Charles Springer: The Cimarron Cattleman Behind New Mexico's CS Ranch

Who was Charles Springer?

Charles Springer was born on December 19, 1858, in Columbus City, Iowa, to Francis and Nancy R. Springer. He went to Burlington High School in Iowa and then to Iowa State University, according to the New Mexico history delegate biography.

In 1878 he moved to Cimarron, New Mexico, and entered the cattle business. He was also a member of the New Mexico bar, and he is listed as a Republican delegate from Colfax County.

Why did Charles Springer settle in Cimarron?

Cimarron was the center of the Maxwell Land Grant, a huge holding that Lucien Maxwell had sold to a British company in 1869 or 1870, as described in the New Mexico history biography of Maxwell. When Springer arrived in 1878 the town sat in country shaped by that grant, its gold rush and its title disputes.

His family connection to the area ran through his brother Frank Springer, a lawyer for the Maxwell Land Grant Company, who is named as the founder of the CS Ranch in 1873.

The CS Ranch and its Hereford foundation

A Los Alamos Daily Post profile explains that Frank Springer founded the CS Ranch near Cimarron in 1873 and named it for his brother Charles. In 1881 Frank bought Hereford cattle as the ranch's foundation stock. The ranch ran cow-calf and yearling cattle, grew hay, sold hunting licenses and kept quarter horses and racehorses. Its deeded and leased lands ran from Springer to Raton, though the article gives no acreage.

The ranch also leased fishing on Eagle Nest Lake, which the Springer brothers built. The family sold the lake to the state in 2002.

Water, irrigation and public service

Charles Springer served as president of the territorial board of water commissioners, appointed by three successive governors. The biography notes his particular interest in irrigation, which fits the dry country around Cimarron where water decided what a ranch could carry.

Irrigation mattered because the same stretch of country that supported a ranch could fail it in a dry year. A water board gave Springer a voice in how rivers and ditches were shared across the territory, which is a different kind of influence from owning cattle but one that protected the cattle business.

He also held an interest in the St. Louis, Rocky Mountain & Pacific Co. The sources reviewed do not describe his role in it beyond the interest.

A ranch that passed down the family

The CS Ranch passed through the family. Les Davis, grandson of Frank Springer, came west from Philadelphia and Dartmouth College at his grandfather's urging, since Frank had no children. Les married Linda Mitchell in 1953, and the couple raised six children who worked the ranch. The Albuquerque Journal obituary of Linda Davis covers her later career.

The family chain is worth stating plainly: Frank Springer founded the ranch and named it for Charles, and Frank's grandson Les Davis later ran it with his wife Linda. Dates for Charles Springer's later business years are not given in the pages reviewed, so this profile stops at what they confirm. He died in 1933, and the Hall of Great Westerners lists him among its honorees.

Learn more

For related reading on northeastern New Mexico ranching, browse the ranching pages on farm.FM or read a farm.FM story about Cimarron and the CS Ranch.