Gypsy Heart
Gold Member
Puertocito
A few miles east of Alamo along the Rio Salado is the village of Puertocito. It was a small Hispanic village and home to nomadic Navajo and Apaches from the Alamo Navajo community.
Although only a small village, noted mostly for it's trading post and post office, it crops up in New Mexico history now and again.
The first settler in the area was sheepherder Jose Chavez, around 1872. By the 1880s, a trail from Bernardo, through Riley, Puertocito and Alamo, became a main road to the White Mountains in Arizona.
In the 1880s, Anastacio Baca decided the the Puertocito gap would be an excellent location for a trading post. He was right. Located halfway between Alamo and Riley, it served these two communities, and a host of local ranchers and travelers until the 1940s.
"Mi casa es su casa" was the Baca family motto — provided you had a couple of bucks to spend at the remote trading post.
One of the more famous episodes of the Baca's hospitality was in May 1898. Around noon, two cowboys arrived at the trading post and purchased some sardines and wine. Baca recalled how they appeared nervous, constantly looking down the trail as they consumed their lunch. When done, they rode westward along the Rio Salado. A couple of thieves on the run, is what the people at the store probably thought — they had seen their type before.
A couple of hours later, in rode a small posse of lawmen, led by Sheriff Frank Vigil and Deputy Dan Bustamante from Valencia. They were looking for train robbers Bronco Bill Walters and Kid Johnson — who matched the description exactly of the store's previous customers. Anastacio pointed the way of their departure.
The next morning, the lawmen found the train robbers west of the Alamo along Alamocito Creek. The men refused to be arrested and a shootout ensued. When the smoke cleared, Sheriffs Vigil and Bustamante laid dead on the ground. The injured bandits, who needed an easier flight, buried several heavy saddlebags near the arroyo that were stuffed with about $50,000 in cash from the train robbery.
Oral history states the burial of this money was witnessed by either Anastacio Baca or local sheepherder Jaime Jaramillo — if not both. There is little evidence that shows Anastacio ran his trading post much after 1903, and that is when he moved his family to Quemado. He spent the rest of his life in Quemado with a measure of wealth, seemingly legitimizing the story of finding Bronco Bill's buried loot.
A post office was established at Puertocito by Federico Giron in 1903, the new owner of the trading post. Post office records over the following years allows the succession of owners to be speculated. They include Ambrocio Garcia, Ismael Aragon, Proeopis Garcia, Bonifacio Lopez and Andres Armijo.
The longest owner and postmaster was Bonifacio Lopez, who served from 1907 until his retirement in 1927. Andres Armijo served until 1929, when the post office at Puertocito was closed and transferred to the nearby Field Ranch.
Today, not much is left of Puertocito. The ruins of the trading post and Anastacio Baca's house still stand. Nearby, a few mounds of melted adobe suggest where other houses and structures were once located.
The relocated post office at Field continued to operate until 1943. Field was a large area ranch operated by Nels and Ida Field, who homesteaded the ranch in 1887. The Field Ranch is now owned and operated by Jim Nance and family.
Today, people who live along the Rio Salado must get their mail in Magdalena.
A few miles east of Alamo along the Rio Salado is the village of Puertocito. It was a small Hispanic village and home to nomadic Navajo and Apaches from the Alamo Navajo community.
Although only a small village, noted mostly for it's trading post and post office, it crops up in New Mexico history now and again.
The first settler in the area was sheepherder Jose Chavez, around 1872. By the 1880s, a trail from Bernardo, through Riley, Puertocito and Alamo, became a main road to the White Mountains in Arizona.
In the 1880s, Anastacio Baca decided the the Puertocito gap would be an excellent location for a trading post. He was right. Located halfway between Alamo and Riley, it served these two communities, and a host of local ranchers and travelers until the 1940s.
"Mi casa es su casa" was the Baca family motto — provided you had a couple of bucks to spend at the remote trading post.
One of the more famous episodes of the Baca's hospitality was in May 1898. Around noon, two cowboys arrived at the trading post and purchased some sardines and wine. Baca recalled how they appeared nervous, constantly looking down the trail as they consumed their lunch. When done, they rode westward along the Rio Salado. A couple of thieves on the run, is what the people at the store probably thought — they had seen their type before.
A couple of hours later, in rode a small posse of lawmen, led by Sheriff Frank Vigil and Deputy Dan Bustamante from Valencia. They were looking for train robbers Bronco Bill Walters and Kid Johnson — who matched the description exactly of the store's previous customers. Anastacio pointed the way of their departure.
The next morning, the lawmen found the train robbers west of the Alamo along Alamocito Creek. The men refused to be arrested and a shootout ensued. When the smoke cleared, Sheriffs Vigil and Bustamante laid dead on the ground. The injured bandits, who needed an easier flight, buried several heavy saddlebags near the arroyo that were stuffed with about $50,000 in cash from the train robbery.
Oral history states the burial of this money was witnessed by either Anastacio Baca or local sheepherder Jaime Jaramillo — if not both. There is little evidence that shows Anastacio ran his trading post much after 1903, and that is when he moved his family to Quemado. He spent the rest of his life in Quemado with a measure of wealth, seemingly legitimizing the story of finding Bronco Bill's buried loot.
A post office was established at Puertocito by Federico Giron in 1903, the new owner of the trading post. Post office records over the following years allows the succession of owners to be speculated. They include Ambrocio Garcia, Ismael Aragon, Proeopis Garcia, Bonifacio Lopez and Andres Armijo.
The longest owner and postmaster was Bonifacio Lopez, who served from 1907 until his retirement in 1927. Andres Armijo served until 1929, when the post office at Puertocito was closed and transferred to the nearby Field Ranch.
Today, not much is left of Puertocito. The ruins of the trading post and Anastacio Baca's house still stand. Nearby, a few mounds of melted adobe suggest where other houses and structures were once located.
The relocated post office at Field continued to operate until 1943. Field was a large area ranch operated by Nels and Ida Field, who homesteaded the ranch in 1887. The Field Ranch is now owned and operated by Jim Nance and family.
Today, people who live along the Rio Salado must get their mail in Magdalena.
