Columns
This Week in Texas History: Salt worth dying for in El Paso
By Bartee Haile
Fearing for their lives after the murder of the Mexican political boss, the Anglo residents of El Paso sent for the commander of the Texas Rangers Frontier Battalion on Oct. 24, 1877.
At first glance the killing of Luis Cardis looked like nothing more than the violent climax of a particularly nasty personal feud. But in reality the trouble in El Paso was all about salt.
Massive formations of the natural resource were located near Guadalupe Peak 100 miles east of Texas’ weste...