Smokey Joe found that the ranch just wasn't enough anymore to make ends meet, so in 1908 he hired on with the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad as a Special Officer, riding from Oklahoma through the Texas Panhandle and into New Mexico, and on down to the southernmost parts of Arizona, with an occasional ride on the railroad's extension across the border into Mexico. Smokey liked this last leg of the trip, as he was fluent in Spanish, and he liked to go to Mexico and check out the horses there, sometimes sending a nice string of horses back to his own ranch in Oklahoma.
His job was to keep an eye on the train, its property and its passengers, to keep the peace and, hopefully, lessen the chance of trouble just by his presence. He was an imposing figure of a man, standing just over 6'2", with black hair, white blue eyes, dark skin and a pronounced, square jaw that seemed to always be set hard. He and his family had a reputation far and wide for being quiet, sometimes unnervingly quiet, but in an instant being able to end a fight, with fists, pistol butts, or the business end of that pistol, if necessary.
Many towns sprang up out of the dirt when a railroad was built through the area, and it was no different with Duran, New Mexico. In 1902, the Southwestern RR finished its construction and where once, decades ago, had been only scattered farms in a cactus and scorpion infested desert, populated mostly by descendants of Spanish explorers and native Indians, a town quickly arose. They had chosen this location because it was near a good water source, the Moreno Wells, owned by the Duran brothers, Blas and Espiridon.
Once building began, the population quickly swelled, first with railroad employees, and then with those wanting to get in on the ground floor of a new and flourishing settlement. Mining had become a going concern again and many came to try their hand at getting rich quick. Duran became the supply point for the local farmers and ranchers, most supplies now being delivered by train instead of mule and ox freights.