Will Lockhart thought he and his men were doing nothing wrong as they loaded salt from the Gallegos Grant salt flats. He had rented the salt rights from the owner of Half-Moon Ranch with plans to sell the salt to a merchant in Coronado, New Mexico. But then riders from Barb Ranch showed up, saying they were trespassing, shooting all but six of their mules, burning their four wagons, and telling them to clear out. Lockhart pays his men and they leave, but he decides to linger in town despite several warnings that it would be healthier for him to leave.