George McJunkin

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George McJunkin (1851–1922) was the African American cowboy in New Mexico who discovered the Folsom Site.

[edit] Biography

The son of slaves who was born in Texas, McJunkin was about 14 years old when the Civil War ended. He worked as an oxen driver, working on freighters. He reportedly learned how to read from fellow cow punchers. McJunkin taught himself to write, speak Spanish, play the fiddle and guitar, eventually becoming an amateur archaeologist and historian.^[1] Later in his life McJunkin was a buffalo hunter, and eventually worked for several ranches in Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. He was also reported to be an expert bronc rider and one of the best ropers in the United States.

When he died in 1922^[2], McJunkin was buried at the Folsom Cemetery in Folsom, New Mexico.^[3]

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

• Folsom, F. The Life and Legend of George McJunkin, Black Cowboy.
• Kreck, C. (1999) "Out of the Shadows: George McJunkin was the forgotten man at the center of the century's most startling archaeological find", The Denver Post, Empire: Magazine of the West, Feb. 25, 1999. p. 14.