DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the San Andres Salt Trail, out here in El Paso County. Now, before there were refrigerators, before there were highways, before there was much of anything out here in far West Texas — there was salt. And if you wanted it, you had to know the trail.
In 1824, several Mexican families living in the communities of Socorro and San Elizario laid out what would come to be known as the San Andres Salt Trail. Ninety miles, give or take, heading north out of San Elizario, running up the east side of the Organ Mountains, all the way to a place called Salinas de San Andres — what we know today as Lake Lucero, sitting out on the present White Sands Missile Range. Ninety miles of hard desert ground for a mineral that, out on the frontier, was worth just about everything.
Salt preserved your meat. Salt preserved your dairy. Salt was used for processing silver ore.
You ran out of salt, you had problems. Real ones. So this trail wasn't a curiosity — it was a lifeline.
As late as 1850, it was the artery supplying salt to West Texas, New Mexico, and several northern Mexican states. Now, the Mexican government, which ruled the area, had kept on a policy first set by Spain: those salt deposits were reserved for the unrestricted benefit of the local public. Anybody could work them.
That was the understanding. That was the tradition. That had been the way of things for a good long while.
Then things changed. By the 1850s, Socorro and San Elizario had become part of the United States following the U.S.-Mexico War. New country, new rules — or at least, new people with new ideas about rules.
Settlers kept right on mining that salt the way they always had. But now, somebody was saying the land was private property. That somebody was James Magoffin — noted El Paso pioneer, and a man who had acquired an interest in those salines in 1852.
Magoffin aimed to restrict access and charge mining fees. The free salt that generations of families had worked without interference was now, in his view, something you paid for. In 1854, a group of miners from Doña Ana, New Mexico, came down and accessed the land anyway.
That was the spark. Magoffin contacted El Paso sheriff William Ford. Ford gathered a posse.
That posse attacked the salineros. And when it was over, those miners had abandoned their wagons, their salt, and their oxen. That confrontation became known as the Magoffin Salt War.
But the story didn't end at the salt flats. Magoffin later agreed to a court ruling — returning the animals to their owners and paying restitution for damages. A win in a posse fight, and then a loss in a courtroom.
That's how it settled out. After the Magoffin Salt War, the trail was seldom used commercially. Ranchers and travelers still used it occasionally, on into the 20th century, but the days of wagon trains heading north to work those salines were mostly done.
What remains today is a testament — that's the word the marker uses, and it's the right one — a testament to how vital salt was to the people of the El Paso region, and to the deep, unresolved tension over who owns the land, who owns what's in it, and who decides. Those questions were alive out here in the early to mid-1800s, and that old trail, ninety miles of it, carries every one of them still.
What the marker says
In the early to mid-1800s, the San Andres Salt Trail provided area residents with salt, a mineral vital for settlers on the frontier. Salt was used to preserve meat and dairy products, and for processing silver ore. In 1824, several Mexican families residing in the communities of Socorro and San Elizario established this salt trail. It extended about 90 miles from San Elizario north along the east side of the Organ Mountains to Salinas de San Andres (now Lake Lucero), located on the present White Sands Missile Range. As late as 1850, the trail provided access to salt for West Texas, New Mexico and several northern Mexican states. The Mexican government, which ruled the area, had continued the policy set forth by Spain of reserving salt deposits for unrestricted benefit of the local public. By the 1850s, after Socorro and San Elizario became part of the United States following the U.S.-Mexico War, conflicts arose as settlers continued to mine the area, which was now claimed as private property. Noted El Paso pioneer James Magoffin, who acquired an interest in these salines in 1852, attempted to restrict access by charging mining fees. The Magoffin Salt War began when a group of miners from Doña Ana, New Mexico, accessed the land in 1854. Magoffin contacted El Paso sheriff William Ford, who gathered a posse that attacked the salineros, who abandoned their wagons, salt and oxen. Magoffin later agreed to a court ruling, returning the animals to their owners and paying restitution for damages. The trail was seldom used commercially after the Magoffin Salt War, though ranchers and travelers occasionally used it into the 20th century. Today, it remains a testament to the importance of salt to the lives of peoples in the El Paso region and to the conflicting ideas about property rights in 19th-century Texas. (2008)