Lawrence G. Murphy’s story didn’t begin with gun smoke — it began with deeds.
This video traces Murphy’s rise as a land grantee. Each purchase and recorded transaction added to the foundation of his empire in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
Starting in the 1870s, Murphy bought water rights, land, and livestock. These gave him leverage over ranchers, soldiers, and neighbors. With the backing of the Santa Fe Ring, his power spread beyond his store in Lincoln. Contracts, mortgages, and quitclaim deeds pulled others into debt.
Before the Lincoln County War began, Murphy’s empire was already laid out in courthouse records. These documents reveal a story of credit, collateral, and control — the paper trail that fueled the conflict.
If you want to see how land records shaped the struggle between Murphy, Dolan, Catron, McSween, and others,
watch the video.
These records tell a story of credit, collateral, and consolidation — the paper trail behind the conflict. If you want to understand how land records shaped the struggle between Murphy, Dolan, Catron, McSween, and others. This is the essential first step.
In the end, Lawrence G. Murphy’s empire was not defined by bullets, but by paper. Every deed, every lien, every contract pulled men into his orbit — until those same records became the evidence of his downfall. By the time the shooting started, the foundation of the Lincoln County War had already been laid in ink.
We follow the land records of Lawrence Murphy and James Dolan, two men whose business empire in Lincoln County, New Mexico, shaped the course of the Old West. These deeds and transactions reveal how Murphy built his fortune. How Dolan took his place, and how both men set the stage for the Lincoln County War. But Dolan’s rise didn’t end in triumph.
The very empire he inherited slipped away to powerful figures like Thomas B. Catron and the Spiegelberg brothers. As prominent bankers and merchants, the Spiegelbergs provided crucial financial backing for the Santa Fe Ring. They combined wealth with political access—Lehmann Spiegelberg served as president of the Second National Bank of Santa Fe, while Willi Spiegelberg became a probate judge in 1880 and later Territorial Governor under President Grover Cleveland.
Through land speculation, they capitalized on the tangled U.S. legal system governing Mexican-era land grants, seizing millions of acres from Hispanic and Native families. These records reveal the deeper truth: Murphy and Dolan’s empire wasn’t just lost to mismanagement—it was absorbed into a system of banking power, political influence, and land speculation that defined corruption in the New Mexico Territory.