The First Residents – The Native Americans

Mogollon Indians - The American Indian culture known as "Mogollon" lived in the U.S. Southwest from approximately 150 AD until around 1400 AD. The name comes from the Mogollon Mountains, named for Don Juan Ignacio Flores Mogollon, New Mexico's Spanish Governor in the early 1700s.

In the 1930s, the Mogollon archaeological area was first recognized. Today, the culture's distinctiveness in the areas of pottery manufacture, ground-stone tools, architecture, customs of residence, and mortuary treatment are generally recognized.

The culture of the Mogollon near Silver City , New Mexico, often referred to as the "Mimbres" culture, applies to an interval of time around AD 1000-1150 and to the Mimbres Valley near the upper Gila River . This culture is known for black and white and red-on-cream painted pottery with distinctive forms and styles, plus textured plainwares.

The residences of the Mimbres branch of the Mogollon were distinctive with large pueblos and large ceremonial structures (called "kivas") deeply excavated in the ground.

The area originally settled by the Mogollon culture was later the habitat of the unrelated Apache people, who moved to the area from the north. Archaeologists believe the people who built the Western Pueblo villages of the Hopi and Zuni were likely to be related to the Mogollon.

Apache Indians - Apache is the collective name for several culturally related groups of Native Americans. Many Apaches lived in Southwestern New Mexico. At one time Apache tribes were very powerful, warring with the Spanish and Mexicans for centuries.

The Coming of the White Man

An Apache showing a Spaniard an outcropping of copper ore.

The Anglo Invasion - Of course, the primary reason the Spaniards came to New Mexico was the dream of finding gold. However, the initial Spanish dream of finding "cities of gold" was determined to be primarily a myth. Early in the 19th century, copper deposits were discovered around Silver City and the first mining claims were filed. Later, gold, silver, and numerous other ores and minerals were discovered in the area, but copper has had the most significant long-term impact on New Mexico's economy.

Mining

The Spanish learned about copper in the Santa Rita mine area as early as the 1500s from the Native Americans who lived there. But it was over 200 years later before the Spanish began to mine the main copper lode there. The Spanish sometimes found pure copper strips lying in the beds of streams in the area. When Native Americans came to watch their activities, the Spanish captured them as slaves to work in the mine. The original mine shafts were so small, approximately 36", that the labor of young Native American children was apparently utilized by the Spanish. As the mine became established, the Spanish built a fort and a church and named the community Santa Rita del Cobre. The Apaches were a major problem, however, and in 1837 Mexico adopted the Projecto de Guerra, or Project of War, to wipe out the Apaches by paying bounties for Apache scalps - $100 for men, $50 for women, $25 for each child. This set off a war with the Apaches which lasted almost 100 years, slowing down mining operations at Santa Rita.

But early in the 1900s, new discoveries about mining led to the development of open-pit mining, and Santa Rita's population reached 6,000, with the town eventually sitting in the center of the open-pit mind. Today the town of Santa Rita no longer exists.

Above the open pit mine is a famous rock formation known as the "Kneeling Nun," which overlooks mining operations. There's an old story about a nun who worked in an Indian mission near the mine. She met a miner and fell in love, renouncing her vows. As a result, she was turned to stone, creating the well-known stone formation today known as the Kneeling Nun.

Forts and Native American Chiefs

The first U.S. military post in the Silver City area, Fort Floyd , later renamed Fort McLane , was established in 1860 near Hurley to protect area mines and the stage road to the south, but it was abandoned in '61. However, after Fort McLane was abandoned, it was the site of the death of .a famous Chiricahua Apache chief who had been raiding Mexican settlements and miners near present-day Silver City , Mangas Colorados, or "Red Sleeves." When he came to the U.S. Military to negotiate for peace under a white flag, he was initially captured at Pinos Altos and later apparently tortured and killed, at Fort McLane . There are several stories of his torture and death, some more gory than others.

A gold discovery in Pinos Altos in 1859 brought many prospectors to the area, creating conflict with the Warm Springs Apaches. In 1866, Fort Bayard, manned by "Buffalo Soldiers," an all-black Ninth Cavalary regiment, was built there to protect the miners. Fort Bayard and later the town of Bayard were named for a brigadier general who died in a Civil War battle in Virginia . The fort was headquarters for efforts to drive out Apache chiefs Mangas Colorados, Victorio and Geronimo, and there was fighting until Geronimo's surrender in 1886. In 1900, the fort became inactive and Fort Bayard became an army hospital for tuberculosis. Little of the original fort is left. Behind the hospital is a beautiful game preserve.

Pinos Altos

The town of Pinos Altos came into being when several prospectors camped there in 1860, and one supposedly discovered gold when he went for water. Within a few months, there were approximately 1,500 people living in tents and shacks thrown up overnight. One of the early residents was Roy Bean, who ran a store there before he moved to West Texas and became Judge Roy Bean. Some of the colorful mine names were thee Wild Bill Mine and Kept Woman Mine. In 1861 an Apache attack led by Mangas Colorados and Cochise with approximately 400 men rode into Pinos Altos to attack the residents, and from then on, the Apaches harassed the miners, many of whom moved on to richer mining claims. By 1890, most of the miners were gone. By then, millions in ore had been taken from the mines. The Pinos Altos Opera House and the adjoining Buckhorn Saloon were built in 1865. Across the street from these historic building is a replica of the original buffalo soldier fort, today owned by three of our customers, Rick, Buck and David who also own the popular Manzanita Ridge furniture store in downtown Silver City.

The Mining District

The small town of Santa Clara, east of Silver City, grew up around 1860, and eventually the town of Bayard grew up right next to it. These two towns plus Hurley are known today as the "Mining District."

The discovery of a silver mine in 1869 behind the present Grant County Courthouse led to the founding of Silver City . A boom town quickly grew up around the mining area

Hurley, east of Silver City on Highway 180 East, was named for J.E. Hurley, once the manager of the Atchison , Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad line. The town was established in 1910 when the Santa Rita Mining Company was purchased by Chino Copper Company. Near Hurley are the ruins of a Mogollon Village occupied around 700 A.D. and explored by archeologists in the 1920s.

The Town of Silver City

The original townsite of Silver City grew quickly and the town became the county seat for Grant County . By 1881, trains replaced the horse teams that had hauled ore and gold and silver bullion into town. Silver City was originally populated by opportunists and adventurers; there were gambling houses, bordellos, and saloons, and hangings occurred frequently. Silver City is known as the one-time home of Billy the Kid, whose mother is buried in Memory Lane Cemetery off Highway 180 East.

1895 - The Big Ditch

The mining heyday didn't last long, and was mostly over by 1900, but Silver City did survive as the copper industry grew and settlers moved in to farm and ranch in the Gila and Mimbres River Valleys . In 1895, a major flood rushed through downtown Silver City with a 12-foot well of water cutting a swath through Main Street , creating a 35-foot ditch, known today as the "Big Ditch." There are a river walk and a park which are visited by many people each year when they come to Silver City and walk through the beautiful historic district.

The Mimbres Valley

The Mimbres Valley area was settled after the mining areas, in the 1870s. Mimbres Hot Springs was originally a health resort. At the entry of the valley, the small agricultural community of San Lorenzo was established. Southeast of the Mimbres Valley , the community of Faywood grew up around the hot springs there, where Mimbres Indian artifacts were discovered. In the 1860s, a developer built a hotel there called the Hudson Hot Springs Sanitarium Company, but the hotel burned in 1891.

Geronimo

By then most of the Apaches had been driven from the area. Geronimo, whose Apache name was Goyaale (one who yawns), was the last to surrender after years of fighting with the settlers. In his final defeat, 5,000 U.S. soldiers captured he and 30 to 50 other Apaches, and they were exiled from Apache reservation land in New Mexico to Florida and eventually to Ft. Sill , Oklahoma . Years after his death, Geronimo's remains were reportedly stolen from his grave by three members of Yale University 's secret Skull & Bones society. One of the grave robbers was reported to be Prescott Bush, father of President George Bush and grandfather of George W. Bush. Supposedly Geronimo's bones and belongings have been used in rituals of the Skull & Bones secret organization.

Elfego Baca

An extremely colorful character who lived north of Silver City earned a name for himself there in the late 1880s. Elfego Baca, a Mexican native, became a legendary lawman, lawyer, and politician. His father was marshal in Belen , New Mexico , and reportedly Elfego stole some guns and purchased a mail-order sheriff's badge through the mail and appointed himself deputy of Socorro County when he was still in his teens. Cowboys often came into the area towns and shot things up and Baca decided to put a stop to this behavior single-handedly. On December 1, 1884, in the town that is now Reserve in Catron County , Baca arrested a cowboy who had fired a gun at him. When the man's friends demanded he be released, Baca refused. After being attacked by the cowboys, he took refuge in a nearby house and a standoff with approximately 80 cowboys ensued. Tradition has it that the cowboys fired more than 4,000 shots at Baca until the walls of the adobe house were shredded like Swiss cheese, but not one bullet hit Baca. During the battle, he killed four of the attacking cowboys and wounded eight more. After 36 hours, the attack ended when the cowboys ran out of ammo and Baca walked out with no injuries. In 1885, he was charged with murder and jailed, but acquitted after the door of the house where he took refuge was admitted into evidence – with more than 400 bullet holes! The incident is known as the "Frisco Shootout."

Baca later became Socorro county clerk and county superintendent as well as mayor and school superintendent, and D.A. for Sierra County . He lived a remarkable life, like many of the area's very colorful pioneers, and died in bed at age 80.

Sanitoriums

From 1900 through the 20s, Silver City became a destination for people with tuberculosis, and sleeping porches were popular in houses built during that period since it was believed the open air sleeping was good for the lungs. Many people came to Silver City from the east and influenced much of the architecture and development of the town making it distinctive from any other area in New Mexico.

This is a very brief history of the area, but there is much more available if you're interested in doing a little research. You'll know that when you visit or move to the Silver City area, you're really in the heart of what was once the "Wild, Wild West."