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Fusselman Canyon near Transmountain Road. Image provided by George
D. Torok
Fusselman Canyon
Transmountain Road
El
Paso, Texas
Research Packet and Narrative by:
Carlos Montes
Dr. George D. Torok
Honors Project
Spring 2002
National Endowment for the Humanities Historical Markers Project
Fusselman Canyon: Historical Narrative
Fusselman Canyon is the largest canyon in the
Franklin Mountains and is named in honor of Texas Ranger and Deputy
U.S. Marshall Charles H. Fusselman. The Franklin range is in the
northern part of the Chihuahua Desert and forms a barrier between the
Rio Grande Valley and the desert basin to the east. Fusselman Canyon
separates the North and South Franklin peaks. Both the canyon and
range are located in Franklin Mountains State Park, in El Paso, Texas.
For centuries the canyon served as a source of
seasonal water, plants and animals for the many Native-Americans who
inhabited the region, perhaps as far back as 11,000 years ago. Indian
populations hunted and gathered in the Franklins and later built rock
shelters and left rock art depicting their lifestyle and beliefs.
Spanish and Anglo-American settlers used the Franklins for mining,
ranching and military activities. Beginning with the earliest
inhabitants, Fusselman Canyon provided a natural corridor for the
movement of people, livestock, and goods through a pass that became
known as Smugglers’ Gap.
In the late 19th century downtown El
Paso was a booming railroad town but the surrounding areas were still
plagued by frontier conditions. Along the Rio Grande, thick bosques,
or river forests, were the homes of outlaws and cattle rustlers. On
the evening of April 16, 1890, John Barnes, a local rancher from the
Mundy Springs area had all of his horses and a few cattle stolen. He
came into El Paso the next morning and reported the incident to
Sheriff Frank B. Simmons. Charles H. Fusselman, a 24-year-old Texas
Ranger from the Marfa area who was in town for a court case, was in
Simmons’ office at the time. Fusselman was deputized and offered to
take Barnes and a city policeman, George Harold to chase the rustlers.
The three men headed toward the Franklin Mountains where they overtook
one of the rustlers, Ysidoro Pasos. The rustlers intended to drive the
horses and cattle through the canyon, along the path of today’s
Transmountain Road, and on to the Rio Grande bosque near Canutillo. A
few minutes later the deputies encountered the outlaws’ camp and were
met with a barrage of gunfire. Fusselman was fatally shot in the head
and fell from his horse. The two other men decided they were
outnumbered so they left the prisoner Pasos and fled the scene. The
rustlers escaped and Fusselman’s body was later recovered. It took ten
years for lawmen to track down rustler gang leader Geronimo Parra, the
man who shot Charles Fusselman. He was arrested, tried and convicted
of the murder and sentenced to death. On January 6, 1900, Parra was
legally hanged in El Paso.
Soon after, the canyon became known as Fusselman
Canyon, in honor of the slain deputy. It remained a little-known area
of El Paso until 1970 when Woodrow Bean Transmountain Road, a major
cross-city thoroughfare cut through Fusselman Canyon. In the following
years, urban growth quickly threatened the land around the canyon. In
1979, with the establishment of Franklin Mountains State Park, the
canyon became part of a protected natural area of 24,000 acres. In
the 1994, a long-range management plan for the park suggested that
interpretive sites be developed to better portray the natural and
historical features of the landscape, including Fusselman Canyon. An
historical marker would play an important role in telling the story of
Charles H. Fusselman and Fusselman Canyon.
Fusselman Canyon: Marker Text
Below is Fusselman Canyon, the largest canyon in
the Franklin Mountains. It separates North and South Franklin peaks
and is named in honor of Texas Ranger and Deputy U.S. Marshall
Charles H. Fusselman (1866-1890). In the late 19th
century, El Paso was a booming town but outlying areas were still
plagued by frontier conditions. On April 17, 1890 a local rancher
reported that his horses and cattle had been stolen. Later that day,
Charles Fusselman, a 24-year-old Texas Ranger from the Marfa area, was
deputized and led two men into the Franklin Mountains to chase the
rustlers. The thieves intended to drive the horses and cattle through
the canyon, along the path of today’s Transmountain Road, through
Smugglers’ Gap, and into the Rio Grande bosque near Canutillo. The
deputies encountered the outlaws’ camp and were met with a barrage of
gunfire. When Fusselman was fatally shot in the head, the other two
men fled the scene allowing the outlaws to escape. Fusselman’s body
was later recovered and returned to Lagarto, Texas where he was
buried. For the next ten years lawmen tracked the rustlers. The outlaw
leader was finally arrested, tried and found guilty of Fusselman’s
murder and legally hanged on January 6, 1900 in El Paso. The canyon
became known as Fusselman canyon, in honor of the slain deputy.
.
Ron Holliday, Bill von Rosenberg, and Dwight Willford, Franklin
Mountains State Park Management Plan (El Paso, TX 1994), 25.
.
Ibid., 26-27; W.H. Timmons, El
Paso: A Borderlands History (El Paso,
TX 1990), 3-4.
.
Antonio Croce, “In the Line of Duty,” The
Texas Gun Collector
(Fall 1996), 13, 17; C.L. Sonnichsen, Pass of the North: Five
Centuries on the Rio Grande
(El Paso, TX 1968) I, 312-13. Croce uses the
spelling Harold while Sonnichsen refers to him as Herold.
.
Timmons, El Paso, 249; El Paso Times, Sept. 26, 1965;
Holliday, von Rosenberg, and Willford, Franklin Mountains State
Park, 43.
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