Legend says this house was built before 1800. In the 1840s, its owner was Jose Ortiz, whose cart train freighted salt from the foot of the Guadalupe Mountains to Durango, and knives, sarapes, and clothing to Santa Fe and Llano Estancado. There he traded with Comanches and other wild Indians for dried buffalo hides and meat. He was a Comanchero, Salinero, and Cibolero. Francisca Lujan, the widow of Epifanio Ortiz (1842?-1932), was the last of the family to live here, in the 1940s. It is a fine example of New Spain's frontier architecture, with thick adobe walls and cottonwood and willow vigas and latias supporting a dirt roof.