The Two Alberts: Fountain and Fall

Owen, Gordon R.

ISBN 10: 1881325202 / ISBN 13: 9781881325208

Published by Yucca Tree Press, Las Cruces, 1996

About this Item

First Printing 1996 stated; 8vo, rust cloth; vg (scrape to very bottom edge of front board; rear board bowing; spine ends bumped and worn; spine tail crimped; corners rubbed; faint smudge on bottom edge) in good+ dj (tear to top edge of front panel and spine tail; prev. owner used clear tape on inside to close tears; edges bumped and worn; spine tail creased; spine ends and corners crimped); 561pp incl. index. Please be aware that shipping this heavy item internationally will require additional postage.

Seller Inventory # 20230

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Two Alberts: Fountain and Fall
• Publisher: Yucca Tree Press, Las Cruces
• Publication Date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1881325202
• ISBN 13: 9781881325208
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Good+
• Seller catalogs:
  • New Mexico

About this title

Synopsis

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.

About the Author

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.