A few of these aren’t absolute ghost towns in the sense that the populations range from perhaps a couple individuals to around 70. We’re about to start a run of posts featuring towns out on the eastern plains of New Mexico, some not far from the Texas state line. Dispatch - Load Monitor in Portales, NM At Western Dairy Transport 'we exist to enrich and grow people, families and communities.' It is our mission 'to deliver the highest quality service while operating in the safest most efficient manner possible,' and our vision is 'to be the best and most desired employer and. Position: Dispatch - Load Monitor in Portales, NM (Bovina) Location: Bovina.Despite some previous conjecture that the moniker was intended to flatter a railroad VP and get a line through Causey, it now seems agreed that the town was named for at least two of the Causey brothers, T.L. It is our mission to deliver the highest quality service while operating in the safest most efficient manner possible, and our vision is to be the best and most desired employer and service provider in all industries we serve.Nominated EmployerCityStateCategory1st Priority Medical TransportationCayceSouth CarolinaSmall Business1st Source Restaurant ServicesLake DallasTexasSmall Business24 Hour FitnessCarlsbadCaliforniaLarge BusinessView 1019 more rowsLet’s start with Causey, New Mexico, located in Roosevelt County at the crossroads of NM 114 and 321, 35 miles southeast of Portales and about a mile from Texas. Records Specialist at Dairy Farmers of AmericaDispatch - Load Monitor in Portales, NM At Western Dairy Transport we exist to enrich and grow people, families and communities. Portales, New Mexico 88130. But, to me, these are fascinating, picturesque, and photogenic places, each persisting as best it can, whether populated or not, on the lonesome, windswept prairie.Graduates of Eastern New Mexico University - the names, photos, skill. So obscure, in fact, that in many cases all I can find on them, historically-speaking, is what Robert Julyan has to say in The Place Names of New Mexico.
After traveling all over the country depleting his finances in a failed effort to find medical relief for his severe headaches, and increasingly disenchanted with the rapidly changing West, Causey sold his ranch to pay off debt, married his nurse, and moved near Kenna, 30 miles southwest of the town that bears his family name. Causey promoted the suitability of eastern New Mexico for ranching and farming and, as one of the earliest settlers in the area, opened it up for those who followed, not least by being the first to discover the rich supply of groundwater in the region.In 1902, Causey was thrown from a horse during a mustang round-up, badly injuring his spine. Coronado had this to say upon stumbling onto the Llano in 1541:"I reached some plains so vast, that I did not find their limit anywhere I went, although I traveled over them for more than 300 leagues.with no more land marks than if we had been swallowed up by the sea.there was not a stone, nor bit of rising ground, nor a tree, nor a shrub, nor anything to go by."To translate for those of us no longer using leagues, Coronado covered more than 1000 miles.Thus turning to ranching on the Llano, George Causey established himself south of Lovington, maybe 60 miles from present-day Causey. Of course, that’s how it went and, after hunting through the 1870’s, by 1882 Causey had shot the last of the wild buffalo on what is known as the Llano Estacado, or “Staked Plain,” of eastern New Mexico.While George Causey generally operated to the south, the town of Causey is on the west central part of the Llano Estacado, one of the largest tablelands in North America, the majority of which is in northwest Texas. One of George’s hunting companions, George Jefferson, known as “Old Jeff,” said “Causey killed more buffaloes in one winter…than Buffalo Bill Cody killed in his entire lifetime.”The problem with shooting that many buffalo is that eventually you run out. Estimates by outside observers put the number of buffalo he personally killed at around 40,000. These days you will find some well-kept homes and a few residents. The townsite was actually moved by Ezra Ball sometime after WWI and is now three miles north of where it was first established. It remains operational to this day. I don’t know if the town of Causey had been established by that time or not the post office didn't open until 1907.The earliest date I can put on Causey is 1907, when the post office opened. ![]() ![]() Many a trip took me through Causey and teachers would be noted at their desks far into the night. They give so much of it to the school. I wonder if the kids lobbied to put that on the itinerary.Stanley himself said of Causey that, “The most surprising thing is the school system and the fire house, worthy of larger cities.” He went on: “Time is unimportant to the teachers. Stanley noted in 1966 that, “Causey had a long, hard road to travel, but it has made the grade and the future looks good.” It is referred to as “one of the business centers of Roosevelt County,” with a population of 234 as early as 1920. However, it may not have been used as such for long because the school closed sometime in 1970-1971.) Inside the armory were a couple bedraggled pick-up trucks and the first abandoned semi tractor I’ve ever seen, now crushed under the huge roof.F. (UPDATE: There were two gyms! I've been told the bigger was the "New Gym," probably built in the mid-to-late 1960's. Heck, maybe there were gyms in both places. Someone else told me they’d played basketball inside the school, which would indicate the gym was there. I've heard this was the school gymnasium and also held the agricultural shops. Western Dairy Transportation Dispatch Portales Nm Mac McCarthy AndI really appreciate your efforts in digging out these facts and taking the photos for your blog. Burroughs, wife of former NM governor John Burroughs, documents the county, but doesn’t say a whole lot about Causey.Gads, the story sounds like a collaboration between Cormac McCarthy and Larry McMurty with all the tragedy, transience of the west, and decay. Roosevelt County History and Heritage, by Jean M. If you get really into George Causey and the Llano, you will want to read Cowboy Life on the Llano Estacado, written by his nephew, V. Wikipedia will give you demographics. Stanley’s long out of print “The Causey (New Mexico) Story.” Some biographical information on George Causey can be found at the Texas State Historical Society. Western Dairy Transportation Dispatch Portales Nm Download On ProjectThanks for your continued enthusiasm and contributions.I have not read Captain Thomas Mayne Reid, but I will certainly have a look. Reid’s bio on Wikipedia is well worth the read as well.The Scalp Hunters: A Romance of the Plain available for free download on Project Gutenberg - I understand Cormac McCarthy may have read this book when researching Blood Meridian.The Lone Ranch: A Tale of the Staked Plain (1860), sorry I could not find a free download of this book, but it is available in paperback, presuming you don’t want to buy a pricey early edition.CoastConFan, it is my pleasure to provide these posts! A real labor of love, as they say. Thomas Mayne Reid, who wrote two books that may be of interest. The Staked Plains covers a lot of territory geographically and temporally.Your readers might want to look at the works of novelist Capt. OntopathogenicI do know that he used Samuel Chamberlain's My Confession: Recollections of a Rogue as a springboard, using Chamberlain's last three chapters as his setting and cast of characters. As if that was necessary!I didn't know that Cormac McCarthy may have read The Scalp Hunters for background while researching Blood Meridian. ) Reid was certainly writing early, wasn't he? The 1860's, back when the buffalo were still plentiful!Your comment prompted me to add Coronado's take on the Llano Estacado to the post, just to put a finer point on the situation. Western Dairy Transportation Dispatch Portales Nm Full Of ItemsIt was often indescribably brutal out there on the plains and much ingenuity on all sides seems to have been put toward finding new ways to dispatch people.My memory has become an attic full of items and I don’t always recall things as well as I should, so I decided to fact check myself (which is often necessary these days) and found that Reid was a source for McCarthy, along with several other books (of which I was unaware) for Blood Meridian. Many people say it is too violent, but after reading the historical accounts of Chamberlain and Gwyne I'd say McCarthy might've actually pulled a few punches. Gwyne also provides incredible background on the area from the vantage of Comanche conflicts with early settlers.You probably wouldn't be surprised to learn that Blood Meridian is perhaps my favorite book. Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C.
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