Pasco, Benjamin G.; Letters from Mexico; Winn, Louisiana Submitter: Jo Branch Owner of material: Mariah (Pasco) Burton Date: Mar 2002 * ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** El Paso, TX - Aug 16, 1911 Dearest Sis, I arrived here on late last night. This is a pretty nice town, amidst horrible surroundings. "Desert" is the word, all right. Bare sand hills and dry brush everywhere. No wonder it gets boiling hot here most of the time. You can thank your lucky stars you dont live in Texas. Fort Worth is pretty punk, and I didn't see a town between here and there than any one of which I would not prefer Saginaw; so you can guess what it is like. They say here that everything is quiet in Chihuahua; I can't start until tomorrow morning, so will have to kill time around here some way until then. The name of the manager in Madera is Leach. The feller in their office here said it was two months before the [sic] found out what it was. I went around to Pattersons awhile ago: no one at home, as I enquired of the neighbors. Mrs. Patterson has been dead two years. Mr. Patterson is on a trip to Oregon. I felt almost as badly as if she had been an old friend of mine; being one of yours. I think I will try to Locate Mrs. Buckler later on: I believe you said she was here. I understand they are trying to fight in the interior again, but the company stands in with both sides, and even if trouble should get so far north, which is not likely, they will be all right, so dont worry. Much love, Ben. ***** [Letterhead] C. M. Cole, Mgr.; Palace Hotel; Chihuahua, Mexico Aug 17 - 1911 Dearest Sis, Arrived here ok this evening; everything placid: the entire population now out on the plaza in front of the hotel, parading around and listening to the band between flirtations; no thoughts of fighting, to all appearances. This is certainly a peculiar looking town: just like one would imagine it: the big cathedral dominating the scene, a few ornate public buildings, and a lot of low lying structures compasing the bulk of the town. I understand that there is a bigger population here than in El Paso, but of course it dont make the same showing. Start for Madera in the morning, and arrive when the train does; no certain time; presumably before dark, however. From all accounts Madera is a good place. I am glad I came. Au rivaur. Much love, Ben. ***** Madera, Chih. Aug 20 - 1911 Dearest sis, I have not yet found any letters from you, guess there is one in the post office, if I could get it. Will try again tomorrow. You had better address me c/o Madera Hotel, until I tell you differently, as it will get sent over then. I dont know how it will have to be sent when I get out in the woods; I think I will go out Tuesday. Surely hope so, as this is as rotten a dump of a "hotel" as I ever struck: intolerable, in fact, if I can have thinks sorter clean and comfortable in the woods I guess I will stay a while; but I will cut loose Soon if it is like the town. There are some queer looking geezers around here; the U.S.A. or Canada will be good enough for me after I get through here I think. This is a big thing, and if the mere detail of decent beds and decent cooking was solved satisfactorily there would be some pleasure in handling it, but life is too short to be eaten alive by bugs as large as turtles, every night. This is the tail end of the rainy season, and it rains a little every day, not enough at a time, however, to get one very wet. Outside of the complexion and jabbering of the peons, this is about like any other dern saw mill town; just the same, in fact, so there will not be much more to write about than before. I have about exhausted the subject now, Much love, Ben. ***** Madera, Chih. August 22 - 1911 Dearest Sis, Yurs of the 15 & 16 respectively received togeather, tonight; and high time I was getting them, too. I was just about to wire you to see what was the matter. I see now that the fault was with the mail, which is terribly slow, sure. I am beginning to like it a little better here, and guess I will stick; for a while, anyhow. I have a somewhat better place to stay, and guess I can stand it. Naturally this would be a fine place. Wear a coat all day, sleep under several blankets, no mosquitoes; not many flies; fine open woods, etc. I dont think the ticks and chiggers are very bad, either, although have not had time to find out about that. "Every prospect pleases, and only man is vile", but he is dam'd vile, here; that is lots of him. Of course, there are some very nice fellows her; but they are in the minority. I have not "taken up" with many of them. There is a club composed exclusively of Masons, called the "Lambskin Club" that I am going to join; in that way will be with the best element in town. The General Manager is a member and a Shriner. I met a man here, a Scottish Riteman, /over/ who a few months ago was thrown into jail for shooting a mexican in self defence. He says he telegraphed to Madero to come and get him out, threw the message over the wall to a Mason outside. Madero sent Garcia and another man whom I can not remember. They went to the jail and called him to the bars and said "What in ____ are you doing in there?" He said "I dont know, but they have got me in here, just the same" So they said "Well come out," so they made the guard get the keys, and open the door, shot the guard, and went on about their business. That was during the revolution, and the guard was on the other side, so I guess they thought they had done a good job. That fellow had some big tales; and if they are true, as I guess they are, he has had "a right smart" experience. Must close. Much love, Ben. ***** Madera, Chih. Nov 23 - 1911. Dearest Sis, Yours of the 16th. duly received with great pleasure. I am greatly relieved to hear that you are all right, and you did write more after the old way this time. There is nothing new here, no outside news, or anything. Mr. Works has quit, so dont send any wire in his care, but just in c/o the Co. I dont know whether the new bunch will get my goat or not, and dont care, so am not worrying about it. We are going to move to another camp in a few days, and may get nabbed as we go through town. If so, will head for the U. S. "Mucho pronto," in all probability. I am today sending check to Union Central Life to pay premium for year ending Dec. 15 - 1912, and told them to send receipt to you. Let me know when you get it. Must get out in the hills. Much love, Ben. ***** Madera Dec. 7 = 1911. Dearest Sis - yours of the 28th Oct. duly recd., with great pleasure. I have been away out in the woods all the week, on top of a big mountain, very inaccessable, and will be here several days more, and I am afraid that I will get no chance to mail this so it will get started before Monday. We are having to run some lines into a few places which heretofore have always been given up as a bad job, and properly so, I think, as the lines will cost more than the value of the timber reached; but if they want the roads badly enough to pay for the, all right. I have no news from the outside, as have recd. no mail since I wrote to you last. I am hoping to get the Little Rock matter lined up so I can take hold of it in a few months, but it is moving very slowly, if at all. I want to get there before Washington's Birthday, to take in the Shrine celebration. If everything is all right, will have you run down for it, too. Guess tht is about everything of importance, right now so ---- adios. Much love, Ben. ***** [Letterhead] -right- Codes Used: A. B. C. Western Union American Lumberman. -center- THE MADERA COMPANY, LTD. Manufactures of LUMBER AND BOX SHOOK. General Offices of the Company in Mexico at Medera, Chih., Mex. -right- Mills at Madera, Chih., Mexico Pearson, Chih., Mexico Capacity 1,000,000 Feet Daily. Accounting Department Madera, Dec. 10 - 1911 Dearest Sis; We got snowed out of the mountains yesterday and came down to madera where there isnt any, as it is pretty hard to do any work on a rocky hill side with a foot of snow on it, making it more slippery, even, than usual. We are going to lay out a few sewers intown [sic], by which time I hope said snow will have melted. I was very glad to find here three letters from you, including the long one about which you wrote the short one. I haven't heard anything more from any one else but expect to sometime this week, and hope that I can get lined up to take hold of the Little Rock proposition soon. I am "dead anxious" to get there before Feb 22nd, anyhow. Darn it! just had to put out the roof, which caught fire, very pororovoking; horripendicular, in fact. I have scarcely seen a newspaper for about a month, and don't know much about what is going o. But everything is apparently quiet here, so far as revolution is concerned. I hope you will not hae to move during bad weather, that would e a pretty hard proposition. Possbly it will turn out that you won't move at all. The greasers have been coming in at odd times all day to get money; I let them have it whenever they want it, and keep it out of their months' wages. I just paid them off yesterday, too; but being in town they blew that in last night, and had to have more for tonight. They will have to go slow the rest of the time we are here, as I won't let them have any until their time is worth it, or they might quit in the "hole". I am beginning to ink that a good show would loo pretty good; I need a haircut too, blamed bad. El Paso for me, eh? But by rail it is further from here to El Paso than from Little Rock to St. Louis or about the same. There is nothing new of interest, so will close. Will try to mail this on the train in the morning. Much love, Ben. ***** Madera, Dec 20 - 1911. Dearest Sis, Yours of the 16th enclosing picure recd. That I was delighted, goes without saying. But the picture lacks a lot of doing you justice. That photographer is not as good a it as Jones; is he? Things here are very quiet, with no signs of trouble, and I guess that there will be none. The snow is still on the mountains, but down here it is fairly warm. Lots of wild ducks on the pond mornings. I presume that your snow ill last but a short time; ours lasts so long because the air is cool, even though the sun is warm, and wherever the sun don't get a good shine at it, no melting much, occurs. I have not sen a new newspaper for serveral days and haven't the least idea about what is going on outside; but my Chinese cook says that poco tiempo the Manchus will all get their heads cut off, and that ten years from now the Chinese will lick the stuffing (he didn't say stuffing) out of Japan. I hope they will, before then. Adios, Much love, Ben. ***** Madera, Dec 22~1911. Dearest Sis, There is not a bit of news, and I have recd. no mail since writing to you, but if I don't get a letter off on the morning train, there will be nothing going out until Monday, which would be too long an interval. It has snowed for a couple of days, and yesterday I had to ride a horse in it nearly all day; today there is a layer several inches thick; I am afraid that it will be in the way all winter, now. There is going to be a big dance in town tomorrow night again; I missed the other, and don't much think I will go to this one; wots de use? Anyhow I need a haircut pretty blamed bad. That punk bum, rotten nigger, Sheeny town of Little Rock would look pretty good to me now, by jingoes. I know the barber that would cut this hair, if I was there. Here's hoping I will soon get that contract, and a haircut. Adios, Much love, Ben. ***** Madera; Dec. 27-1911. Dearest Sis, Your's enclosing necktie received today; thank you; it came quite opportunely, sure enough, as I was needing one and no good ones visible. And here I sent you nothing. But what could I? Nothing obtainable here. The snow is still with us and the thermometer was 12 below zero in the sun at Jacloen this morning, so yu see that it is not exactly tropical here at present. I took Christmas dinner with some of the boys who work in the office; they have a house and a cook of their own; four of them. Fine, too. Excellent turkey, and the accompaniaments. The only news from the outside that I have had for a long time, except your leters, was a letter from Mr. Howard, which I got today. He is doing some work, but not much. He says the prospects are good for considerable work pretty soon, however. He thinks he is about al right again; but his beautiful writing is gone, and I fear that we wil never be quite as before; but hope he will get along all right anyhow. Say; draw some money out of the bank and entertain your club, and have a good time. Much love, Ben. ***** [Letterhead] -right- Codes Used: A. B. C. Western Union American Lumberman. -center- THE MADERA COMPANY, LTD. Manufactures of LUMBER AND BOX SHOOK. General Offices of the Company in Mexico at Medera, Chih., Mex. -right- Mills at Madera, Chih., Mexico Pearson, Chih., Mexico Capacity 1,000,000 Feet Daily. Accounting Department Madera, Jan. 9-1912 Dearest Sis; Yours of the 4th received, with great pleasure. I wrote you yesterday, so there is nothing new this time, but we are going out in the woods tomorrow, after having been in town for three weeks, and I may not get a chance to mail another letter for several days. We have had a couple of rains, and the snow is pretty well gone, I am glad to say; but it looks now like it was going to snow again; I hope it will not, you bet. Doggone a cold place, says I. Also a hot one. What in thunder are we going to do? Looks like everywhere was one or the other, and most places both. I am thinking some of "beating it" to Little Rock in March, to try to scinch the deal; don't know positively yet, though just what I will do. That is too far ahead to figure definitely on. But in any case, I think I will come out of here not later than June, as I don't want to spend another rainy season here. When I leave, it goes without saying that I will see you. I may go to California and have ou come out for a while. Well, adios. Much love, Ben. ***** [letterhead] The Madera Company, Ltd. ---------- Camp No. 1 Date Jan. 13, 1912 Dearest Sis, We have been out in the very inaccessable part of the woods for several days; no mail in or out; but as it happens a geezer is going to town tomorrow, and I will just send you a line to let you know that everything is all right. I hope that we will be through here in a couple of days more, and we will then probably go to a camp pretty near to town, and will be able to get mail a coouple of times a week. There is absolutely nothing new, of course. And I hope that things are all ok with you. Adios. Much love, Ben. ***** Madera; Jan. 16--1912. Dearest Sis; Your's of the 7th, received today, with great pleasure; on the way quite a while, wasn't it? I am sorry that you are having such cold weather; that is too blamed cold for comfort, sure. We came to town last night, and expect to go to another camp tomorrow, and I hope to get the mail at least twice a week, out there. There is no news from the outside; your letters are aout the only ones I get, except an ocasional stray. No, I never me Mr. Harvey, in El Paso or Miami either. How is the town of Miami progressing? Still in the throes of the struggle with the "Black List"? Also still talking about another RR., I suppose. My hair continues to get longer, but I am never going to get it cut in one of these dirty barber shops; but I will sure fix it when I next get to El Paso; betcherlife. But when will I get there? That is the question. I hope that everything will be fixed to suit me at Little Rock early in March. Adios. Much love, Ben. ***** [Letterhead] The Madera Company, Ltd. Office of________ Date Jan. 24 1912 Dearest Sis; I rode to town Saturday, and was very glad to find a couple of letters from you. If nothing prevents, I am going in this P.M., and will take the opportunity to mail this. There is nothing whatever new since the last time, but there may be some news in town of which I have not heard. We are the only people here, and the next nearest is a bunch of "Chinos" as they call Chinks; so things are pretty quiet. The weather has been quite warm for several days, and I hope it will stay that way; the snow is nearly all gone, and I never want to have to get out in snow again. Getting degenerate, I reckon. Well, if anything of interest happens in town, I'll let you know. Much love, Ben. ***** [Letterhead] The Madera Company, Ltd. Office of________ Date Jan. 30 1912 Dearest Sis; We made it into town this P.M., and I was delighted to find your letter of the 22nd. We are going out to another camp in the morning, and hope that another letter will come in tonight. You cut out doing any of your own washing; do you hear? How often do I have to tell you that? If you don't stop it, I will not write to you but once a month, so there. I had lots of fun yesterday rolling big rocks down a canyon along the top of which I was locating a branch line. We would push one about the size of a common horse over the edge and watch it bounce. The canyon is nearly a mile deep, and before the rocks had dropped a thousand feet they would break a big tree like it was grass. I hung over from a big ledge and kicked loose a boulder that was just ballanced, and you ought to have seen it go. My hair is not long now. I cut it. This is twice I have cut my own hair since I have been here. This time I got a pretty good "scald" on it. No darned Mexican barber shop will get to monkey with me. If you want to go East, the money is in the bank for you. Don't hesitate to draw it out. Mr. Leach has resigned, and the old Supt. has also, so that leaves a new crowd of bosses. It hasn't got to me yet, however. I guess everything is going to be all right. There is no news, so adios. Much love, Ben. ***** Pearson, Chih. Feb. 7--1912 Dearest Sis, There has been no mail in or out for several days; tomorrow a geezer is going to start for El Paso overland, will send this with him. I got this far on the way to the border, and the yellow slobs burned a lot of bridges ahead of us, it will be several days before we can get out, now. Everything quiet, and no danger, so don't worry. When I get through, I will go to Little Rock, to try to arrange contract. Address General Delivery. No news, so adios. Much love, Ben ***** -center- THE MADERA COMPANY, LTD. Manufactures of LUMBER AND BOX SHOOK. General Offices of the Company in Mexico at Medera, Chih., Mex. -right- Mills at Madera, Chih., Mexico Pearson, Chih., Mexico Capacity 1,000,000 Feet Daily. Accounting Department El Paso Feb. 14--1912 Dearest Sis; It has been two weeks since I have received any mail, as the rebels tied up the road, just as I told you they might. They have interfeared [sic] with the work so much that the Madera Co. has laid off all the men it could, short of shutting down, and my entire outfit was among them. So I came away, arriving in Columbus, N. M. a week after starting. It was a slow go, as I had to use horses the last 150 miles. But I am out at last, and intend to stay out. I will go to Little Rock, and get ready to make a strong bid for the logging contract. This is valentine day, and I am sending you under seperate registered package a little souvenir of Mexico, which possibly you can use. The town is full of "Refugees", and presents quite a busy aspect. I wired you early this morning that I had emerged from the jungles, and hope that I will find a letter in Little Rock from you. There is no news, except that I had to sell my watch, pistol, and compass to get money to get out. But I got money in El Paso, and have bought a $42.00 watch, which is a peach; "Hamilton" works; 21 Jewells, 25 year case movement adjusted to temeperature; isoschronism, and five positions, and guranteed to pass inspection on any railroad. I got tired of a poor watch, and think the advertising value of the appearance of a good one is a good investment, so I was not as extravagant as it might appear. Well, adios. Much love, Ben. ***** Pasadena, Calif. Oct. 7--1912. Dearest Sis; Yours of the 27th. Ult. duly received with great pleasure. I intended to answer somewhat sooner, but events prevented. Mrs. Neimeyer died this morning, after having been unconcious almost 24 hours. She went to bed as usual night before last, and asked for a drink about 3 oclock yesterday morning. That was the last time anyone saw her normal. When Mr. Neimeyer got up for breakfast he thought she was asleep; after breakfast he went back up stairs, and found her apparently about to die. The doctor came on the run, and by stimulants kept her alive until 3 this morning, but she never came to herself so that one could be sure of it. At one time she seemed to comprehend a little, but it is not certain. Mr. Neimeyer is all broken up, of course, and so are the rest of us. The only consolation is that it was comparatively painless. It is a good thing I came out, and that you wrote to her. I wish that I had brought you anyhow. I will come back pretty soon. Adios Much love, Ben.