Frank Springer and New Mexico: From the Colfax County War to the Emergence of Modern Santa Fe
Frank Springer helped transform late nineteenth-century New Mexico, leading in the development of mining, logging, ranching, and irrigation enterprises there and also helping lay foundations for cultural institutions. He served as a lawyer and president of the Maxwell Land Grant Company and wound up in the middle of the Colfax County War. Caffey examines Springer's life during his New Mexico years, offering insight into many colorful episodes in the region's history.
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The country Frank Springer rode into in 1873 was one of immense beauty and abundant resources grass and timber, wild game, precious metals, and a vast bed of commercial-grade coal. It was also a stage upon which dramatic and sometimes violent events played out during Springer's ten-year residence in Cimarron, New Mexico.A lawyer and newspaperman for the Maxwell Land Grant company and a foe of the speculators known as "the Santa Fe Ring," Springer found himself in the middle of the Colfax County War. A man of many sides, he typified the Gilded Age entrepreneurs who transformed the territorial American Southwest.He was also an intriguing personality an introvert who engaged in very public activities, speaking to large audiences and leading in major civic endeavors. As president of the Maxwell Land Grant company, he also led in the development of mining, logging, ranching, and irrigation enterprises. His Supreme Court victory establishing title to the 1.7 million acre Maxwell grant earned him a reputation as a brilliant attorney. He also helped lay the foundations of New Mexico Highlands University, the Museum of New Mexico, and other cultural institutions.Throughout his adult life, Springer also engaged in paleontological study, publishing his findings through the Smithsonian Institution and other leading scientific publishers. He amassed the largest collection in the world of a certain kind of fossil, a collection he donated to the Smithsonian Institution, where it is still housed.Frank Springer's influence on New Mexico's economic development was far- reaching and lasting. A thorough biography of the energetic Springer, this book offers insight into many colorful episodesin the region's history and the way a certain breed of Anglo-centric men left their stamp on the land and its people. High Country ...a superb biography of Springer's extraordinary life...Caffey masterfully weaves the intricate story of a man who helped shape the latter history of territorial New Mexico. It is a story that is not well known, and his effort is a valuable contribution toward understanding New Mexico's transition from frontier territory to modern state.
List of Illustrations ixPreface xiA Son of Iowa 3New Mexico 15The Colfax County War 31Rails across the Territory 57U.S. v. the Maxwell Land Grant Company 65One Man's Destiny 84Wachsmuth and Springer 98Springer at the Bar 112The Normal 124A Bend in the Road 137Dreamers and Doers 147Springer of the Crinoids 162The New Museum 175Profit and Loss 189Across the Styx 200Reflections on a Many-Sided Life 209Notes 219Selected Works of Frank Springer 235Bibliography 241Index 253
\ New Mexico Historical Review"Caffey provides a fresh account of the Maxwell Company's activities and conflicts from the corporate perspective." -New Mexico Historical Review\ \ \ \ \ New Mexico Historical Review"Caffey provides a fresh account of the Maxwell Company''s activities and conflicts from the corporate perspective." -New Mexico Historical Review\ \ \ \ The Journal of Arizona HistoryCaffey has done a fine job of drawing together the disparate elements of Springer's life into a highly readable narrative.\ \ \ \ \ PasswordExhaustively researched and engagingly written, Caffey's biography of Frank Springer is one of the finest books to be written on this period of New Mexico history in many years.\ \ \ \ \ High Country...a superb biography of Springer's extraordinary life...Caffey masterfully weaves the intricate story of a man who helped shape the latter history of territorial New Mexico. It is a story that is not well known, and his effort is a valuable contribution toward understanding New Mexico's transition from frontier territory to modern state.\ \ \ \ \ ISISDavid L. Caffey has done a remarkable job of contextualizing an important figure in the history of New Mexico and the American Southwest.\ \ \ \ \ \ Keith L. Bryant". . . an excellent piece of work, thoroughly researched, engagingly written, and persuasively argued. Caffey has mined collections in New Mexico and Washington, as well as the Huntington Library and repositories in Europe, and gained access to significant family holdings . . . exceptionally well written, the narrative moves gracefully from page to page."-Keith L. Bryant, Jr., Professor Emeritus, University of Akron\ \
