On the Border

We told you last time about the SMELL in Vado. Well, it got too much for us. I’ll tell you more about that in a minute. We tried to make the most of our time by staying out of town. Las Cruces was part of the area bought by the USA in 1853 in a deal called the Gadsden Purchase. You remember that, don’t you? The mostly Mexican inhabitants didn’t like the idea, so they moved across the Rio Grande and formed the town of Mesilla. The “old town” of Mesilla still exists so we decided to pay a visit.

Mesilla is mostly like other “old towns” in the area, a church on the square surrounded by businesses. Shops containing the usual Mexican and Indian wares. We found little of interest that we had not recently seen. The only unusual point of interest is what you see in the first picture above, the first totally brick building built in the United States. Another reason for the visit to Mesilla was to buy pecans. We had noticed thousands of pecan trees as we drove along the highway. We had seen ads for Sthamann’s pecans. It is a most interesting history about the largest pecan grower in the world. You see some of the pecan groves in the second picture. I have given you a detailed history of Sthamann’s pecans at the end of the blog, if you care to read it. I think you will find it interesting.

We thought we had seen enough so we headed back to the truck, which we had parked along a side street.
As we approached our parking location, we noticed a motor home parked on the opposite side of the street, the side on which we were walking. As we got abreast of the RV, the door was open and two people were getting out. We had noticed that the license plate showed that they were from Indiana. We said “Hi”, and asked where they were from in Indiana. “Bedford”, they said. We told them we too had lived in Indiana. This led to several minutes of conversation on the sidewalk. After awhile they said, “We are going to have lunch, have you eaten?” “No, we haven’t, we were thinking of getting a bite.” “We are going to a little restaurant we have eaten at before that has great food,” they said. So we had lunch together and learned about the life of Dennis and Hazel Moore. A most enjoyable time. And the food was good!

Now, I was telling you about the SMELL. We had planned to stay in that location longer, but we decided it was time to move after one week. We drove down to El Paso, Texas to look around for a new campground. The Texas border was only 10 miles from where we were, and we found a nice campground in Anthony, TX, two miles across the border. So we moved. We had never before found a campground like this one. Not only is it cheaper than where we had left, but the spaces are long and wide. All pull-thrus. I know that is an improper spelling, but that’s the way we say it. And that’s the way we read it in the campground directory. Not only does the campground have all the services, but they also serve breakfast and lunch at the Cantina---no extra charge. This is unheard of!

We took a run into El Paso and found nothing much special to peak our interest so we decided to cross the border into Mexico. Well, we could not drive into Mexico because our insurance won’t allow it. We had two options, a trolley called the Border Jumper which cost $12.50 each to ferry one across and back, or we could walk over the bridge. We decided to walk. We parked the truck for three bucks and proceeded to the bridge. It cost us 35 cents each to walk over and 30 cents each to come back.

Where we were going was to Jaurez, Mexico, the largest city bordering the U.S., population about 1.8 million. The foot traffic was brisk, but the auto traffic was at a standstill waiting for customs. You see a picture above that shows the crossing back into the U.S. You may be able to see the rows of cars waiting to cross, several abreast. We crossed into Mexico without showing any ID. We had forgotten the look and feel of a Latin American country since it has been years since we lived in Latin America.

One must look down constantly. The sidewalks are broken, uneven and have potholes big enough to swallow you up to your ankles. The street was lined with shops of all kinds and “hawkers” trying to get one to enter. Mostly, on the street from the bridge, was Pharmacies and Optical stores, and people-----everywhere. We didn’t really know where we were going, but we had heard of a large Market located on 16th of September street. We walked five or six blocks, found the street and then walked another five blocks east to the Market which was in a large warehouse, filled with vendors of all manner of goods, especially jewelry and leather. We walked around, looked and even bargained a little. Nothing has a fixed price.

We walked back to the bridge, paid our 30 cents and stood in line at customs. There were five lines formed that moved ever so slowly. It took about 25 minutes to get through the line, show our driver’s license and proceed to the bridge. When we got back to the truck, we felt we had had enough exercise for the day and headed home.

Our new campground is attached to Camping World, a large camping equipment store. They are having a big RV Rally this weekend, Oct. 19-21, with activities, more food and entertainment. We will stick around and enjoy the festivities. It is almost time to go get some of that lunch, so we’ll talk to you later. Ciao for now.

I think you will enjoy the info below:
STAHMANN FARMS

Miles of pecan trees line Highway 28 on the way to Stahmann's Store. In the summer their branches spread out over the road in an arbor of green. In the winter they rest against the sky like soldiers in formation. In the fall their branches bend with the rich weight of nuts yet to be harvested and in the spring they are decorated with a filigree of green. The mature pecan trees at Stahmann Farms are always beautiful whatever the season. But seventy years ago when Mr. W.J. Stahmann and his son Deane purchased this stretch of countryside in the Mesilla Valley thirty miles north of El Paso, the area was little more than a barren wasteland of scrub, sand dunes and hidden potential.

A buggy-maker by trade, W.J. Stahmann came to the Mesilla Valley from Wisconsin, on a barge traveling down the Mississippi, keeping bees along the way. Settling first in El Paso, W.J. Stahmann raised cotton and tomatoes, built a canning plant and opened four cotton gins in the Mesilla Valley. In 1926, W.J. purchased the first 2,900 acres of what was to become Stahmann Farms in Southern New Mexico. He and his son Deane cleared the land with teams of mules and planted acres of cotton. The Stahmanns experimented with different types of cotton and Deane developed a number of new varieties that are still being grown around the world. Deane also set up research farms in Jamaica and Mexico in order to experiment with growing cotton year round and used Chinese geese to weed his cotton fields in New Mexico.

Seventy years later no one knows why Deane Stahmann decided to pull out his cotton plants and plant the first pecan trees in the valley. Some say it was his wife's idea. Others say it was the economy or the development of synthetic fabrics. Whatever the reason, he planted over 4,000 acres of pecan trees in the early 1930's on two separate plots of land, the 2,900 acre Santo Tomas Farm and the 1,100 Snow Farm. Soon the Stahmanns became the largest pecan producing family in the United States. Years later, when Deane Jr. planted 2,000 acres of trees in Australia, the Stahmanns became the largest pecan producers in the world.

Pecans are the only mass market nut native to the Americas. George Washington carried pecans in his pocket during the Revolutionary War. The nut's scientific designation Carya Illinoensis and original Algonquin Indian name paccan also reflect the pecan's American origins. Sweet, fragrant and wonderful in candy, baked goods or for just plain eating, Stahmann's pecans quickly became an American Success story.
Hollywood celebrities visited Stahmann Farms during the 40's and 50's and a pictorial of the farm was featured in Life Magazine. Stahmann Farms employed hundreds of workers and the farm itself was like a small town with houses, an infirmary and a commissary in what is now the location of Stahmann's Country Store.

The principal varieties of pecans grown on Stahmann Farms are the Western Schley and the Bradley, two varieties that yield very high quality soft-shelled pecans. The average age of a bearing tree is around fifty years. The orchard has approximately 180,000 trees with a basic spacing of thirty by thirty feet or 48 trees per acre. Today, Stahmanns produces eight to ten million pounds of pecans per year.

Driving through the orchard, one will notice that weeds and grass grow freely among the trees. Although the fields do not look as nice as they did when the weeds were cut every three weeks, this practice yields good results. Stahmann Farms virtually stopped using chemical insecticides in 1987. Today, green and black aphids are controlled with thousands of ladybugs, lacewing flies and other natural predators that live and reproduce in those ugly weeds.

Pecan harvesting is a highly mechanized operation completed in three stages. First, the fields are cleared of weeds, grass, branches and other debris. Second, sophisticated machines called shakers hold and shake specific branches of the tree, causing virtually all the nuts to fall from the tree, as well as many dry leaves and branches. During the third stage of the operation, sweepers form rows of pecans between the trees and finally a harvester picks up the pecans from the ground. Light material such as leaves and sticks are blown back onto the field by the harvester while pecans and rocks are dumped into a cart.