Forgotten heroes of archaeology: George McJunkin
“Black cowboy” brings Native Americans into the Pleistocene
By Virginia Steen-McIntyre, tephrochronologist (volcanic ash specialist)
…While going through late husband Dave's files, I recently found an article on just such a hero, George McJunkin (Denver Post Empire, February 26, 1996), “The only black man in Union County New Mexico.” When you think of the world-famous Folsom archaeological site, think of him! George McJunkin 1851-1922 According to the Denver Post article, George (Fig. 1) was born a slave on the ranch of Jack McJunkin near Midway, Texas in April, 1851. The son of a blacksmith, his father had bought his own freedom and was raising money to free his family when on June 19, 1865, Union soldiers arrived to tell them blacks were now free. Apparently always a learner, George remained on the ranch three more years, learning Spanish and how to break wild horses. Then, at 17, he signed on as a wrangler on a cattle drive to Dodge City, Kansas. A few years later he had advanced to “cowboy” status and fell in with the Robards family who were moving a herd of horses along the Brazos River. Gideon Robards offered McJunkin year-round work breaking horses. He took the job and moved with them to the Dry Cimarron Valley of New Mexico, the “promised land” for McJunkin. In the Dry Cimarron George made life-long Mexican friends and was befriended by a white couple named Mingus. He read from the Bible with Mrs. Mingus and later in Colorado, taught the Robards boys to ride in exchange for lessons in reading and writing. “No reading no riding” was his policy. The chance to be foreman at a new ranch in the Dry Cimarron Valley brought George back to the land he loved. He had acquired a variety of books and instruments along the way—guitar, violin, telescope—and a collection of rocks and minerals to sit next to the tattered Bible on a shelf in his bunkhouse room. A killer flash flood swept through the area on August 27, 1908, scouring the local Dead Horse arroyo to a depth of over ten feet. While riding the side of the arroyo assessing the damage McJunkin spotted several large bones projecting from near the base of the arroyo wall. He pulled one loose with a barb-wire cutter. It looked like a bison bone, only much bigger. Digging out the other bones he brought them home and displayed them on his mantle. He often spoke of them to his friends and neighbors but no one seemed interested. Years later George mentioned the large bones to a Raton blacksmith, Carl Schwachheim, after noting a giant rack of elk antlers on display at his shop. He gave Carl exact directions on how to find Dead Horse arroyo and his bone pit, then a 30 mile horse-back ride from Raton. Nothing more was done at that time. McJunkin fell ill in 1921, apparently of a kidney disease. He died March. It wasn't until several months later that a group of amateur archaeologists including Schwachheim motored from Raton to the site in a Model A Ford. They found George's bone pit just where he said it would be. That was the beginning. It took four years for the men on that trip to convince Jesse Figgins of the Colorado Museum of Natural History (now the Denver Museum of Nature and Science) to make an expedition to McJunkin's site. Three summer’s field work produced the proof that Figgins had long sought for— the presence of early man in the area: stone tools and iceage bison bones were discovered lying next to each other in the same clay layer. Human occupation of the New World was pushed back to the end of the ice age 10,000 years ago. That was 7,000 years earlier than any one had ever thought possible. McJunkin's bison, an extinct species, has been officially named Bison antiquuis figginsi. I would rather have seen it named Bison antiquuis mcjunkini!
“Black cowboy” brings Native Americans into the Pleistocene
By Virginia Steen-McIntyre, tephrochronologist (volcanic ash specialist)
…While going through late husband Dave's files, I recently found an article on just such a hero, George McJunkin (Denver Post Empire, February 26, 1996), “The only black man in Union County New Mexico.” When you think of the world-famous Folsom archaeological site, think of him! George McJunkin 1851-1922 According to the Denver Post article, George (Fig. 1) was born a slave on the ranch of Jack McJunkin near Midway, Texas in April, 1851. The son of a blacksmith, his father had bought his own freedom and was raising money to free his family when on June 19, 1865, Union soldiers arrived to tell them blacks were now free. Apparently always a learner, George remained on the ranch three more years, learning Spanish and how to break wild horses. Then, at 17, he signed on as a wrangler on a cattle drive to Dodge City, Kansas. A few years later he had advanced to “cowboy” status and fell in with the Robards family who were moving a herd of horses along the Brazos River. Gideon Robards offered McJunkin year-round work breaking horses. He took the job and moved with them to the Dry Cimarron Valley of New Mexico, the “promised land” for McJunkin. In the Dry Cimarron George made life-long Mexican friends and was befriended by a white couple named Mingus. He read from the Bible with Mrs. Mingus and later in Colorado, taught the Robards boys to ride in exchange for lessons in reading and writing. “No reading no riding” was his policy. The chance to be foreman at a new ranch in the Dry Cimarron Valley brought George back to the land he loved. He had acquired a variety of books and instruments along the way—guitar, violin, telescope—and a collection of rocks and minerals to sit next to the tattered Bible on a shelf in his bunkhouse room. A killer flash flood swept through the area on August 27, 1908, scouring the local Dead Horse arroyo to a depth of over ten feet. While riding the side of the arroyo assessing the damage McJunkin spotted several large bones projecting from near the base of the arroyo wall. He pulled one loose with a barb-wire cutter. It looked like a bison bone, only much bigger. Digging out the other bones he brought them home and displayed them on his mantle. He often spoke of them to his friends and neighbors but no one seemed interested. Years later George mentioned the large bones to a Raton blacksmith, Carl Schwachheim, after noting a giant rack of elk antlers on display at his shop. He gave Carl exact directions on how to find Dead Horse arroyo and his bone pit, then a 30 mile horse-back ride from Raton. Nothing more was done at that time. McJunkin fell ill in 1921, apparently of a kidney disease. He died March. It wasn't until several months later that a group of amateur archaeologists including Schwachheim motored from Raton to the site in a Model A Ford. They found George's bone pit just where he said it would be. That was the beginning. It took four years for the men on that trip to convince Jesse Figgins of the Colorado Museum of Natural History (now the Denver Museum of Nature and Science) to make an expedition to McJunkin's site. Three summer’s field work produced the proof that Figgins had long sought for— the presence of early man in the area: stone tools and iceage bison bones were discovered lying next to each other in the same clay layer. Human occupation of the New World was pushed back to the end of the ice age 10,000 years ago. That was 7,000 years earlier than any one had ever thought possible. McJunkin's bison, an extinct species, has been officially named Bison antiquuis figginsi. I would rather have seen it named Bison antiquuis mcjunkini!
