Chapter 2

Pozo de Agua, is a typical small town on the dusty trail from one ambitious wide spot to the next ambitious wide spot.

It started as a spot discovered by Aztec refugees with a good water source. Later, local Indian tribes used it for the same purpose. Later still, it became a monastery for Spanish Franciscan monks who attempted to bring civilization and their particular brand of religion to the local population.

Being followers of the Spanish Inquisition method of religious conversion, they were particularly brutal in their methods. Demanding total and unquestioned obedience to their authority.

The local population, members of the Apache tribe, came to resent those methods. They eventually showed that resentment by slaughtering the priests and monks.

Over the years that followed, the monastery was abandoned and forgotten, except for the well, which remained the primary source of water for miles around. Over time, travelers through the area learned of the well and used it as a stopping point. The monastery’s ruins were a convenient landmark.

Settlers coming through the area, on their way west, seeking fame and fortune, stopped at the monastery for water.

Some of them, tired of looking at the back end of their oxen, started spending more time on their layovers and eventually just took root, ending their wandering. Thus, a budding town was formed.

As was usually the case, entrepreneurs catered to greater demand, and saloons began to establish themselves. They were closely followed by dry-goods stores that served travelers bound for points west. Other businesses opened, and a thriving town was created.

Those businesses were joined by other, less respectable enterprises. Saloons, Gambling halls, and brothels quickly appeared. With them came the expected criminal elements. Without a restraining hand, Pozo de Agua became increasingly dangerous to businesses and, more importantly, to the owners. An ad hoc chamber of commerce was formed, and it quickly decided that a sheriff was needed.