D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
December 2009
Mimbres Culture Heritage Center
Page: 2
Frightened and confused, Gooch walked all the way to Deming. After a talk with a friend there, he turned around and headed back up to Silver City, where he turned himself in to the judge. While sitting in the local jail awaiting trial, however, Gooch decided he'd best escape and get out of town.
He roamed through the West, coming to rest in Salt Lake City, where he took the name "Joseph Smith" and wandered the streets in a mentally unstable state. After confessing his crime to a local sheriff and being returned to Silver City once again, Gooch again escaped before he could be tried.
This time he headed for Phoenix, over the border in Arizona, where the good citizens had just voted to build a fine new "insane asylum," as such institutions were called in those days. They had voted to build the asylum instead of a new university, and some folks say even today that that's why the University of Arizona is in Tucson instead.
Though still in an apparently demented state, Gooch had retained enough sense to know that if he was convicted in New Mexico he would go to prison, as New Mexico had no asylums. Jail held no appeal for him, so he picked Arizona for his surrender.
In any case, he turned himself in, and after all the legal wrangling, was committed.
Again, however, Gooch found his accommodations not to his liking, so, true to form, he escaped one last time and returned to Grant County. But this time he didn't turn himself in to the local constabulary; he just headed up into the Gila, and still today remains the stuff of legend.
There were reported "Gooch sightings" for some time. Parents would warn their children "not to stray too far into the Gila, 'cause Mr. Gooch is out there somewhere and he'll get ya."
Meanwhile, literally back at the ranch, Kate Gooch sold the place off and moved to El Paso. After a series of owners, the place was purchased by Bert and Harry Mattocks, giving the site their last name. Today, after further change in ownership, the correct name for the site of both the old ranch buildings and the Indian village ruin is the "Mimbres Culture Heritage Center."
The stories about the houses and the ruins of the Mimbres Indian village are more and many. To hear them all properly told, a visitor would have to tour the place and chat with the site manager, Marilyn Markel. Arrangements for a tour can easily be made through the Silver City Museum (538-5921, or toll-free out of town, 877-777-7947).
With interpretive work still going at the site, improvements are evident all the time and interpretive trails and signage will probably be ready in the spring of next year.
Even as they stand today, the Mattocks Ruin and the Gooch House each represents a fascinating piece of local history, and substantial monuments to Grant County's heritage.
For more information, see the website mimbresheritagesite.org
Jim Kelly is a retired journalist who lives in Silver City.