Another Good Day of Fishing!!!

This was the beginning of a good day of fishing!!!

Here's the stringer of 6 white bass.  There were 6 fish when I took this picture and by the time the day was over, there were 8 white bass and 1 spotted bass.

A few clouds gathered over the mountains but they passed by without dropping any rain.  The locals say rain is really needed.  There have already been a number of wildfires in New Mexico.

A Day Trip to Cuchillo, Winston and Chloride, New Mexico

Today is Jason's birthday. Happy Birthday, son.  This picture was taken during a successful Wyoming hunting trip.

Shortly after leaving Elephant Butte for a day of exploring, we went by the T or C Municipal Airport.  They have this Air Force plane on display by the entrance to the airport.

As we headed to the mountains, we passed through an area of large cattle ranches.  We thought the spurs on these mail boxes were great.

There is a lot of open range areas in this part of NM.  The red calf was behind a fence but he was curious about us taking a picture of him.

The first small town we saw as we drove on Hwy 52 toward the mountains was Cuchillo.  It is now a small village with some farms and ranches.  During the mining boom of the 1880's and 1890's, it was a stage stop used to deliver goods to the mining towns of Winston and Chloride.  The San Jose Mission is the only maintained building left from that era.

We passed through this area of the Sierra Cuchillo mountain range, a part of the Black Range.   There are lot of pinion (pinyon) pine trees.  You could see forever.

The town of Winston was founded in the early 1880s by miners who found Chloride "too rowdy".  The two towns are only several miles apart.  Once named Fairview, its name was changed in honor of Frank H. Winston, a local miner, businessman and legislator.  Today its a rundown rural community.

Just a reminder that these towns are in a remote area of New Mexico.

After a beautiful drive, we arrive at Chloride. It's a historic mining town that got its start in the late 1870's when muleskinner, Harry Pye, found silver while passing through the area when hauling freight for the army.  The town  was orginally known as Pyetown, then Bromide and then became Chloride after the type of silver that was mined in the area.

All the property in Chloride is now privately owned.  Don and Dona Edmund have purchased many of the old buildings and have restored or are restoring them.This building was built as the Monte Cristo Saloon and Dance Hall as well as a schoolhouse and headquarters for various mining companies.  It is now a gift shop and gallery featuring only local artists.  The ceiling fan is the original fan.

 

The Grafton Cabin is a two-story log building moved to Chloride in 2005 as part of the museum.  It was originally built in a mining camp called Grafton that was about 10 miles NW of Winston.

The restored cabin of Harry Pye.  Pye had kept his secret of finding silver secret until his army contract expired.  He returned with several other prospectors to stake a claim.  Within a few months, the Pye party was attacked by Indians and Pye was killed.

Two necessities - an outhouse and a satellite dish.

Two of the buildings currently being restored.  The adobe cabin was a miner's cabin.  The stone building was originally built as a bank but failed before opening.  Instead, it was opened as a saloon.  It was the ninth saloon in Chloride.

The Pioneer Store Museum was originally opened in 1880 as a company store until it closed in 1897.  In 1908, the building was bought by another mining company and used as a commissary for their crews.  In 1923, the commissary went out of business.  The owners boarded up the doors and windows leaving all the furniture and merchandise.  Don and Dona have spent many years cleaning out the rat and bat droppings but nothing had been disturbed in almost 70 years.  They have done an amazing job of displaying these collections and are the ultimate hosts and tour guides.

The museum is a treasure of artifacts from the era when Chloride was a booming mining town.  We have included a slide show on our blog of all the pictures taken while we toured the museum.

Bill never worked behind bars but he did sort mail in separations similar to these.

Stories passed through generations call this the The Hanging Tree".  However, no one can say for sure that anyone was actually hung from this tree.  It's believed it was used to chain up drunks to get sober because it was too far to haul them to jail.

There are only 9 residents in this old mining town that was once a community of 3000 residents, 9 saloons, 3 general stores, 2 hotels, restaurants, boarding houses, assay offices, a stage line and a Chinese laundry. 

Fishing Update!!!!

The first fish caught in New Mexico!!!  A white bass caught in Elephant Butte Lake.

The second, bigger fish.

Here's the day's catch.  Yeah, it's getting dark.  We'll have a couple nice meals of fresh fish.

Exploring Engle, Kingston and Hillsboro, NM

A fisherman that we met on the lake told us about the town of Engle.  He also told us Ted Turner (you know-the rich guy) has a ranch in the Engle area and we might see some of his buffalo.  We did find a herd of buffalo near a watering trough.  I found an article about the ranch on the internet that was quite interesting.  The article includes some history of the ranch and how it is being used for research of wild animals now. The name of the ranch is Armendaris Ranch and they have tours in the spring.  Here's the link to the article:  http://www.livestockweekly.com/papers/03/08/28/whlarmendaris.asp

As we traveled to Engle, we found this monument about the El Camino del Tierra Adentro, "The Royal Road to the Interior."  The road was one of the principal trade and transportation routes established by the Spanish from Mexico City.  This portion of the highway was located in the flatlands east of the Caballo Mountains. 

Engle, NM, was founded in 1879 on the route of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad.  It was a cattle town and shipping point during the construction of the Elephant Butte Dam.  The town is located west of the White Sands Missle Range.  Today only a few original buildings remain.  The stucco building was once a schoolhouse and is now a church.

There is another small town, Cutter, in the same area.  We didn't find it and we read that none of the original buildings are left.  However, we did find a sign for a cattle ranch with the name of Cutter in it.  Near the sign, we saw several sets of skeletons.  Don't know the reason for their deaths but we didn't see any fences around the ranches.

We were surprised by the next area we saw.  Spaceport America is being developed for commercial space travel.  It is located on the plateau  near the Cutter Cattle Company.  Seeing this felt like something out of the comic books that predicated space travel.  After seeing the site, we have also heard about it on the local news.  There have been test flights and it is hoped to be used soon for space tourism flights.

This historic steel deck truss bridge, a Warren design, was built in 1927 over a steep gorge.  Percha Creek Bridge was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on July 15, 1997.

Several historic structures that remain in the old mining town of Kingston, NM, are the assay office, an adobe fence and the old Percha Bank.  The town was founded in 1882 when prospector Jack Sheddon make a rich silver strike.  The 1890 census counted 7000 residents.  Its current population is 25.  It's located among the beautiful Black Range Mountains.

Someone has displayed some old tools, pots and pans, etc. on the side of a very old building in Kingston.  The 1887 historic bell was used to warn of approaching Indians. 

We stopped in Hillsboro, NM, to have lunch and visit the Post Office.  The present day post office is in the original building which was built before 1893.  The postmaster said this post office may be one of the possible closures.  They will know by the end of March.

These ruins are of the Hillsboro courthouse that was built in 1892.  Hillsboro was once the county seat of Sierra County.  Mining was a big part of this city's history as well as ranching.

The jail stood beside the courthouse. The year of 1910 was etched in the cement on the side of the ruins.  Not sure if that was when the jail was built, some repair work was done or if there was addition in 1910.

The 1892 Union Church, an Episcopal church which is still in use today.

This building is currently the Hillsboro library but at one time was the high school.  Currently, all the school children go to school in Truth or Consequences ( T or C) about 32 miles away.

This mural was on the side of a private residence.  Hillsboro has become a small community of artists, ranchers and retirees.

The Black Range Mountains were amazingly beautiful with many different rock formations.

The Caballo Mountains are located on the east side of the Caballo reservoir on the Rio Grande River.

We sent this picture to our kids and asked them to send money so we could buy a retirement home.