https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/0dc8afd160dffc52b9f06aaea4c55faa.pdf 2ea2d30c4a13d884c0044fe3e9132a71 PDF Text Text NELSON & ENOLA (Hansen) MACKEY Ten year old Nelson and his family had bedded down for the night. Their covered wagon was parked beside the trail, its huge wheels braced with rocks on the sloping meadow. The hobbled team was silent. Soft snores came from the tents. Unknown to the family, large flakes of snow had begun to fall. Suddenly, the silence of night was broken by the drumming of hoofs and the clatter of wagon wheels on the rocky mountain trail. A voice out of the night shouted, "Wake up! Wake up! It'll all fall at once. Get off the pass!" The family came alive. By the time cooking utensils and camping gear were thrown into the wagon and the team hitched, several inches of snow had settled on the ground. Though the crest of the pass was only a few hundred yards up the trail, the snow was slick on the rocks and the high altitude made the horses heave for breath. Desperate slow progress was made until one of the young boys, leaning over the right front side of the wagon seat, lost his balance and fell to the ground in front of the wagon wheel, forcing the wagon to stop. Once stopped, Mr. Mackey never moved it again. The sharp crest of the pass was only 40 yards away, but the horses were winded and could do no more. Nelson's father unhitched one of the horses and rode off into the night. Mrs. Mackey and the children gathered rocks as a base for a fire in the wagon and closed the flaps. By mid-morning of the next day, Mr. Mackey and some loggers he found down the mountainside, returned with two teams with bob-sleds. The family unloaded all they could and traveled 30 miles down the pass to the small town of Crooked River, Oregon, where they spent the rest of the winter. Nelson Hamilton Mackey was born in Texas on August 7, 1898. Most Americans have a desire to see new horizons, but Nelson's father had it strong. "He never spent more than one winter in any one place until he was too old to travel anymore," Nelson recalls. Because of the travel Nelson never spent much time in grammar school, but he learned a good deal from his travels. Besides he's been to college, "I went in the front door of one and out the back one day. That was enough for me." When the Mackeys did settle down, they chose the Animas Valley two and a half miles north of Aztec. Nelson went to work for the Pointer and Baldwin Cattle Co. as a cow puncher. Grazing land for the herd was the reservation land in the region of Charcoal Canyon (Chaco Canyon) 70 miles south of Farmington. Before long Nelson was foreman of the outfit and took pride in the rough and ready way of life of the range. One Christmas, Mr. Pointer, Nelson and several other hands went to Farmington for the holidays. Early Christmas morning Nelson's group was pretty well bored and decided to rouse up the town. Their plan included a race down main street with pistols firing, a circle of the Post Office and the Bank and a grand escape across the Bloomfield Bridge into the country. According to Nelson, "it was working fine. We ripped down main, shooting up the town, circled the Post Office and Bank and were off. Every man, woman and child was out in the streets yelling that the Post Office had been robbed." As Nelson went galloping around a corned behind several of the other hands, his horse slipped and threw him. "I slid on one side of my face clear to the other side of the street. Before I could pull myself up Charlie Lewis, the Marshall, had me by the back of the neck and was saying, 'I've got one of em anyway.' Just then, Mr. Pointer came galloping up from another direction and yelled, 'Turn him loose, we just about had them till he fell.' The other hands rode like heck for the river and hid out. The Marshall swallowed our tale. If he had ever found out about our part in it he'd have killed us.'' 106 �When World War I started all of Nelson's cowpunchers were drafted in one day. Nelson was exempted to manage the herd. He was left almost alone with a large herd in an empty land. Mr. Pointer finally brought 12 Navajo boys 10-14 years of age to help him move the cattle. "We managed," Nelson said, "but I told Baldwin if we ever have another war, they aren't going to exempt me. I'd rather go to war." In 1923 an argument among Nelson and some of his buddies resulted In an unexpected and wonderful trip. One of his friends was reading Zane Gray's novel The Riders of the Purple Sage. In it Zane tells about a Mormon settlement in the Grand Canyon and described the geography and unusual features of that area. Nelson and his buddies got into a hot argument about whether the setting of the story was real or not. The dispute got so heated that the whole bunch packed their bed rolls and cooking. gear and set out for the Grand Canyon to see for themselves. Except for the time Nelson and his horse fell down a bluff into the San Juan River and lost all his gear, the trip was a great adventure. "We found everything we went to see" Nelson said. ) ) J ) J _) J J _) _J J _) ._J J ._J ._J .J ...J .J ...) In the summer of 1923 when Nelson was 25, his father told him about a pretty little longhaired girl living on the next place. "He knew I was shy, but I went up to my Dad's place soon after that and my sisters made me acquainted with Enola Hansen. She was 17 years old and pretty. Her hair was all pinned up. I wanted to see how long it was so I pulled a few pins out and took it down. Then I decided I'd kiss her once before she went home. I was shy before that, but I got over it when I met that girl. When her folks heard she had been over here with a wild cowboy, they put a quick stop to that." From then on, Enola and Nelson had to take what chances they could to see each other. The next summer when Enola was 18 Nelson told Mr. Hansen he'd like to marry Enola. Mr. Hansen thought about it a minute and replied, "I don't know what good it would do you kids to get married." One of Enola's sisters replied, "What good did it do you and mama to get married?" He didn't have any answer to that, so Nelson and Enola took the chance, went to Aztec and got married. Shortly afterwards they moved to Arizona for a year. One character they met there, they'll never forget. Coming home one day they found an outlaw in their house. His name was Cotton James (the Cotton came from his pale blond hair). Mr. James said, "I reckon I'll stay here a while." Nelson replied, "I don't see why we can't get along together." The reason Cotton wanted to stay was simple. He had a severe gunshot wound in his upper chest and was treating himself. His unorthodox method of treatment included pouring hot vinegar into the wound and drinking vinegar with sugar. "He cured himself, too," Enola recalls. Nelson never expected to be put in jail for marrying Enola, but it very nearly happened a short time after Cotton came to live with them. Apparently, since Enola was very small and could have passed for younger than her 18 years, someone started the rumor that Nelson was living unmarried with a 12 year old girl. The marshal! pounded on the door1 accused Nelson of living with a minor and was proceeding to arrest him. Cotton stuck a shotgun out a window in the Marshall's face and told him, "I'm sending Mrs. Mackey out with her marriage license. You read it and read it good and then get yourself off this place quick.'' The Marshall did as he was told and appeared very happy to leave . When the Mackeys moved back to the San Juan Valley, autos were beginning to appear in the area. There probably weren't more than 2-3 cars In Aztec at the time, but the town marshal! had put up a 15 mph speed limit sign at each end of town. Nelson was driving his team with a wagon the first time he saw the sign. Immediately he 10 7 �whipped his horses up and whipped them all the way through town, scattering people right and left. The marshal! on his little motorcycle came put-putting after him and stopped Nelson at the other edge of town. After a good cussing, the he asked what was the big idea of racing through town. Nelson replied that he had seen the new speed limit posted and was just trying to make it. The first cussing he got was nothing compared to the one he got then. The Mackeys lived on Yellow Jacket Hill a while, them moved to Spring Creek, then settled on Middle Mesa south of Allison. It was wild country down there in 1935. No road existed. Nelson cut his own road up the mesa. They ran cattle, made hay and raised a little grain on dry land. There was one poor road to Tiffany. Most of their shopping was done with Frank Leonard in Ignacio or with Morris Levy at the store in Tiffany. Occasionally, Nelson and Enola would catch the train at Tiffany for some shopping in Durango. Five children were born to the Mackeys. Allis Enola, 1925, Rose V. 1929; Nelson Pinkie, 1932; Janie Pearl, 1934 (Janie is now deceased); and Jack Melvin, 1937. Living in so isolated a place as Middle Mesa was in those days made the children very shy. "Whenever anyone would ride up, which happened only rarely, the kids would run for the hill above the house and stay there until the strangers were gone." The kids were put to work clearing the land with a grubbing hoe. Nelson followed with the team and chains for the larger shrubs and trees. As each child reached 18, Nelson offered them 40 acres or $40.00. They always took the 40 acres. In 1949 Drummond Proctor, a car salesman, told Nelson it was time for him to trade for a car. Drummond knew that Nelson had never driven a car in his life, but he said "You take your buggy on home and send Pinkie over in a few days. I'll teach him how to drive and he can bring the car home and teach you". The deal was made. Pinkie got his lessons and headed home. The only problem was the road. It was suitable for buggy wheels. The car high centered on a rock. The pan was knocked off and the engine burned up before the car ever got home. Nelson worked for the Trask Lumber Company for five years. The good income was very attractive, but once Middle Mesa became home neither Enola nor Nelson could stay away from it very long. June 21, 1974 was the Mackey's 50th Wedding Anniversary. It is apparent their long years together have not dimmed their affection for one another. "Mister has always liked to kiss the girls, but I never get jealous," Enola says with a smile. What she clearly knows is that no other "girl" will ever catch his eye quite like the little long-haired girl he met at Riverside in the summer of '23; May they both have all the happiness and good memories which 50 years of loyalty and child rearing and hard work can bring. June, 1974 - Shelby Smith 108 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Nelson Mackey and Enola (Hansen) Mackey Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1974-06 Subject The topic of the resource Mackey, Nelson; Mackey, Enola (Hansen) Description An account of the resource Biography of Nelson Mackey and Enola (Hansen) Mackey based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the June, 1974 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mackey, Nelson; Mackey, Enola (Hansen) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 3 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby