Fall 2010 Travels
Billy the Kid and Sheriff Garrett roamed these parts many years ago. And just down the road from here is the famous Lincoln County, New Mexico. Lincoln County is known for it's Lincoln County Wars.
This evening, as I a prepare a very belated posting of my meanderings, I am watching the sun set over the mountains just west of this BLM campground called Valley of Fires Recreation Area. The campground is adjacent to El Malpais, Spanish for Bad Lands. The lava in this area covers an area 125 miles wide and more than 160 feet deep. It came up from the ground. Another El Malpais area that I visited a couple of days ago was south of Grants and resulted from the volcanic eruption of Mt. Taylor.
These lava flows made it difficult for the Spanish and the US Army because they could not get their wagons and canons through the area. The sharp material would tear the soles of boots to shreds and badly injure the horses. Coronado and his men had to find ways around these areas as a result. The Indian warriors used the lava flows to their advantage when they were out running the army reprisals.
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| Inspiration Rock |
This winter, I have been in New Mexico just a couple of weeks. On my way south, I was able to visit Inspiration Rock, west of Grants. Inspiration Rock is in El Morro National Monument. It bears silent witness to more than 700 years of history. Drawn here by its secluded water hole, Ancestral Puebloans, Spanish and Anglo peoples marked their passing by carving over 2,000 petroglyphs and inscriptions into the sandstone bluff. Inscription Rock is a soft sandstone monolith, rising 200 feet above the valley floor.
That same evening, I camped at the trail head of Homestead Canyon in the Cebola Wilderness National Park. Raleigh (my new puppy) and I went for a long walk. On the way back, we spooked a mountain lion. Raleigh took chase but came back quickly when I whistled. First night, we were all to ourselves. So quiet. Such beautiful star gazing. The next day, a few groups of hunters moved in and the serenity disappeared. We moved on early the next morning.
At the end of a 30 mile dirt road (#41) we found our selves in Pie Town atop the Continental Divide. Of course, I had to have a cup of coffee, a pancake and sausage. It was to early in the day for pie. In 1922 Clyde Norman filed a mining claim in the middle of Magdalena Trail. Mining wasn't good so he opened a gas station and baked pies.
On down the road, I stopped at a history sign. This one was about New Mexico Author, Agnes Moriarty Cleveland. She wrote the book No Place for a Lady. I had purchased it last year just before I headed north for the summer and read it when I got back to Montana. Anyway, her ranch was just 4 miles North of Datil. I turned around and went back to take pictures of the homestead and its outbuildings. The ranch was nestled at the entrance to a pretty little canyon. Peaceful and secluded, it must have been a wonderful place to grow up. It was and still is, a very remote part of the state.
Just a couple miles North of Datil, I discovered a wonderful BLM campground called, Datil Well Campground. It had a three mile nature trail that took me to an observation point. I was able to overlook the San Augustine Plain in the distance. Such a view but what a barren landscape. I paid $2.50 per night for my stay. Plenty of water, the wells and the faucets run year round but no showers. Some sites had electrical power. I choose one without.
Datil and Pie Town were on the Magdalena Livestock Trail or Magdalena Stock Driveway as it is referred to in many historic accounts. From a brochure produced by Gwen Productions it says that it ranks in importance with the famous Chisum and Goodnight-Loving trails, but was in use far longer. In fact the last cattle drive was 1970 by the Farr Cattle Company of Catron County. The Driveway is on the State Historic Register but is remembered by all who traveled on her as the “Hoof Highway”.
The Magdalena Livestock Trail was born in January of 1885 when the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad completed its branch line from Socorro, to Magdalena, NM to haul ore from Kelly Mines and ranchers from the surrounding country began driving their livestock there for shipping instead of Belen.
This was not the first time that cattle and sheep has walked this trail. In the 1870's with the demand for beef by the US Army, John Chisum of Lincoln County, NM drove herds west from his home range through Springerville and past Show Low, Arizona to Fort Apache, Arizona Territory.
The cattle on those early drives were Longhorns, but they were not the only animals driven through this beautiful country. For 50 years before Chisum and Farr the Spanish had raised sheep and driven them to the Rio Grande Valley to market.
After the opening of the Santa Fe Trail New Mexico sheep made their way to Kansas City and their wool to New England. There were more sheep trailed along this route than cattle.
The Driveway was formally set aside in 1918 in response to a petition to the United States Secretary of the Interior following the passage of the Enlarged Grazing Homestead Act. The New Mexico Cattle and Horse Growers Association and the New Mexico Wool Growers Association filed their petition because of concern that the expanding homestead grants would block their right to passage on the Magdalena Trail. The “Driveway” stretched almost 150 miles west to Springerville and St. John, Arizona as well southwest to Luna, Alma and Reserve.
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| Magdelina Railroad Station now serves as a library. |
After camping two nights at the Datil Well Campground, I continued South and visited The Very Large Array (VLA). Technically, The VLA is an interferometer; this means that it operates by multiplying the data from each pair of telescopes together to form interference patterns and how they change with time as the earth rotates, reflects the structure of radio sources on the sky; they can take these patterns to use a mathematical technique called The Fourier transform to make maps.The observatory consists of 27 independent antenna, each of which has a dish diameter of 25 meters (82 feet) and weighs 230 tons. The antennas are arrayed along the three arms of a Y-shape (each of which measures 21 km/13 miles long). Using the railroad tracks that follow each of these arms and a specially designed lifting locomotive, the antennas can be physically relocated to a number of prepared positions, allowing aperture synthesis interferometry with a maximum baseline of 36km (22.3 miles): in essence, the array acts as a single antenna with that diameter. The smallest angular resolution that can be reached is about 0.05 arcsec at a wavelength of 7mm.
There are four commonly used configurations, designated A (the largest) through D (the tightest, when all the dishes are within 600 m of the center point). The observatory normally cycles through all the various possible configurations (including several hybrids) ever 16 months; the antennas are moved every three to four months.
A number of filmmakers have used this site for their movies, including the 1997 film Contact with Jodi Foster and others.
On my way south after entering New Mexico I had planned to visit historic Chaco Canyon. I had visited the area about 25 years ago and wanted to see it again but now it had been raining for two days and after driving 16 miles to the turnoff road, a large sign warned that the road might be impassable. One has to be careful in this country on back road when they are wet. Crossing arroyos can be hazardous and the mud can be like gumbo. So I canceled my visit and turned around. A couple of days later, I drove to the Zuni Village and had hopes of touring the old Zuni ruins only to be disappointed again. The guide had a family emergency so there was no one available to take me on the tour. Lesson learned, call ahead and make reservations and watch the weather before long back road jaunts.
I was able to make some lemonade that day however. I completed my circuitous tour that day in Gallup. It has a little museum on the second story of the old train station. The train station itself has a wonderful cafe and gift shop. It is also a stop for Amtrak.
A great discovery in Gallup for me was the El Rancho Hotel & Motel on the main drag in Gallup. Formally opened on December 17, 1937, it was built by the brother of the movie magnate, D. W. Griffith. Drawn by the many films made in the area, Ronald Regan, Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn and Kirk Douglas were among the many stars listed in the guest register. Autographed photos of the stars adorn the magnificent two story open lobby with its circular staircase, heavy beams, Navajo rugs and mounted trophy animal heads. An inviting restaurant and lounge made me want to return at some point in the future if I could share it with someone.
Gallup is in the heart of Indian country. I just finished a book by New Mexican author, Hampton Sides, called Blood and Thunder, The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West. It was such a timely time to read this book because I was in the very country that he talks about through out the book. Riveting and hard to put down, I recommend it to anyone interested in the history of the American West.
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| Abo Runis, Salinas Mission |
After replenishing some supplies in Socorro, I headed North a short distance and revisited one of the Salinas Pueblo Ruins called Abo and the next day I visited The Grand Quivaro Mission. Last spring, I visited the third ruin called Quarai. The latter is a short distance from the Manzano Mountains State Park where I stayed on both visits.
These communities were inhabited over 300 years ago and were located in beautiful settings although very arid. Domestic water had to be captured in pots from rain fall. Drought is probably the reason people left and went to other areas. The Spanish built churches at each of the locations to convert the Indians to Christianity.
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| Officer's Headquarters, Ft. Stanton |
Next on my travels South were the town of Lincoln and the nearby military installation, Ft. Stanton. The buildings at the Fort are in remarkable condition. Officially it is the BLM Fort Staton Area of Critical Concern (ACEC). That's a new one on me. It was established in 1855 as a cavalry fort. It is one of the few intact frontier forts in the west and covers a 24,000 square mile area. From 1855 through 1896, the Fort played host to some of the most colorful military units and personalities of the west, including the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry Buffalo Soldiers, Billy the Kid, Kit Carson and General “Black Jack” Pershing.
Lincoln, New Mexico is tucked away in a beautiful mountain valley 35 miles northest of Ruidoso. The area was inhabited by the Piros and the Mescalero Apaches. The Fort was established to Protect the homesteaders. The city of Lincoln has barely changed since the Lincoln County War (1878-1881). It is considered by many historians to be the most authentic old west town remaining in the United States. It also has the dubious distinction of being the most violent town in western American History. President Rutherfold B. Hayes once called the single road through town 'the most dangerous street in America. Here is a tale fueled by ambition, greed, corruption and violence, dripping in political intrigue, which spillover to the state capital in Santa Fe.
Billy the Kid participated in the shoot out that lasted five days but so did many other bandits that were on either side. The whole thing started between to mercantile businesses jostling for control of the trade and beef contracts with the government. I had always thought is was between cattlemen and new settlers but, apparently not.
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| Sherrif Patrick Garrett |
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| Oliver Lee |
Kid went on to make a name for himself in Lincoln when he escaped from jail and killed two Sheriff Deputies in doing so. Sheriff Pat Garrett finally tracked him down and shot him. His legacy is everywhere you go in these parts.
That night and the next two, I spent in Oliver Lee State Park 12 miles South of Alamogordo. The park is named after a rancher who lived here and amassed almost one million acres of land in the valley. He was accused of murdering a lawyer and his son who was bringing papers to indite a number of cattlemen. The case was dismissed due to lack of evidence. The bodies of the lawyer and his some were never found. He went on to become a state legislator.
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| Dog Canyon |
Oliver Lee State Park is at the entrance to Dog Canyon. There is a trail that leads out of the St. Augustine Valley east to mountain ranges beyond. It is a steep climb of 3300 vertical feet in about 6 miles. It was a favorite escape route for the Apaches. Several skirmishes between the army soldiers and the Indians took place here. The Indians usually had the advantage. They could hide in the rocks above the soldiers and either shot them or throw rocks down on them as they ascended this steep trail. Ancient peoples, going back 5000 years used this trail. I hiked up the trail just one mile and back. It took me two hours! A very tough trail it is indeed.
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| White Sands, New Mexico |
While in Alamogordo, I visited the Space Museum and Hall of Fame, Cloudcroft and White Sands. All three places are worth a few hours if you visit the area.
As I close this posting, I am enjoying Messilla and Leasburg Dam SP. It is adjacent to Fort Selden. The latter is just a few walls of adobe that have mostly fallen down.
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| Victor & Raleigh at Grand Tetons, Wyoming. |
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