Warm Springs Apaches Reservation (abandoned)
Posted by Pete | Posted in News | Posted on 28-07-2010
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Well, I was told by a very reliable source that the Warm Springs Rez is sacred ground. White men not welcome, is kinda how the message came across. So, No. 2 son and I set out on a quest to see if we could find this abandoned reservation. We know it is at the southwestern section of the Cibola National Forest, a little north and east of Winston, NM. Yesterday, we drove up Highway 52, up past the junction of Highway 59 and almost to Dusty. The road was gravel after the hwy 59 junction and I did not take my pickup, so we took it very slow and finally just gave up on looking. There are no road markers announcing the Rez or signs pointing anything out to the driver. We did not stop and ask. There is a General Store there in Winston and it was open, we should have mentioned it to him to get his opinion. We did not go up there to try and get on the place, we just wanted to see where it was and if anything was available to view…Well, it ain’t…Ojo Caliente is somewhere around up there..That’s the one that gave the Warm Springs Tribe their name. Chief Victorio and Cochise and Geronimo all believed in the cureative powers of this hot spring. I did locate it on Goggle Earth upon our return, but it looks to be very rugged country and hiking country.. Not much of a trail, and I think that is by design…. I was surprised at the pronghorns near the road. (we got some pictures and if possible I will post a couple.) No. 2 and I were both surprised by the lay of the land. Hilly, but not nearly as mountainious as we had antipicated. If we had taken Highway 59, heading due west from Highway 52, we would have gone into the heart of the Black Range. From our vantage point yesterday we could see why they are named the Black Range. They were black and rain clouds were hovering all over them and all around us for that matter. It was a good trip and while we did not see the actual reservation, we know about where they lived and we can understand why Chief Victorio did not want to leave…America said, “move on Chief, you are standing in the way of progress”…..I think it is sad…That is how I view it anyway……
You say that the Warm Springs Apache Reservation has been abandoned. Other than the group that was moved to Oklahoma, when Oklahoma, as well as Florida, were the depositories of just about all of the seemingly unassimulatable native Americans, I wonder if the identity of the once mighty Apache nation and people has even survived. The Apache was a warlike nation, defeated in battle. It is a wonder if their identity as a separate nation has survived, other than those who have remained on the reservation even until now. The Navejo and the various southwestern Pueblo peoples were peaceful. They are expanding and thriving. The Navejo language probably deserves to be ranked as the second language of New Mexico and Arizona.
While I was attending the Summer Institute of Linguistics at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, I had the opportunity to work under the tutoring of native speakers of the Apache language. There are still a few in Oklahoma. I wonder if there are any left in New Mexico who are still fluent in their native tongue. If the Warm Spring Reservation has been abandoned, can you tell me if there is still an active or inhabited reservation in New Mexico for the Apache people?
Yes, there is…The Mescalero Apache Tribe located near Ruidoso, NM and some of the Chiricahua moved there after they were set free in Oklahoma.The Apaches prisoners were allowed to settle in Fort Sill. Hence, they are the Apaches of those led by Cochise and Geronomo. The Warm Spring Band were kind of like cousins and led by Chief Victorio. The government gave him the reservation in the Black Range in 1870. Then in 1873 the government ordered him to move to the Tularosa River Valley. In 1873, the government allowed him to move back to the Black Range, his reservation which he considered his homeland and where he wanted to stay. In 1877, just as his crops of corn were ripe they ordered him to move to San Carlos in Arizona and promised him good hunting and plenty to eat. There were five tribes there and the agent was on the take, selling the livestock that the government had furnished for the Apaches, while the Indians starved. Chief Victorio asked to leave there and they allowed him to go up to the Mescalero Reversation. He stayed there about seven months. Things did not work out there so he left again and fought the cavalry from 1879 until the time of the tribes massacre on Oct.15, 1880 by Col. Joaquin Terrazas in Mexico. Mauricio Corredor claimed to be his killer, although surivors said he took his own life by falling on his own knife. It is said 18 members of the tribe escaped and joined the Chiricahua until Geronomo surrendered to the USA. Sorry, there is no short answer to that question….
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This is a very helpful short answer. Thanks! I was familiar with the Mescaleros, but their connections with Cochise, Geronomo, and Victorio were strange to me. Thanks! I was just wondering if the Apaches in New Mexico, like the Navejo and certain of the Pueblo peoples, still maintained their unique identity, traditions, and language and had not melted into the surrounding, dominant culture as so many native American peoples, particularly back East, have.
The Apache lady in Oklahoma, who helped us to analyze her language linguistically, was an older lady, but she was very nice and very helpful. She would speak her language, and we would listen to it, analyze it phonetically, and break it down into phonemes, and determine the grammar. This supposedly gave us the skill to develop a written form for other unwritten languages around the world for the purpose of translating Scripture.
Taneka, let me know what you need and if I have some knowledge on the subject, I would be happy to do that. Send me an e-mail of what you would like to say on my blog and we will see if it works out. thanks, Pete Hester