History

The following was found in the bar when purchased by it's current owner. It was hand written by previous owner Thelma Wynne, and typed up as written with gramatical errors, Please check back for an updated(and edited )version soon....

Stopping at the Old Cuchillo Bar & Store is like stepping into living history.But because it is a working business,one is not always immediately aware of its antiquity. Many relics of by-gone days decorate the picturesque country store and old-time bar are more that merely ‘atmosphere’.Most of them are authentic accumulations that were in use at the store over the years. Some were collected by people of the valley, who remembered with pride and affection the many good times: rodeos, fiestas, friendly trading, political campaigns; and even help or food given to them, their parents or grandparents in time of depression. Indian raids over more than a hundred years to the various proprietors. The old buildings have housed trading post, mercantile, post office, way-station for stage coaches, headquarters for more than one freighting company, saloon, boarding house, hotel and meeting house. In other words, Cuchillo was the hub of the area in those early days. Each item within the museum has its own story to tell of the way things were and belong no place else but in Cuchillo.
There are over a hundred cattle and horse brands lining the walls that bear witness to the cattlemen and cowboys of the past and present who came to Cuchillo to buy supplies, take part in the rodeos and roping activities or do their socializing. Deer heads and elk horns, antique traps and guns call attention to the fact that in the area around Cuchillo still offer some the best hunting available – as it did when Cuchillo Negro, the Apache chief for whom it is named, used it as his hunting ground before the year 1850. An old balance scale, huge sets of harnesses, carbide miners lamps, picks and shovels recall the lively days of 1880’a when tandem freight wagons pulled by huge dray horses lined up in trains of up to 20 wagons to carry supplies and mining equipment from the railroad terminal in Engle to the mining camps of Chloride and Winston. Stage lines were organized by the Armstrong Brothers of Chloride, in 1886 making Cuchillo a way station and stop-over headquarters until the decline of mining activity in that area. Old slot machines and a well-torn leather-top card table were witnesses to many nights of gambling that, of course, must have been a part of the entertainment in the old bar during gold rush days.
The building themselves tell more about the history of the store that many of the items inside. Two-foot thick adobe walls show evidence of many expansions-additions-changes. Blocked up openings that once were windows on outside walls are now on inside walls. There are several styles of roofing showing that the place began around 1850 as a smaller building in the style of construction of that time with viga and rough boards covered with a thick layer of adobe for insulation. Later additions bare signs of Victorian cornices over windows and doors. The use of tin roofing became popular as the means of transportation through railroad and fright wagons made it possible.
The building clearly shows where the post office accommodations established in 1883, were housed. The homemade shelves that served as boxes for sorting and distributing mail were still in place; although put to different uses when the post office moved across the street. The adjoining house was once a hotel or boarding house providing meals and over-night accommodations for stage travelers, mail carriers, and freighters.  The same two-foot thick adobe walls, cornices, and doors from every room leading to the portal or walk-way are evidence of the period in which it was built. The old two-story barn, built like a fort around 1880 to provide protection against marauding Apaches, still stands like a sentinel behind the bar. According to Mrs. Bill Sullivan, a former proprietor, the fortress included a high adobe wall forming a courtyard around the barn. Stories of treasure hidden there by a sill earlier owner, a Mr. Fest, in early territorial days may have caused, at least in part, the destruction of the wall. As the story goes, Mr. Fest was highly regarded for his honesty. Travelers often left their valuables with him for safe keeping from bandits of Apache. Many to never return to claim their property. Mr. Fest died before telling anyone where he had hid the treasure. However it is believed that one of the earlier owners did discover the hiding treasure as further construction or repairs were being made.
Mr. And Mrs. Jack Mitchell and Mrs. Thelma Wynne set out to trace the ownership of the place to its beginnings. Many people eagerly helped with stories that added richness to the heritage; but dates were often missing or fuzzily remembered. Going backwards into the past, the list of owners would go something like this: Before the Bonds the Mitchell’s and Wynne, Hayes and Torres operated the place beginning in 1975; Underwood and Dowsn previously in 1869. Joe Romero acquired the store and bar from Bill Sullivan about 1964. The Sullivan’s bought from Jerry Apodaca in 1946, who bought it from the James Brothers and Calhoun back in 1921. The trail and dates begin to get very fuzzy. Mr. Bob Martin operated the Black range Stage Line and a mercantile at Cuchillo in the same buildings between the years 1902 and 1913. The stage line has been organized by the Armstrong brothers in 1886. It is not clear whether or not they had anything to do with the mercantile and freight businesses at that time. The freight business was going strong when Mr. Martin purchased them. From Mrs. Marcella Grandjean Portwood of Las Cruces it was learned that Mr. Emile Grandjean had worked at the store for Mr. Ed Fest, Who owned it prior to 1889. A ledger dated 1889 with Ed Fests name on it shows a thriving business with more that a hundred charge accounts. From this it is surmised that the business must have been in existence at least a few years before that date. The trail dims even more the further back into territorial days of New Mexico that we try to do. Information uncovered by Mr. Pete Padilla of Truth or Consequences while he researching his family’s history tells that his great-grandmother was born in Cuchillo in 1854 and that a settlement was established here at that time including a mercantile or trading post. The St. Joseph Catholic Church had been washed away by floods that had plagued the valley and had been reconstructed 3 times over the years with that last time being 1906, so early records were lost. According to Isidro and Jesus Torres, whose grandfather, Tefiro, was one of the first county commissioner, there was a settlement at Cuchillo before there was a Chise, New Mexico, about the turn of the century. Since his grandfather traded for all their supplies at Cuchillo, it is very likely that a mercantile or trading post was a part of that settlement. “The first road of any consequence into the county from the north, between the mountains and the Rio Grande, was built by prison labor and came as far as Cuchillo-“, so stated an article courtesy of the Geronimo Springs Museum. The dates and the reason for this road were not available. There must have been a good reason to swinging the road west of the river – perhaps a refuge at a trading post along the Jornado del Muerte as a part of the developing trade between Mexico and the United States, especially after 1821 when the rule of New Mexico passed from Spain to Mexico. Fur trappers and settlers would surely have found the grassy, protected valley with plenty of game as attractive as did Cuchillo Negro’s Apaches, who resented their coming.
Space does not allow for the inclusion of the wealth of information and existing stories that have been offered by the many people who have shown interest in the old bar and store, as it exists today. We wish to thank them in their help in gathering the material that went into this history. While folks who live near or once lived in the area stop to recall the events of the past; the old southwest becomes more alive and is appreciated perhaps more by visitors from many parts of the continent through the charm of the old freight headquarters and stage-stop.
Although the village of Cuchillo has several empty buildings, most of the houses date back to the early pioneer days. Some of the people living there are descendants of those pioneers, occupying the old family homes. Mr. And Mrs. Polidro Trujillo are among them. The Tafoya brothers live on the property pioneered by their grandfather. Mrs. Aggie Sanchez still lives in the home that her husband’s grandfather built around1850. She and Felix operated a Mexican style café that enjoyed wide popularity for many years. Mr. And Mrs. Jesus Apodaca operates the family farm in the Cuchillo valley. The 3rd reconstruction of the Catholic Church, periodically, has services including the fiesta of Christmas as was customary in years past. Some of the residents are newcomers. There are almost daily inquiries by people who like the feel of the secluded valley. If there are ghosts, they seem to echo the same friendly welcome extended to travelers for over a hundred and fifty years.