FABIAN GARCIA

      Fabian Garcia, according to his own account, was nine years old when he narrowly escaped a massacre by hostile Apaches who suddenly appeared before him and a friend while quail hunting in the Mimbres Valley.
      Had the fierce warriors attacked the settlers near San Lorenzo, instead of a nearby ranch, Fabian Garcia might have been among the casualties--and the history of the Mesilla Valley and New Mexico State University would be entirely different. It turned out, however, that he lived longer and more notably than most.
      Years after the event he wrote, "In those days people lived in terror of the Indian raids." After he and his friend, Juan, spotted the band of Apaches, "I being worse scared and not having the gun to carry, outran Juan by quite a distance. After a two-mile run and without ever turning back to see if the Apaches were pursuing us, we reached the town and gave the alarm. Immediately the men in the neighborhood got together and prepared ... for an attack by the Apaches, a thing they were used to ... Fortunately for the community, the Old Chief changed his mind and divided his (illegible word) towards a nearby ranch. But unfortunately for the occupants of the ranch at sunrise ... a favorite time of attack ... the Apaches annihilated every human being at the place. Such experiences were common in this part of the country 30 years ago."
      Garcia's work as a horticulturalist and director of NMSU's Agricultural Experiment Station changed the face of New Mexico agriculture. As one of only two people in the world experimenting with chile peppers during the early 20th century, he developed the first modern chile variety. His work in chile cultivation continues to be consulted today.

      Born in 1871 in Chihuahua, Mexico, of what he later described as "humble parents", he became an orphan early. His grandmother, Doña Jacoba, brought him to the Mimbres Valley when he was only two years old. There she found domestic work in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Thompson of San Lorenzo. They later moved to the home of Mr. and Mrs. R. J. White of Georgetown, a nearby mining community. It was there that Fabian distinguished himself as the "champion marble player of the vicinity."
      Garcia felt lucky and that luck held when his grandmother took a new position, this time in the home of the prominent pioneer family of Thomas Casad. The Casads, owners of the 5,000-acre Santo Thomas Spanish Land Grant south of Old Mesilla, treated Fabian as their own. They provided a private tutor in his early years and later sent him to then-Las Cruces College.
      "He was not a talented student," penned some undergraduate editor of the 1908 Swastika yearbook.
      Perhaps not. But as a member of the first graduating class from New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts in 1894, president of the Columbian Literary Society and part of the first football team, Fabian could well be considered versatile. After graduation he studied for another year at Cornell University before returning to the Las Cruces campus. Later, he received his higher degrees.
      Throughout his years, Garcia's Mexican ancestry would bring both rewards and anguish. As the college's only faculty member of Mexican heritage for many years, he worked particularly well with New Mexican farmers. However he sometimes faced prejudice during his constant travels throughout the state. One innkeeper is said to have not admitted Garcia for having a Spanish name.                more->