The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-12-05

lures were twisted il; their plnccs, Of
Tered Maxwell, who had not as yet per
mittcd l. single sigh to escape his lips. Il
half tumbcrful of whisky, but be-
fore had fairly put it to his mouth he
fell over, having tainted dead away,
while great beads of perspiration stood
on his forehead indicative of the pain
lie had suffered, us the amputation of
the thumb. the surgeon told us then,
was rs bad us that Of lcgi Maxwell
was confined to his bed for several days
with high fever; during his intervals
OF freedom from pain, and while he was
convalrScing, Carson and conversed
with him. or took turns reading aloud
to the old mountainccr He returned
to his rancho" as soon as the surgeon
pronounced him well. and Carson To his
home i'll Taos. | saw the latter but once
more. 1T MaXwclls, but lie was en- route
to visi; me ut Fort llarkcr, in Kansas.
when he was taken i'll at Fort Lyon.
Colorado, in 1868, where he died. Car
son was one Of natures noblcmcn;
quiet. polite and true; man whom you
would be proud to entertain.
passed Il delightful two wecks-it
proved my last visit with Maxwell late
in the summer of 1867, at the time the
excitement over the discovery of gold
on his rancho" had just commenced,
and adventurcrs were beginning to CON
grcgate in the hills and gulches from
everywhere! The discovery of the pre-
cious metal on his estate was the primal
cause of his financial embarrassment,
resulting in its disposal. 1t was the
ruin also of many other prominent men
in New Mexico, who expended their en-
tire fortune i'll the construction of an
immense ditch, forty miles in length
from the source of the Little Cana
dian" or Red rivcr-to supply the
placer diggings in the Moreno valley
with water, when the melted snow of
"Old Badly" range had exhausted itself
in the late summer. The scheme was Il
stupcndous failure; its ruins may be
seen to-day in the deserted vallcys-a
monument TO mans engineering skill,
but the wreck of his hopes!
For some years previous to the dis
covcry of gold in the mountains and
gulchcs of "Maxwell's Rancho" it was
known that copper existed in the region;
several shafts had been sunk and tun-
nels driven in various places, and gold
had been found from time to time, but
was kept Il secret for many months.
It's presence was ut last unfoldcd to
Maxwell by Il party of his own miners
who were boring into the heart of "Old
Badly" for Il copper lead that had
cropped out, and was then lost.
or course, to keep the knowledge OF
the discovery Of gold from the world is
an impossbility; such was the case in
this instance, and soon commenced that
squatterimmigratio out of which,
after the rancho" was sold and Max
well died, grew that litigation which
has resulted in favor of the company
who purchased from, or through first
owners after Maxwclls death.
MaXwcll's most important coppcr-mine
was located near the top of 'Old Badly"
IN immense mass of disrupted granite
and other primitive rock, rising thirteen
thousand feet above the level of the
sea-according to early measurements,
whether correct, do not know-whosc
summit. bare and cold, far above the
timber limit, has suggested its name.
have stood on that denudcd, bleak
and rough, ancient landmark years ago
in the daylight and in the darkness;
the view from the storm-beatcn crown
of this grand, timc-worn sentinel of
the range is indcscribably sublime.
Ear away to the north, the snOw-cappcd
pinnaclcs of the twin-Spanish peaks
glistcn and sparkle in the sun, and be-
You'd them the majestic, natural monu-
ment to Gen. Pike hangs like a great
"a q in 1,n u.
tween these grand efforts of nature,
when she was in an angry mood,
chiliads of ages ago, stretching indef-
nitcly into the purple mist to the south
and west, rugged spurs of Il dozen
separate chains throw their conical
shadows over the landscape On the
east, the great plains of Colorado and
Kansas-originati ut the foot hills;
-trcclcss, boundlcss, and apparent
ly as illmitablc us the ocean, lose them
selves in the deep blue of the horizon.
In the distant northwest, the Arkansas
the Nile of Amcrica-in the similitude
OF titanic silver serpent, silently com
mences to twist its way; its sand
beaches and dark cdtics drinking up
the infi.tratcd ra:nt!rops as the river
moves on it's noiscless way to the sea
more than two thousand miles by its
torturus windings!
MaXwclrs generosity was unboundcd,
but erratic in its manifcstion: he de-
serves IL monument for his charities, the
half of which will never be known: and
no one is more missed than he by the
people to whom he was an indulgcnt
father.
Maxwell was Il representative man of
the border III its purity of the same
class as his compeers, one of whom |
have 'wild-civiliZed men,"
to borrow an expressive term from John
Euroughs-of strong local attach
mn mil a.. IL L