Voices of Vail and the Cienega Corridor
Interviewed by “Hondo” Bill Thayer
Vail Preservation Society
“…The Total Wreck was still going when Perry homesteaded the PH. Because from a story that Mister Hilton told me. He said, once, that his dad was a drinker, but not a heavy drinker. He would order, by mail, five gallons of whisky, and that would last him a year. That was before prohibition. He used to order it by mail. That's why I think the Total Wreck was running pretty stong. The teamsters would bring the mail from Pantano, and Mister Hilton (Perry) would pick it up at Total Wreck. On the way up those teamsters got caught by a great big kind of blizzard. Lots of mist, and freezing cold! Mister Hilton said the snow was almost two feet high! On the way they almost froze, so they had to drink Mr. Hilton's whisky! They found out it was whisky, and they drank it. All of it! He didn't say how mad Perry got, but he had to order another keg. And that's why I think the Total Wreck was still going strong.
Perry Hilton took to prospecting, and found a little pocket of silver. Mister Hilton told me that they were so poor that they couldn't afford to hire another man to help, so his mother would handle one side of the windlass, and Ed would handle the other side, and the one in the bottom (of the mine) would fill the ore bucket. Then they would crank on the windlass to raise the bucket. It was very hard work, especially for a small woman and a twelve or thirteen year old boy. I think they shipped the ore to Pantano. They hauled it by wagon.
He (Perry Hilton) had that problem with the Vail Company (The Vail Land and Cattle Company). There were enough wild horses and burros, so they didn't want the goats. They got very angry with him! Perry didn't have any fences. His whole place was open range. Those Vail Company Cowboys sure didn't like those goats! I never heard if there was a shoot-out. They probably just used words…”
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