Memoir Monday, August 31, 1968

August 31, 1968, Saturday

I had one more week left before my planned return to Flagstaff.  Almost surprisingly, I found I really liked this part of the state, enough to build different ties to Grant County over many subsequent years, made several nd lost a few friends, and even lived there for a short year decades later. Even with school, the family did a bit of sight-seeing and I dimly recall going up to Emory Pass, visiting Gila and Cliff, traveling along the edge of the first nationally designated Wilderness Area, the one that honors naturalist Aldo Leopold, and around the Mimbres and the Santa Rita mine and Tyrone, the mine's town. 

The family actually lived in the county two different times, separated by a few years when they were up at Farmington for a while. I can recall visiting San Lorenzo at least three times during the academic year. Each was a bus trip; no passenger trains came close! At that time, the main Southern Pacific transcon passed through Lordsburg and Deming but I never rode one of their trains. There was no connection to Flagstaff or even the Verde.

At this early stage, no livestock had been acquired but it did not take long. Dad would never abandon that interest and effort. At either my visit for Thanksgiving or surely by Christmas there were two mules, two older 'mollies' who came to be called Blackie and Brownie, based on their colors, I assume.  They actually came into my life for a while and lived in Bisbee a couple of years with us after Jim Walton and I were married. Of course a number of other mules and horses were bought or traded for right up until Dad's accident and death in 1988. I just shake my head. It was what it was.

I was happy for Charlie Mike. He finally had a pretty good year of school as a senior at Cobre. He rode to Bayard with mom, who was teaching at the nearby middle school, but was not burdened by the family issues and political mess as at Mingus his first two years or in Sacramento as a junior with the kerfuffle of Morganism. I know that was a bad year for him, almost equal to the two at Mingus. Of course the second one there was the worst. 

Pictures? A few of some of the places in Silver City, adjacent communities and the scenic spots in the area. First is the dumps for the mine and the distant Burro Mountains. Next is the plaque about the 1st designated Wilderness area. Next is the Gila Wilderness and the vast range of mountains encompassed in it. It is 'big country'. Then the chapel of the Miners Shrine at Fierro. There are many more sites but too many to feature!