Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-09-06
A Forgotten Kingdom
By Frederic J. Haskin.

/ one of the greatest estates that ever be-
| longed to ono man in America-the famous
| Maxwell ranch- and the remains of the
| haronial dwelling from which 1t was adj
mnistcred still stands here.
| In old books you can find some facts
/ about the Maxwell ranch; and from old
| timers hereabouts you can learn good
| deal more. Indeed there are few persons
| in this vicinity who cannot tell you some
/ thing either from hearsay or from first
| hand knowledge about Maxwell and his
| doings But to the world at large he and
/ his great estate are forgotten. And this is
| TO be regretted, for it would be hard TO
| find a more significant and dramatic
passage in early southwestern history
| than the story of this bit of land.
Maxwell was really an absolute mon
arch, ruling over domain larger than
many States of the Union, and several
times as large as some European States
that have flags and crowns. Furthermore,
he was evidently born ruler and organi2-
er. He was one of the first men to gather
and hold land in the great southwestern
wilderness, to organize industries and TO
make other men work for his profit. In
! word he was one of the first American
capitalists in the West. The establish
mcnt of his little kingdom marked the he
!
days, when everything was free TO every
body, TO the system of private ownership
upon which industrial America was built.
That whole transition was fought out
bloodily on this bit of soil.
THE MAN FROM MISSOURI.
Maxwell was a penniless7 and adven-
turous young man from Missouri, who
Joined the Fremont expedition to the
l., ~.,,l nj ii of ~
Taos, New Mexico, together with a num-
ber of others, one of whom was Kit Car
son, the famous scout and Indian fighter.
Maxwell and Carson were friends as long
as they both lived.
In Taos lived some old Spanish families,
who owned wide lands granted them by
the Spanish king. They did little or
nothing with these lands and had only
the vaguest idea how much they owned.
In addition to their lands, these Mexican
Dons had large families including beauti-
full daughters. Nearly all of the discharg-
ed members of the Fremont expedition,
Carson and Maxwell among them, prompt
" fell in love with scnoritas, and both of
these young adventures were soon mar
RED
Here the difference between them
asserted itself Carson, born fighter and
W
in an adobe house and left them there,
while he went out to make a place for
himself in history as an Indian fighter and
explorer. He never gathered enough
property to- hamper his movemen :, But
Maxwell took his bride, who was Luz
Baublen before he married her, went
across the mountains. and settled here on
the Cimarron, which was within the
Baubien and Miranda grant.
The Spanish owners had done little
with this great piece of land. 1t was
rugged wilderness filled with wild Indians;
they preferred to stay in Taos. But their
Yankee son-in-law from Missouri pro-
cecded to do much with It, He built a
house, he brought in sheep and cattle, he
planted corn and wheat. He did not
heroically fight the savages, either; he
made friends with them. Thus he dis
played one of the first principles OF capital
ism, which is never 10 compete when you
canaco-operate.
STROKE OF GENIUS.
His greatest stroke of commercial
genius came later when New Mexico was
being surveyed by government surveyor
general. The deputy surveyors were
paid by the mile of line they ran. II was
therefore to their advantage to survey as
many miles as possible. The boundaries /
of the Baubien and Miranda grant, of |
which Maxwell had now, by purchase and
inheritance become sole owner, were /
vaguely defined by natural landmarks. /
The SURVEYORS were easily persuaded to T
choose landmarks which allowed for
very liberal grant, In fact, astonishIngly /
liberal Most of the Spanish grants were /
about 100, 900 acres each, and there seems +
to have been some Spanish law limiting /
them to that extent Maxwell managed /
TO have included within the boundaries 1
of his grant about 1000, 900 acres, aud his /
right TO this enormous territory was con- |
fir1ned by Congress. Thus he came into /
possession of an estate about 90 miles /
long and 30 miles wide, including some OF /
the best cattle range III the State, several /
tie arabic valleys, and a section of high /
mountain range where were gold, coal /
and other minerals, and fine forests of |
pine and spruce Game abounded and |
the streams swarmed with trout. Here, /
truly, was domain worth owning
Maxwell was at the height OF ms glory as |
land baron about the year 1867 He |
had a great house which must have con- |
tanned about 40 rooms for less than half |
of it stands now and that part contains /
10 rooms. And this was no crude pioneer /
dwelling. The walls yere tastefully |
papered, and il is said, elaborately furnish
ed Maxwell had 500 men working for |
him He had thousands of sheep, cattle |
and horses, a -four mill and a sawmill. He |
was Indian agent for several tribes, and |
this gave him the right to have q troop of |
cavalry on his place, so that he may be |
said TO have had q standing army.
MONEY TO BURN.
He kept a sree dining room where any |
one might come and eat, but none were |
allowed to pay. In fact, he dispensed a |
practically unlimited hospitality Once a /
young Englishrnan passing through the /
country inquired OF man sitting on the |
front porch of the ranch house where he |
could find Maxwell, so that he might pay |
for his breakfast. This man was a rough
looking fellow, dressed in dirty breechcs
and riding boots and bright red shirt |
which was open at the neck TO display a
fourishag growth Of coal black hair of |
which its owner was evidently very proud
The man had long black mustaches and
smoked a short, cuddy pipe. This un-
couth individual responded to the /
of the visitor, that he was
Maxwell, but that no one paid him for
meals. The young Englishman insisted
on paying, and Maxwell steadily refused.
Finally, however he yielded to the inn
portunities Of the stranger and said that
the price of the breakfast was $25. Now
the English man backed water lie would
pay no such price for meal Maxwell let a
whoop and a large red-haired cowboy,