Cenizo Journal Winter 2020 | Page 9

“Southern Pacific provided section houses had five rooms to a building. Each family had a room. When Julia was six years old, she began attending school in Marathon. Staying in Marathon during the week, she attended the “Mexican” School on the south side. Life changed when her father no longer was employed by the railroad.” At the edge of a field, by Hwy. 20 between Sierra Blanca and El Paso, Texas, there is a brick and concrete bench…the only remains of Ft. Hancock building which housed the soldiers who held the border from 1884-1895. Julia's former home in Marathon by Ortega house It began as gentle curiosity pricked by reading an archived Trans-Pecos Quiz (from the Desert Candle) by Phil Plimmer (© Judith Brueske, see her local shop, Ocotillo Enterprises in Alpine) written in 1998, “Especially for visitors, new- comers, easterners, northerners, and those not in the know.” Then came the road trip, 461 miles of a possible 631 miles…Alpine, Texas to Santa Fe, New Mexico, the northern segment of the trail. My dear husband and I were planning an early November trip to meet our youngest daughter in Santa Fe, so naturally, I thought it would be an opportunity for exploring. The railroad is said to have replaced much of the Chihuahua Trail, along with highways like Route 66. In Moorhead’s book (pg. 184) the Treaty of Guadalupe- Hidalgo of 1848 “brought an end not only to the Mexican War… thereafter the Chihuahua Trail— although developing from a wagon trace into a stage road, into a railway, and ultimately into a paved automobile highway,” was one of several trade routes. Since I could put “eyeballs” on the railroad track, that is where I started. By 1883, the Southern Pacific railroad formed a backbone covering the former Chihuahua Trail. However, the people who hauled wagonloads of salt, silver, leather, pottery and ore from Mexico to the nascent U.S. port of Indianola, Texas or east to Missouri, supported the missions, ranchers and frontier families before and after trains. The Hispanic peoples, many descendants from Colonial Spain and indigenous Native Americans, can still be found to tell their stories. Mi amiga Julia Pinedo in Marathon, Texas was born in Marfa, Texas, one of ten children who grew up in a railroad family, and now is the matriarch of five generations of Hispanics who believe la familia is as important as being grateful for the desert sunsets. Hard work has led descendants to become respected cooks, leaders, teachers and business owners in the desert community of Marathon and surrounding towns in Texas. The Contreras, Ortizes and Pinedos are some of those people of the desert. I am so fortunate that Julia is my neighbor and friend in Marathon. I knew that her husband worked for the railroad so when I asked her about life when she was a young woman, it opened a whole other world I had no idea existed. She began sharing photos and news clippings that included Angelita (Angela) Madrid, born 1880, who celebrated her 99th birthday in 1979. Angela was Julia’s maternal grandmother, who married Ventura Contreras in 1898 and had nine children. Ventura Contreras hauled supplies for the mine and store in Shafter from Shafter to Marfa. With two wagons and six mules, he could make the trip in three days. The men who worked in the mines worked two shifts a day, 12 hours each. Angela literally kept the home fires burning, both Continued on page 10 Cenizo Winter 2020 9