We had received very favorable tidings from some friends and relatives in New Mexico, as to the splendid opportunities for investment and business, and for acquiring valuable government land in that territory, by using our homestead and desert claim rights and after some investigation of the matter, we decided to remove to the land of cactus, sagebrush and sand. Accordingly we sold most of our personal property, disposed of the remnant of our goods salvaged from the fire, rented our residence property and about the 18th day of September, 1906, having also sold the stone walls of our burned store building, we emigrated to the southwest country and in a few days we arrived safely in Aztec, New Mexico, where we located and again in partnership with Bernie Coon, who had come west with us, and our son Joe, we rented a small brick store building under the firm name of Slavens, Coon & Co.

There were several of our Missouri friends already located in Aztec, to wit: Joseph S. Hartman and family and John Hartman and family and our relatives James Shepherd Thurston and family, William L. Thurston and family and Sherman R. Coon and a few weeks later Mrs. Laura White and her children, Eugene, Nina and Nona, formerly of Warsaw, Missouri, but who had been recently living in Spokane, Washington also came to Aztec to make their home and all together we were quite a good sized Missouri colony in Aztec.

We put in a small stock of clothing, furnishing goods, shoes and groceries. Realizing that for some time our volume of sales would be small, Bernie Coon got employment as a carpenter, Joe obtained a position as a printer in the Index newspaper office and I conducted the business of our store, and although stores were numerous in Aztec, and competition strong, we were soon doing some business but small compared with our Hermitage business.

Aztec is the county seat of San Juan County, New Mexico, and is situated near the center of the county on the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad and about ten or twelve miles from Farmington, which is south of Aztec and the terminus of the same railroad.

Other towns in the county are La Plata on the west side of the county, Blanco and Bloomfield both on the San Juan River and Flora Vista on the railroad between Aztec and Farmington and Kirtland and Fruitland. The land in San Juan County is very dry, sandy and much of it very hilly. In fact it is in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. There is very little rainfall in that section of New Mexico and the farming is principally done by irrigation. The chief crops raised are corn, wheat, oats, alfalfa and clover. It is a splendid fruit country and there are many apple orchards and pears, prunes, peaches and apricots are raised in abundance. The climate is excellent and the pure air from the snow capped mountains rendered it to be a very healthful country and it is especially helpful to people afflicted with tuberculosis

In many aspects we were well pleased with San Juan County. The climate was beneficial to my wife. She had been afflicted with rheumatism for years, but though her condition as to this disease was not nearly so bad as it had previously been, she greatly improved after living there some time, and she became fleshier than ever before in her life. My health improved some but the climate or rather the high altitude did not agree with our daughters, especially Irene, arid Bernice became afflicted with a goiter soon after we located there and though through medical treatment the goiter was finally removed she was much injured in other respects, either by the goiter or the treatment for its removal. Soon after we went to Aztec I purchased a brick residence property of Judge J. S. Hartman, where we resided soon after its purchase and during our stay in New Mexico. Not long after we became residents of New Mexico, Joe, Mary and I filed homestead claims and desert claims on government land, which it was thought would soon be under irrigation, ditches being projected but the irrigation projects never materialized.

Not far from Aztec across the Animas River, which is just west of town are the Aztec ruins, said to have been inhabited at an early day by the Aztecs. They are wooden habitations principally underground and are quite a novelty and are often visited. Underneath the ground there are several stories or series of rooms and I think in the early settlement of the country, pottery and various other relics were found, supposed to have been made and used by the Aztecs during the time they were inhabitants of the ruins. I was never far down in the ruins but several of our children were and they found they extended several stories below the surface of the surrounding ground.

South of Farmington across the San Juan River from the town is a large Indian reservation of the Navajo Indians. They are a partially civilized but Nomadic tribe, but when the first white man went to New Mexico, the Navajos were a war-like tribe and often attacked and massacred many of the settlers. At the time we lived there they were very peaceable, staying generally upon their reservations but occasionally visiting Aztec, Farmington and other towns in search of merchandise. Very few of them had permanent habitations but some few had hovels, called hogans, where they stayed occasionally; but they usually wandered from place to place stopping wherever night overtook them or at some water hole.

There are a number of Mexicans living in the county, principally in the San Juan River region. Many of them own homes and they are usually law abiding citizens. There were quite a number of the white people in the vicinity of Bloomfield, Fruitland and other settlements along the San Juan River, principally who were Mormons. As far as I ever heard they were good citizens but not usually very thrifty.

A year or two after we went to Aztec, some more Hickory County, Missouri, people located in or near Aztec. They were Mr. Hardin R. Marshall and family and Mr. Eck Sapp and family. I knew Mr. Marshall arid Mr. Sapp very well when we lived in Hickory County. They were well respected citizens and we were glad to have them and their families as members of our community. After remaining there a year or two they all returned to their old homes in Missouri. There was also in this bunch of Missourians Mr. Marshall’s married daughter and her husband Mr. Hammons. They also returned with the Marshalls to Missouri. We regretted to learn that Mrs. Marshall, who was in very poor health while they lived in Aztec, had died after their return to Hickory County.

After I had been in Aztec a year or more I was appointed assistant District Clerk for San Juan County of the District Court of that section of New Mexico. The clerk of the court, Mr. Francis Wilson lived at Santa Fe and only came to San Juan County when the district court was in session at Aztec. My official duties as assistant clerk did not take much time from my business, the principal part being the filing of suits and court papers during vacation of the court and work in court when in session. I remember on one occasion during my incumbency of the office, I had to go to Farmington to attend to sort of official business pertaining to a suit pending in court and for trial at the ensuing session to convene soon in Aztec. Later the duties of the office, the emoluments of which were small, took too much time from my business and I resigned the position.

During our residence in Aztec, Mary taught several terms of public school, the first term being in a Mormon neighborhood near Bloornfield on the San Juan River and two or more terms in the primary department of the Aztec school of which her cousin Sherman H. Coon was principal. The Bloomfield School was in a small adobe building and very poorly equipped with seats. During the term the Mormons, old and young, had community dances several times in the school building.

Inez also taught one term of public school at La Plata, fifteen miles from Aztec, in the school district where Dr. Smith the Superintendent of Public Schools of San Juan County resided. Both of the girls had very good success as teachers.

In the fall of 1908, our son Joe made a visit to friends and relatives in Hickory County and on September 7, 1908, he was married to Miss Gertrude McCaslin, oldest daughter of Mr. John H. McCaslin, cashier of the Bank of Hermitage. We had known Miss McCaslin several years, and at one time before we removed from Hermitage she was the teacher of the primary department of our public school, and Irene was one of the pupils in that department. She was a very amiable, well-educated young lady and we approved of their marriage. After they were married, Joe and his bride came to Aztec and made their home with us during the fall and winter. He worked in the Index printing office that winter as I could attend to our store business without help.

Not long after we settled in Aztec, Irene became indisposed, and although she continued to attend school a few months, she became so badly afflicted with what our physician diagnosed as heart disease, that on his advice we took her out of school. Her condition continued to grow worse the longer we remained there and we were very much troubled about her ill health, hardly knowing what to do, we had her examined by another physician, Dr. McRee, and he agreed with Dr. Taylor, our family doctor. They gave her treatment, but she received but very little relief from her ailment which the doctors said was augmented by the high altitude of Aztec which was 5651 feet above sea level.

Meanwhile our friends Judge Hartman and wife became sadly bereaved. Their daughter Miss Marylou who had been teaching the primary department of the Aztec Public School for some time had an attack of mumps which finally resulted in a very bad cough, and later in tuberculosis. Although she was so very poorly, she like her father was very energetic, and she continued to attend to her duties in school, contrary to the advice of many of her friends. But finally her physical condition became so serious that she resigned her position in the school and went to Phoenix, Arizona, hoping that the milder climate there, said to be very beneficial to sufferers from lung disease, would help her, but she continued to grow worse until, far away from her home and family and with the exception of Mr. and Mrs. Lair, formerly of Aztec, but who lived in Phoenix then, among strangers, the dear girl died. After her death her remains were brought back to Aztec for burial, accompanied by her father who hearing of her critical condition shortly before her death had gone to Phoenix. Her sister Miss Beulah who had been Chicago for some time returned home for the funeral in the Methodist Church in Aztec, conducted by the pastor of the church, Rev. Johnson, and she was buried in the Aztec Cemetery.

About a week after Marylou’s burial there was another bereavement in Judge Hartman's family. One evening, soon after the noon meal their daughter Miss Beulah, was toying with a pistol with which she had been target shooting a short time previous and the revolver was discharged, fatally wounding her in the breast. During the few minutes that she lived after the shooting, she told her father that the discharge of the weapon was accidental. Dr. Taylor, who had been hastily summoned, on an examination of the wound pronounced it fatal and her death occurred soon after the doctor’s arrival. Her funeral at the Methodist Church was preached also by Rev. Johnson and her burial beside her deceased sister in the Aztec Cemetery was conducted by the members of the Aztec Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star of which she was a member. We all deeply sympathized with our old friends Judge Hartman and wife and Aunt Mandy Riley, the mother of Mrs. Hartman, in their sad double bereavement We had known these good people for many years and they had always bean good friends to us especially since we came to Aztec. We had known their deceased daughters since they were small children, and who were highly esteemed by all who knew them.

Early in the spring of 1909 our son Joe and his wife returned to Missouri and made their home in Hermitage, in the house where Gertrude and her sister Ethel had lived prior to Joe and Gertrude’s marriage and Joe was employed by Coon and Lindsey in their mercantile establishment in Hermitage. We also had decided to return to Missouri. Irene 's health had continued bad. Our physician, as well another good doctor, had again frequently examined her and their diagnosis still agreed as to her disease, which they were very positive was heart disease, and they continued to attribute it as largely due to the high altitude of Aztec, and they advised us to take her to a lower altitude, and they thought after learning the height above sea level of Hermitage, where she was born and raised until our removal to Aztec, that it would probably be the best for her. I think the altitude of Hermitage is about 900 feet. Accordingly we began to make preparations to leave Aztec, but we were reluctant to do so. We liked the little town and had become attached to many of our neighbors, than whom there were never kinder or more hospitable people and we regretted very much to leave them. But we felt it to be our duty to do so and hence I sold our stock of goods, having bought Bernie Coon’s interest therein when he and his family more than a year previously had returned to Missouri; sold at auction part of our household goods, shipped the things we desired to keep to Hermitage, and bidding our Aztec friends and relatives good-bye we left the desert land of New Mexico, and returned to our home in Missouri.

Copyright ©2005 Larry Slavens. All rights reserved.