Frank Springer and New Mexico

9781603440042

1603440046

The Country Frank Springer rode into in 1873 was one of immense beauty and abundant resources--grass and timber, wild game, precious metals, and a vast bed of commercial-grade coal. It was also a stage upon which dramatic and sometimes violent events played out during Springer's ten-year residence in Cimarron, New Mexico. A lawyer and newspaperman for the Maxwell Land Grant company and a foe of the speculators known as "the Santa Fe Ring." Springer found himself in the middle of the Colfax Country War. A man of many sides, he typified the Gilded Age entrepreneurs who transformed the territorial American Southwest. He was also an intriguing personality--an introvert who engaged in very public activities, speaking to large audiences and leading in major civic endeavors. As president of the Maxwell Land Grant company, he also led in the development of mining, logging, ranching, and irrigation enterprises. His Supreme Court victory establishing title to the 1.7 millon acre Maxwell grant earned him a reputation as a brilliant attorney. He also helped lay the foundations of New Mexico Highlands University, the Museum of New Mexico, and other cultural institutions. Throughout his adult life, Springer also engaged in palcontological study, publishing his findings through the Smithsonian Institution and other leading scientific publishers. He amassed the largest collection in the world of a certain kind to fossil, a collection he donated to the Smithsonian Institution, where it is still housed. Frank Springer's influence on New Mexico's economic development was far-reaching and lasting. A thorough biography of the energetic Springer, this book offers insight into many colorful episodes in theregion's history and the way a certain breed of Anglo-centric men left their stamp on the land and its people.