El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-08-12
CIoudcroft's First House Passes
Log Hardy EARNED Forty Years
Is TonDo wn.
81 RUTH M. AUGUR.

"LOUDCROFT. n. NJ, Aug. 1.-THE
first house built in CIoudcroft
- has been torn down. This land
mark stood on the park now used for
the baseball grounds. which was the
golf links in the days of the old Lodge.
When the log house was built in 1870,
it must have been a first class farm
house for 1t was larger than most of
the summer cottages that are spread
over the hills here now. 1t was built
of great logs, hauled with ropes or
chains from the surrounding forests.
Quaking aspen logs that do not rot
with the rains or dampness by the
melting SHOWS, were chosen for the
construction of his home by Cloud
crofters pioneer, whose name has been
forgotten and become lost in the
shadow of the passing years
Adjoining the house, surrounded by
a stockade of logs, was the corral
where the pioneer farmer kept his
livestock If these logs could but talk
what a story they might tell OF plo-
neer hardships braTely met; of long
cola snow bound winters, of dry or too
rainy summers, when the crops did not
grow, of scrimmageS with bands of in
dams. of pillaging expeditions. when
the sturdy pioneer gathered his family
and stock together and the old log
house became a small fort; of indian
arrows that could not pierce through
the thick logs. who were met by the
pioneers rifle shots from chinks be-
tween the logs. All this in the very
park where now the descendants of
those very indians meet for a friendly
game of baseball with the ClOudcrOft-
ers, followers of the settlers who came
in the path of the first pioneer
Before There Was CIOuderOft.
Here in the rich black loan of the
mountain valley. lying between the
higher grade of North CloudcrOft,
the pioneer farmer soWed his seed,
tended his livestock, reared his family
and reaped his crops, long before the
brought lumber companies and log
ging camps; long before the bunch
of Keen eyed engineers and surveyors
climbed over the mountains and laid
out the high line railroad. with its re-
markable switchback and steep
grades
Many traditions cling to the old log
house Billy, the Kid" that notorious
gunman of the early sos. who whOoped
things up generally il the old wild
days, is said to have slept within Its
walls, seeking food, rest and perhaps
safety from the too close lnvestiSa-
lions of some irate sheriff and his
posse from the settlements In the low
er canyons.
In his stories about Cloudcroft En-
erson Hough mentions one "Curley' an
accomplished man Of the road, who
was a running mate OF Billy, the
Kid It is likely that "Curley Joined
Billy, the MD" at the old log house,
or perhaps came with him for the
two were pals. As tradition says that
Billy was really a likable fellow and
had many warm friends in spite of his
lightning trigger finger. he probably
was not an unWelcOme guest at this
log house which was the beginning of
Cloudcroft
Becomes Haven for Travellers.
As the years rolled on and more and
more settlers found their way across
the mountains. to take up homes on
James canyon, or Cox canyon. the old
log house became the resting point OF
the trip. Here the horses or mules
could refresh themselves at the big
drinking trough of logs, while their
drivers and the women folk enjoyed
the typical western hospitality of the I
farmer and his wife. Many a prospec-
tor tramping over the hills in search
of the stores of yellow metal put up"
here for the night Gradually some Of
the settlers. following the human in
stinct to herd, built up their homes
near by, and the growth of Cloudcroft
had begun.
During the encampment of the
Fourth cavalry in CIoudcroft the old