to climb those slopes, under fire, would have been very, very costly for any attackers.
I would like to ask any Apache who view these photos to write me, and give me your best thoughts on what these, and other pictographs I may post in the near future. There are some that I simply "feel" are Apache v. Mogollon, or Mimbres, or even earlier art works. It's only a feeling. As far as I can tell, there simply haven't been many Apache comment on the reasons they believe certain rock art are Apache v. Mogollon. If you have any thoughts, please let me know.
One thing I will do, soon, will be to assemble a 12, 13 or 14 month calendar of rock art I've photographed over the eight + years I've been here. I will sell these, more than likely, @ between $19.95 & $21.95. The difference will be whether it's a 12 month or 14 month calendar. I would propose giving Chihene N'de a discounted price on these that are "screen savers." In other words, they'd change every day, and they'd have captions. In honor of the artists, I never say, specifically, where any of these rock art petroglyphs or pictographs are to be found. I know them, and know how
to get there, but would never publicly post directions.
I feel very strongly that the only people I'd take there would be very, very good friends, my son, or Apaches. Over the years, I've "found" many such sites (not just rock art, but other evidence of habitation, or fighting positions). I don't map them. I am certainly claiming to be the first to ever see them. From what I've seen, cowboys or pot hunters were ahead of me by decades. Many are "well known" to hikers, but not because I've shared where they're at to hiking groups.
Some of you have been with me to these places. They are YOUR rock art, not mine or anyone else's. They show me that artistic talents the First Generation Peoples & Chihene N'de had. It's a shame that so many are ripped literally off the rock faces where they've been painted or pecked. Hence, if I were to die tomorrow, there'd be dozens of these places that no one else could take you there. They'd return to the "ancestor/artists" who made them.
I hope Chihene N'de understand that I try to respect their art, culture and history.
It looks like I'll be on KVOI-AM, 1030, Tucson, "Voices Of The West," Saturday, April 10. I'll probably be over in
Tucson several days, returning to Silver City after the interview on "Voices Of The West." http://www.voicesofthewest.net/