NMCentennialBlueBook

U.S. presidents, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretary of State from the 1930s to
the 1950s. Ringland was the last living witness to New Mexico becoming a state, dying
almost seventy years later.
Ringland’s friend and co-worker in the Forest Service was Will Barnes (1858–1936).
Since 1907 Barnes had been with the grazing bureau working with ranchers holding
permits on forest lands. Barnes is associated more historically with Arizona than New
Mexico, starting with his U.S. Army service during the Indian Campaigns in the 1870s and
‘80s. In 1880 Barnes was cited for the Medal of Honor for bravery in action at the battle
of Fort Apache. After leaving the Army in 1883, Barnes became a rancher in Arizona,
moving his herd to a New Mexico lease near Dorsey in 1900. He served in both territories
legislatures and on their livestock sanitary boards.
Barnes stayed with the Forest Service for more than twenty years. In 1915 he and Ringland
mapped out the boundaries for a new national monument around Frijoles Canyon inside
the Jemez National Forest; Barnes offered the suggestion that the park be named in honor
of the eminent, late archaeologist Adolph Bandelier. In 1927 Barnes led the roundups of
wild Longhorn cattle and helped establish the heritage herd of Texas Longhorns at the
Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma, thus preserving the remnants of the great
Longhorns that used to roam Texas and were part of the cattle-drive era of the late 1800s.
Barnes retired to Arizona, where his passion for writing and history led to his writing and
editing several publications about that state. After his death in 1936 he was buried in
Arlington National Cemetery.
John Baron Burg (1873–1943) was a relative newcomer, having arrived only six years
earlier after his marriage to Dolores Otero of New Mexico. A lawyer by training, Burg
was a Senator-elect for the first State Legislature when he watched Taft sign the statehood
proclamation. He went on to have a prominent public service career, serving as a probate
judge, district attorney, U.S. Commissioner, and a board member of the Middle Rio Grande
Conservancy District. Burg also had a strong interest in real estate and corporate enterprises
in Albuquerque area, with his companies responsible for developing several residential
subdivisions. The Burgs were considered to be one of the most generous benefactors of
Albuquerque, and a community park is named for him.
Of the couple of members of the press in the Oval Office, the only one we know by name
is Ira Bond (ca. 1844–1931). Bond first came to New Mexico with William Pile when
the latter became territorial governor in 1869. He served as a clerk for several agencies,
including postmaster at Mesilla, before he went into the newspaper business. He was
owner and editor for the Mesilla News in the 1870s and ‘80s. By the 1890s Bond was
a well-respected journalist and public figure who began working for statehood for New
Mexico and Arizona. He moved to Washington, D.C., to further that effort while serving
as a correspondent for several Southwestern newspapers.
Bond was one of two witnesses who was present when Taft signed the Enabling Act
(1910), the New Mexico statehood proclamation, and the Arizona statehood proclamation,
all of which he reported on for the press. With these successes, Bond began wrapping
up his writing career, having few bylines appear anywhere after about 1914. He stayed
in Washington, serving as a tour guide at the U.S. Capitol the last several years of his
life—after the age of 80.
Newspaper reports indicate that four of Taft’s cabinet attended the ceremony, but only two
of them were named. Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock (1867–1935) rose to behindthe-scenes
power in the national Republican Party in the 1890s, earning the nickname
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