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The Bridge on the Rio Grande. |
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One particularly
interesting incident mentioned in the Otero Letter is the visit undertaken by
the men to view the construction of a bridge.
One afternoon I
drove Earp and Jaffa to the river to see them building the new bridge. Earp
remarked how it reminded him of the big bridge at Wichita.
The authors of the True
West article confirm that the new bridge was under construction during the
period in question:
It is also true
that, as Otero recounts, the new bridge over the Rio Grande was being
constructed at the time the Earp party was in Albuquerque. Construction had
begun in 1881, and it was not finished until December 1882. (p. 60)
Marc Simmons sees
it much the same way in Albuquerque: A Narrative History:
Through sale of
stock, $22,000 was raised an construction got under way in 1881. Work
continued late into the following year and on December 12, 1882, the bridge
was opened to the public. (p. 278)
But let's
see what the Albuquerque newspapers had to say about this bridge:
- Albuquerque Morning Journal, February 8,
1882: "M. J. Mack stated that the site of the bridge was located last
August and that the estimated cost was $14,000. The officers of the Bridge
company were requested to furnish the board with estimates and papers
relating to the bridge."
- Albuquerque Morning Journal, March 24,
1882: "Persons going to and coming from Nacimiento now travel via
Bernalillo, where if there was a bridge over the river at this point they
could go direct."
- Albuquerque Morning Journal, April 18,
1882: "The only difficulty in going to Copper City is in crossing the Rio
Grande, the only bridge across that river being at Bernalillo, which is
fifteen miles out of the direct route. With a bridge across the river at
Albuquerque the distance would be shortened just fifteen miles. This seems
to be something that the people of Albuquerque should look after…"
- Albuquerque Evening Review, April 19,
1882: "The affairs of [the bridge] company [are] still in status quo as
far as subscriptions were concerned.
It
was announced by Mr. Huning that Mr. O. E. Cromwell had taken a copy of the
subscription list, and would send it on, with facts and figures regarding
the enterprise, to New York, with the object of enlisting capital there to
build a bridge."
- Albuquerque Evening Review, August 15, 1882:
"The Albuquerque Bridge company met last night at the office of Judge W.
C. Hazledine and took a positive step of a bridge across the Rio Grande
here, letting a contract for the work to Mr. C. W. Armstrong, late a bridge
builder on the Atlantic & Pacific road. The contract expressly
stipulates that the bridge shall be completed in sixty days after the
arrival of the material, which will probably be on hand in about two
weeks."
- Albuquerque Morning Journal, November 1, 1882:
"The bridge across the Rio Grande at this point, was completed yesterday.
Mr. Armstrong says he will turn the bridge over to the company,
sometime to-day."
- Albuquerque Evening Review, November 1, 1882:
"The bridge which Mr. Armstrong has just finished is the best built one on
the Rio Grande and the largest, the distance between the two ends being 317
feet. Engineer Mack yesterday examined and accepted the bridge for the
company, which will meet to-night."
- Albuquerque Morning Journal, November 2, 1882:
"The length of the bridge just completed across the Rio Grande is 1,365
feet, which is one hundred and fifty feet longer than that at Bernalillo,
and over two hundred feet longer than the Los Lunas bridge. The structure
has been turned over to and accepted by the company, and is now open for
business."
Clearly, there was
no bridge open or under construction at Albuquerque during the time the Earp
posse rested there. But could the letter refer to another bridge? Some
have hypotesized that the letter refers to the railroad bridge near Isleta,
about 12 miles south of Albuquerque. This was the bridge that opened up
the entire territory to the west and made the city of New Albuquerque a center
of transportion and commerce.
Simmons mentioned
the railroad bridge, too:
On May 1, 1880,
the bridge was completed, and the following October the Albuquerque Daily
Journal reporrted that the rails had advance 50 miles beyond. (p. 277).
Since Simmons
presented some erroneous dates for the Albuquerque footbridge, we shouldn't take
his word for it here. Confirmation comes from the 1883
Report of the Secretary of War, images of which are conveniently posted
online:
On April 14,
1880, [the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad] was opened to Albuquerque,
and shortly thereafter to Isleta.... The work of construction westward from
Isleta was begun in May, 1880.... By the close of 1880 the line had been
completed to a point 50 miles west of Isleta.
Conclusion
There was no "big bridge" being constructed at or near Albuquerque
during the time the Earp Posse was in town, and so the incident could not have
happened as described. This is troubling because in the letter Otero
remembers two things distinctly and incorrectly: taking Earp to the bridge, and the fact it reminded Earp of a similar one in Wichita.
This creates a problem even if the letter is genuine. If Otero's recollection of the bridge is so wrong, one has to consider whether
his other recollections might be equally wrong.
Equally disturbing is the fact that the timing of the construction can be
confirmed, erroneously, by a modern source (Simmons, whose book was published in
1982). If the letter is a hoax, the perpetrator likely cribbed the detail
about the bridge from Simmons, not realizing that the "fact" he was
using to bolster the credibility of the letter was wrong.
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