Added pictures of Pancho Villa State Park. The plane was in museum because it was first plane used in military recon in 1916. The cactus aren't as pretty as usual because they have been through their "winter". I understand that they bloom in the Spring.
Took a walk today to the museum and shop here at the state park.
Watched a video about how this park came to be. The video was made in 1982 so some of the people in the video giving recollections of what happened had first hand knowledge.
From 1910 to 1920, Pancho Villa, not his actual name but a name he adopted after a priest, I think. Francisco Villa. Pancho's family had suffered severely under the present dictator of Mexico. Pancho was a born leader and ended up leading a revolution against this dictator for 10 years.
3/9/1916 Pancho Villa raided Columbus, NM. The reasons for this have never been defined. Some say the drugstore owner had been paid money to supply Villa's revolutionary forces guns and didn't deliver the guns. Some say the Germans instigated it to keep the US busy here instead of getting involved in WW1. Over a 100 Mexicans were killed. The drug store was burned down and other stores damaged. The bodies of the Mexicans were taken out of town and burned. There several prisoners taken. 3 were hanged and several were held in prison and then returned to Mexico. After this raid, President Woodrow Wilson ordered troops to Columbus and to cross into Mexico and kill Villa.
So US Cavalry, which became motorized for the first time in this conflict, came into Columbus by train car loads. They built a fort here and organized to go into Mexico. They chased Villa for 6 months and 500 miles into Mexico but never caught him. They were led by Gen "Black Jack" Pershing and a young George Patton. Both then went to fight in WW1. It was said that Villa could move faster than our Army with all their gear and protocol.
In this park, there are some old buildings left from the fort and a rock rack to drive a vehicle on to change the oil. Fuel for the new motorized cavalry was brought in by pack animal There is a 4wd vehicle and a touring car used by General Pershing and were made by Dodge. There is a replica of an airplane that also used for surveillance, the first in the history of warfare by the US, This was also the last battle fought on US soil.
Pancho Villa's 1st ?? wife lived until 1981 in Chihuahua, Mexico.
It became windy again this afternoon and suppose to get down to 35 tonight. We have a new electric space heater that we use in the evening and morning and lots of blankets at night. Our furnace still isn't working but I learned by reading the papers on it that it is guaranteed for 2 years so now I am going to find a service center for it. Hope there is one in Deming.
Hi Ruth - I moved to Deming a little over a year ago and have a Google alert on "Deming," which is how I discovered you blog. I haven't done any travel at all since I moved here (not even day trips) because I'm trying to get my web store (http://wwww.thebirdfriendlygarden.com) up and running - and it's LOTS of work. But you're traveling to a lot of places I've put on my list to see, and you're an excellent writer. I look forward to further entries!
ReplyDeleteRuth :)
P.S. You discovered in the Deming/Las Cruces area one of the things I actually love about living here now -- nobody's EVER in a hurry. I see you've also discovered the winds. When you hear "cold front" in this area, what it means is watch out for the winds as the front passes through - last winter I think the lowest it got at night was 20 and the lowest day time temp was about 55, so "cold" really doesn't apply here.
Happy Trails! Ruth