The Two Alberts: Fountain and Fall

Two of the most colorful, influential, and controversial figures in southern Territorial New Mexico were Albert Jennings Fountain and Albert Bacon Fall. Fountain arrived in southern Territorial New Mexico with the California Column during the Civil War and made his mark twenty-five years before Fall's arrival. Fall, born during the Civil War, ventured westward to seek his fortune as a miner.

Both brought with them dominant personalities, an ability with words, a flair for leadership, and an endless enthusiasm for their adopted land. They were instrumental in shaping the growth, economics, law, government, and politics of Territorial New Mexico. Devoted to their families and their political parties, both rose to the top of New Mexico politics and Fall served as a U.S. Senator and a Cabinet Secretary.

Political opponents and bitter personal enemies, they locked horns almost from Fall's arrival in the Territory until Fountain's disappearance. In spite of their political and legal successes, both lives ended in tragedy. Fountain and his 9-year-old son Henry disappeared near the San Andres Mountains while returning from Lincoln, New Mexico. Their bodies have never been recovered and their fate is one of Southern New Mexico's most intriguing unsolved mysteries. Fall died an ill and broken man as a result of the Teapot Dome Scandal.

Owen has meticulously researched what has been written by and about these two men to provide an unbiased analysis of their lives and contributions, and their interactions with each other.

Gordon R. Owen is Professor Emeritus, Department of Communication Studies, New Mexico State University. He and his wife Ardis have lived in Las Cruces for more than thirty years. His fascination with Fountain and Fall and their accomplishments led him on a ten-year search to research their lives.