San Juan County Historical Society

10/13/2026

Just a week from tomorrow! Author Randi Samuelson Brown will be the Historical Society's guest speaker and she will sign books. Don't miss it - Wednesday, October 21st, 6:00 PM at the Farmington Civic Center. Featuring a special appearance by Rio Del Sol Kiwanis Dining with the Dead actors portraying Porter and Ike Stockton and their wives Emily Jane and Ellen.

10/11/2026

First decade of the 1900s - 4th of July in Farmington.

Diné women watching Fourth of July sports in Farmington, circa 1901–1908.

An archival photograph from the American West.

Follow MOSES ON THE MESA for more historical images and stories.

10/10/2026

We do love stories about the San Juan country’s early day cowboys and outlaws. Porter and Ike Stockton are San Juan County’s most notorious Old West outlaws. Since publishing my book on the turmoil caused by the Stockton brothers, I have over the years been contacted several times by their descendants and others whose ancestors were caught up in the Stockton troubles. James Bennett of Raton was one of those ancestors. More on Bennett’s story below.

The Stockton brothers and their wives will make an appearance at author Randi Samuelson-Brown’s presentation on Wednesday, October 21st at 6:00 PM at the Farmington Civic Center. It is fun now to see portrayals of Old West outlaws, but that was not the case in 1880 and 1881, when the Stocktons struck fear into residents along the Animas valley. Randi Samuelson-Brown will tell little known stories about strong pioneer women who persevered despite long odds, among them the Stockton widows.

It has been twelve years since I published, “Porter and Ike Stockton – Colorado and New Mexico Border Outlaws.” Last year I received word that James Bennett from Raton wanted to speak to me and that he believed he had in his possession a pistol and holster which had belonged to Porter Stockton.

The question is could this be true? The Stockton brothers were indeed outlaws. Porter Stockton eventually wore out his welcome in the San Juan country. In January 1881, he was gunned down by vigilantes in Flora Vista. The Stocktons grew up near Stephenville, Texas and in the 1870s they followed the Goodnight-Loving Cattle Trail into New Mexico and settled in the area around Cimarron, south of Raton. By 1876, Porter Stockton had been indicted for two murders. (He added a third Colfax County murder indictment in 1879.) In August 1876, the Sheriff of Las Animas County, Colorado, Casimiro Barela, attempted to arrest Porter Stockton in Trinidad. Stockton fled south toward Raton Pass, but in his haste his horse lost its footing and plunged down a hillside. Barela was able to arrest Stockton. He was one of the few who had the nerve to undertake this task. At the time, Uncle Dick Wootton operated a toll road over the pass, where he lived. Uncle Dick’s role in the history of the pistol is a key part of the story.

Mr. Bennett’s earliest memories of the pistol in question are from his childhood, when his grandmother owned it. It was much the worse for wear and inoperable. In fact, Bennett and his boyhood pals often used the pistol as a play toy. His grandmother told him that it had once belonged to an outlaw named Porter Stockton and that the pistol had been damaged when a horse fell on it.

James Bennett’s great great grandfather, Ellis E. Jones, Sr., was the first in Bennett’s family to own the revolver. His grandmother told him that Jones had obtained the pistol and the holster from Uncle Dick Wootton. Did Sheriff Barela give the holster and pistol to Wootton after the capture? Or perhaps Wootton later found the items on the hillside, where Porter Stockton fell with his horse. In the 1880 census, James Bennett’s great great grandfather was living 13 miles north of Raton Pass at Starkville, Colorado. He soon gave up working as a coal miner, a dangerous occupation for sure. He moved south to Raton where he opened a saloon, but danger still found him. In September 1884, he was shot dead by one of his patrons.

In any case, the pistol has been handed down through the generations of the Jones-Bennett family for almost 150 years. A few years ago, James Bennett had a gunsmith repair the revolver. In 2021 he contacted the C**t Fi***rm Company, giving them the serial number, which is still clearly visible. They replied that the pistol was a C**t Model 1860 Army Revolver. The barrel is 8 inches long. On September 9, 1863 the C**t company shipped the revolver to the U.S. Government Arsenal at Governor’s Island, New York. It does not use cartridges. While it is a revolver, the am******on is .44 caliber cap and ball. Clearly, a deadly weapon. It almost certainly saw action during the Civil War. Porter Stockton was born in the summer of 1850. When the Civil War ended, he was fifteen years old. How the pistol found its way to Texas and ended up in Stockton’s possession, we will never know, but based on the Jones-Bennett’s family account, we firmly believe that it did belong to Porter Stockton.

The fi***rm was manufactured with wooden grips and James Bennett reports that they had been checkered by hand. He also reported that the gun had seven notches. Our research indicates that by the time Stockton was captured on Raton Pass, he had certainly killed two men and there are less certain reports that he had killed others in Texas and Kansas. As for the other notches, well the 1870s are 150 years in the past and the other murders are more than likely permanently lost to the mists of time. By the time of his death, Porter Stockton boasted that he had killed nineteen men, which was almost certainly an exaggeration.

Thank you James Bennett for reaching out to us and sharing this story.

Written by Mike Maddox. Sources: James Bennett and Porter and Ike Stockton – Colorado and New Mexico Border Outlaws by Michael R. Maddox.

10/07/2026

Mark your calendars - In just two weeks author Randi Samuelson Brown will be the Historical Society's guest speaker and she will sign books. Don't miss it - Wednesday, October 21st, 6:00 PM at the Farmington Civic Center.

With a special appearance by Rio Del Sol Kiwanis Dining with the Dead actors portraying Porter and Ike Stockton and their wives Emily Jane and Ellen.

10/04/2026

The spirits of the Stockton brothers, Porter and Ike, and their wives are restless and whispering in the haunting October rustling leaves along Behrend and Arrington streets in downtown Farmington. They will appear as apparitions and promise all will see with their own eyes! This is part of author Randi Samuelson-Brown’s presentation on Wednesday, October 21st at 6:00 PM at the Farmington Civic Center.

Kiwanis Rio del Sol "Dining with the Dead" actors who will portray the Stocktons are Rick Burns as Porter Stockton, Annette Reich as Emily Jane, Tony DiGiacomo as Ike Stockton and Nikki Taylor as Ellen Stockton.

10/03/2026

Big concert – May 16, 1969. Sponsored by KHAP radio. (For more details on the concert, click on the concert advertisement.)

As for KHAP, it is a broadcast call sign that no longer exists. KHAP first went on the air in July 1963. It broadcast at 1340 AM with 1000 watts of power and was located in the 300 block of Ash Street in Aztec. It was not the first station at that site. KHAP was preceded by radio station KNDE. In November 1958 the Daily Times reported that I.E. Shahan would soon begin building the KNDE radio facilities in Aztec. Shahan promoted KNDE as “The Candy Station, featuring Sweet Music."

Six months earlier, in May 1958, John Burroughs, a farmer and peanut mill owner in Portales, announced that he would soon build a new radio station in Farmington. Burroughs was then running for governor of New Mexico. He was elected that November and served a single two year term. The new station was called KZUM. In 1961, KZUM became KRZE, a country music station. In early May 1962 five of KRZE’s employees resigned in order to purchase KNDE. The employees were: John Dorman, Ed Worley, William Rogers, his brother Weldon Rogers and June Horvet. It was an ill-advised move. Within days the deal fell through and before the end of May I.E. Shahan announced he had sold KNDE to Robert Lewis of Odessa, Texas. In July 1963 KNDE became KHAP. It played both kinds of music, country and western, with some gospel and newscasts.

KHAP was plagued with financial difficulties. In the mid-1960s it was off the air for almost a full year. In the late 1960s and into the early 1970s it was owned by Louis Erck of Cheyenne, Wyoming. By the late 1970s it was owned by Dave Watts. He sold a portion of the operation in 1980 and the call sign was changed to KKBK, which stood for Kracker Barrel Korner which was the station’s long lasting noontime swap and trade show. In 1983 KKBK was purchased by Quad City Broadcasting owned by Jimmy St. James, Doug Benton and Larry Wood. In April 1986, KKBK went off the air. They reported that they needed to repair their transmitter, but their problems were more involved. That same year the First National Bank of Tucumcari purchased the radio station’s assets at a foreclosure auction. In November Frank and Wanda Jean Elwood purchased the station. The station’s call letters were changed to KCEM. By the early 1990s it became KCQL, still owned by the Elwoods. In November 1992, they began the process to sell KCQL and FM station KKFG to Thomas Development owned by Jeff and Joella Thomas.

Written by Mike Maddox. Sources: Farmington Daily Times, Santa Fe New Mexican.

10/01/2026

Less than 3 weeks away- Author Randi Samuelson Brown will be the Historical Society's guest speaker on Wednesday, October 21st, 6:00 PM at the Farmington Civic Center.

09/28/2026

Mark your calendars - Author Randi Samuelson Brown will be the Historical Society's guest speaker on Wednesday, October 21st, 6:00 PM at the Farmington Civic Center.

09/26/2026

The short-lived and two-story Cummings Building, shown below, was constructed in 1947 and 1948. Red-headed, forty-one-year-old real estate man Eryl Cummings and his wife Violet moved to Farmington in 1947. Eryl became well known for his relentless efforts to locate the remnants of Noah’s Ark. (A little bit more on that below.) They were dedicated members of Farmington’s Seventh Day Adventist Church. The Cummings Agency occupied a portion of the ground floor offices of the Cummings Building, which was located at the corner of Main Street and Court Avenue (402 E. Main Street). The building had three front doors with additional addresses at 404 and 406 E. Main.

In August 1949 Leal Lamoreaux took over the Cummings Agency and changed the name to the San Juan Agency, a real estate and insurance firm. By the following year, Eryl Cummings and Violet moved to Orlando, Florida, where Eryl made a living selling bricks. They returned in 1957 and Eryl re-opened the Cummings Agency in offices at the corner of Main and Vine. It was also in 1957 that Dr. Lester Lamoreaux (Leal’s son), set up his chiropractic office in the old Cummings Building. Dr. Lamoreaux had moved from Gallup to Farmington in 1946 and first practiced out of space on the second story of the building above Farmington’s Post Office, which was located adjacent to Orchard Park. Leal Lamoreaux closed up his real estate office in the late 1950s, but Dr. Lamoreaux remained in the Cummings Building into the 1960s.

The last hurrah for the Cummings Building began in 1966 when The Sketch Pad took up space in the building and it became the headquarters of the Four Corners Art Association. Two years later, the House of Frames owned by Virginia Lee Young moved in as well. The Art Association was very active and held art bazaars and other related events in the building up until 1974. Parking was in short supply and attendees were advised to park across Main Street in the vacant lot west of the Totah Motel. The lack of convenient parking was certainly one factor that doomed the Cummings Building.

It appears that after 1974, the Cummings Building remained unoccupied. We could not determine when it was torn down. In the 1960s Aztec Photo Service owner Henry Jackson photographed many of the buildings on Farmington’s Main Street. Through his efforts we now have the terrific image of the Cummings Building before it was demolished.

Written by Mike Maddox. Source: Farmington Daily Times. Note: Eryl Cummings spent several decades searching for Noah’s Ark. His quest led him to climb Mt. Ararat in Turkey sixteen times between 1966 to 1983. He was well known across America for his efforts. The link here provides some information on Eryl Cummings’s pursuit of the Ark.https://www.friendsofsabbath.org/ABC/Miscellaneous_Items_%26_Doctrinal%20Research/Noah%27s%20Flood/The%20Search%20for%20Noah%27s%20Ark.pdf