Ira Compton

The Salt War: Unrest in El Paso Ira Compton

Gregorio Montoya does not want to become involved but when the Mexicans challenge Charlie Howard's authority to place a tariff on the pure white crystals of salt that nature has deposited in the dry lakes at the foot of Guadalupe Peak, he cannot help himself. He risks everything, including his future with Maria. Even the infamous Billy the Kid tries to keep Gregorio out of trouble, but it is to no avail. Although acceptable under American law, the Mexicans feel that no one person should own a mineral deposit that is supposed to be for everyone. It should stay as it was under Spanish lawthe commodity was placed there by God and is free to whoever wants to haul it to market. For generations, it is the way Mexican peasants obtain cash when the Rio Grande River washes out their crops or the locusts come. Whenever their harvests fail, they travel the seventy miles for cart loads of the crystals. A newly organized Texas Ranger detachment tries to stop the onrush of battle, but, for the first and only time in Texas history, the commander surrenders to the enemy, and Judge Charles Howard, along with two of his confederates, is executed by the mob. The three executions end the skirmish and send Gregorio and Maria fleeing into Mexico.