PRESIDIO — Last month, archaeologists David Keller and Tim Gibbs led an adobe repair workshop alongside Pat Taylor for new members of the maintenance staff at Fort Leaton. Their test subject was a mausoleum at the Burgess family cemetery just east of the fort, which they used to practice mixing and applying adobe plaster and learning about the structure of the age-old local building material.
The story of the fort — and the Burgess family — in what’s now Presidio is murky. Trader and scalp hunter Ben Leaton took over the land grant where the fort now stands in 1848. Earlier biographical details of Leaton’s life — as well as how exactly he came to occupy the land and what structures were already on it — are unknown.
The fort became the seat of Presidio County in 1850 — the same year that the governor of Chihuahua accused Leaton of providing weapons and shelter to “hostile Indians.” Leaton passed away in 1851 of unknown causes.
Burgess family sources point to the family occupying the fort shortly after the death of Leaton, though state records don’t show an ownership claim filed before 1862 — and other sources don’t corroborate the family’s actual occupation of the fort until around 1873.
For decades, the Burgess family feuded with the family of Leaton’s widow, Juana Pedraza, over ownership of the fort and the operation of an attached trading post. The bad blood between the two families culminated in the murder of Pedraza’s husband — and the retaliatory killing of patriarch John Burgess by her son.
The mausoleum the team used for experimentation was built in the 1920s to honor Burgess and his wife, Tomasita Baeza. Their plot is also the final resting place of the junior John Burgess, Paz Landrum Burgess, Álvaro Burgess and Eloise Ramirez — all of whom passed away in the 20th century.
Joaquin Peña of Redford, who joined the maintenance staff in December, said that the job taught him a lot about historic structures he’d passed on the highway many times but never fully explored. “I think I’d only stepped foot in there one time in my entire life — to get a camping [permit],” he said.
Peña said that the adobe-making process was long and complex. The team had to experiment with different types of clay from around the area in order to create the perfect mix — a process that has to be improvised for each project.
They’ve had to get creative. In response to the recent storms undoing a lot of their hard work at the mausoleum, the crew experimented with adding the gooey insides of cactus pads to achieve the right level of moisture. “It’s kind of an ongoing battle,” Peña said. “You’re always having to get two steps ahead so you can be one step behind.”
Keller was excited about bringing in a fresh perspective. “The guys who were in this training session are motivated and inspired to do this stuff,” he said. “It’s nice to see this fresh young energy and spirit.”
