Hugo Hartmann - Cartographer
Hugo Hartmann, a native of Germany born in 1837, was a well respected cartographer, metallurgist & civil engineer active in NM from 1876 until his death in 1893.
Hartmann came to the US in 1868 after graduating with "high honors" from Heidelberg University. 1874 finds him in Nebraska connected with the Engineering Dept of the Army. In 1876 he came to the SW with Gen. Hatch in charge of the Engineer's Office of Hatch's military district. From 1876 until his death he was active doing topographical surveys in NM, Southern Colorado, and Arizona. His maps "are accepted in official circles as the best ever prepared".
Among the references I found of his mapping was work done for Adolph Bandelier in 1884, the Guadalupe Mts. 1883, the Gila in 1884, and the Pecos Valley in 1890.
I came across his name and an interesting "Sketch Map" he did in 1889 for Capt. Ayres of Ft. Marcy. (See my article in Voces "Aztec Springs".) Among other things this map shows (which I have discussed in the above posting) quarries in the vicinity of Two Mile Reservoir and Cerro Gordo hill.
One of the quarries shown on his map is obviously of limestone (see my posting "Limestone Quarries of Santa Fe). Next to it on the map is shown a lime kiln sitting on the ridge north of Cerro Gordo hill. Lime kilns are used for making cement from limestone. What is most curious is a coal mine due south on the north side of the Santa Fe river!
I have never heard of or seen reference to coal in the immediate Santa Fe area, much less one actually located on a map. There are shale outcroppings in the vicinity, but from my reconnaissance I have never seen anything resembling usable coal. My guess is that the kiln was fired by the abundant piñon, juniper and Ponderosa pine in the area at the time or coal brought in from the Madrid district.
Another wonderful map he did was of Santa Fe in 1886 and can be seen in the History Museum at the Palace of the Governors. This is a large, detailed plan of Santa Fe with much fascinating information.
Contemporary references of Hartmann appear in the NM Territorial Census of 1885, and then again a personnel list in the War Department's Quartermaster's Dept of 1889: Hugh Hartmann "clerk" (sic), Santa Fe, salary $1800 (eighteen hundred dollars). This wasn't an inconsiderable amount for the time and one of the highest listed in that record.
But in spite of this, he seemed to have money problems as I found a letter in the L. Bradford Prince Collection of the State Archives asking for arrears in rent on his house on Galisteo Street. Put in the perspective of his health in the last years of his life, it is understandable.
In 1889, the first great world-wide flu epidemic hit America. It spread like wildfire due to advances in transportation: the railroads being it's greatest vector on land, the steamship brought it across the ocean from Europe.
Santa Fe was not immune and Hartmann, according to his obituary, "had been an invalid for several years, a complication of disorders coming upon him at the time of the la grippe epidemic some four years ago."
He died age 56 (Feb. 10, 1893) and left a wife and two children. He is buried at the Veterans Cemetery here in Santa Fe.
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References:
Tomas Jaehn. Fray Angelico Chavez History Library.
L. Bradford Prince Collection. State Archives.
Daily New Mexican. Feb. 10, 1893.
Ancestry.com.
