Ghost Towns And Mining Camps Of New Mexico

Given in memory of Ethel A. Tsutsui, Ph.D. and Minoru Tsutsui, Ph.D.

A guide to appreciating and understanding the history of abandoned mining camps shows how to use the techniques of an historical sleuth to identify and interpret what one sees at a ghost town.

For centuries, the stunning panoramas of Arizona and New Mexico served as the backdrop for a veritable cavalcade of human history. From Anasazi cities built within towering canyon walls to early outpost villages of an expanding young nation, the Southwest served as the home to a range of communities that first thrived and ultimately demised in the region's rugged, sprawling landscapes. Today, the Southwest lures visitors with its majestic natural scenery and links to a fascinating chapter in our nation's history. In Ghost Towns of the Southwest, Jim Hinckley and Kerrick James present the colorful stories, colorful characters, and colorful landscapes that bring to life these landmarks of our past.

Photographs and text describe some of New Mexico's ghost towns, providing information on their history, role in the state's development, why they have become ghost towns, and how some have been transformed.

Spanish and American prospectors discovered gold, silver, and copper mines in southwestern New Mexico in the 1800s. This volume explores the further development of these mining operations into the early 1900s. During this time period, improvements in technology made mining profitable, and eastern corporations invested in New Mexico mines. World War I created a demand for copper, and this era saw the development of paternalistic company towns. Miners faced difficult and dangerous working conditions, but their lives improved compared to previous generations. Many of the towns and the people in southwestern New Mexico owed their livelihood, in whole or in part, to mining. Some of these places have disappeared entirely, some are ghost towns, and others are thriving communities.

This useful guidebook surveys more than eighty ghost towns, grouped by geographic area. First published in 1981 and now available only from the University of New Mexico Press, it has been praised in particular for its instructions on how to reach even the most obscure sites.

Dozens of marvelous tales ranging from lifestyles in Raton's long-gone Red Light district to the lynching of Gus Mentzer, about nearby ghostly former coal camps that once hand thousands of residents and more of the City's vibrant history. And how about Pegleg La Josie, who managed a brothel and could dance up a storm on her one good leg. Or the Dawson mine disaster which buried 283 miners far underground. A title that everyone will thoroughly enjoy.