D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
December
2008
Hiking Apacheria
Page: 3Larry and I have never hiked his 2,300 acres of Apacheria together. I've asked if he'd get permission from the current owner, his neighbor, to go down Mangas Creek, so we could experience that beautiful place. I am not sure what Larry would say about those lands. At one time, they belonged to the Metcalfes, too, but the ranch has since lost those sections.
"I guess we've just decided losing land doesn't have to mean the end of the world," Larry said. That comment racks up for me as yet another positive characteristic: proportionality, or lack of envy. However he meant it, I took it to mean that acquisition of more and more land has never driven the Melcalfes and Fosters.
In our most recent talk, I asked Larry what he was reading. On two previous trips to his home in Las Cruces, I'd looked over his books. Like me, he was an avid reader of history. He said he'd been reading The Western Paradox, edited by Bernard DeVoto — who, Larry said, was one of the earliest and most salient critics of so-called "welfare ranchers and welfare ranching." Larry said DeVoto was among the first environmentalists to call western ranching a form of "welfare."
"Why read him?" I asked
"Well, it's sort of like 'know your enemy,'" Larry replied. He didn't elaborate, but I took it as an example of how Larry has used his education to inform himself with information that often runs counter to his own views.
I can't explain how walking in these vast empty spaces helps me, but I think he "gets it." This land is special to Larry Foster, too. It's not about dominating the land, or possessing it. I think it's just more a sense that all the history that has passed over it has left an energy there that is ephemeral and transitory in nature. In that way, "getting it" is as elusive as grabbing a fistful of air.
Jerry Eagan is always interested in visiting places connected to Apache history. He can be reached at skymindgraphics@zianet.com This is the 14th article in his "Hiking Apacheria" series; to read the complete series, see www.desertexposure.com/apacheria