The Southwest Chronicle Edu©Educational.Dual Language.Unconventional. 8th Anniversary Limited Edition | Page 19

THE
SCHOOL
THAT
CAN,
CAN.
BUILT AMID APACHE ATTACKS

SW CHRONICLE EDU©

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OUR C I T

■ SWChronicle EDU© The Chieftain • Binged Beauty • Our Past Has A Future And It Is Our Present©

Original Article Hillsboro 1877
-For early settlers of Hillsboro,
the Apaches provided the primary threat. The miners and settlers
were in the middle of Apache
hunting grounds. Mickey Monnett wrote in a Password article,
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ZKRJRWLQWKHLUZD\µ Many unmarked graves of miners caught
alone or unaware litter the Black
Range Mountains, according to
Monnett. In his monograph on
Hillsboro, F. Stanley depicted the
town as “one devilish, hair raising,
gun toting wild spot on the map.”
Monnett noted that outlaws such
as Butch Cassidy, the Kingston
Gang and the Farmington Gang -

“operated in this area.” The miners remained undeterred; by 1878,
the town had a population of 250.
By 1882, that number had grown
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opened in 1879 and has never
closed. The history of the Hilsboro Public School affords a notable example of the devotion to
the cause of education which is
one of the noblest characteristics of the American people. The
discovery of the gold mines in
1878 started the town and during
the next year, a school was started
by subscription.
The country at this period was
being continually raided by the
Apaches, and some of the ladies
still residing at Hillsboro have
gone through thrilling experiences
of fright and danger. Under such -

circumstances it would not have
been surprising if the children
had been left to gather knowledge
as best they could, but a school
was organized in 1879 and Mrs.
Vaughn a present resident of the
Mimbres Valley, was engaged as
teacher. The gold diggers generously responded to the call upon
them on behalf of the community youngsters. The community
increased and in 1881 a school
district was organized and the directors proceeded to build a adobe
schoolhouse. The building which
still endures, a monument to the
enterprise and generosity of the
early settlers, cost $1200, and of
this amount $800 was secured by
voluntary subscription. This was
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in New Mexico. -END

“What a school day! The computers
broke down and we had to read!”

BILLY STEPS OUT IN STYLE
■ SWChronicle EDU© The Chieftain • Binged Beauty • Our Past Has A Future And It Is Our Present©

Billy The Kid November 23, 1859
-Born in a poor Irish neighborhood on New York
City’s East Side. Before he was shot dead at age
21, Billy reputedly killed 27 people in the American West. Billy the Kid called himself William H.
Bonney, but his original name was probably Henry
McCarty. Bonney was his mother Catherine’s maiden
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