LOCAL

The history of Cree Meadows compiled by Virgil Hemphill

Cree Meadows passed through many owners, but now rests with club members

Dianne L Stallings
Ruidoso News
  • 1980s boom short-lived

 

A member of the Cree Meadows Golf and Country Club recently took the time to compile a history of the golf course area after becoming intrigued with his initial research.

This shot was taken when the golf course and housing area was being laid out at Cree Meadows.

“I accidentally came up here in 1975 and bought a run-down air service called Air Ruidoso that I ran for four years before I sold it,” R.V. "Virgil" Hemphill said. “A while back I was wondering for my own information how it (Cree Meadows) all happened. I’ve been a member about 40 years.”

Many of the older club members who recalled stories firsthand already passed and he didn’t want to lose the remaining thread of history. His research included coming to the Ruidoso News office and going through papers published over decades.

He handed out the finished history to club shareholders at a July meeting.

“I learned a lot myself,” he said. “All of the area we see when looking out of our ‘Ruidoso clubhouse windows’ at one time was free land for the Clovis man and other Native Americans to roam. Spanish explorers appeared in the 1500s and late in that century, Spanish conquistador Juan de Onate proclaimed Spanish ownership for all of what was to become New Mexico and other associated lands.”

Hemphill reviewed the history of the territory and the forming of the various western states, then circled back to the local area.

“What we now know as Lincoln County was formed in 1869 by the territorial legislature,” and was the largest county in the United States consisting of one-fourth of New Mexico, covering what now are the counties of Chaves, Curry, Eddy Lea, Lincoln, Otero, Roosevelt and a portion of DeBaca, Hemphill said.

“Reviewing some of the existing records, the wealthy ‘liquor magnate’ James Cree and his family from Edinburgh, Scotland, were looking for ‘new world’ opportunities,” Hemphill said. “With help from their business associate Brandon Kirby, they started purchasing United States ‘patented lands,’ in Lincoln County in the mid-1880s.”

Those land transactions became the Angus VV Ranch, consisting of about 7,000 acres.

Old descriptions of the size of the ranch he found stated it extended from the present-day stop-light at the Village Ace Hardware corner to Fort Stanton land near the Ruidoso municipal airport.

Cree Meadows golfers and home owners have a spectacular view of Sierra Blanca Peak any time of the year.

“James Cree’s two sons came here and attempted to manage this huge cattle ranch operation,” Hemphill said, but they lacked knowledge and local “know-how” to sustain a long-term profitable operation.

“Over the years, attempts to stop cattle rustlers from stealing cattle failed, and was a mayor cause (combined with other issues) forcing the Cree owns to begin selling off lands to continue the ranch operation,” he said.

Lands adjoining Fort Stanton were the first to be sold. The Cree family ranch continued operation until after World War II. In 1945, the White Mountain Development Corp. was formed by George McCarty and Joe Palmer. They purchased the Cree properties that constituted the subdivision and golf course development in Ruidoso today, Hemphill said.

“In 1946, Cree Meadows Golf Course was planned and a formal opening of the 9-hole facility, complete with small clubhouse, was held July 7, 1947,” he said. The course is the oldest established golf course in Lincoln County.

The same owners created the very first golf course in Ruidoso earlier in the 1940s, at the junction near where the Lincoln County Medical Center now stands, Hemphill said. But the course didn’t last long, was plowed and planted into a bean field, he said.

“Not long after the Cree Meadows Golf Course was opened, George McCarty sold his interest to Joe Palmer, starting a long number of changes in Cree owners over the following Years,” Hemphill said. “As near as I can determine, with the help of many local persons, the past to present Cree owners went like this: George McCarty/Joe Palmer; Joe Palmer; Ed Ammitt and Johnny Williams; Sunny and Stormy Edwards, father and son; Bob Hickson; Delbert Townson; Golf Courses of America; and Cree Meadows Country Club Inc.”

A big change occurred in the early 1970s, when the back nine holes of the course were opened and Riverside Golf Inc., owned by the Edwards family, filed restrictive covenants and began selling lots in Golf Course Estates, Hemphill said. The lots sold from $4,000 to $20,000, and after a slow start, the subdivision took off. The first house built in the development still stands at the corner of Barcus Road and Sarah Lane, Hemphill said. At the time, the structure was valued at $45,000.

When Stormy Edwards died, Cree Meadows Golf Course was sold to Bob Hickson in the late 1970s. The lot-land development business was sold to other parties, Hemphill said. Hickson continued improvements on the Cree, but was hit by a disastrous fire that destroyed the clubhouse on July 2,1978. Using insurance recovery money and with the help of architect Jim French, a new clubhouse was opened 18 months later.

During the boom times of the 1980s, when seasonal west Texas residents were flush with oilfield dollars, Hickson sold the Cree to Delbert Townson, an oil field tool designer. Townson added the North Forty Room, and the area still is enjoyed by members today, Hemphill said.

“But the short period of prosperity ended not long after that and Cree was in bankruptcy, soon to be sold in bankruptcy court to Golf Courses of America,” he said. At that time, New Mexico law contained a loop hole that allow local club member Johnny Durham and associates to purchase, restore ownership and pass it back to the Cree Meadows Country Club Inc., he said.

“From that time, the present Cree membership has owned, managed and operated the club with much love and devotion,” Hemphill said. “We all hope for a continued bright future for our historic beloved gathering place.”

Hemphill emphasized that much of the information he used in compiling the history was passed down over the years and may not be 100 percent accurate, but he thanked other for helping him assemble the data. They include Bill McCarty, Bill Pippin, John Russell, Danny Dunn, Bob Hickson, Martha Smith, Herb Brunell and Albert Richardson.