Limpia Creek & Wild Rose Pass about 1857. Emory expedition in book Report of the US and Mexican Boundary
tured canon and other heavy arms in
or near the pass.
After this failed invasion, the land
from San Antonio to El Paso
remained largely in the hands of the
Apaches and Comanches. With the
end of the conflict, travelers returned
as forts were reestablished and com-
merce resumed. Freight wagons to
and from Chihuahua, El Paso and the
central Texas settlements used the
pass. These wagons often made
tempting targets for attacks by
Mescalero Apaches under such lead-
ers as Espejo and Nicholas.
John and James Edgar learned the
dangers first hand in the spring of
1866. The brothers organized a train
of 40 wagons and 400 mules to haul
freight from San Antonio to El Paso.
They traveled in two units in order to
not overuse grass and water along the
way. John led the first unit. Upon
reaching Wild Rose Pass they found
Espejo and his Mescalero warriors
waiting. The freight party was too
large for a direct attack, so the
Apaches tried to bargain. However,
John was an experienced frontiers-
man and refused to parlay. Instead,
he turned back toward the Pecos
River. His brother’s train had experi-
enced an unseasonal blue norther and
had lost about half his mules to the
cold. Once the two groups rejoined,
they eventually made their way on to
El Paso without encountering the
Apaches.
The east-bound mail from El Paso
was not so fortunate. This party was
not familiar with the ways of the fron-
tier and Espejo attacked, killing a
half-dozen men and driving off the
horses and mules. The survivors
made their way on foot some 60 miles
to Fort Stockton.
Once the frontier forts were
reestablished, the Apaches were hunt-
ed and hounded onto the Mescalero
Apache Reservation in New Mexico.
By the early 1880s, the Indians were
in New Mexico. The arrival of the
railroad put an end to the
freighters. With the railroads came
civilization. Today the wild roses are
about gone, lost to drought and fire,
and State Highway 17 carries traffic
over the old by-pass. Historic Wild
Rose Pass, described by a
Confederate soldier as “the most
splendid scenery my eyes have
beheld,” lies silent and empty. (Note:
The canyon of Wild Rose Pass is on private
ranch land. Do not trespass.)
D AVIS M OUNTAINS
N UT C OMPANY
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Hwy 17 in Fort Davis • Open: Mon. - Sat. 9 to 5
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Cenizo
Third Quarter 2015
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