Uncle Charlie died of a heart attack, and the mine was leased out in 1946. In 1947 Daddy, Uncle Orson and Darrow, Uncle Orson’s son, went into a new farming venture at Animas, New Mexico. I had left for school at Brigham Young University, and Daddy was living in Lordsburg. I learned about his new venture while I was at school. It was somewhat of a surprise to me, but then again it wasn’t really, as we all knew Daddy had a strong urge to pioneer and develop land—always trying new ventures. They bought some old barracks from the now deserted POW camp east of Lordsburg, and made their houses out of them.

I know that a well for irrigation was drilled that had a good supply of water (2,200 gallons a minute), which was pretty awesome. It was the first irrigation well in that area and this started a new booming farming development. The Richins had about 900 acres in farmland and five sections of Taylor grazing land. Western Cotton Oil came into the valley, erected a gin, and before the 1948 season was over there were over 9,000 acres of cotton in the valley, with more farmers moving in.

Daddy sold his interest in the farm to Uncle Orson & Darrow and moved on west about 15 miles. That was the first of the three valleys he developed and pioneered. He later bought undeveloped land in the Rodeo area of the San Simon Valley (Cienega area), about 12 miles north of Rodeo, New Mexico, and put down three wells where all three of his kids and their spouses and children built homes. We farmed and helped develop the land also. I guess he felt his kids should share that “good ‘ole pioneer spirit” like he did. This opened up the area, and other farmers moved in. Eventually 10,000 acres on the eastern slope of the Chiricuahua Mountains were developed for cotton, milo-maize, corn and alfalfa. When that property was sold four years later, he turned his attention to developing land about 14 miles southeast of Lordsburg in the Muir Ranch area. He drilled two wells and developed about 200 acres. Farming in that area spread to 12,000 acres as more farmers moved in.