 |
Cibola County, New Mexico
|
 |
NMGenWeb Project |
| An official USGenWeb Project site Dedicated to Free Information for Home Family Genealogy use only. |
The
Life and Legacy of Mother Lucy Jane Whiteside
How the Mother of the Mountain Fought Fires and Delivered Life to Grants
By: Diego Lopez
Before Grants had a hospital, it had Mother Whiteside.
Long before the neon glow of Route 66 or the uranium boom that would put Cibola County on the map, a determined woman named Lucy Jane Ross Whiteside traveled mountain roads and dusty rail trails to bring life into the world, often by lantern light. She delivered more than 450 babies across the high desert, treated fevers and wounds, and once fought wildfires alone on Mount Sedgwick.
She was not a doctor by title. But in the early 20th century, she was the only one many families had.
In a region where survival often depended on grit and grace, Mother Whiteside provided both. She cooked for railroad workers, housed wandering ranchers, calmed nervous young mothers, and nursed her neighbors through sickness and sorrow. The town of Grants honored her legacy by naming its first public library after her—a promise carved in stone and civic memory.
The Woman Who Delivered A Town
Mother Whiteside was born Luceille Jane Ross in Missouri, reportedly on May 3, 1871 in Clay County, Missouri. She was the daughter of James C. Ross and Darliska (Creek) Ross. According to census and hospital records, she was the oldest of six children.
She spent her early life in Virginia and Missouri, eventually settling for a time in Galena, Missouri, where she worked as a clerk and saleslady, according to a newspaper article from the Galena Evening News. She would fall in love with a rancher and miner in the area, David B. Whiteside.
David was the son of Isaac Veach Whiteside and Jane Ann Bowles Whiteside, he was born in October of 1868 in Prairie Township, Montgomery, Missouri. Official government records do not give a profession for Whiteside, but census records show his family had operated a plantation prior to the end of the American Civil War. Census records from 1880 show David Whiteside was living at home aged 12 working on his family farm.
Rumors of large gold, silver, and copper supplies in the mountains of the New Mexico Territory began to spread across the United States, driving David Whiteside to acquire a stake in what applications to the federal government called the “Matthews-Whiteside” copper mine outside of Toltec, on Mount Sedgwick in the Zuni Mountains.
Lucille Ross and David Whiteside were considered, “two of Galena’s best known young people,” according to the Galena Evening News. They enjoyed what is described as “a quiet but very pretty wedding” decorated with lilies and roses on April 26, 1905. Friends and family of the Whitesides were treated to a luncheon to celebrate the union. The newspaper claimed the two would “tarry” in Galena until May 2, then would set out for their future in Copperton, New Mexico Territory.
A portrait of Lucy Jane “Mother” Whiteside hangs today in the Grants Public Library, a quiet tribute to the woman whose life of service helped shape the town’s identity. Her legacy endures in every book borrowed and every child who discovers the freedom of reading.
Moving to Copperton
The Whitesides quickly settled into the rural life of New Mexico, establishing a ranch at the base of Mount Sedgwick in the Zuni Mountains.
They lived in what was then a growing mining and logging camp known as Copperton, nestled in the Zuni Mountains. It was there, in the rugged backcountry of what is now Cibola County, that Lucy and David began their life together.
David and Lucy Whiteside found “informal” work as fire lookouts for the U.S. Forest Service, stationed atop Mount Sedgwick. It was lonely, critical work—watching the horizon for the first signs of wildfire in a forest thick with flammable pine. While formal employment rosters from 1905–1910 are scarce, contemporaneous accounts from newspapers across New Mexico strongly indicate that the Whitesides served as fire lookouts/guards on Mt. Sedgwick during that era.
David Whiteside is known to have prospected and ranched in the Zuni Mountains, it was the reason he and Lucy had moved, but modest grade copper in small veins made investment less profitable to mine for copper in the Zunis. One interview from 1907 with Chief of the Division of Lands in the Regional Office of the US Forest Service, Edward G Miller, found in an archived National Park Service Publication, states, “Township 11 North, Range 12 West in the Zuni Mountains was designated as a mineral township because there was some copper showings, and it was thought that paying values might eventually be discovered. Actually, none of the mineral prospects ever developed into paying mines. Dave Whiteside, I believe, went down deeper than anyone else, but so far as I know, no one ever came up with a paying property. But clear title, as I recall, never passed to the railroad company for the 18-odd sections in that township.”
Lucy Whiteside, for her part, did not remain idle. Working alongside her husband the two would battle fires and help protect the Zuni Mountains. The area they had moved to was so rural it had no healthcare, and she made herself busy delivering important medical services for residents.
Come 1909, Lucy was pregnant. Copper mining had all but failed in the Zuni Mountains at this point, larger and more profitable veins outside Silver City began to draw investors away from Mount Sedgwick. As the only medical provider, David and Lucy recognized she couldn’t provide her own care, and they returned to Missouri for the care they would need.
Dorothy Lee Whiteside was born October 31, 1910, in Joplin, Missouri. The family then returned to New Mexico; with the prospect of statehood rising, and a new railroad going through what is today the City of Grants, the Whitesides saw opportunity.
There was no nearby hospital in Grants, the first hospital did not open until the late 1950s, and with experience, Lucy Whiteside became known as “Mother Whiteside” who would travel by any means necessary to assist at births. Local newspaper accounts and oral histories describe her as a compassionate, tireless caregiver who “worked tirelessly to improve the quality of life in and around Grants.”
Local historians like Grants Public Library’s former Librarian King debate the honorific “Mother” and debate that Whiteside was more commonly referred to as “Ma” by locals. “Mother” was a term given later to formalize the honorific, King explained.
By all historical accounts the Whiteside’s were well known and liked across the area. By 1912 and the establishment of Statehood for New Mexico, records for the “Matthews-Whiteside” copper mine on Mount Sedgwick appear to stop being filed. The copper mine was not pursued and the mining aspirations sought after by the Whitesides came to an end. By 1914 all applications for copper mining and/or exploration on Mount Sedwick had ceased, and logging operations in the Zunis were slowing. Meanwhile, coal mining near Mount Taylor and the communities of Grants and Milan were coming to life with farmers and miners making up the economy.
On October 4, 1915, David and Lucy Whiteside welcomed their second child, who was named for her mother: Lucy Jane Whiteside. The child was born in their family home, in the State of New Mexico, Valencia County, unincorporated community of Copperton.
The railroads were bringing success and growth to the area, in 1918 Mother Whiteside would take a job as Postmistress at the Post Office in Deiner. That prosperity would not last for the family.
On March 12, 1919, the Whiteside’s would be entertaining neighbors. During a disagreement over a card game, neighbor George Kile would shoot David Whiteside several times in the back. The shooting was fatal; David Whiteside was 51. Mother Whiteside would turn 48 years old in less than a month, their daughter Dorothy Whiteside was 8 years old, their daughter Lucy Whiteside was only 4 years old.
Kile later turned himself in and was prosecuted for the crime, though most official records are difficult to read over aged and obscured paper.
Fighting Fires and Lighting Candles
Her family was shattered, her home destabilized. And yet, she stayed.
Mother Whiteside stepped into her husband’s post atop Mount Sedgwick, officially becoming the first woman in New Mexico to serve as a fire lookout—and only the third in the nation.
At times, Mother Whiteside single-handedly battled blazes on the mountain. Her skill and bravery were noted even in distant publications. A 1920 article in the Carrizozo Outlook, and another in the Tombstone Epitath praised Mother Whiteside for having “successfully fought more than one fire single-handed.”
Lucy Jane “Mother” Whiteside breaks ground for the construction of the public library that would one day bear her name. The occasion marked a rare moment of recognition for the woman who had quietly shaped the town of Grants through decades of service, compassion, and grit.
Mother Whiteside would continue delivering babies even after the death of her husband. In Grants, she was renowned for her work as a midwife, providing much-needed healthcare to families in the remote desert and mountain region. Over the decades of her practice, she helped deliver hundreds and hundreds of babies in and around Grants.
With no steady income and two daughters to care for, she left the Zuni Mountains and moved into the young railroad town of Grants. The community, recognizing her strength and hardship, rallied around her as a symbol of thanks for all she had done for them. Members of the Masonic Lodge in Grants—deeply moved by her loss and her service—decided to help Mother Whiteside start anew.
The Masons built her a small hotel and café on what would become the heartbeat of Grants: Route 66. The boarding house was located where Pizza Hut is today, 108 E. Santa Fe Ave.
There, Lucy founded the Whiteside Café and Hotel, which over the next three decades would become a beloved rest stop for ranchers, miners, railroad men, and weary travelers crossing the New Mexico desert.
Known for its soup, fresh linens, and an ever-boiling pot of coffee, the café was open even when Lucy had retired for the evening. Local historians note that a candlelight remained in the window at all hours to let railroad passengers and local laborers know they were welcome to help themselves. Mother Whiteside handled payment of food or drink by honor, allowing guests to simply leave the correct change on the cupboard.
Historic records reflect a population of 600 in Grants in 1928. At the time, Grants was a community made up of the train station, a general store owner by the Gunderson family, a saloon, and a post office, and a new agricultural company from Los Angeles, California, named Harmon & Reid had just moved into the Bluewater area. Historians note that the train was active during the day and night transporting people at all hours, Mother Whiteside’s services were used and appreciated by customers. In this year, the Gundersons began selling petroleum products after signing a deal with the Standard Oil Company of California to become a wholesale dealer of petrol and gasoline.
1929 was a foundational year. The dam at Bluewater Lake was completed, a time for celebration. While the dam brought a wave of agricultural success that made Milan the Carrot Capital of the World, the success wouldn’t mean much to Mother Whiteside. In a 1953 May edition of the Cibola Beacon, Mother Whiteside was quoted as saying she enjoys watching Navajo carrot farmers because, “They wear their best clothes even at work. We put ours away to rot.”
On August 13, 1929, Dorothy Whiteside passed away at the age of 18. She was unmarried and living with Mother Whiteside and her sister at the time of passing. Dorothy was buried in the Hillcrest Cemetery in Gallup, her tombstone reads, “beloved sister”. The funeral for Dorothy Whiteside was held August 14, 1929, in Gallup. The Albuquerque Journal reported in the Saturday, August 17, 1929, edition that “The funeral of Miss Dorothy Whitesides was held Wednesday afternoon and was said to be the longest procession in the history of Gallup.” The article goes on to say, “Besides many from Grants and Thoreau, the trainmen’s society of Gallup attended the funeral, Miss Whiteside being very popular with train crews who patronized the Grants café.”
The 1930s was a period of economic depression across the entire nation, and even Grants wasn’t spared. By 1933 Route 66 was able to connect directly to Albuquerque, and Grants had easier access to the Valencia County Seat of Los Lunas. For the younger Lucy Whiteside, the economy meant new companies could come to town. Though many of the executives did not live in Grants.
One of those executives, Edward G. Harmon, the son of the namesake Harmon & Reid, who had been growing vegetables in Bluewater, would often stay at the Whiteside Inn and Café. The 1940 US Census lists E.G. Harmon as a longtime lodger in Grants.
Harmon would fall in love with the young Lucy Whiteside, and the two would leave for California together, but return often as his responsibilities to the company required his attention. In fact, his farming venture required significant land and water. A U.S. Geological Survey water-resource report documents a water well owned by “Harmon & Reid” in Township 12N, Range 11W (which is in the Grants/Bluewater vicinity) The well is listed at about 6,590 feet elevation, 365 feet deep, tapping the San Andres-Glorieta aquifer, presumably for irrigation water. This was later turned over to Stanley & Card.
Come 1946, Harmon had been drafted into the US Military. His draft card reports he stood at 5’10” tall, 155 pounds. He had Hazel eyes and brown hair with a “ruddy” complexion. He listed his mother, Gladys Harmon as “Person Who Will Always Know Your Address”.
Despite extensive research, the Cibola Citizen never found proof of a legal marriage between Harmon and the younger Lucy Whiteside, though at some point by the late 1930s she had begun using his last name. There is no evidence of Lucy Whiteside Harmon having children, although her obituary reports that she was survived by a son named David Harmon.
Grants Aides the War Effort
Mother Whiteside would operate her inn and café throughout the events of World War II, as miners and loggers came and went and Grants continued to grow, she continued to serve as the community’s only doctor. Fluorspar mining was in full development, and the Grants area was doing its part to support the American war effort; fluorspar was a material that was essential in the creation of armor for warplanes and warships.
Around 1946 a millionaire named Vernon Taylor came through Grants to examine the Fluorspar mining effort. The war was nearly over, but for Taylor the war had just become personal.
Taylor had recently laid his middle son to rest. At only 22, the fourth child and second son of Vernon Taylor, Robert Benson Taylor was the pilot of U.S. Army Air Corps B-17G Flying Fortress #43-38623, nicknamed "Easy Does It." This was a giant aircraft; it was downed by anti-aircraft artillery on mission over Germany and crashed at Wiesbaden. Robert Benson Taylor was laid to rest in Clarion County Pennsylvania.
While records from this period are scarce, the Cibola Citizen uncovered that Taylor’s oldest son, Vernon Frank “Moose” Taylor was heavily invested in fluorspar mining outside of Grants. While in Grants, Vernon and his youngest son James Campbell Taylor had gone to Grants and stayed at the Whiteside Inn.
The Citizen has not been able to find records to corroborate this, but local legend holds that Taylor’s son grew sick while they were in Grants and Mother Whiteside helped to nurse him to health. A news article kept in the Grants Public Library from 1979’s Grants Beacon reports the son Vernon Frank “Moose” Taylor was the child who was given medical assistance, and that he would stay at the Whiteside Inn so often Mother Whiteside became like a real mother to him.
Between her famous cooking, legendary hospitality, and Grants spirit, the Taylor family found themselves eternally grateful to Mother Whiteside.
On May 9, 1945, the German armed forces surrendered unconditionally, and the war had ended in Europe; Japan would surrender months later, on September 2, 1945.
World War II was over, but between uranium mining and timber logging, Grants was forever transformed.
How Grants Built a Library
The war had taken a heavy toll on humanity, and that was true too of Grants.
While she was welcoming guests and her midwifery was shaping generations, another quiet revolution was underway in Grants to remind the community of its humanity—this one led by a group of civic-minded women who believed their town needed a library.
The Pilot Club of Grants, formed in the 1940s, was a service organization of local women determined to create a space for books, ideas, and education. Month by month, at each meeting, members brought books—donations from their own shelves or collected from neighbors. Over time, their humble collection grew. By 1948, the Pilot Club declared they had enough books to open a library. Some reports claim that the younger Lucy Whiteside Harmon was a member of the Pilots Club.
Without a building of their own, they began operations out of borrowed spaces.
First, the Grants Public Library began in a room in the local Congregational Church. Later, a corner of a neighborhood grocery store. The hours were limited and the staff entirely volunteer. But the mission to make literacy and learning available to everyone was profound.
Fundraising became a central part of the club’s efforts. The Pilots Club hosted bake sales and community yard sales. They held what were called "silver teas," social gatherings that doubled as donation drives. They wrote letters to state officials, secured a modest $500 grant from the New Mexico State Library Commission, and convinced the Town of Grants to allocate an annual stipend of $600 to keep the library effort alive.
The state library even sent down boxes of books to help grow the collection, some of which remained on the shelves for decades. These early years were not glamorous, but they were effective. The women of the Pilots Club had turned a simple idea—books for all—into a foundational civic institution.
Still, they dreamed of permanence: a building of their own, a real library for Grants.
“The Key of Progress”
By 1952, the Younger Lucy Whiteside was living in California with Edward G. Harmon. Advancing age and a deteriorating building on the 100 block of Santa Fe Avenue made it difficult for Mother Whiteside to remain living in Grants. Mother Whiteside was forced to close the Whiteside Inn and Café and move to Los Angeles to be with her daughter.
In 1953, for her 82nd birthday, Mother Whiteside was honored as friends from Grants went to visit her in California. Her friends had been working hard, and together with the Vernon and Gunderson families, they informed her a special honor would be given to Mother Whiteside – the town’s new library would be named for her, to thank her for bringing generations of people into this world and making the whole of Grants feel welcome.
Mother Whiteside stands with mining executive and philanthropist Vernon Taylor in front of the newly dedicated Mother Whiteside Municipal Library in 1954. The building’s creation was made possible by a donation from Taylor and decades of grassroots work by the women of the Pilot Club.
Taylor was good acquaintances with the Gunderson family, and seeing the effort put in by the Lions Club, he decided to give back to the community that made his fluorspar mining a successful reality. Working with the Gundersons, Vermon Frank Taylor decided to donate over $15,000, or roughly $172,000 in today’s money adjusted for inflation, to the building of a new municipal library.
The deal included the purchase of what was then called Seligman Park, the area where the New Mexico Mining Museum and Cibola Historic Society sit today. Taylor and Gunderson are reported to have funded the planning and property purchase, giving the money for the construction of the building. Along with a library in her honor, Mother Whiteside was gifted a three-tier cake iced with green and gold, reports from the birthday party mention that Mother Whiteside was wearing an orchid.
Mother Whiteside sold the Whiteside Inn and Café, and the building became the Cactus Motel.
In May 1952 Mother Whiteside returned to Grants to break ground on the new library in her honor at Seligman Park. The Taylor family was present for the groundbreaking ceremony, and the Cibola Beacon reported that she was so enthusiastic that she turned over several shovels full of dirt. The library was officially dedicated the Mother Whiteside Municipal Library on November 21, 1954.
The new library’s dedication while Lucy was still alive is a testament to the esteem in which she was held – it is rare for a public institution to carry someone’s name in their own lifetime.
Mother Lucy Jane Ross Whiteside died in Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California on May 12, 1958, at 8:10 a.m. She was buried next to her daughter Dorothy Whiteside at the Hillcrest Cemetery in Gallup.
Over the next several years the Pilots club of Grants and the Grants Library Board continued raising money for the library; hiring staff, purchasing books, creating reading programs, and upkeep for maintenance and utilities cost the library money. In 1967 the Pilot’s Club had raised over $30,000 to create an extension to the library, as they were running out of space for their books – a fine problem for a library that once struggled to have enough books.
The library was to be built and the whole plot of land that was Seligman Park was turned over to the City of Grants with the promise that the park be used for educational purposes and to honor Mother Whiteside.
“It is because of our respect for and admiration of Mother Whiteside that this building is here today,” Taylor is quoted as saying to the leaders and residents of Grants in the June 27, 1968, edition of the Grants Beacon. He was speaking at the dedication of the library on June 23.
At the event, according to the Grants Beacon, on June 27, 1968, Taylor was honored by Acoma Pueblo. Governor Castillo Vallo was present at the ribbon cutting for the expansion and bestowed the honor of making him a member of the Acoma Pueblo and bestowing him with a headdress and the name “Koochin wee ya-Caw” meaning “yellow corn”.
Taylor bestowed the key to the Mother Whiteside Memorial Library to Mayor George Dannenbaum who is quoted as saying, “It is indeed a pleasure to accept this key. This might be called ‘the key of progress’.”
Grants Public Library Today
Today, the Grants Public Library no longer bears Mother Whiteside’s name.
In 2017 the City of Grants relocated the Grants Public Library to First Street and Roosevelt Avenue, moving to an abandoned building known by locals as “The Alco Building” which was in need of expensive repairs.
The Mother Whiteside name remained on the old library building which has since been repurposed into the Cibola County History Museum.
The current library building is only half-used, and the Grants City Council has had a number of opinions on what to do with the remaining space; some of which have included suggestions like rehousing the Grants Police Department or even the Grants Community Pantry. Despite those suggestions, and thanks to community outcry, the promise of a single house for education materials has persisted, but the building remains only half-full. When the building was purchased, it had a leaking roof which to this day continues to leak in the unused parts of the building.
Concerns about the library’s current operations remain, as the library was recently struggling to stay open. Inconsistent hours made use of the facility difficult, for locals and community professionals alike. At a Grants City Council meeting on May 21, 2025, two concerned residents of Grants, Ms. C.L. Peterson and Ms. Joan Klonowski, asked the City Council to consider extending the hours the library is open, as it is a free academic institution built for the people of the community.
On June 30, 2025, the Grants Public Library extended its hours, opening Monday – Friday from 7 a.m. to 5:55 p.m.
The Grants Public Library offers a coffee shop, study lobbies that feel like a university, quiet rooms, internet and computer access, headphones, movies, DvDs and CDs, and a supportive staff looking out for the community. As of July 2, 2025, the Grants Public Library is wrapping up Week 5 of the Summer Reading Program. This week's reading theme features “Décor”. National Park Rangers were present Tuesday to read stories for local children.
Editor’s Notes:
*The Cibola Citizen did a deep dive into historic records for this article, a full list of sources is available at our office 200 W. Santa Fe Ave. The newspaper offers a big thank you to local historians like Ms. Jae Luree King, Ms. Nita Ford, Ms. Jonnie Head, the Cibola Historic Society, the Grants Public Library, and the Gunderson Family for wonderfully kept records and their incredible knowledge of Grants.
*Though some official records list her birth year as 1876, Mother Whiteside’s death certificate reads “Born 1871”.
*American lives lost during the downing of U.S. Army Air Corps B-17G Flying Fortress #43-38623, nicknamed "Easy Does It." Included:
1LT Robert B Taylor, O-827835, MO, Pilot 2LT Robert N Mount, O2057373, OH, Co-Pilot 1LT William J Tallant, O2065650, CA, Navigator 2LT Thomas J Walsh, O2008873, NY, Bombardier TSGT Carl Kindelt, 19070162, CA, Radio Operator SSGT Bryce G Grant, 36899272, MI, Tail Gunner TSGT Warren G Hammond, 31386392, RI, Flight Engineer/Top Turret Gunner SSGT William H Hartley, 42012840, NJ, Ball Turret Gunner SSGT Wayne L Logan, 33515649, PA, Waist Gunner TSGT William D Olson, 19176756, CA, Photographer
*Mother Whiteside’s last surviving child, Lucy Whiteside Harmon, passed away in Los Angeles, California on October 26, 1975. She is buried with her Mother and sister in Gallup. Edward G. Harmon passed away in 2005 and was buried in Los Angeles.
How the Mother of the Mountain Fought Fires and Delivered Life to Grants
By: Diego Lopez
Before Grants had a hospital, it had Mother Whiteside.
Long before the neon glow of Route 66 or the uranium boom that would put Cibola County on the map, a determined woman named Lucy Jane Ross Whiteside traveled mountain roads and dusty rail trails to bring life into the world, often by lantern light. She delivered more than 450 babies across the high desert, treated fevers and wounds, and once fought wildfires alone on Mount Sedgwick.
She was not a doctor by title. But in the early 20th century, she was the only one many families had.
In a region where survival often depended on grit and grace, Mother Whiteside provided both. She cooked for railroad workers, housed wandering ranchers, calmed nervous young mothers, and nursed her neighbors through sickness and sorrow. The town of Grants honored her legacy by naming its first public library after her—a promise carved in stone and civic memory.
The Woman Who Delivered A Town
Mother Whiteside was born Luceille Jane Ross in Missouri, reportedly on May 3, 1871 in Clay County, Missouri. She was the daughter of James C. Ross and Darliska (Creek) Ross. According to census and hospital records, she was the oldest of six children.
She spent her early life in Virginia and Missouri, eventually settling for a time in Galena, Missouri, where she worked as a clerk and saleslady, according to a newspaper article from the Galena Evening News. She would fall in love with a rancher and miner in the area, David B. Whiteside.
David was the son of Isaac Veach Whiteside and Jane Ann Bowles Whiteside, he was born in October of 1868 in Prairie Township, Montgomery, Missouri. Official government records do not give a profession for Whiteside, but census records show his family had operated a plantation prior to the end of the American Civil War. Census records from 1880 show David Whiteside was living at home aged 12 working on his family farm.
Rumors of large gold, silver, and copper supplies in the mountains of the New Mexico Territory began to spread across the United States, driving David Whiteside to acquire a stake in what applications to the federal government called the “Matthews-Whiteside” copper mine outside of Toltec, on Mount Sedgwick in the Zuni Mountains.
Lucille Ross and David Whiteside were considered, “two of Galena’s best known young people,” according to the Galena Evening News. They enjoyed what is described as “a quiet but very pretty wedding” decorated with lilies and roses on April 26, 1905. Friends and family of the Whitesides were treated to a luncheon to celebrate the union. The newspaper claimed the two would “tarry” in Galena until May 2, then would set out for their future in Copperton, New Mexico Territory.
A portrait of Lucy Jane “Mother” Whiteside hangs today in the Grants Public Library, a quiet tribute to the woman whose life of service helped shape the town’s identity. Her legacy endures in every book borrowed and every child who discovers the freedom of reading.
Moving to Copperton
The Whitesides quickly settled into the rural life of New Mexico, establishing a ranch at the base of Mount Sedgwick in the Zuni Mountains.
They lived in what was then a growing mining and logging camp known as Copperton, nestled in the Zuni Mountains. It was there, in the rugged backcountry of what is now Cibola County, that Lucy and David began their life together.
David and Lucy Whiteside found “informal” work as fire lookouts for the U.S. Forest Service, stationed atop Mount Sedgwick. It was lonely, critical work—watching the horizon for the first signs of wildfire in a forest thick with flammable pine. While formal employment rosters from 1905–1910 are scarce, contemporaneous accounts from newspapers across New Mexico strongly indicate that the Whitesides served as fire lookouts/guards on Mt. Sedgwick during that era.
David Whiteside is known to have prospected and ranched in the Zuni Mountains, it was the reason he and Lucy had moved, but modest grade copper in small veins made investment less profitable to mine for copper in the Zunis. One interview from 1907 with Chief of the Division of Lands in the Regional Office of the US Forest Service, Edward G Miller, found in an archived National Park Service Publication, states, “Township 11 North, Range 12 West in the Zuni Mountains was designated as a mineral township because there was some copper showings, and it was thought that paying values might eventually be discovered. Actually, none of the mineral prospects ever developed into paying mines. Dave Whiteside, I believe, went down deeper than anyone else, but so far as I know, no one ever came up with a paying property. But clear title, as I recall, never passed to the railroad company for the 18-odd sections in that township.”
Lucy Whiteside, for her part, did not remain idle. Working alongside her husband the two would battle fires and help protect the Zuni Mountains. The area they had moved to was so rural it had no healthcare, and she made herself busy delivering important medical services for residents.
Come 1909, Lucy was pregnant. Copper mining had all but failed in the Zuni Mountains at this point, larger and more profitable veins outside Silver City began to draw investors away from Mount Sedgwick. As the only medical provider, David and Lucy recognized she couldn’t provide her own care, and they returned to Missouri for the care they would need.
Dorothy Lee Whiteside was born October 31, 1910, in Joplin, Missouri. The family then returned to New Mexico; with the prospect of statehood rising, and a new railroad going through what is today the City of Grants, the Whitesides saw opportunity.
There was no nearby hospital in Grants, the first hospital did not open until the late 1950s, and with experience, Lucy Whiteside became known as “Mother Whiteside” who would travel by any means necessary to assist at births. Local newspaper accounts and oral histories describe her as a compassionate, tireless caregiver who “worked tirelessly to improve the quality of life in and around Grants.”
Local historians like Grants Public Library’s former Librarian King debate the honorific “Mother” and debate that Whiteside was more commonly referred to as “Ma” by locals. “Mother” was a term given later to formalize the honorific, King explained.
By all historical accounts the Whiteside’s were well known and liked across the area. By 1912 and the establishment of Statehood for New Mexico, records for the “Matthews-Whiteside” copper mine on Mount Sedgwick appear to stop being filed. The copper mine was not pursued and the mining aspirations sought after by the Whitesides came to an end. By 1914 all applications for copper mining and/or exploration on Mount Sedwick had ceased, and logging operations in the Zunis were slowing. Meanwhile, coal mining near Mount Taylor and the communities of Grants and Milan were coming to life with farmers and miners making up the economy.
On October 4, 1915, David and Lucy Whiteside welcomed their second child, who was named for her mother: Lucy Jane Whiteside. The child was born in their family home, in the State of New Mexico, Valencia County, unincorporated community of Copperton.
The railroads were bringing success and growth to the area, in 1918 Mother Whiteside would take a job as Postmistress at the Post Office in Deiner. That prosperity would not last for the family.
On March 12, 1919, the Whiteside’s would be entertaining neighbors. During a disagreement over a card game, neighbor George Kile would shoot David Whiteside several times in the back. The shooting was fatal; David Whiteside was 51. Mother Whiteside would turn 48 years old in less than a month, their daughter Dorothy Whiteside was 8 years old, their daughter Lucy Whiteside was only 4 years old.
Kile later turned himself in and was prosecuted for the crime, though most official records are difficult to read over aged and obscured paper.
Fighting Fires and Lighting Candles
Her family was shattered, her home destabilized. And yet, she stayed.
Mother Whiteside stepped into her husband’s post atop Mount Sedgwick, officially becoming the first woman in New Mexico to serve as a fire lookout—and only the third in the nation.
At times, Mother Whiteside single-handedly battled blazes on the mountain. Her skill and bravery were noted even in distant publications. A 1920 article in the Carrizozo Outlook, and another in the Tombstone Epitath praised Mother Whiteside for having “successfully fought more than one fire single-handed.”
Lucy Jane “Mother” Whiteside breaks ground for the construction of the public library that would one day bear her name. The occasion marked a rare moment of recognition for the woman who had quietly shaped the town of Grants through decades of service, compassion, and grit.
Mother Whiteside would continue delivering babies even after the death of her husband. In Grants, she was renowned for her work as a midwife, providing much-needed healthcare to families in the remote desert and mountain region. Over the decades of her practice, she helped deliver hundreds and hundreds of babies in and around Grants.
With no steady income and two daughters to care for, she left the Zuni Mountains and moved into the young railroad town of Grants. The community, recognizing her strength and hardship, rallied around her as a symbol of thanks for all she had done for them. Members of the Masonic Lodge in Grants—deeply moved by her loss and her service—decided to help Mother Whiteside start anew.
The Masons built her a small hotel and café on what would become the heartbeat of Grants: Route 66. The boarding house was located where Pizza Hut is today, 108 E. Santa Fe Ave.
There, Lucy founded the Whiteside Café and Hotel, which over the next three decades would become a beloved rest stop for ranchers, miners, railroad men, and weary travelers crossing the New Mexico desert.
Known for its soup, fresh linens, and an ever-boiling pot of coffee, the café was open even when Lucy had retired for the evening. Local historians note that a candlelight remained in the window at all hours to let railroad passengers and local laborers know they were welcome to help themselves. Mother Whiteside handled payment of food or drink by honor, allowing guests to simply leave the correct change on the cupboard.
Historic records reflect a population of 600 in Grants in 1928. At the time, Grants was a community made up of the train station, a general store owner by the Gunderson family, a saloon, and a post office, and a new agricultural company from Los Angeles, California, named Harmon & Reid had just moved into the Bluewater area. Historians note that the train was active during the day and night transporting people at all hours, Mother Whiteside’s services were used and appreciated by customers. In this year, the Gundersons began selling petroleum products after signing a deal with the Standard Oil Company of California to become a wholesale dealer of petrol and gasoline.
1929 was a foundational year. The dam at Bluewater Lake was completed, a time for celebration. While the dam brought a wave of agricultural success that made Milan the Carrot Capital of the World, the success wouldn’t mean much to Mother Whiteside. In a 1953 May edition of the Cibola Beacon, Mother Whiteside was quoted as saying she enjoys watching Navajo carrot farmers because, “They wear their best clothes even at work. We put ours away to rot.”
On August 13, 1929, Dorothy Whiteside passed away at the age of 18. She was unmarried and living with Mother Whiteside and her sister at the time of passing. Dorothy was buried in the Hillcrest Cemetery in Gallup, her tombstone reads, “beloved sister”. The funeral for Dorothy Whiteside was held August 14, 1929, in Gallup. The Albuquerque Journal reported in the Saturday, August 17, 1929, edition that “The funeral of Miss Dorothy Whitesides was held Wednesday afternoon and was said to be the longest procession in the history of Gallup.” The article goes on to say, “Besides many from Grants and Thoreau, the trainmen’s society of Gallup attended the funeral, Miss Whiteside being very popular with train crews who patronized the Grants café.”
The 1930s was a period of economic depression across the entire nation, and even Grants wasn’t spared. By 1933 Route 66 was able to connect directly to Albuquerque, and Grants had easier access to the Valencia County Seat of Los Lunas. For the younger Lucy Whiteside, the economy meant new companies could come to town. Though many of the executives did not live in Grants.
One of those executives, Edward G. Harmon, the son of the namesake Harmon & Reid, who had been growing vegetables in Bluewater, would often stay at the Whiteside Inn and Café. The 1940 US Census lists E.G. Harmon as a longtime lodger in Grants.
Harmon would fall in love with the young Lucy Whiteside, and the two would leave for California together, but return often as his responsibilities to the company required his attention. In fact, his farming venture required significant land and water. A U.S. Geological Survey water-resource report documents a water well owned by “Harmon & Reid” in Township 12N, Range 11W (which is in the Grants/Bluewater vicinity) The well is listed at about 6,590 feet elevation, 365 feet deep, tapping the San Andres-Glorieta aquifer, presumably for irrigation water. This was later turned over to Stanley & Card.
Come 1946, Harmon had been drafted into the US Military. His draft card reports he stood at 5’10” tall, 155 pounds. He had Hazel eyes and brown hair with a “ruddy” complexion. He listed his mother, Gladys Harmon as “Person Who Will Always Know Your Address”.
Despite extensive research, the Cibola Citizen never found proof of a legal marriage between Harmon and the younger Lucy Whiteside, though at some point by the late 1930s she had begun using his last name. There is no evidence of Lucy Whiteside Harmon having children, although her obituary reports that she was survived by a son named David Harmon.
Grants Aides the War Effort
Mother Whiteside would operate her inn and café throughout the events of World War II, as miners and loggers came and went and Grants continued to grow, she continued to serve as the community’s only doctor. Fluorspar mining was in full development, and the Grants area was doing its part to support the American war effort; fluorspar was a material that was essential in the creation of armor for warplanes and warships.
Around 1946 a millionaire named Vernon Taylor came through Grants to examine the Fluorspar mining effort. The war was nearly over, but for Taylor the war had just become personal.
Taylor had recently laid his middle son to rest. At only 22, the fourth child and second son of Vernon Taylor, Robert Benson Taylor was the pilot of U.S. Army Air Corps B-17G Flying Fortress #43-38623, nicknamed "Easy Does It." This was a giant aircraft; it was downed by anti-aircraft artillery on mission over Germany and crashed at Wiesbaden. Robert Benson Taylor was laid to rest in Clarion County Pennsylvania.
While records from this period are scarce, the Cibola Citizen uncovered that Taylor’s oldest son, Vernon Frank “Moose” Taylor was heavily invested in fluorspar mining outside of Grants. While in Grants, Vernon and his youngest son James Campbell Taylor had gone to Grants and stayed at the Whiteside Inn.
The Citizen has not been able to find records to corroborate this, but local legend holds that Taylor’s son grew sick while they were in Grants and Mother Whiteside helped to nurse him to health. A news article kept in the Grants Public Library from 1979’s Grants Beacon reports the son Vernon Frank “Moose” Taylor was the child who was given medical assistance, and that he would stay at the Whiteside Inn so often Mother Whiteside became like a real mother to him.
Between her famous cooking, legendary hospitality, and Grants spirit, the Taylor family found themselves eternally grateful to Mother Whiteside.
On May 9, 1945, the German armed forces surrendered unconditionally, and the war had ended in Europe; Japan would surrender months later, on September 2, 1945.
World War II was over, but between uranium mining and timber logging, Grants was forever transformed.
How Grants Built a Library
The war had taken a heavy toll on humanity, and that was true too of Grants.
While she was welcoming guests and her midwifery was shaping generations, another quiet revolution was underway in Grants to remind the community of its humanity—this one led by a group of civic-minded women who believed their town needed a library.
The Pilot Club of Grants, formed in the 1940s, was a service organization of local women determined to create a space for books, ideas, and education. Month by month, at each meeting, members brought books—donations from their own shelves or collected from neighbors. Over time, their humble collection grew. By 1948, the Pilot Club declared they had enough books to open a library. Some reports claim that the younger Lucy Whiteside Harmon was a member of the Pilots Club.
Without a building of their own, they began operations out of borrowed spaces.
First, the Grants Public Library began in a room in the local Congregational Church. Later, a corner of a neighborhood grocery store. The hours were limited and the staff entirely volunteer. But the mission to make literacy and learning available to everyone was profound.
Fundraising became a central part of the club’s efforts. The Pilots Club hosted bake sales and community yard sales. They held what were called "silver teas," social gatherings that doubled as donation drives. They wrote letters to state officials, secured a modest $500 grant from the New Mexico State Library Commission, and convinced the Town of Grants to allocate an annual stipend of $600 to keep the library effort alive.
The state library even sent down boxes of books to help grow the collection, some of which remained on the shelves for decades. These early years were not glamorous, but they were effective. The women of the Pilots Club had turned a simple idea—books for all—into a foundational civic institution.
Still, they dreamed of permanence: a building of their own, a real library for Grants.
“The Key of Progress”
By 1952, the Younger Lucy Whiteside was living in California with Edward G. Harmon. Advancing age and a deteriorating building on the 100 block of Santa Fe Avenue made it difficult for Mother Whiteside to remain living in Grants. Mother Whiteside was forced to close the Whiteside Inn and Café and move to Los Angeles to be with her daughter.
In 1953, for her 82nd birthday, Mother Whiteside was honored as friends from Grants went to visit her in California. Her friends had been working hard, and together with the Vernon and Gunderson families, they informed her a special honor would be given to Mother Whiteside – the town’s new library would be named for her, to thank her for bringing generations of people into this world and making the whole of Grants feel welcome.
Mother Whiteside stands with mining executive and philanthropist Vernon Taylor in front of the newly dedicated Mother Whiteside Municipal Library in 1954. The building’s creation was made possible by a donation from Taylor and decades of grassroots work by the women of the Pilot Club.
Taylor was good acquaintances with the Gunderson family, and seeing the effort put in by the Lions Club, he decided to give back to the community that made his fluorspar mining a successful reality. Working with the Gundersons, Vermon Frank Taylor decided to donate over $15,000, or roughly $172,000 in today’s money adjusted for inflation, to the building of a new municipal library.
The deal included the purchase of what was then called Seligman Park, the area where the New Mexico Mining Museum and Cibola Historic Society sit today. Taylor and Gunderson are reported to have funded the planning and property purchase, giving the money for the construction of the building. Along with a library in her honor, Mother Whiteside was gifted a three-tier cake iced with green and gold, reports from the birthday party mention that Mother Whiteside was wearing an orchid.
Mother Whiteside sold the Whiteside Inn and Café, and the building became the Cactus Motel.
In May 1952 Mother Whiteside returned to Grants to break ground on the new library in her honor at Seligman Park. The Taylor family was present for the groundbreaking ceremony, and the Cibola Beacon reported that she was so enthusiastic that she turned over several shovels full of dirt. The library was officially dedicated the Mother Whiteside Municipal Library on November 21, 1954.
The new library’s dedication while Lucy was still alive is a testament to the esteem in which she was held – it is rare for a public institution to carry someone’s name in their own lifetime.
Mother Lucy Jane Ross Whiteside died in Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California on May 12, 1958, at 8:10 a.m. She was buried next to her daughter Dorothy Whiteside at the Hillcrest Cemetery in Gallup.
Over the next several years the Pilots club of Grants and the Grants Library Board continued raising money for the library; hiring staff, purchasing books, creating reading programs, and upkeep for maintenance and utilities cost the library money. In 1967 the Pilot’s Club had raised over $30,000 to create an extension to the library, as they were running out of space for their books – a fine problem for a library that once struggled to have enough books.
The library was to be built and the whole plot of land that was Seligman Park was turned over to the City of Grants with the promise that the park be used for educational purposes and to honor Mother Whiteside.
“It is because of our respect for and admiration of Mother Whiteside that this building is here today,” Taylor is quoted as saying to the leaders and residents of Grants in the June 27, 1968, edition of the Grants Beacon. He was speaking at the dedication of the library on June 23.
At the event, according to the Grants Beacon, on June 27, 1968, Taylor was honored by Acoma Pueblo. Governor Castillo Vallo was present at the ribbon cutting for the expansion and bestowed the honor of making him a member of the Acoma Pueblo and bestowing him with a headdress and the name “Koochin wee ya-Caw” meaning “yellow corn”.
Taylor bestowed the key to the Mother Whiteside Memorial Library to Mayor George Dannenbaum who is quoted as saying, “It is indeed a pleasure to accept this key. This might be called ‘the key of progress’.”
Grants Public Library Today
Today, the Grants Public Library no longer bears Mother Whiteside’s name.
In 2017 the City of Grants relocated the Grants Public Library to First Street and Roosevelt Avenue, moving to an abandoned building known by locals as “The Alco Building” which was in need of expensive repairs.
The Mother Whiteside name remained on the old library building which has since been repurposed into the Cibola County History Museum.
The current library building is only half-used, and the Grants City Council has had a number of opinions on what to do with the remaining space; some of which have included suggestions like rehousing the Grants Police Department or even the Grants Community Pantry. Despite those suggestions, and thanks to community outcry, the promise of a single house for education materials has persisted, but the building remains only half-full. When the building was purchased, it had a leaking roof which to this day continues to leak in the unused parts of the building.
Concerns about the library’s current operations remain, as the library was recently struggling to stay open. Inconsistent hours made use of the facility difficult, for locals and community professionals alike. At a Grants City Council meeting on May 21, 2025, two concerned residents of Grants, Ms. C.L. Peterson and Ms. Joan Klonowski, asked the City Council to consider extending the hours the library is open, as it is a free academic institution built for the people of the community.
On June 30, 2025, the Grants Public Library extended its hours, opening Monday – Friday from 7 a.m. to 5:55 p.m.
The Grants Public Library offers a coffee shop, study lobbies that feel like a university, quiet rooms, internet and computer access, headphones, movies, DvDs and CDs, and a supportive staff looking out for the community. As of July 2, 2025, the Grants Public Library is wrapping up Week 5 of the Summer Reading Program. This week's reading theme features “Décor”. National Park Rangers were present Tuesday to read stories for local children.
Editor’s Notes:
*The Cibola Citizen did a deep dive into historic records for this article, a full list of sources is available at our office 200 W. Santa Fe Ave. The newspaper offers a big thank you to local historians like Ms. Jae Luree King, Ms. Nita Ford, Ms. Jonnie Head, the Cibola Historic Society, the Grants Public Library, and the Gunderson Family for wonderfully kept records and their incredible knowledge of Grants.
*Though some official records list her birth year as 1876, Mother Whiteside’s death certificate reads “Born 1871”.
*American lives lost during the downing of U.S. Army Air Corps B-17G Flying Fortress #43-38623, nicknamed "Easy Does It." Included:
1LT Robert B Taylor, O-827835, MO, Pilot 2LT Robert N Mount, O2057373, OH, Co-Pilot 1LT William J Tallant, O2065650, CA, Navigator 2LT Thomas J Walsh, O2008873, NY, Bombardier TSGT Carl Kindelt, 19070162, CA, Radio Operator SSGT Bryce G Grant, 36899272, MI, Tail Gunner TSGT Warren G Hammond, 31386392, RI, Flight Engineer/Top Turret Gunner SSGT William H Hartley, 42012840, NJ, Ball Turret Gunner SSGT Wayne L Logan, 33515649, PA, Waist Gunner TSGT William D Olson, 19176756, CA, Photographer
*Mother Whiteside’s last surviving child, Lucy Whiteside Harmon, passed away in Los Angeles, California on October 26, 1975. She is buried with her Mother and sister in Gallup. Edward G. Harmon passed away in 2005 and was buried in Los Angeles.