Mormon Battalion November 18, 1846
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In 1846 at the request of the United States government, 500 men, 33 women, and 51 children from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army as part of the Mexican-American War. The Mormon Battalion was the only religiously based unit in United States military history. They marched on foot from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to Los Angeles, California.
This cache is located near where the Mormon Battalion camped on November 18, 1846. The cache can be found by turning onto Perrin Road just southeast of where the Hatch-to-Silver City highway crosses the Mimbres River. Travel north on Perrin Road for about 6 miles. The cache is located on public land near a public road although much posted private land is nearby.
Daniel Tyler, a member of the Battalion wrote, “We marched north-west eighteen miles and camped on a stream of clear water, which, however, like most of the creeks in this country, sank in the sand a short distance below. This place is known as the Mimbres. For beauty of landscape, this part of the country can scarcely be excelled. It is what is known as “Table land.” There are flats of thousands of acres of good soil, but with no timber or rocks of any note, extending several miles each way. When you leave one of these tables or flats, it is only to ascend or descend, as the case may be, to another. Elevated to the highest of these, no matter which way you cast your eye, a most beautiful, grassy plain attracts your vision, stretching out as far as you can discern. But alas! As “every rose has its thorn,” this “paradise found” has drawbacks so serious that it cannot be inhabited. There are no seasonable rains to moisten the earth nor sufficient water with which to irrigate it.”
Another soldier's journal entry mentioned trout in the creek. This has been a topic of discussion for the last half century as native trout are not found in this creek today. The once nearly extinct Gila trout are found in the Gila River. Could they have been found here also? Or was it another species of trout? Or was some other species like the Chihuahua chub seen by the Battalion and misidentified? Should Gila trout be introduced or reintroduced into the Mimbres River? The questions and controversy continue. How did an ephemeral creek get named a river?
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(Decrypt)
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