Arizonians Love Kansas Eggs

[W. Gray]

Arizonians know where good eggs come from.

Grocery store advertisement appearing in the
Bisbee Daily Review, Bisbee, Arizona, December 18,1910

Bisbee is the southeast most county in Arizona with Texas to the east and Mexico to the south--1,050 miles as the crow flies from Cloverdale.

[larryJ]

I dearly love and really appreciate these posts about the Good Old Days.  This is the kind of stuff that needs to be on this forum.

However..........

I would point out that while my mother and father were from Kansas I was born in New Mexico which lies between Arizona and Texas or at least it did when I lived there. 

With great respect,

Larryj

[W. Gray]

Texas is to the east of Arizona, as is Louisiana and Mississippi. New Mexico is also to the east of Arizona, chuckle.

The question I pondered when I initially saw that advertisement was just how fresh could those eggs in Bisbee, Arizona, from Cloverdale, Kansas, be? That is a long train with many routine stops, icing stops, and line interchanges along the 1,000 mile plus journey, not to mention the time from laying to getting to either Grenola or Cedar Vale by wagon for rail shipping.

On April 16, we picked up eggs at the grocery store that were packed (not laid) on day 083, meaning March 14, 2017, and were stamped as best used by May 7, 2017. So, maybe those folks in Bisbee were eating fresher eggs than than we are today.

[W. Gray]

LarryJ,

How long were you in New Mexico after you were born? Were you near Grants?

[larryJ]

I lived there the first fourteen years of my life.  Then my mom got a job teaching in Wyoming for a year and then back to New Mexico for a year.  Then we moved back to Wyoming for two years then back to New Mexico for a year and then on to Colorado.  My mom took teaching jobs wherever she could get them. 

Interestingly enough.....My father built that tiny one bedroom house in New Mexico in 1937.  In looking at Google Earth as of a few years ago it was still there.  What was freaky about looking at the house was that they had a green swing in front of the house that is exactly the same swing as we have here in front of our house now.  How weird is that?  Not much has changed there.  It is pretty much the same as I remember.

The town was Artesia halfway between Roswell and Carlsbad and close to the Texas border.

And no.............I did not crash land in Roswell.

Larryj

[W. Gray]

There was a justice of the peace in Grants, NM, who was working on the sly with some members of the NM Highway Patrol to fleece drivers of caravan cars with exorbitant fines. A caravan car was supposed to stop at the NM port of entry and purchase a sticker in order to drive through the state—something myself and others were not aware needed to be done. A patrolman would stop the car and then direct the driver to the justice of the peace office in Grants for determination of a fine. I was in the military (1966) but on my own time. The JP initially imposed a fine of $250, which is the equivalent of $1,900, today.

At least back then, a caravan car was a vehicle owned by a dealer somewhere in the east, in my case Topeka, but sold to a dealer in California. Drivers paid for gasoline so delivery of the vehicle did not cost the selling dealer anything unless there was a breakdown. There were many of these cars back around that time. I was driving a 1965 black Cadillac Fleetwood Limousine.

I don't know why but I smelled a rat when talking to the HP. Before I found the justice of the peace office, I stopped and took off my shoes and socks and placed most of my bills flat in the bottom of my socks and was literally walking on the bulk of the cash I had. I entered his office with $40 in my wallet. He was not a very likeable guy and when I advised I could not pay a $250 fine, he threatened jail at $5 a day credit but seemed to relent when I told him I had to be at Ford Ord, California, in two or three days. He then asked how much I had and I showed him the $40. He took $20. When I said I could not get to Fort Ord on the remaining $20, he said that was my problem. He gave me a receipt from a run of the mill dime store receipt book.

After I left the office and was a few miles from Grants I was stopped again by another HP. It was the same story, I would have to go see the same justice of the peace, but when I pleaded I had already paid a fine he asked to see a receipt. He was taken aback by a paltry $20 fine and said he had never seen one for less than $250. He also said that almost all caravan drivers were college kids or military. After I explained the reason for the smaller fine, he let me go on my way.

At any rate, several years later I was in a photocopy room at HQ US Army Europe, Heidelberg, Germany, and was telling this story to a friend. I heard chuckling behind me. The chuckling fellow happened to be from New Mexico. He told me that this justice of the peace had fined a US Marine $250. The Marine was highly agitated but paid and left. He obtained a pistol and went back to the JPs office and shot him dead. According to this man, the collusion story came out after the Marine was arrested. The justice was splitting the money with the highway patrolmen.

[larryJ]

Very interesting story.  I had not heard that but I do seem to recall people telling me back in the early 60's about driving carefully between Albuquerque and the Arizona border especially around Grants.  Maintaining the speed limit was important.

On another note......In 1980 my brothers and I got together for a reunion in Durango, Colorado.  At the place we stayed there was a convention of highway patrolmen from all over the southwest.  In a conversation with one from Arizona he said that you could drive over the speed limit as long as you were not exhibiting reckless driving meaning that they wouldn't stop you just for speeding.  Other officers were in agreement with this.  I don't recall if the ones from NM were in agreement though.  However, all the times I have had to drive across New Mexico I just watch my speed and not take the chance.

And just to mention......after the patrolmen left they were replaced by a Hudson Motor Car Convention.  The parking lot was full of Hudsons!

Did I hear someone say "What's a Hudson?"

Larryj