There was nothing of special interest on this trip although the night we camped at Dick Wooton's there was a heavy snow and the major spent a good part of the night looking after the comfort of his men and horses. After crossing this spur of the mountains the weather was pleasant and the country free from snow and we reached Fort Union without further incident. I returned by stage to Fort Garland and arrived at that post the forepart of December and was there awaiting orders until the 18th. The weather was cold, Fort Garland being at an altitude of about seven thousand feet above sea level, and it was comfortable to be with my wife and little girl, and in good quarters again.
General Kautz had taken General Alexander's place as post commander, but Dr. Happersett, the post surgeon, and the other officers were the same as when we arrived the preceding April. The social features of the post were charming and I hoped it would be my good fortune to remain there during the winter, but a few days after my arrival orders came for me to report to the commanding officer at Fort Stanton, New Mexico, for duty. We started on December 18th and the thermometer registered eighteen degrees below zero that morning. We were well equipped for the trip, having four mules to the ambulance and a six-mule team and wagon for our baggage. The question may occur to some of my readers how could all your household goods be carried in one wagon? We did not have much to carry, particularly in the way of furniture. The quarters at the different military posts were furnished by the quartermaster with stoves, tables, bedsteads and all kinds of furniture that would be cumbersome to move. We carried folding chairs, carpets, bedding and numerous household necessities and comforts with us, but one wagon was sufficient for this purpose in addition to carrying grain and hay for the mules from one government supply station to another. On most of the routes traveled there were government stations where grain and forage were kept for the animals used in government transportation. We started early, having forty miles to make that day to reach Conejos (Jackrabbit) the first government station on the route. We heated bricks for our feet and by drawing the curtains around the ambulance, it was made quite comfortable. We crossed the Rio Grande on the ice and reached Conejos in the evening and had a very comfortable place for the night. We remained one day at Conejos for supplies of grain and hay for the mules. For the next three days and two nights we were in deep snow all the way, and of course made slow progress, and the escort melted snow for water for ourselves and the animals during this time. We hoped to reach San Juan on the Rio Grande by the end of the third day, but were apprehensive, for we knew we had to cross the Rio Chama, a stream that had acquired an unenviable reputation because of its quicksand. We reached this stream just at dusk of the third day and for the first time in three days saw the friendly lamplights at a Mexican village a short distance above the ford. This was my first acquaintance with quicksand, and I would know better now. We should have unfastened the mules from the wagon, and broken the ice, which was not strong enough to hold them up, and thus made the way clear so we could cross without stopping. To stop is fatal. In place of doing this, we expected the mules to break the ice as they went. About the middle of the stream was a sand-bar only slightly covered with ice and water and the water had been shallow over to this bar, but when the mules came into the deep water beyond, the leaders refused to break the ice, the team stopped, and the wagon gradually settled down until the running gear and bed rested on the sand-bar. I ordered the team unhitched and the ice broken so we could get around with the ambulance, and we made the crossing without difficulty. It was then quite dark and I decided to ask for a volunteer to remain with the wagon and the balance of us would go on to San Juan.