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Ground On Which City Nlt;W St^i;Was Bought By Railway From Clayton ReedFormer Owner Vet. Operates A Farm In This Region; Recalls The DealCLAYTON REEDfor the store 'at Endee were freighted from Las Vegas, New. Mexico, a distance of 150.miles. Supplies were later hauled from Amarillo./In those .days .it . did not require much provisions and it was made possible to haul .enough at .one r.trip bo last several Imonths. The,store furnished all the ranches in. that country. The present location 0f Endee. is now about eight miles from.the;first location/on theWhen' Claytoji Refetf; saw a stranger walking across'the field. toward where he was. heading. ‘Icaffir corn one day in October,' 190/J, little did he realise, that .history.;was in.: the making:—-that, indeed^1 he was playing an important,' if somewhat mat-tcr-of-fact/ role' in' drama o'f-the development^ of ‘ the .Southwest , The stranger probably didn t recognize the import of ithe meeting, either. How could he know..thatpa thriving city ..would rise rapidly .on the very' spot: on' which, he stood, talking to-.Clayton1 Reed? The stranger introduced hiinself'as R. lt;C. Reid, a representative of v the Santa To Lund and Town si to/1 company and said he wanted ;to :buy the farm.Wanted’ Half '.Section ' Whereupon. Mid. Reed wvapped/liis lines around the ;'spokes of a wagon wheel and. left/the 'field with Mr; Reid to talk business. • It .was tho zero hour of: the-.hlstory of the city ot Clovis; ■ The ■/ spot; where - these two, men, firSt mfet, by the wayi 'is approximately ’where the’First .Baptist church now, stands: . VVf '• Mr. Reid said/the railroad wanted ■to buy half a section of lar.dy a-quarter .belonging tofOlaytoh’ Reed ahd an adjoining qui b11ilt;uarter ;owne3: by-his Iresister; Miss NeJliefReed, for railroad purposes.- The' SantaTe’ agent asked Mr. Reed what' He' wanted';ib'r \hiaRock , Island .railroad.Mn 1890/the lanj and the••RUhWr':farmer':-Vffla Day boys left Endee and both settled about to suggest, timidly/ca/Pf,ice-ol-dn the ranch' eighteen;-miles northeast'of Hereford where : now lives John-E. /Day. ., v'STohn E. Day stopped at the Recorder' office, Saturday night on his way home after having returned, from Amarillo, and being' in- a reminiscent mood gave us this brief but:ihterest-mg-:piece of-history.: Mr.' Day is!, now past' GO years-old ‘arid* feels'almost as hale/and Keni,tyV-aS-he''‘'did - when' he \V6ht* through the strenuo us years- of locating the town of ‘ND/ZGeo. M. Day/ the brother, is now .living at EdgeWater/Colo.” ’...sTh6- C10vis News,• in repvinting this story,/..added on its own /hook;-that The. present town of, Endee- is lov chte(H, abolit/:40 . miles northwest. Of Clovis oh: tlie, new Rock Island cutoff.^. ........MOR E - R A IN, IN .THOSE DA YS■/./Early settlers 3lt;1 the R)3|eajks” When it came to nioiRture.VWhile the past 23 years have locally shown an average .of 18.45 ‘inchcs. 'of moisture, the- five/years of 1903-19,07 for New Mexico showed an average of 24.85 iriches.' The.;year 1905 with WAV inches of rnin gave a good-start for the . many who came into this country in 1905. The only-higher fall.recorded'in this area Vwas 19,23, with 'C.OC inches. / r!/■'•v/. *$1000for 'his Tquarter section.:Tallied .Over,Terrai •'/.'/' ■/{.But befofe - he named' this price,. Mr.~'Reid suggested that.-he;and his sister come to '.Tewco/thefollowing'J ' i. _ • A..TT_‘ fit tom'day to:talk the.proposition;..over.“My. sister aiid^I/ went.I to*-'•Texico.the next .day and; MVs,; Reid greetedaJid; my - farm'tad- infA 'fmiin' Ihts *.*OLD PROJECT RECALAh/promotion plan involving 98,-000 acres of land in Curr- county, northwest a{ Melrose,- v/as started in | now is. 1911. hy Hugo Seaberg and associates of Raton. The plan included development.for artesian water, pumping and irrigation systems, townsitcs and n dust.ml developments. V -Reed recalls;,i we. had closed .was ./being -platted; into -tpwrn lots.J, ,. ,It ’was: .• *;• Typical ,Of;-We«t.--/The rapidity, with ^whiiJh this :mo--mentous deal was, consummated was typical of tlie ;westerh/frontier. . The price paid was mbre than- fair at the time, but today'tlVdfe\are. scores of lots in Clovis that: are. wdrth tho original purchase priceibf the whole townsite. Some tots;-not/toRfiidering the improvflmenta;tliat are on- them/ could hot.-be ■iput’chased /iCdday forloss than $16-,000 *lt;*20,0.00. ',Clayton Reed-and his 'sister had homesteaded the two'•qliarter sec-; tions that .made up t h e^; original townsite.\ The one Mr.- Seed* sold to the Santa Pe covered'the' .terri-. tory from the present railroad yards north to. Seventh street, ./and/from Main street east to'. I*rShee street.: Miss Nellie’ Reed’s quarter extended from :what is now Main street to* /Thornton street and also’ ran from the railroad to-where Seventh street/.California sightseers are advised pot to miss seeing its two famed temples—Angehis and Shirley. .Mr.Recall* Old Day*..Reed, who now lives, nearTexico, can, of course, hark baijk ,to -those dim days—though-not: so^ long -ago, either—when thetQ; wasn’t any--ago, either—when there - wasn t anything in this territory but^1 an-/occasional ranch or farm hqqae. Thasteady march of civilization whichthat struckhas turned \the old trails across the open prairlq^rifco/b.road paved highways aiid ivhas-'calised countless buildings .td^spring/ uiwhere, SO years ago/! tJie’re'-oVon'a fence, is n pevev-ceasji, source .of wonderment, to /the mai who, more perhaps: rliaji' any othe^ anan, deserves the title of the father . of the city of Cloyis, /The Fir#t R«5*ident . At least, Mr. Reed c*aII, .without fear of contradiction, olaim .the. distinction of - having * neon/1 the/first resident of Clovis, or, rather, its, s;te. • -• ’ -And that'isn’t; Mr, Reed’s, only ;association with tho early hlstory-pf Olovis/ Together with C. V/ Steed,local undertaker, he huilt the first structure to grace • piovls'-skyline;fra:It was a two-room fi-amostructure, built where .the Montgomery .Ward stove now stands. : «•*C, V. Steod was in*,the .real estate business in thoso days, and, Mr. Reed was his partner, They repall:-t]mt•many.a big real estate; wasmade m that little office-they built. Later Cash Ramey and-J. W.'W^rojiwi'y store loented on the .cM.tttU the men who w.pw.kinson occupied* the same building. Knew Their GroundOf course, the Santa *Pe officials who planned the location of.Clovis know what they were about. Theyknew tho development of tha West'was coming and that they .were playing the lead in the drama. Butthey didn't intend to make Clovis,a division poin^ on the new railroad,and what they thought of the pr poets of the town is Indicated byos-the fact that tho first name be-stpwed on the city was ' Riley's Switch. -c ■,. before the town was-opened m May, T907, the rajlroad shops, pr«ginaJ)y at Melrose,• woi‘e move'4 novo, and a m.oro fitting namp wus selected. Mv. Reed he pudor* 9R /.' .
Newspaper Details
Clovis New Mexico Evening News Journal
Clovis, New Mexico, US
Mon, Jun 03, 1935
Page 32
Full Page
Clipped by
Little D.
MO, USA 13 Nov 2016
Other Publications Near Clovis, New Mexico
The Clovis News
The Eastern New Mexico News
Clovis Evening News Journal
Clovis News Tribune
Clovis New Mexico Evening News Journal
