Tularosa: Last of the Frontier West

by C.L. Sonnichsen

Tularosa--sun-scorched, sandblasted, merciless--the parched desert where everything, from cactus to cowman, carries a weapon of some sort, and the only creatures who sleep with both eyes closed are dead. Tularosa--the last frontier in the continental United States. C. L. Sonnichsen, an authority on the Southwest, writing from primary records and conversations with survivors of Tularosa's pioneer days, tells the stories of the great cattle ranchers pitted against daring rustlers, elite men against Apaches, desperados against law men. Here are Oliver Lee, Pat Garrett, and Bill McNew. And here is the feud between Col. A. J. Fountain and Albert Fall. Sonnichsen has updated his history for this new edition with a revised final chapter bringing the drama of Tularosa and the New Mexican frontier West into the Atomic Age.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

348 pages, Paperback

Published December 1, 1980

About the author

CHARLES LELAND SONNICHSEN
Ph.D. (in English Literature, 1931) at Harvard University

Taught at University at Texas in El Paso for 41 years.

You may read more about this author at
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/on...

Reviews

[Patrick Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

My buddy Daniel and I spent half a day traipsing around Valley of Fires on an interminably hot day. There was a fantastic thunderstorm on the opposite side of Journada de Muerto—much too far away for relief. It would take hours to get to us. So we hydrated as best we could and sweat like losing racehorses. Without the storm I couldn’t find inspiration for any kind of interesting photographs. A cerulean sky can be annoying sometimes. I bitched and he grumbled. Relenting, before succumbing to heat stroke, we made our way back to the truck. In an attempt to find something to drink other than warm water (my kingdom for a Diet Coke) we sauntered over to the ranger station, which was about the size of a four-hole outhouse. The soda machine was empty. The delivery guy was three or four weeks late. To quell my embarrassment at just standing around soaking up the air conditioning, I felt I should buy something. Always ready to add to my refrigerator magnet collection I looked for some sort of Valley of Fires memento (not realizing the accumulated dirt in the truck would be souvenir enough when I got home). Nothing except a few books on New Mexico history. The nearby town of Tularoa consists of a restaurant which serves one of the best chiliburgers in the state, a general store which always looks closed and a few adobe homes which have that famous New Mexico abandoned look. There is no bank, school, or gas station. My first thought, when I saw the book ‘Tularosa’ on the near-empty shelves, was ‘what in hell could there be to write about in that prairie dog mound?’ I flipped the book and read the back. Then fanned the pages. Huh. Pretty substantial.
Daniel gave me that raised eyebrow look. I have to support the park system. I’m buying the friggin book.

“Tularosa” turned out to be completely entertaining. Written by a local, it covers the formation of the land (probably best known for White Sands) through the recent history of atomic bombs and missiles. The geology section is mercifully brief. It’s all sand, people, sand! From the Conquistadores forward, the history (to my surprise) turned out to be fascinating. Most of the authors ‘research’ consisted of interviews from descendants who knew Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and Oliver Lee. Murder, cattle rustlers, corrupt politicians, building the railroad, ghosts and strange creature apparitions in the desert.

Interviews with locals who risk prosecution by sneaking on to the missile range to look for lost treasure (an absolute fact of existence as far as the author is concerned). Hidden treasure for me was finding this book. Couldn’t have enjoyed its easy ‘history-lite’ style any more than I did. I have since looked upon Tularosa in an entirely different way—even spending some time walking around indentifying some of the landmark buildings. One morning I set on a quest to locate Susan McSweens house—and actually found it. (It was her other house in Lincoln where the famous three day gunfight took place. Rent ‘Young Guns’ if you don’t know what I am talking about.)

[Marieta Grissom · Rating 5 out of 5]

The history of a desolate piece of desert in south central New Mexico involves a series of rough characters who lived by their own definition of right and wrong, which was not necessarily the same as their neighbors. Many murders went unsolved largely due to the "friends don't tell" philosophy and court proceedings were often skewed. This book brings some of the major players during this period into perspective to their time and place and helps the reader to form personal opinions.

In this updated version (1980), the author brought the history into the age of atomic energy age, i.e., the 1945 Trinity site testing of the atomic bomb and forward.

[Linda Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in 1960, I was fascinated by this history of the Tularosa area in New Mexico. So well written and researched and full of such interesting characters! I live only 200+ miles from this area but knew so little about it. Very worthwhile.

[Wayne Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining old west story about a lesser known part of New Mexico, but one that was just as turbulent as the rest of the state's past. Instead of the usual suspects, we read about C.F. Hilton, Albert Fall (of Teapot Dome scandal fame), Albert Fountain, Oliver Lee, Pat Garret's murder and cowboy/author Eugene Manlove Rhodes (writer of "Paso por Aqui" which was made into the movie "Four Faces West" starring Joel McRae) among many other minor Old West desperadoes. This is what was happening in the area bounded by the Lincoln County War to the east (John Chisum, Billy the Kid, Lew Wallace) and the Apache wars to the west (Victorio, Geronimo, General Crook).
6/19/2021 UPDATE
After lending this book to a friend and being told it is "the best Western he ever read" I had to read it again. The book is, in fact, better than a great Western novel, mainly because it is all true. It makes the Lincoln County War look like child's play with all the convoluted murder plots (some never solved) and the Tularosa War lasted over 30 years! Owen Wister, Eugene Manlove Rhodes (a player in Tularosa) or Zane Gray couldn't have written fiction this good, yet it all happened.