DICK WOOTTON’S SHARPS CARBINE

RICHENS LACEY ‘UNCLE DICK’ WOOTTON

by

Miles Gilbert

Most of us have probably crossed Raton Pass on I-25 between Trinidad, CO and Raton, NM. Until it was developed by Wootton in 1866 travelers had to go the long way around the lovely, often snow capped Sangre de Christo Mountains.

Frontiersman, mountain man, trapper, hunter and guide, Richins Lacey ‘Uncle Dick’ Wootton was born in Mecklenburg County Virginia May 6, 1816. When he was seven, his family moved to Kentucky which was yet a ‘dark and bloody ground’ on the frontier. At age seventeen he went to Mississippi and worked for two years on an uncle’s cotton plantation. At age nineteen in 1836 he made his way to Independence, Missouri, which was then a major gateway to the Great West.

Soon after his arrival he began working with a Bent, St.Vrain & Company wagon train that took him to Bent’s Fort, the only major permanent white settlement on the Santa Fe Trail between Missouri and the Mexican settlements in New Mexico. Bent’s Fort was an oasis in that part of the world where provisions for explorers, pioneers, and the US Army could be obtained. Wagon repairs, food and water for livestock, and a fortified haven from Indian attack were available.

Shortly after his arrival Bent St.Vrain & Co. sent him and thirteen other men north with a wagon load of trade goods for the Sioux. That work and way of life suited him and he continued for several years, becoming a true mountain man, trapper, hunter for Bent’s Fort, and he traded among the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Sioux and Ute Tribes.

By 1840 beaver trapping was far less profitable than it had been in the prime era of beaver fur top hats. So, he returned to Bent’s Fort and began anew as a freighter and scout for travelers. The California Gold Rush had begun and there was a lot of traffic on the Santa Fe Trail.

In 1846 during the Mexican-American War he scouted for the US Army and continued hunting for the ever increasing number of visitors to Bent’s Fort. At that time the southern buffalo herd was still fairly close by in that short grass country, and remained so until the great buffalo harvest began in 1870. He even tried ranching buffalo and cattle near Pueblo, CO. After three years he successfully drove them along the Santa Fe Trail all the way to Kansas City, where they were sold for a good profit.

By 1865 he had settled near Trinidad, CO and he leased land from Lucien Maxwell, who owned the immense Maxwell Land Grant. It covered 1,714,765 acres in Colfax County and a portion of contiguous Las Animas County, New Mexico. Wootton obtained franchises from the territorial legislatures of Colorado and New Mexico to construct a twenty-seven miles toll road over Raton Pass. His honest dealings with the Ute Tribe and personal friendship with their Chief Conniach enabled him to employ them to do the hard work of removing trees, cutting hillsides, blasting rocks, building bridges and grading a trail usable by wagons, stages and livestock.

Ute Chief Conniack with Uncle Dick Wootton. Courtesy of Miles Gilbert

Then he erected a ranch house and a hotel. Putting up a tollgate at the top of the pass he charged $1.50 per wagon, and .25 cents per horseman or head of livestock. That may have seemed outrageous, but when at the tollgate, who would turn around and go back?

Wootton ranch house at Raton Pass. Courtesy of Miles Gilbert

A good business man, but also a gracious host, Wootton’s home also acted as Barlow and Sanderson stagecoach stop where passengers could get a meal, or overnight in the hotel.

Oxen pulling timber across Raton Pass. Wootton Hotel in background. Courtesy of Miles Gilbert

The stage line also brought bandits to the area. They specialized in holding up the Express Stages, sometimes with a posse close behind. The Wootton Hotel and ranch house accommodated everyone if they paid, and were peaceful while in residence.

The hotel was a favorite rest stop for the freighting teams after making the long pull uphill from east or west. Too, it became an open house venue for people from Trinidad and El Moro who held dances there every week in fair weather.

In 1878 the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe RR Company bought the right of way and paid Wootton and his wife a lifetime pass and pension as part of the purchase price. The toll road continued until 1879, when at age 75 Wootton moved to Trinidad where he lived until his death IN 1893.

Over the years he had married four times, sired twenty children. He outlived all but one of his wives and seventeen of his twenty children. After his death his wife continued to receive payment for the pension and free pass for use of the RR. In 1925 the Santa Fe RR doubled the pension, and then in 1930 it increased again. After Mrs. Wootton’s death their invalid daughter received $25 a month during her lifetime.

Interested readers are encouraged to look further into the very adventure filled life of Richins Lacey Wootton. There were life threatening scrapes with grizzlies, Indians, and bad hombres.

An original copy of Wootton’s autobiography at La Casa Escuela Museum. Courtesy of Miles Gilbert

This report barely skims the surface because our focus is on the Meacham conversion Sharps that long time friend and favorite gun dealer Ron Peterson obtained from a partially collapsed building on the Wootton ranch.

Sharps New Model SN C, 4i84 with light weight Meacham barrel and Lawrence rear sight.

It began as a New Model 1863 Civil War carbine, the serial number of which is C, 4184 and according to Roy Marcot places it in the middle range for that model. It was converted to .45 2/10 with a 28 inch Meacham barrel that bears the familiar Sharps with a ‘broken h’ marking on the top flat. The rifle retains the Meacham style ground down lockplate, stock wrist checkering, fat rear double set trigger, Lawrence patent open rear sight, blade front, and weighs about nine pounds.

Wootton’s Meacham conversion showing the typical double set triggers. Courtesy of Miles Gilbert.
Wootton’s Meacham conversion showing the bottom with screw filling the tape primer access. Courtesy of Miles Gilbert.

It is currently on display in the ‘buffalo hunter room’ at Jim Gordon’s wonderful old adobe school house museum ‘La Casa Escuela’ at Glorieta Pass about 18 miles east of downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico, where it is still on the Old Santa Fe Trail.

Acknowledgements:

Ron Peterson for permission to write about his Wootton family heirloom, and over 40 years of friendship, hospitality and good gun deals.

Jim Gordon for access to the Wootton rifle and many other treasures in his outstanding museum. If you wish to visit, call ahead 505-982-9667.

Roy Marcot for identification of the New Model 1863 Sharps.

References:

Weiser, Kathy/Legends of America, updated September 2019. Wikipedia.

Wootton, Richins Lacey Uncle Dick Wootton: The Pioneer Frontiersman of the Rocky Mountains.

By Richins Lacey Wootton as narrated to Howard L. Conrad. Narrative Press 1957.

 

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