The typical "Wilfornian Bamboozled Farmer"-era story of a guy who claimed his 160 acres and
thought he could make a town of it, suckered a few others (often family) to join him,
failed miserably when the Dust Bowl hit, and then ran away back east before anyone else noticed what had happened.
This particular "he" conveniently left the old store / post office behind that eventually became a bus stop for the school at House, as all crossroads stores eventually become.
According to a grandson of the founder and in case you don't think my general theory of Wilfornia development holds water:
Here is a tidbit of info,how Ragland
New Mexico came to be.
My Grandfather moved his family from Jeffersontown, Ky. about 1906-7 to New Mexico near Quay. His name was
Nathainal Thomas Ragland. He opened a dry goods store and the locals ask that he get
their Mail (as the nearest PO was in Tucumcari)my grandmother became the first woman postmaster in New Mexico.A Town grew and took the name Ragland. N.T Ragland and Maud (G-Mother) and their two sons, Harold C. and Thomas Rucker(my Dad)moved to Ponta Gorda,Florida and owned the Seminole Hotel.
And later Miami where he owned several theaters. Regards,To the Family Marry Xmas
Roger Ragland
I don't mean to be right everytime.
I lived at Ragland, population 16, during 1934-36. Residents included families of Butrum, Hammock, Forstopher and Cooper (us). We lived in the rear of the original gasoline station above and behind the station-store built by Travis Haines during the 1940s. FIve treacherous swithbacks carved into the face of the escarpment and alluvium led down to the valley floor. The highway and roads were of caliche and rock. Electricity was non-existent. I rode a primitive bus to and from Quay School where Ms. Myrtle Alexander taught grades 1-3.r. A TWA Ford Trimotor crashed near the SE escarpment of Mesa Redonda and the Garrison family from Forrest was lost in a flash flood of the creek below Ragland during that time. My memories of Ragland remain vivid to this day.There are 80 acres immediately north of the old Ragland Store on the other side off the highway. Lisa and I explored part of it once and found the remains of three "houses", two with cisterns nearby.
The typical "Wilfornian Bamboozled Farmer"-era story of a guy who claimed his 160 acres and thought he could make a town of it, suckered a few others (often family) to join him, failed miserably when the Dust Bowl hit, and then ran away back east before anyone else noticed what had happened.
This particular "he" conveniently left the old store / post office behind that eventually became a bus stop for the school at House, as all crossroads stores eventually become.
According to a grandson of the founder and in case you don't think my general theory of Wilfornia development holds water:
Here is a tidbit of info,how RaglandI don't mean to be right everytime.
New Mexico came to be.
My Grandfather moved his family from Jeffersontown, Ky. about 1906-7 to New Mexico near Quay. His name was
Nathainal Thomas Ragland. He opened a dry goods store and the locals ask that he get
their Mail (as the nearest PO was in Tucumcari)my grandmother became the first woman postmaster in New Mexico.A Town grew and took the name Ragland. N.T Ragland and Maud (G-Mother) and their two sons, Harold C. and Thomas Rucker(my Dad)moved to Ponta Gorda,Florida and owned the Seminole Hotel.
And later Miami where he owned several theaters. Regards,To the Family Marry Xmas
Roger Ragland