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Word Smith: Quitclaim

There was a property in Thoreau, New Mexico, that became important to those who were interested in visiting a camp near Bluewater Lake. The first year was 1932. The interested parties that year included Hillis Howie, Director of the Prairie Trek Expeditions, and a slew of others with their hands out for some cash. Howie was seeking some property for a Basecamp near Red Rocks country of New Mexico. Not able to buy the property in question, Howie successfully made arrangements to rent the property for the summer months; but securing a clean and uncontested deed to purchase the property was another matter entirely. It took years.

Hillis L. Howie, Sr.

Background

According to Henio Family oral traditions, their cousin, Andy Newman learned of some property that might be available for sale, located east of Coolidge, past the Continental Divide. The land, adjacent to Bluewater Lake, had been used for ranching, logging and potato farming in the days before the financial crash. The depths of the Depression, however, dragged many of the region’s farming and lumber operations into bankruptcy. The Henios remembered that the ranch had been a milling operation with a natural spring and the seasonal Sawyer Creek running through it. The Navajos called the land To’ Leeh Náá Dli, which translates as “the water flows in and out of the ground.” It looked promising to Howie, so he hired Newman to help him survey the abandoned saw mill and ranch.

Anglos knew the property as the Carrington Ranch, which was named after the previous owner. The property consisted of 460 acres with an old saw mill with a few dilapidated cabins and an intermittent creek. It was located south of the town of Thoreau, New Mexico, near the small town of Bluewater.

As Howie wrote in his journals: “My first impression [of the property]–a cold, clear stream of water flowing from a stone building tucked under a grove of shady cottonwoods–stayed with me from August, 1932, all that winter, all the next summer and all the following winter. Intuitively, I considered the search ended. This oasis surrounded by intriguing rock formations was the logical choice.” 

After correspondence with “Old Man” Carrington, who was then living with his daughter in Ohio, Howie realized the complications of extracting the property from the Receiver of the Failed National Bank of Gallup. With the news of a potential purchaser, all of the interested parties soon piled up. They included two additional stockholders with Carrington in the McKinley Lumber & Stock Company and the Treasurer of McKinley County, looking to collect delinquent taxes. The resulting real estate sale involved the usual suspects: 1) a defunct New Mexico bank, 2) the local county treasurer, 3) a bankrupt company of lumbermen, and 4) the Comptroller of the Currency in Washington, DC.

Front Gate: Cottonwood Gulch Basecamp, Thoreau, NM

Howie made arrangements with Harris Lyle, who was a skilled local lawyer from Gallup. The two negotiated with representatives of the other parties and secured a deed through what was known as a quitclaim. Realizing that a quitclaim offers no protection to a grantee and leaving no assurances of a clear title on the property at the end of the negotiations, Howie and Lyle forged ahead, despite the risks.

The legal wrangling was eventually resolved with one check for $2,000 (payment for the deed) and another for $164 (payment of back taxes). Finally the 460 acre property was resurrected from bankruptcy. Howie was ultimately victorious in dragging the interested parties to complete a legal settlement. Again Howie’s determination, attention to details, and creativity won the day. The final permits for water rights and conservation easements trudged slowly forward for more than a year longer, before those matters were settled in Howie’s favor. 

Howie assembled a board of advisors to formalize and secure the new home base. The advisors consisted of Berton & Rebecca Staples (trading post operators, Coolidge), Harris K. Lyle (lawyer, Gallup), M.L. Woodard (shop owner, Gallup) and Gordon H. Thompson (staff member of the Turquoise Trail, Indianapolis). The land acquisition secured a permanent summer Basecamp for Howie’s annual summer Expeditions. 

That first summer while renting the property, Howie ran the camp programs and Tom Henio and his brother-in-law, Joe Silversmith, used their construction expertise. Henio and Silversmith shored up some shacks on the former saw mill and ranch property. They made it habitable for the short term. One year later, documents were formally drawn up and the property deed was placed in a separate trust account. To this day both the Thoreau Basecamp and the Albuquerque Headquarters operate as the outdoor educational non-profit, Cottonwood Gulch Expeditions, based in New Mexico.

Cabin & Campers at Basecamp, Cottonwood Gulch Expeditions, Thoreau, NM