Hard-Scrabble Living - Cattle, Horse, and Goats; Ranching on the Chihuahua Desert, White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico

Summary

Prior to the United States Army taking over the 2.5 million acres that is White Sands Missile Range, this area was the home to ranches.  Not the type that would be expected in the land of Billy the Kid, but rather hard-scrabbe cattle, horse and angora goat ranches.  After the Apache Indians were moved onto reservations in the late 1800's the White Sands area of New Mexico became the home to Anglo and Hispanic American ranchers.  All that remains are often barbed wire fence lines, tumbling down houses, sheds and barns and evidence of water control and storage systems, so important in the arid Chihuahua Desert. The evidence of these ranches has passed into the archaeological and ethnohistoric record.  This paper will show  that the Ranchers of the Chihuahua Desert  were able to make a living in an environment that one minute cooks and the next freezes.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Obscured by Clouds: Landscapes in Historical Archaeology   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2013

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 690