The Mescalero Apache were eventually driven out of the area and into US Indian reservations.įelix McKittrick was one of the first European settlers in the Guadalupe Mountains he worked cattle during the 1870s. Cushing led his troops into the Guadalupe Mountains and destroyed two Mescalero Apache camps. A cavalry was known as the Buffalo Soldiers was ordered to the area to stop Indian raids on settlements and mail stage routes. The Butterfield Overland Mail traveled over Guadalupe Pass located at 5,534 ft (1,687 m) above sea level. In 1858, Pinery station was constructed near Pine Springs for the Butterfield Overland Mail. During the 1840s and 1850s, many people immigrating west crossed the area. The Mescalero Apaches remained in the mountains through the mid-19th century, but they were challenged by an American transportation route at the end of the American Civil War.