In the late 1840s, a man from Indiana, named Thomas J. Bull, moved to the Mesilla Valley. He settled on the property known as the San Augustine Ranch in 1850. For reasons unknown, he sold the ranch and land to Warren Shedd a few years later. Shedd previously worked with an outfit of pack animals and oxcarts riding over the Old Salt Trail between Carlsbad and El Paso. After purchasing the San Augustine property, he opened a small inn and commissary that soon became a major stopover for prospectors, Army troops, cattlemen, and travelers (remains of the inn can be seen in pictures above). The area became a center for prostitution, gambling, and liquor.

 

In the late 1870s, Shedd sold the property to Benjamin E. Davies, a Welshman with a good reputation. Davies sought to remove the taint of the Shedd enterprises and, in a short time, installed herds of cattle and sheep on the rangelands east of the Organ Mountains. In the summer of 1880, Davies' four year old daughter, Bertha, was playing outside and was bitten by a rattlesnake. She died soon after and is buried behind the corrals (a picture of her gravestone is shown in the gallery above). Benjamin Davies died a few years afterward and his wife, unable to keep up with the ranch, sold it to W.W. Cox in 1893.

 

William Webb Cox (b.11/2/1854 - d.12/31/1923) was born in De Witt County, Texas. His father, James Webb Cox was shot and killed around May 15,1873 as part of the Taylor/Sutton feud, in which John Wesley Hardin was implicated (newspaper clipping from this time can be seen in the gallery above). Looking to start fresh, and away from his Texas roots, W.W. Cox headed towards the Organ Mountains in eastern New Mexico. After he and his wife, Margaret, bounced around a bit, he acquired the San Augustine Ranch and surrounding land in 1893. Expanding the ranch to over 150,000 acres, coupled with his entrepreneurial spirit, W.W. built a successful cattle ranch on the lands east of the Organ Mountains. A sample advertisement from Cox's business, at the time, can be seen in the gallery above. The Cox family has lived and ranched the same land ever since.

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After W.W. Cox passed, his wife Margaret ran the ranch for some time. Their three sons; Hal, A.B., and James Webb "Jim" were primarily responsible. In the early 1940s, as the Second World War raged in Europe, the U.S. Government needed land to develop a long range missile program. The 3,200 square miles just north of Fort Bliss was largely uninhabited and made a great location for the military's proving ground. After negotiating with Jim Cox (son of W.W.) and the Cox family, who owned the majority of the land where the proving ground was to be placed, the U.S. Army established the White Sands Missile Range in 1945. In fact, the first atomic bomb was detonated in the White Sands Missile Range, on July 9, 1945, at its Trinity site.

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Despite losing more than 90% of the ranch land to the U.S. Government, the Cox family has been successfully ranching in the area ever since. Robert Coffelt Cox, son of Jim Cox (and grandson of W.W. Cox), based on the proximity of the ranch long term relationships were established with leadership at White Sands Missile Range (see gallery for list of Generals who visited the ranch). In recognition of this relationship, and all the Cox family has done, the White Sands Test Center activated a new ultra-modern control center and named it the J. W. Cox Range Control Center (CRCC). Rob gave the acceptance speech in 2010 at the inauguration of the site (which can be seen in the gallery above). 

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Rob believed in the importance of ranching and preserving the history of such a great New Mexican heritage. As such he was a founding member of the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum. In this excerpt from a longer interview by Jane O'Cain in August of 1996, (please click here for the source material) you can read a brief oral history of the Coxes, as told by Rob Cox. Like Rob, and the many Cox family members before him, Rob's son Mark D. Cox currently runs the San Augustine Ranch along with his wife, Kathy.

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