George McJunkin, a self-taught African-American cowboy from Folsom, New Mexico, became a local hero and a pioneer of American Archaeology. We trace George's incredible journey, from escaping Night Riders in Texas to his profound influence as a cowboy to his incredible ability to teach himself two languages. Despite facing racial prejudice, George was a renowned figure in New Mexico, and his heroism during a blizzard etched his name in the annals of cowboy folklore. We also explore George's other talents: his flair for music, his love for history, and his pivotal role in the aftermath of the Folsom flood.
The remarkable archaeological discovery he made while assessing flood damage - a discovery significant enough to reshape our understanding of North American history- took many years for to be acknowledged, George's story echoes throughout time, a testament to his enduring legacy. Listen to how, decades later, New Mexico archaeologist Frank Hibbins finally gave George the recognition he deserved for his monumental discovery. This tale of a cowboy turned amateur archaeologist is one you don't want to miss.
And Teachers, as Promised, here is a complete lesson plan to cover 2-3 days of your class in New Mexico history, written by our co-host Drew for the New Mexico Public Education Departments Social Studies Instructional Scope and Sequence.
Shifting Sand, Shifting Culture: How George McJunkin Changed our Understanding of Human History
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Johnny (00:10):
You're listening to the Enchantment Chronicles with
Johnny and Drew, and today we'regoing to talk about George
Mjunkin from Folsom, new Mexico,mr Drew.
Drew (00:21):
Yeah, originally in Rogers Prairie, Texas.
George Mjunkin, I think it'ssafe to say he made his life in
Folsom, new Mexico, right, Ithink that's fair to say I think
so.
Johnny (00:35):
He was born in what?
The 1850s or so.
I don't think he even knew howold he was, but he was born in
the 1850s in Texas, pre-CivilWar yeah.
Drew (00:48):
His father, mr Shoe Boy, was a farrier, a guy who put a
blacksmith that put shoes ontohorses and had worked at the
McJunkin Ranch out there inTexas.
He had been able to buy his ownfreedom, but not that of his
(01:09):
son or his wife, so he was stuckout there.
Mr Shoe Boy his name sounded asbad to him as it does probably
to us, calling him a fully grownblacksmith boy and Shoe Boy
that he hated that name but hadbecome a leader in his cute.
(01:31):
So George was freed on June17th, a couple of days before
June 19th but that nationalholiday.
That declaration was made downin Galveston.
But he was formerly notified byUnion truths of his freedom.
(01:52):
But a book that we have byFranklin Folsom, the Life and
Legend of George McJunkin-- norelation to Folsom, New Mexico.
But it does note that Georgedid not run off as soon as he
had the opportunity.
In fact he had stuck around.
(02:14):
He'd had the opportunity duringthe Civil War to become a
cowboy because all theConfederates were off fighting
for slavery.
But his dad had said you're onlygoing to be able to be a cowboy
for a couple more years, butthey're coming back and you will
not my words that one or twoyears you'll have a chance.
(02:37):
And his dad, and given someother fantastic advice, he said
we've got to read, otherwisewe'll always be the bottom rail
on the fence.
According to this biographythere was based on a lot of
interviews with them.
Johnny (02:54):
Interestingly, George didn't get much education,
obviously, but he taught himselfhow to read and write and was
also in English and also inSpanish.
He was fluent in both Englishand Spanish reading and writing,
which is pretty remarkable forthe time and now, frankly.
Drew (03:17):
No, he actually traded.
He would actually tame wildhorses in exchange for reading
lessons, because back then inTexas there was a Freedman's
Bureau that was supposed to openup schools, but night writers,
math writers, klansmen,essentially whether they were
formerly part of the Ku KluxKlan or just some other imitator
(03:38):
were showing up.
George ran off to New Mexicowhere he traded horse trading
lessons in order to learn how touse, instead of being paid in
reading lessons.
His last words to his parentswere tell my parents, tell my
(04:01):
folks, I'm all right, tell themI'm not going to be a cowboy and
to look for a school.
He went to Folsom, New Mexico,where he didn't need to become a
cowboy and eventually to forman at the Crowfoot Ranch up
there along.
Johnny (04:17):
North of Folsom.
He bounced around to differentranches in the Northern New
Mexico and Colorado area buteventually became known as one
of the best Bronco Busters inthe area and best ropers.
He hunted buffalo and variousthings around that area.
(04:42):
When you could do that, he was.
For all everything that I'veread, he was one of the best
cowboys that, frankly, NewMexico has ever seen, especially
at that time.
Drew (04:56):
For sure.
I mean I don't mean tosugarcoat it he did face some
racism in New Mexico.
It was normal back then forranches to help each other out,
and now for that matter, withroundups and when you're
branding your calves in thespring and at the crow foot, he
(05:17):
was helping out at a neighbor'sranch when they insisted that he
eat separately and it was kindof.
It was recorded that his fellowcowboys actually said well, if
you're going to make him eatseparately, then we're all even,
and so that ranch was leftwithout help that day because
(05:38):
they stood up for George.
But he was also.
You know, he definitely facedsome prejudice, but he still
rose to that rank of foreman andit was well deserved.
He actually saved some severalmen's lives in a blizzard once
by tying them together andleading them to a cabin where he
knew that there was likely tobe somebody home and a light,
(06:01):
you know, and managed to savethem when the entire herd got
lost in the snowstorm.
Johnny (06:08):
So he was even a very accomplished cowboy and a
Western man and another thingthat I found of interest in
reading about George was notonly did he teach himself how to
read and write, we also knewnumerous musical instruments, I
(06:29):
think the fiddle and the guitarand you know cowboy stuff, I
guess, back in the day.
But I thought that was prettycool to learn.
He seemed to be a very wellrounded and remarkable,
remarkable person, and we'll getinto this a little bit more.
But he also became an amateurhistorian, even though some
(06:52):
folks didn't listen to him whilehe was alive.
But he, he was much more thanjust a cowboy.
Drew (07:01):
Absolutely, yeah, possibly .
Well, this will be this, thestory we kind of get to today.
That time we talked about SallyRock, the heroine of the Folsom
flood, that stayed in herstation and kept dialing those
numbers up and down the river onthe dry simmer, on just getting
(07:22):
as many people out as she could.
Well, george has a connectionto Sally Rook.
He actually helped search forher body, but he also, according
to Franklin Folsom, was knownkind of for teasing her a little
bit in your job.
She would call her and insteadof giving a number he'd say give
(07:44):
me that hole in the wall.
What do you want to talk to?
His friend over there, AlbertDavis, at a little cafe that we
run down down in the town ofFolsom.
Well, he also was one of thefirst that saw that that storm
(08:04):
coming and he tried to callSally Rook that night, august 27
, 1908.
He had some urgent news.
He'd been up on Johnson Mesathat day when the clouds began
to gather, the sky turned verydark, and so he decided he
(08:24):
should phone from the ranchhouse that had recently gotten a
phone, which he usually calledher, but she hadn't been able to
answer because she'd alreadygotten the first warning.
She'd already started callinghim In fact she'd already
whether he couldn't get herbecause her circuits were busy
or whether because she'd alreadybeen washed away.
(08:45):
He had done his best to spreadhis word, spread the word down
the river that flood was coming.
And then the next day he wentback and had found helped find
15 of the bodies after the flood.
Johnny (09:08):
And unfortunately I don't think Sally was discovered
months later, I think in thespring.
So he wasn't able to discoverher but during during the
assessment of the damage, thefallout of the of the flood, if
(09:30):
you will, the dry simmer onriver flood he was out and about
there shortly thereafter anddiscovered something huge.
He discovered bones in a washedout gulch I know it as a
(09:52):
different name than Drew does.
I know it as the dead horsegulch and drew what was your
book?
What is your book so?
Drew (10:01):
wild horse, but it's recorded both ways so it was
probably called both ways at thetime.
But wild horse arroyo, deadhorse Gulch.
But Mr Folsom records and hewas checking on the fence lines
and he saw some bone that lookedlike buffalo.
He said it's the biggestbuffalo bone I ever saw and I
(10:25):
have seen plenty of them in myday.
You noted that it was a buffalo, huh, well, yeah.
Johnny (10:31):
And what else.
And he also saw inside thosebones a something that nobody
had ever seen before, what isnow known as the Folsom Point,
which was later revealed to beone of the greatest discoveries
of archaeological discovery innorthern New Mexico and North
(10:57):
America.
North American history I mean.
Drew (11:01):
At that time, people thought that the Native
Americans might have been losttribes of Israel and might have
just been there 2000, 3000.
This is the view of theSmithsonian's director at the
time.
This is, and he's looking atthese bison and teakus bones and
(11:21):
it's kind of weird to think ofour 2000 pound bison is the
miniature version.
These guys are about half againas tall as what you think of as
a bison and if you've everlooked at a bison I thought
they'd look it in the eye.
I can't look it in the eye, I'mnot the tallest guy, but these,
this is a picture of a six,seven foot tall buffalo and
(11:46):
that's the bison and teakus.
And so George realizes there'sno way.
There's no way that bison likethis are running around and he
sees these spear points and herealizes the people have been
around in North America a lotlonger than anyone's thought of.
Because he's seeing thesethings Look, you know, to his
(12:08):
mind probably look closer todinosaurs than anything we see
today.
Johnny (12:13):
And I think, if, if I remember correctly, I think it
placed later on a place humanbeings present in North America,
some like seven or 9,000 yearsbefore we realized we knew that
we had been here which is prettyremarkable.
And then later on, of course,the Clovis Clovis discovery
(12:37):
later on down the road thatexpanded that notion.
But George was the first personto discover these points.
So what do you know?
The story of how he discoveredit and how he tried to tell
people.
Drew (12:51):
Well, I know that he was checking those fence lines after
the Folsom flood in 1908.
He told a few neighbors, youknow, but he told Charlie Wiley
and some others.
But in 1912, traveling wasgetting a little easier out
there.
So you know, there was a train,there was automobiles, and
(13:19):
George went to a fair in Rattone, New Mexico, and so we met Carl
Schwaackheim and he sees thisfountain that was made out of
some bull elk antlers.
You know it was decorated withsome bull elk antlers that
(13:39):
currently elk will sometimeslock antlers and get stuck
together.
And so they found these twobulls that had basically killed
each other just by gettingintertwined so much they
couldn't separate.
And he said well, I've seensomething even bigger and these
bull elk were actually up onthat St Johnson Mesa.
(14:01):
He said I never saw a biggerelk but I've seen the bones of
animals that were plenty bigenough to hold them up.
And so he's speaking toSchwacheim and his son, Carl
Schwaackheim, and he tells themabout it, and Carl Schwacheim
and says if I ever get time offfrom work and if somebody gives
(14:23):
me a ride, I'll come out there,I'll go out there to Wild Horse
or Dead Horse Arroyo .
And George said he'd be glad toshow them the place, so he was
ready to show them back in 1912.
Johnny (14:36):
It took something.
Yeah, go ahead, it took like 10years to convince somebody to
come out, 10, 14 years, 12 yearsto convince somebody to come
out to look at these bones.
Drew (14:48):
Yeah.
And then an archaeologist fromColorado came out, but it was
after George's death in January22nd 1922.
So 1-22- 22.
He passed away.
But later in July Carl still andanother fellow, Fred Howarth,
(15:14):
in the Raton and a fellowtaxidermist in the Raton, James
Campbell, went out in a car witha fourth guy, a bricklayer and
a local priest.
They went out and they headedout to where George made that
discovery.
And they made the samediscovery and agree, Folsom
(15:36):
points points embedded with thegiant bison, along with the cut
marks, the butchering marks onthe bones, proved his theory.
So they pulled some of thebones out and took them back to
Rathome in 1922.
But same year George died.
(15:57):
They kind of organized thattrip finally in his memory.
And then Fred Howarth, one ofthe guys, visited the Colorado
Museum of Natural History.
We met JD Figgins, and Figginsand other scientists realized
(16:18):
these guys were onto somethingand you traveled back down to
fulsome, to what they saw whatGeorge called the bone pit,
because it wasn't just one giantpython.
These people had been organizedand they'd been driving these
bison into what you call deadhorse or royal or dead horse
(16:38):
gulch right, dead horse gulch.
It had been a place basicallyfor thousands of years where
they could drive, herd animalsand travel.
Johnny (16:47):
Dead bison gulch maybe.
Drew (16:49):
Yeah, Dead Bison Gulch Wild Horse Arroyo .
You run the wild horses upthere, you get them trapped.
You can break them.
Johnny (16:57):
So interestingly, at least to me, even though he made
this discovery and he died, andafter he died a lot of people
made more discoveries about itit took a long time for George
to get any recognition for hisdiscovery.
The folks that came down fromColorado never credited him.
(17:20):
For a long time it was unknownthat he actually made this
discovery, certainly not withinhis lifetime, and I believe it
wasn't until like the 40s or so,to where somebody mentioned I
believe it was the New Mexicoarchaeologist, frank Hibbins,
who mentioned gave GeorgeMcJunkin credit for finding
(17:43):
those bones in that arrowhead,those arrowheads in that, in
that, in that Erstalling up inthe royal yeah.
Drew (17:50):
Yeah, and a lot of credit does there'd be go to the Raton
and Folsom that never kind ofceased giving them credit.
Correct, they were sort of anex-room all about that.
They kept telling that storyover and over and over again to
anyone that would listen.
It certainly is.
(18:13):
He was not given the due in hislife, but his neighbors kind of
insisted that he be given itafter his death and that's why
we hear about it today.
Johnny (18:27):
It says a lot about Northern New Mexico.
It says a lot about New Mexicobecause in other places he would
have just been forgotten andnobody would have ever given him
credit.
Absolutely, absolutely.
George ended up dying just soJanuary of 1922.
At that there's a Folsom Hotel.
I don't know if you've beenthere, drew, but there's a
(18:47):
Folsom Hotel still staying.
There's still a sign.
It's really cool.
He died there and he's buriedat that local cemetery there in
Folsom.
Drew (18:57):
Okay, and for those of you that are interested in hearing
more, we actually have someresources.
There's some lesson plans, butalso some National Park Service,
over at the neighboring KeplinNational Monument, produced a
great little video about George,and there have been the
(19:20):
Smithsonian Magazine.
The Smithsonian was the peoplepoo-pooing his theory, but
they've written up that storyabout how he changed American
archeology forever.
And right now, when he goesback in the news, we may again
have the oldest signs of humanhabitation in North America.
When the Folsom points werefound that was the first time we
(19:42):
did they got surpassed by theClovis points.
Right now, I think the clearestexample is down in Mexico.
There's an underwater cave inthe ocean where the sea levels
were lower.
There was a little girl, legbroken, that lay in the cave
along with a lot of animal bones.
But we also found out down nearWhite Sands where there used to
(20:07):
be a lake.
There's footprints of kids ofrunning around.
Depending on some datingmethods that it's probably worth
exploring in another podcast,that might be the oldest human
habitation or it might not sign.
In North America we have thatdesert advantage on the other
states.
Johnny (20:28):
Well, that's all I've got for Mr George McJunkin.
Drew (20:34):
Certainly there's a lot more you can tell about him.
Again, the life of GeorgeMcJunkin by Franklin Folsom no
relation to Folsom County orFolsom, New Mexico is a
recommended but out of printbook.
And also Brian Burke haswritten a historical fiction
(20:58):
book called Rango about GeorgeMcJunkin.
That's Wrango, W-R-A-N-G-O.
If you ever want to learn how,no more, you're free to check
out the lesson plan so we havelinks to on our site.
Thanks, Johnny.
Johnny (21:15):
Yeah, thanks Drew.
Thanks everybody for listeningand tune in next time for the
Enchanted Mechanicals.
You're listening to the Enchantment Chronicles with
Johnny and Drew, and today we'regoing to talk about George
Mjunkin from Folsom, new Mexico,mr Drew.
Drew (00:21):
Yeah, originally in Rogers Prairie, Texas.
George Mjunkin, I think it'ssafe to say he made his life in
Folsom, new Mexico, right, Ithink that's fair to say I think
so.
Johnny (00:35):
He was born in what?
The 1850s or so.
I don't think he even knew howold he was, but he was born in
the 1850s in Texas, pre-CivilWar yeah.
Drew (00:48):
His father, mr Shoe Boy, was a farrier, a guy who put a
blacksmith that put shoes ontohorses and had worked at the
McJunkin Ranch out there inTexas.
He had been able to buy his ownfreedom, but not that of his
(01:09):
son or his wife, so he was stuckout there.
Mr Shoe Boy his name sounded asbad to him as it does probably
to us, calling him a fully grownblacksmith boy and Shoe Boy
that he hated that name but hadbecome a leader in his cute.
(01:31):
So George was freed on June17th, a couple of days before
June 19th but that nationalholiday.
That declaration was made downin Galveston.
But he was formerly notified byUnion truths of his freedom.
(01:52):
But a book that we have byFranklin Folsom, the Life and
Legend of George McJunkin-- norelation to Folsom, New Mexico.
But it does note that Georgedid not run off as soon as he
had the opportunity.
In fact he had stuck around.
(02:14):
He'd had the opportunity duringthe Civil War to become a
cowboy because all theConfederates were off fighting
for slavery.
But his dad had said you're onlygoing to be able to be a cowboy
for a couple more years, butthey're coming back and you will
not my words that one or twoyears you'll have a chance.
(02:37):
And his dad, and given someother fantastic advice, he said
we've got to read, otherwisewe'll always be the bottom rail
on the fence.
According to this biographythere was based on a lot of
interviews with them.
Johnny (02:54):
Interestingly, George didn't get much education,
obviously, but he taught himselfhow to read and write and was
also in English and also inSpanish.
He was fluent in both Englishand Spanish reading and writing,
which is pretty remarkable forthe time and now, frankly.
Drew (03:17):
No, he actually traded.
He would actually tame wildhorses in exchange for reading
lessons, because back then inTexas there was a Freedman's
Bureau that was supposed to openup schools, but night writers,
math writers, klansmen,essentially whether they were
formerly part of the Ku KluxKlan or just some other imitator
(03:38):
were showing up.
George ran off to New Mexicowhere he traded horse trading
lessons in order to learn how touse, instead of being paid in
reading lessons.
His last words to his parentswere tell my parents, tell my
(04:01):
folks, I'm all right, tell themI'm not going to be a cowboy and
to look for a school.
He went to Folsom, New Mexico,where he didn't need to become a
cowboy and eventually to forman at the Crowfoot Ranch up
there along.
Johnny (04:17):
North of Folsom.
He bounced around to differentranches in the Northern New
Mexico and Colorado area buteventually became known as one
of the best Bronco Busters inthe area and best ropers.
He hunted buffalo and variousthings around that area.
(04:42):
When you could do that, he was.
For all everything that I'veread, he was one of the best
cowboys that, frankly, NewMexico has ever seen, especially
at that time.
Drew (04:56):
For sure.
I mean I don't mean tosugarcoat it he did face some
racism in New Mexico.
It was normal back then forranches to help each other out,
and now for that matter, withroundups and when you're
branding your calves in thespring and at the crow foot, he
(05:17):
was helping out at a neighbor'sranch when they insisted that he
eat separately and it was kindof.
It was recorded that his fellowcowboys actually said well, if
you're going to make him eatseparately, then we're all even,
and so that ranch was leftwithout help that day because
(05:38):
they stood up for George.
But he was also.
You know, he definitely facedsome prejudice, but he still
rose to that rank of foreman andit was well deserved.
He actually saved some severalmen's lives in a blizzard once
by tying them together andleading them to a cabin where he
knew that there was likely tobe somebody home and a light,
(06:01):
you know, and managed to savethem when the entire herd got
lost in the snowstorm.
Johnny (06:08):
So he was even a very accomplished cowboy and a
Western man and another thingthat I found of interest in
reading about George was notonly did he teach himself how to
read and write, we also knewnumerous musical instruments, I
(06:29):
think the fiddle and the guitarand you know cowboy stuff, I
guess, back in the day.
But I thought that was prettycool to learn.
He seemed to be a very wellrounded and remarkable,
remarkable person, and we'll getinto this a little bit more.
But he also became an amateurhistorian, even though some
(06:52):
folks didn't listen to him whilehe was alive.
But he, he was much more thanjust a cowboy.
Drew (07:01):
Absolutely, yeah, possibly .
Well, this will be this, thestory we kind of get to today.
That time we talked about SallyRock, the heroine of the Folsom
flood, that stayed in herstation and kept dialing those
numbers up and down the river onthe dry simmer, on just getting
(07:22):
as many people out as she could.
Well, george has a connectionto Sally Rook.
He actually helped search forher body, but he also, according
to Franklin Folsom, was knownkind of for teasing her a little
bit in your job.
She would call her and insteadof giving a number he'd say give
(07:44):
me that hole in the wall.
What do you want to talk to?
His friend over there, AlbertDavis, at a little cafe that we
run down down in the town ofFolsom.
Well, he also was one of thefirst that saw that that storm
(08:04):
coming and he tried to callSally Rook that night, august 27
, 1908.
He had some urgent news.
He'd been up on Johnson Mesathat day when the clouds began
to gather, the sky turned verydark, and so he decided he
(08:24):
should phone from the ranchhouse that had recently gotten a
phone, which he usually calledher, but she hadn't been able to
answer because she'd alreadygotten the first warning.
She'd already started callinghim In fact she'd already
whether he couldn't get herbecause her circuits were busy
or whether because she'd alreadybeen washed away.
(08:45):
He had done his best to spreadhis word, spread the word down
the river that flood was coming.
And then the next day he wentback and had found helped find
15 of the bodies after the flood.
Johnny (09:08):
And unfortunately I don't think Sally was discovered
months later, I think in thespring.
So he wasn't able to discoverher but during during the
assessment of the damage, thefallout of the of the flood, if
(09:30):
you will, the dry simmer onriver flood he was out and about
there shortly thereafter anddiscovered something huge.
He discovered bones in a washedout gulch I know it as a
(09:52):
different name than Drew does.
I know it as the dead horsegulch and drew what was your
book?
What is your book so?
Drew (10:01):
wild horse, but it's recorded both ways so it was
probably called both ways at thetime.
But wild horse arroyo, deadhorse Gulch.
But Mr Folsom records and hewas checking on the fence lines
and he saw some bone that lookedlike buffalo.
He said it's the biggestbuffalo bone I ever saw and I
(10:25):
have seen plenty of them in myday.
You noted that it was a buffalo, huh, well, yeah.
Johnny (10:31):
And what else.
And he also saw inside thosebones a something that nobody
had ever seen before, what isnow known as the Folsom Point,
which was later revealed to beone of the greatest discoveries
of archaeological discovery innorthern New Mexico and North
(10:57):
America.
North American history I mean.
Drew (11:01):
At that time, people thought that the Native
Americans might have been losttribes of Israel and might have
just been there 2000, 3000.
This is the view of theSmithsonian's director at the
time.
This is, and he's looking atthese bison and teakus bones and
(11:21):
it's kind of weird to think ofour 2000 pound bison is the
miniature version.
These guys are about half againas tall as what you think of as
a bison and if you've everlooked at a bison I thought
they'd look it in the eye.
I can't look it in the eye, I'mnot the tallest guy, but these,
this is a picture of a six,seven foot tall buffalo and
(11:46):
that's the bison and teakus.
And so George realizes there'sno way.
There's no way that bison likethis are running around and he
sees these spear points and herealizes the people have been
around in North America a lotlonger than anyone's thought of.
Because he's seeing thesethings Look, you know, to his
(12:08):
mind probably look closer todinosaurs than anything we see
today.
Johnny (12:13):
And I think, if, if I remember correctly, I think it
placed later on a place humanbeings present in North America,
some like seven or 9,000 yearsbefore we realized we knew that
we had been here which is prettyremarkable.
And then later on, of course,the Clovis Clovis discovery
(12:37):
later on down the road thatexpanded that notion.
But George was the first personto discover these points.
So what do you know?
The story of how he discoveredit and how he tried to tell
people.
Drew (12:51):
Well, I know that he was checking those fence lines after
the Folsom flood in 1908.
He told a few neighbors, youknow, but he told Charlie Wiley
and some others.
But in 1912, traveling wasgetting a little easier out
there.
So you know, there was a train,there was automobiles, and
(13:19):
George went to a fair in Rattone, New Mexico, and so we met Carl
Schwaackheim and he sees thisfountain that was made out of
some bull elk antlers.
You know it was decorated withsome bull elk antlers that
(13:39):
currently elk will sometimeslock antlers and get stuck
together.
And so they found these twobulls that had basically killed
each other just by gettingintertwined so much they
couldn't separate.
And he said well, I've seensomething even bigger and these
bull elk were actually up onthat St Johnson Mesa.
(14:01):
He said I never saw a biggerelk but I've seen the bones of
animals that were plenty bigenough to hold them up.
And so he's speaking toSchwacheim and his son, Carl
Schwaackheim, and he tells themabout it, and Carl Schwacheim
and says if I ever get time offfrom work and if somebody gives
(14:23):
me a ride, I'll come out there,I'll go out there to Wild Horse
or Dead Horse Arroyo .
And George said he'd be glad toshow them the place, so he was
ready to show them back in 1912.
Johnny (14:36):
It took something.
Yeah, go ahead, it took like 10years to convince somebody to
come out, 10, 14 years, 12 yearsto convince somebody to come
out to look at these bones.
Drew (14:48):
Yeah.
And then an archaeologist fromColorado came out, but it was
after George's death in January22nd 1922.
So 1-22- 22.
He passed away.
But later in July Carl still andanother fellow, Fred Howarth,
(15:14):
in the Raton and a fellowtaxidermist in the Raton, James
Campbell, went out in a car witha fourth guy, a bricklayer and
a local priest.
They went out and they headedout to where George made that
discovery.
And they made the samediscovery and agree, Folsom
(15:36):
points points embedded with thegiant bison, along with the cut
marks, the butchering marks onthe bones, proved his theory.
So they pulled some of thebones out and took them back to
Rathome in 1922.
But same year George died.
(15:57):
They kind of organized thattrip finally in his memory.
And then Fred Howarth, one ofthe guys, visited the Colorado
Museum of Natural History.
We met JD Figgins, and Figginsand other scientists realized
(16:18):
these guys were onto somethingand you traveled back down to
fulsome, to what they saw whatGeorge called the bone pit,
because it wasn't just one giantpython.
These people had been organizedand they'd been driving these
bison into what you call deadhorse or royal or dead horse
(16:38):
gulch right, dead horse gulch.
It had been a place basicallyfor thousands of years where
they could drive, herd animalsand travel.
Johnny (16:47):
Dead bison gulch maybe.
Drew (16:49):
Yeah, Dead Bison Gulch Wild Horse Arroyo .
You run the wild horses upthere, you get them trapped.
You can break them.
Johnny (16:57):
So interestingly, at least to me, even though he made
this discovery and he died, andafter he died a lot of people
made more discoveries about itit took a long time for George
to get any recognition for hisdiscovery.
The folks that came down fromColorado never credited him.
(17:20):
For a long time it was unknownthat he actually made this
discovery, certainly not withinhis lifetime, and I believe it
wasn't until like the 40s or so,to where somebody mentioned I
believe it was the New Mexicoarchaeologist, frank Hibbins,
who mentioned gave GeorgeMcJunkin credit for finding
(17:43):
those bones in that arrowhead,those arrowheads in that, in
that, in that Erstalling up inthe royal yeah.
Drew (17:50):
Yeah, and a lot of credit does there'd be go to the Raton
and Folsom that never kind ofceased giving them credit.
Correct, they were sort of anex-room all about that.
They kept telling that storyover and over and over again to
anyone that would listen.
It certainly is.
(18:13):
He was not given the due in hislife, but his neighbors kind of
insisted that he be given itafter his death and that's why
we hear about it today.
Johnny (18:27):
It says a lot about Northern New Mexico.
It says a lot about New Mexicobecause in other places he would
have just been forgotten andnobody would have ever given him
credit.
Absolutely, absolutely.
George ended up dying just soJanuary of 1922.
At that there's a Folsom Hotel.
I don't know if you've beenthere, drew, but there's a
(18:47):
Folsom Hotel still staying.
There's still a sign.
It's really cool.
He died there and he's buriedat that local cemetery there in
Folsom.
Drew (18:57):
Okay, and for those of you that are interested in hearing
more, we actually have someresources.
There's some lesson plans, butalso some National Park Service,
over at the neighboring KeplinNational Monument, produced a
great little video about George,and there have been the
(19:20):
Smithsonian Magazine.
The Smithsonian was the peoplepoo-pooing his theory, but
they've written up that storyabout how he changed American
archeology forever.
And right now, when he goesback in the news, we may again
have the oldest signs of humanhabitation in North America.
When the Folsom points werefound that was the first time we
(19:42):
did they got surpassed by theClovis points.
Right now, I think the clearestexample is down in Mexico.
There's an underwater cave inthe ocean where the sea levels
were lower.
There was a little girl, legbroken, that lay in the cave
along with a lot of animal bones.
But we also found out down nearWhite Sands where there used to
(20:07):
be a lake.
There's footprints of kids ofrunning around.
Depending on some datingmethods that it's probably worth
exploring in another podcast,that might be the oldest human
habitation or it might not sign.
In North America we have thatdesert advantage on the other
states.
Johnny (20:28):
Well, that's all I've got for Mr George McJunkin.
Drew (20:34):
Certainly there's a lot more you can tell about him.
Again, the life of GeorgeMcJunkin by Franklin Folsom no
relation to Folsom County orFolsom, New Mexico is a
recommended but out of printbook.
And also Brian Burke haswritten a historical fiction
(20:58):
book called Rango about GeorgeMcJunkin.
That's Wrango, W-R-A-N-G-O.
If you ever want to learn how,no more, you're free to check
out the lesson plan so we havelinks to on our site.
Thanks, Johnny.
Johnny (21:15):
Yeah, thanks Drew.
Thanks everybody for listeningand tune in next time for the
Enchanted Mechanicals.
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