February 11, 2020
An early start for us - at 5:30 a.m., we were finished with ferrying our belongings down a long snowy stairwell and were on the road south from Polvadera where we lodged in a nice b&b apartment. We had hoped to avoid the worst of the storm that came in overnight. Despite our efforts, the morning found us driving through the dark in alternating snow and rain. Some accumulation on the roads, but nothing that felt dangerous, and for that we are grateful.
This move will return us to our Arizona - Willcox is today’s destination.
And then there was yesterday - what fun adventures we had! There were many things that we could have done during our stay and lots of things we would have done if we were out for a longer spell; the choice was a kind of throw a dart at the map and see where it sticks.
Fort Craig, Mesa de la Contadera . . .
Fort Craig was where the choice dart landed, but I was sorry not to get to the Kelly ghost town and several other options of interest. In the end, we were very happy with our aim - we had an awesome day!
A frontier fort for 30 years during the Indian wars and the American Civil War, Fort Craig is strategically located near the Rio Grande Valley on the route of a historic roadway and supply trail known as the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro that linked Mexico City with points north to Santa Fe. It was one of a series of military installments along the Mexico/United States border.
While its siting was on a major travelway, by modern standards, it is in what we now would call in the middle of nowhere, and that nowhere is a mighty expansive place. The views from out on those plains just fill my heart with awe at the grandeur. Mountains ring the vast valley and out in the middle of the creosote-dotted flats is the monumental Mesa de la Contadera, a feature that captured my intense interest. Its scope defies the imagination.
The following photo shows more clearly what appears to be a cinder cone atop the mountain. It seems to us that at some ancient time, lava flowed from that volcanic mound, slowing erosion with its stronger structure as the rest of the valley floor eroded away.
The historic military encampment site is managed by the Bureau of Land Management; one lone RVer couple occupy the place and man the modest visitors center. We thought they must enjoy some of the most magnificent night skies from the solitary outpost.
We were the only visitors as we walked through a portion of Fort Craig's extensive 40-acre grounds. Although the place was occupied until 1885, it has by and large deteriorated into little more than mounds of adobe blocks returning whence they came. The walking tour, though, is interesting with interpretive signage, including historic photos from various vantage points.
By July 1861, Fort Craig had become the largest fort in the Southwest, with over 2,000 soldiers; however, living conditions were said to be relatively miserable. Evidently, the mostly adobe structures were inadequate shelter; enlisted men were housed in often crumbling quarters. Disease and injuries were prevalent.
The guardhouse, which also served as the territorial prison for some time, was especially gruesome. Prisoners were segregated by race; whites had some heat provided by open fireplaces while blacks had not even that much. Underground solitary confinement cells did not accommodate movement or even standing: the cells were 5'7' long, 2'10' wide and 4'10" high! There was no heating, very little ventilation or light and prisoners slept directly on the earthen floor that was moistened to reduce dust.
Remnants of the commanding officer's abode remain . . .
. . . as do a few others that were constructed of rock.
Those supplies and the strategic location were factors in Confederate forces wanting to capture Fort Craig as part of a campaign to march northward, adding territory to the Confederacy. When Confederate General Sibley attempted to cut off the encampment's supply route, General Canby engaged him with his Union forces at what was called the Battle of Val Verde, north of the fort and around the north end of the mesa across the river at the Val Verde ford.
Sibley's army included Texas Confederate cavalry and Arizona militia. The Fort Craig contingent was comprised of U.S. Army regulars and volunteers from New Mexico and Colorado territories. Although the battle was ostensibly a Confederate victory, Sibley was unable to capture the fort.
A reconstruction, shown below, of Fort Craig's impressive outer fortification, shows clearly what a deterrent the Union forces effected to forestall a frontal attack.
Search for the Val Verde ford . . .
There was a road from the fort to the Rio Grande not too far away; however, a locked gate would have required us to hike for a distance. We were not bothered by the aspect of the hike itself, but a forecast storm was imminent and looked a little more threatening that we would have liked to be caught in on foot.
The fort's site steward had told us about another route that might offer river access, so we opted for that, and were so glad we did.
Along the way, we saw a large inscribed rock memorial that was placed and dedicated in 1936 in memory of those Confederate soldiers who were killed at the Battle of Val Verde. It was placed by the Texas Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. I was heartened that it has not been damaged or vandalized in the ensuing eight decades.
A bosque burned . . .
We wandered through uncharted territory trying to locate something that would take us to the river. As we have seen elsewhere, there is a dearth of access points to the Rio Grande. Flood protection dikes parallel the river, so always, one must breach those to get past, thus we drove up onto a levee when we found a way and then discovered that all the dead trees we had seen from a distance had been killed by fire.
This is what a burned bosque looks like . . .
. . . and that went on for more miles than we could see.
Eventually, our search paid off when we found a way to walk through to the river's bank at a spot where is was exceptionally wide and probably shallow.
Lest anyone think it was a walk in the park to get there, I took the picture below where we scrambled through the willows that are rejuvenating after the fire. It was interesting to be continually switched in the face with those willow whips as we worked our way through.
I found a duck decoy gone aground so we launched it back into the water to find its way to the sea. Too bad we couldn't tie a note to it.
We wandered one way on the levee and then another way (you're kind of limited to left or right - straight ahead works, too, but not by vehicle); after spending a good deal of time driving and walking, we came upon the railroad bridge across the river and quite a bit of shoreline where it would be fishable.
Throughout the afternoon, our conversation was about Val Verde, the ford, the battle, the soldiers and the mesa that I find incredibly intriguing. I would greatly love to return to spend substantial time exploring that desert valley and the region around the mesa. The stark beauty of the region enthralls me. But first, there is a bunch of research to be done about that region's history, military and civilian.
The winter storm in which we have found ourselves has absolutely thrilled us with the misty sun- and cloud-spotted scenes across the mountains, and we got in lots of exploration miraculously without getting rained on very much. All in all, an incredibly beautiful and interesting day.
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