The Maxwell Land Grant - The Largest Land Grant in US History

The Maxwell Land Grant

ClearCreek3.Weiser.07-03.jpg (288x319 -- 17760 bytes)

The Clear Creek Log is still there for all of us that

remember so many wonderful times there as children.

July, 2003, Kathy Weiser.

ClearCreekStore1Postcard.jpg (293x188 -- 17391 bytes)

Vintage Postcard of Weather's Store in Cimarron Canyon in the 1950's. Weather's Store was moved to Eagle Nest and is still in operation today.

The Vermejo Park property and other lands, which totaled almost one million acres, were eventually sold to W.J. Gourley, a Texas oil man from Fort Worth. Mr. Gourley wanted to expand the existing elk herd and purchased several hundred elk from Yellowstone National Park for $5 per head. He also bred and raised wild turkeys to increase the wild bird population. When Mr. Gourley died in 1970, the land was sold to the Pennzoil Company for a bargain $26 million. Penzoil donated 100,000 acres to the Forest Service in 1982. Now, part of the original land is owned by media magnate Ted Turner.

In 1922, much of the land, which is now known as the Philmont Scout Ranch was purchased by Oklahoma oil millionaire Waite Phillips. Mr. Phillips spent six months of each year on the ranch and eventually amassed over 300,000 acres and renamed it Philmont, which is based on the Spanish word for mountain "Monte."

The Philmont Ranch became a showplace, where cattle and sheep grazed in the pasture. Phillips built a large Spanish Mediterranean home for his family and named it Villa Monte. He also developed horse trails, hiking trails and hunting cabins for his friends and family.

In 1938, Waite Phillips gave 35,857 acres of the ranch to the Boy Scouts of America, along with $61,000 to be used to develop it. In 1941, another gift of 91,000 acres was added. Phillips realized that the cost for maintenance and development of the property could not be derived entirely from camper fees and included in the endowment the gift his 23-story Philtower Building in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Later, in 1963, through the generosity of Norton Clapp, vice-president of the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America, another piece of the Maxwell Land Grand was purchased and added to Philmont. This was the Baldy Mountain mining area consisting of 10,098 acres.

Other large ranches and small tracts were carved from the grant, and today there are many owners of the land that Lucien B. Maxwell once held.

The Old Mill Museum, which Maxwell operated as the Aztec Mill until 1870, is in the Cimarron Historic District. But, Maxwell's Cimarron home didn't fare so well, as it quickly fell to ruins when Maxwell left.

The reddish adobe buildings of Reyado are now maintained by the Philmont Scout Ranch. Scout leaders dressed in period costumes lead visitors through Maxwell's adobe hacienda. It has been restored from the two original rooms that had survived. In neighboring buildings are the 1860 stagecoach stop, store and accommodations for stage passengers.

Clear Creek, the site where they found the Reverend Tolby's body, was once a popular stop along the scenic highway when Weather's Store resided in Cimarron Canyon, selling refreshments and novelty items to the travelers stopping by for a drink of Clear Creek's cool waters flowing through a huge log. The store was moved to Eagle Nest and is still in operation as an Antique Shop, run by the daughter of the original owner.

Maxwell's last home in Fort Sumner is long gone but has been recreated again and again in movie sets. After Maxwell's death it became the property of his son Pete and it was in this building that a houseguest of Pete Maxwell (and more particularly of his daughter Paulita) by the name of William "Billy the Kid" Bonney was shot by Pat Garrett in 1881.

In eastern New Mexico, 200 miles from the snow-capped peaks and cool valleys of Moreno Valley, the land baron lies buried in an almost forgotten corner of the dusty plains of Fort Sumner, New Mexico. In the same small cemetery are the graves of the outlaw Billy the Kid and two of his companions which are buried under a headstone inscribed "Pals."

Cimarron Maxwell Statue Today, July, 2003, Kathy Weiser. Interestingly, the curator of the Aztec Museum says that the statue wasn't really built for Maxwell,

but rather for a man named Henry Springer. But Mr. Springer didn't like it and said "Statues are for dead people." So, the artist dedicated it to Maxwell

instead. Photo, June, 2006, Kathy Weiser.

Lucien B. Maxwell still has family in the area, including Moe Finley, his great-great-grandson. Moe runs a boat-and-tackle shop on Eagle Nest Lake, where Maxwell once had a store. Moe keeps a framed copy of a Maxwell Land Grant Company map on the wall of his dining room. Unfortunately, he didn't inherit it, but rather, had to buy it. Moe laughingly says of Lucien: "I wish he'd left us the Vermejo, or 100,000 acres--or something!"

The only monument to Maxwell on the grant is a concrete folk-art sculpture, where Maxwell sits looking restless, facing the west with a rifle in hand.

Continued Next Page

Also See:

Cimarron - Wild & Baudy Boomtown

Cimarron Photo Gallery

Kit Carson - Legend of the Southwest

My Friend, Kit Carson by a Santa Fe Trail Driver

Lucien Maxwell by a Santa Fe Trail Driver

Santa Fe Trail - Highway to the Southwest

<<Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next >>

From the Rocky Mountain General Store

Vintage Photographs of the Old West - From our personal Photo Print Shop, you can now order prints that provide dramatic glimpses into the rich heritage of the American West. From notorious outlaws, to Indian Chiefs, buffalo roaming the range, and pioneers on the trail, this varied collection grows daily.