June 2005-
Longtime friends Kendyl and Barbara Monroe finally decided to retire, leave New York City and move back home to the family ranch near Clayton, N.M. 10 years ago.
All this time the invitation to visit them in their new home on the New Mexico plains was there for the Lloyds to accept, and we missed a lot by not accepting sooner. In addition to managing the ranch, Kendyl joined a local group restoring the 100-year-old local hotel.
On one of Kendyl’s recent trips to Wichita, he described his new venture, The Eklund Hotel restoration, with all its trials and tribulations. Again, he invited Sara and me to hop in Bill, the friendly family Cessna 182, and fly out to the northeast corner of New Mexico for a visit. This is the story about our trip to Clayton.
Anyone with a sense of adventure and interest in the history of the Old West is in for a treat. The Eklund Hotel opened in the 1892 and stayed in the Eklund family for 60-plus years. Slowly the stately Victorian lady’s rooms needed repairs that were no longer economical and the hotel continued to decay as ownership changed.
The saloon remained open after the rooms were closed in the 1970s. Buyers became interested in the liquor license and numerous antiques still on the property. Liquor licenses are valuable New Mexico assets, because the owner can move the license to another New Mexico location.
Threatened with this loss, a few local residents formed a limited partnership to bring the Eklund back to its former stately glory. However, I am getting ahead of the story.
Tall Tales and Other Somewhat-True Stories
Carl Eklund came to Clayton in the late 1880s and saw an opportunity to open a mercantile store in the growing cattle town. The business did well until Carl got into a poker game down in Folsom, N.M. Then, he became the owner of a bar as part of his winnings—and had a piece of furniture without a place to use it.
This bar was no trivial little thing. The 20-foot-long bar included a back bar 20 feet long by 10 feet high and 30 inches deep. There are three mirrors and the center one measures 12 feet wide by five feet tall. Carl did a quick cash flow analysis and concluded that there was more money in running a saloon than the mercantile business.
This calculation motivated him to get wagons to make the three-week long, 70-mile journey to transport his “new furniture” back to Clayton.
But Carl made one minor error in hiring his first bartender. He did not know that this guy was a teetotaler. When the first ranch hands came into the saloon for something to cut the trail dust, they were not looking for the sarsaparilla that the bartender slid across the bar top.
One cowboy showed his displeasure by drawing his Colt 44 and redecorating the premises with two bullet holes in the ceiling. The bullet holes are still there and one is still clearly visible today directly above the bar.
Oh, there are other versions of how the bullet holes got in the ceiling but this is part of the Eklund charm and mystery. Who would want to ruin a good western tale with too many facts?
There is something about life around Clayton that continues to beckon native sons and daughters back to the area. The cattle industry is still king and the dress and pace seem to come from a simpler, friendlier and earlier era. Make no mistake, the Western dress you see in Clayton is real and not some Rhinestone Cowboy-Hollywood version of the Old West.
Dr. John Sellers is one of these native sons who answered the call to come back home. He is a Dust Bowl survivor, aircraft mechanic, pilot, teacher, hotel partner, resident historian and teller of tales. Dr. John, as he is called, normally has dinner every evening in the hotel dining room with his lovely wife Reba.
This senior gentleman with two PhD’s is straight as a cedar fence post—and just as thin. Dr. John tells the story about growing up in nearby Boise City, Okla. The Clayton high school girls seemed interesting to Dr. John and three of his friends so they drove to Clayton one evening to socialize.
During their stay in Clayton, a rainstorm washed out the bridge so the boys came back to the Eklund to spend the night. For some reason the night clerk would not rent them a room. So, Dr. John pointed to the lobby area where the four boys bedded down on the sofas for the night.
The next morning the road crew repaired the bridge and they were able to return home. Room 201 where we stayed on the hotel’s southwest corner overlooks Main Street. The suite is updated with modern appointments and is very comfortable.
In earlier times, this room served as Mrs. Greda Eklund’s social quarters. Room 207 on the southeast corner is the former location of the town poker game and if the walls could only talk, I am sure they could tell many interesting stories.
And what old Western hotel can be a historical landmark without its resident ghost? The lobby counter sells T-shirts that proclaim, “I slept with Irene.” Locals say that Irene reveals herself to the hotel staff only and does not disturb the guests. The hotel ghost turns off dining room lights and the coffeepot, much to the consternation of the staff.
During the renovation, a construction crew worked late one night to try to maintain the project schedule. The crew heard a noise and saw a woman’s form drift past the window. That was the last time the construction crew worked late in the hotel.
During World War II, an Eastern dude came to Clayton and struck up a conversation with a local rancher about acquiring his horse. One thing led to another and numbers were bantered back and forth in one of the hotel rooms. Finally, the dude issued a challenge: “I will buy that horse if you can deliver it to me right now!”
The rancher quietly got up went downstairs and out the front door where he unhitched his horse. He led it through the door, got in the saddle and rode it through the lobby and up the stairs to the new owner’s room. Mr. Eklund’s daughter, Hilda Alford, managed the hotel at this time while her husband was overseas, and protested to the rancher that he couldn’t ride a horse in the hotel lobby. Everyone knows that horses don’t like to walk down stairs, and how the dude got his horse back on the street is left to speculation.
Clayton Airport
The Clayton Airport has a 6,400-foot-long runway with GPS and NDB approaches from both the north and south. An ILS approach installation will be completed this year. The city-owned FBO prices their 100 LL Avgas very aggressively.
Clayton is on the way from the Midwest to Arizona and Southern California. The Glorieta Pass through the Rockies between Las Vegas and Santa Fe is wide and low. This is a good single-engine route to and from the Southwest.
Jim Herrera and his airport staff will bend over backward to welcome you and make your first impression of Clayton a good one. Call ahead to reserve the only courtesy car.
Jim says you are welcome to use this former police cruiser with a Corvette engine anywhere within 50 miles of the airport.
Things To Do and See
Clayton is the county seat of Union County, located in New Mexico’s northeast corner. Colorado is 40 miles to the north, the Oklahoma Panhandle to the east and Texas to the southeast.
Looking to the southeast is the northern edge of the Staked Plain. This area in the northwest corner of the Texas Panhandle is as flat as a billiard table—so flat that it almost looks like you are in a bowl.
To the north and west, the 5,000-foot elevation rises to the Sangre de Cristo Range of the New Mexico Rockies. Drive north and west of Clayton and you are definitely in cattle country. Ranches are situated all over this area.
Other points of interest are the Herstein Historical Museum with artifacts from the past. Clayton High School erected in the mid 1930s by the federal Works Project Administration is an adobe style masterpiece. Many furniture pieces and artwork created by WPA employed artists are still there in use and in the school art gallery.
Nearby Clayton Lake State Park has excellent picnic areas and numerous dinosaur track fossils. The Santa Fe Trail passes north of Clayton and the wagon ruts can still be seen from the air heading west. “The Santa Fe Trail by Air” by William White is an excellent guide for touring the trail.
Having lunch in the hotel dining room and then just hanging out in the lobby is an experience and education all by itself. It is easy to strike up a conversation with the townspeople and hotel staff. Who knows, maybe they will tell you their favorite story about the hotel and area.
If you meet Dr. John, invite him to sit down at your table. Get him started telling stories, and I guarantee you will be fascinated by his tales. Look for a man named Cody in the saloon after about 5 o’clock. He is a genuine no-nonsense personable area resident.
The hotel restaurant is the town social center, and the dining room crowd overflows into the saloon for both lunch and dinner. That statement should tell you something about the food quality and pride that the community takes in their local hotel.
For lunch our table ordered fajitas, meat and vegetable stew and large salads. Dinner included grilled rainbow trout, steak and more salads.
A Good Place To Stop and Visit
Our trip to Clayton was a journey into another way of life that moves to a different drummer. Come for a weekend, an overnight stay traveling through or at least stop for gas and lunch at the Eklund. You won’t regret it.
Charles Lloyd has logged 7,900 hours since his first flying lesson in 1954. He worked for Cessna Aircraft in Citation Marketing and Finance for 16 years. Charles’ current day job is as a Citation Excel Captain for a major fractional aircraft ownership company.
