September 2018 20 Kingston No Haven Jimmie and Old Hog pulled into Toppy Johnson’s place and Toppy told Jimmy to make himself at home and stay until he had a job. Jimmie had just got in a bunk and started to get some rest when Johnson, who had gone out to run in his stock, yelled: “Yo, Jimmie, come open the gate.” Up the trail where Toppy was running, another man was staggering along under the weight of a mounded man thrown over his shoulder. Toppy caught a horse and galloped to meet them. Jimmie knew both men. Bill McKay had been shot in the leg. He told of himself and Webster sitting on the porch of their cabin having a smoke when Apaches opened fire. Webster got him into the cabin after he had been it and they barricaded themselves in. The Indians knew the cabin had portholes and the men inside were dead shots, so they soon left. Toppy got horses and saddled them and they took McKay into Kingston to a doctor. They found Kingston packed with miners and ranchers who had fled into town as soon as they heard the Apaches were raiding again. Jimmie learned that several men had been killed on the trail and it was out of the question to get work in Kingston in the present atmosphere. A New Partner Back at Tobby’s cabin, McKenna met a man named John Dwyer, not too far out of Iowa. He was looking for an open piece of ground with a good spring on it not too far from Kingston to file a claim on. Some Texans he had met had offered to pay him $500 for such a place to start a ranch on. McKenna knew of a fine spring eight miles out at Cave Creek. Jimmie said as far as he knew it had not been located and if it hadn’t they could go to Hillsboro and file a claim on it. Jimmie couldn’t find a job in Kingston but now he had a partner and a chance to make a share of the $500 the Texans had offered. Jimmie and Old Hog stayed at Johnny’s camp that night and set out for Cave Creek in the morning. They located the spring, found some fat wood pigeons feeding there on acorns, shot half a dozen to take home and named the place “Pigeon Springs.” They built a monument and set out for Hillsboro to file their claim. They got into Hillsboro about 3 p.m., filed their claim and found a freight wagon heading for Kingston that was willing to take them on. The tired partners went up to Johnny’s camp and turned in early. Next morning, the Texans rode up to the camp. Delighted with the news that a ranch site had been located they took Johnny and McKenna into town and bought them a big breakfast. They then rented horses for the eight- mile ride out to “Pigeon Springs.” When they got there a group of cowboys was looking it over. Jimmie told them they were too late, the land had already been filed on and they left. Raising a Cabin The Texans hired McKenna and Dwyer to build a cabin on the site, along with a corral and some outhouses. They said they would stock the two up with enough food to do the job. The Texans said they would pay Jimmie and Johnny the $500 and move their families from Lake Valley when the place was ready. McKenna and Dwyer moved Johnny’s camp out to the springs and all their supplies a few days later, despite the fact that the Apaches were still raiding and Jimmie had been offered a job in a mine near Kingston. Jimmie told the Texans if he got the call for the mine job, he would hire somebody to help Johnny finish the work at the springs. It was late September, the nights were getting cold and Jimmie expected the Apache raids would stop until next spring. The logs were cut and some miners from Danville came over to help raise the cabin. That done, Jimmie took Old Hog and went into Kingston for more supplies and frames for the doors and windows. Rescue Mission He found the town in a panic when he rode in. Women with children in their arms stood in the street crying. Their husbands were on the upper and lower Tierra Blanca and a heliograph message had said the Apaches were heading in that direction. A Mrs. Fitzpatrick rushed up to Jimmie as he rode in and imposed on him to go and warn the men. Jimmie knew he couldn’t make it there before nightfall on Old Hog, even with the saddle he had bought for him. Mrs. Fitzpatrick had that problem solved. She had her husband’s racehorse saddled and had recruited a man named Jim Drummond to go with Jimmie. Putting Old Hog in good hands, Jimmie turned around and rode out with Drummond. They rode for the Log Cabin Mine on the lower Tierra Blanca and then planned to ride to the Monaska Mine and warn old man Shaw on the way. The Monaska miners were found on the trail to Kingston for the weekend. Old man Shaw promised to lock himself in his cabin until the troopers came by and to ride with them into Kingston. There were six men at the Log Cabin Mine, including the two owners. They set out at once for Kingston. The others joined Jimmie and Drummond for the ride to the Upper Tierra Blanca. It was the lunch hour when the group rode in. Six men sat in the cabin smoking. Fitzpatrick chewed out Jimmie for riding his racehorse, told him they were on a wild goose chase but finally agreed to go back to town with them. The others all made light of the Apache scare and two of the men said there were going down in the shaft to just wait it out. The Kinney brothers, APACHE TERROR HAUNTS PROSPECTOR, PART 2 continued on page 22 This was the lands of the Apaches and Mescaleros, the land of the great war chief Victorio, a wilderness where sudden death at the hands of Indian bands was a constant companion of the prospectors and miners who were brave enough to enter it. (Reprinted from The Traveler) Prospectors and their burros roamed the Mogollon Rim, the border area between Arizona and New Mexico territories and the western areas of New Mexico in the 1880’s seeking gold and silver finds at great personal risk.