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Apache Tejo
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<p><a href="https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=Apache_Tejo¶ms=32_38_46.08_N_108_07_41.1_W_region:US">32°38′46.08″N 108°07′41.1″W / 32.6461333°N 108.128083°W / 32.6461333; -108.128083</a> </p> <p>Apache Tejo (sometimes 'Tejoe' or 'Teju') was a white settlement and watering stop in the <a href="/facts/New_Mexico_Territory/D19QTG3t">New Mexico Territory</a>, 12 miles southeast of <a href="/facts/Silver_City,_New_Mexico/616w0mGS">Silver City</a>, 3 miles south of <a href="/facts/Hurley,_New_Mexico/kIcwmT9P">Hurley</a>, and 2 miles east of the <a href="/facts/Grant_County_Airport_(New_Mexico)/HcY4eqVW">Grant County Airport</a>. It is just off <a href="/facts/U.S._Route_180/VFmqwBgl">U.S. Route 180</a>, about 12 miles west of the mail route crossing of the <a href="/facts/Mimbres_River/1bLPV9Xj">Mimbres River</a> and on the old <a href="/facts/Santa_Rita,_New_Mexico/ee5FpgkW">Santa Rita</a>-<a href="/facts/Janos,_Chihuahua/ImPk2R8E">Janos (Chihuahua)</a> trail. There was a railroad siding here once. </p><p>The etymology of the name is unclear. It may have been derived from the name of a <a href="/facts/Chihenne/ICe7GVrb">Chihenne</a> leader of the 1770s, <i>Pachiteju</i>, but other accounts called it <i>Apache de Ho(o)</i>, which might mean 'Apache water'. </p><p>The U.S. Army's Fort McLane was established here in 1860, on the bank of a small spring. The commander reported that it had sufficient "water, timber, and grazing" to support the fort. It was originally named <i>Fort Floyd</i>, after Secretary of War <a href="/facts/John_B._Floyd/kTxq0tvK">John B. Floyd</a>. After Floyd joined the <a href="/facts/Confederate_States_of_America/jMSDM4q3">Confederacy</a>, it was renamed to honor a Captain George McLane, who had been killed by <a href="/facts/Navajo/phXNDqz5">Navajos</a>. It was finally abandoned in 1864. </p><p>In the context of the <a href="/facts/Apache_Wars/ENxSrPr9">Apache Wars</a>, the Apache chief <a href="/facts/Mangas_Coloradas/6D6GjjWp">Mangas Coloradas</a> held a council here with the white settlers in about 1863, where the Apache were promised provisions in return for peace, according to <a href="/facts/Geronimo/433IP1wN">Geronimo</a>. Mangas Coloradas and his people duly arrived and were "foully murdered after he surrendered". </p><p>In 1877, <a href="/facts/Billy_the_Kid/PfA24vXJ">Billy the Kid</a> joined a group of "thieves and rustlers" known as the Boys here. </p> <p><a href="/facts/Owen_Wister/XU4AG5PX">Owen Wister</a>, "father of western fiction", visited the Apache Tejo ranch in 1895. He described it as "a little oasis of hay field, cottonwoods, a spring, and some flowers and grass in front of the adobe house". The foreman of the ranch, Dean Duke, was one of the inspirations for the protagonist of Wister's <i><a href="/facts/The_Virginian_(novel)/rl046H0j">The Virginian</a></i>. </p><p>The Apache Tejo Hot Springs, with water issuing at 94 °F, were used as a water source by the Chino Copper company for the <a href="/facts/Chino_mine/BdhHB3Lx">Chino mine</a>; the company built a pumping station and a wooden pipeline to Hurley. The spring no longer flows. As of 1916, this water was also used as the domestic water supply of Hurley. The large <a href="/facts/Tailings_pond/g7TtDIJR">tailings pond</a> of the mine lies 1 mile to the southeast. </p>