The Goodnight Loving Cattle Trail

By John LeMay

Today Roswell and Chaves County is home to cows. Lots and lots of cows. And, the truth is, Roswell always has been—but for different reasons. While today the cattle are used in the dairy industry, at the time of Roswell’s founding and early days it was beef cattle. One could argue in a roundabout way that what we today call Roswell was founded because of the beef trade and the Goodnight Loving Cattle Trail. The trail began in Graham, Texas, and went southwest to the Pecos River, then north through what would later become Roswell, and from there to Ft. Sumner, New Mexico. James Patterson was keenly aware that cattlemen stopped to water their cattle along the trail at the Hondo River in what is today present day Roswell. Patterson built a single 15x15 foot adobe structure, which he used as a trading post.

While those cattle were merely passing through, another man brought the cows home to stay. That man was John Simpson Chisum, “Cattle King of the Pecos,” who came to the Pecos Valley with several thousand heads of cattle in 1867. Chisum first set up a ranch north of Roswell but later moved to more permanent headquarters at South Spring River Ranch south of town. Chisum would also be a prominent figure in the Lincoln County War and New Mexico history in general. During the Lincoln County War, he employed Billy the Kid and fought against the tyrannical Lawrence G. Murphy and James Dolan of Lincoln.

Chisum was well known for his unique way of making his cattle recognizable, and therefore not as easy to re-sell after being stolen by cattle rustlers. In addition to branding his cattle, he also cut their ears down the middle creating an effect famously called the “Jingle-Bob.” When it was in operation, not many other ranching outfits in the country could compare to John Chisum’s South Spring River Ranch. The adobe structure consisting of nine rooms in a line was famous for its extravagant long porch. Many people, outlaws and dignitaries alike, visited and stayed at the ranch, including Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. At John Chisum’s South Spring River Ranch, the lady of the house was Chisum’s niece Sallie Chisum, his brother James’s daughter. Sallie, only 18 when she moved from Texas to Roswell, won the affections of many a cowhand at the ranch. Sallie was also friends with Billy the Kid, and he reportedly wrote to her often.

John Chisum also had two brothers that moved with him to the Pecos Valley, Pitzer and James, to help run the ranch. The three together planted and bound three cottonwood trees together to grow as one, signifying their close relationship eventually.

John Chisum died December 20, 1884, and laid to rest in Paris, TX, the town he lived in during his youth. His memory is forever immortalized in the 1970 film Chisum, in which John Wayne portrays the title role, and by a bronze statue in his image that stands in downtown Roswell today.