Canadian River Valley

Tue, 06 May 2008 11:04:48 -0700

An explanation of why I created this website

The purpose of this website is to collect links, pictures, and information about places in the Canadian River Valley. While there are a lot of apparently "empty" spaces in NE New Mexico, I see those as just spaces filled with history and geology between interesting locales. Many of those are totally off the beaten path. I hope to intrigue you into visiting some of them if you happen to pass this way.

Photo collections of the places I have visited will be on Tabblo displays. Detailed descriptions of the places will be on those displays. One example is Wind Farms largely photographed south of San Jon on the Canadian River Caprock.

The history of the isolated towns and villages of NE NM is a history of the development of transportation in the USA. First came horses and wagons which traveled at the same [average] pace as a brisk walk. Towns arose at about 12 mile intervals (due to the stagecoach stations along the way) or where water created farmland. Then came trains followed by the automobile. Things haven't been the same since!

Details of the history of transportation in NE NM and how that history is reflected in the text of this site.

The following are a lot of the places I will be sharing with you.
I'll add them as I have time and photos.

New Mexico locales:

Sabinoso/Ancon

I had seen signs on many of my trips with directions to "Sabinoso" on them. Any place at the end of a road has to be interesting to explore. And this one certainly had a lot of history and scenery. But it was a long way to go for groceries!

This is a ranch below the road to Sabinoso

Wagon Mound

This is the namesake mountain of Wagon Mound. I guess if you're starving, thirsting, and exhausted, not to mention overjoyed to see any sign of civilization, no matter how small, this could be the outline of a covered wagon being pulled by a team. Besides, this was the 100 mile mark from Santa Fe.

Maxwell

As the signs on I-25 say, "No Services". But it is near the Canadian. This is the Canadian River just east of Maxwell during low flow. Look above the river at the horizon; the lack of trees is intimidating even to us in our cars. Imagine seeing this from the seat of a wagon for days on end.

Watrous

Even today, dropping into this valley brings to mind the word, "oasis". The town name seems to suggest water but it is actually named after a Samuel Watrous who had a trading post there near the Santa Fe trail which passed through nearby Fort Union.

Another, more detailed history of Watrous

Springer

An almost stop on both branches of the Santa Fe trail. But, since crossing the Canadian River safely was an issue for the pioneers on the Dry Route, that branch turned south several miles to the east of Springer to go to Wagon Mound; the other went south from Cimarron along the mountains west of Springer to Fort Union. The Trail crosses US56 but the traces aren't discernable on the west side of Chico Creek.
This webpage has more details of the crossing.
A Chamber of Commerce look at Springer

Las Vegas

I almost didn't add this city to this website since it is actually on Gallinas (ga-y-i-nas) Creek which flows to the Pecos River (the next drainage west of the Canadian) but this is one of the key places on the Santa Fe Trail.

Viva Las Vegas here

Rosebud

Black Hills

Roy

Temporary home of James Robert Wills who had a barber shop for a couple of years in the 20s and a dance band at night (one of the founding brothers of Roy was in the band). He wrote a song called "Spanish Two-Step" then moved to Tulsa, changed his name to Bob Wills and renamed the song to "San Antonio Rose". The rest is history. Kinda like Roy itself.
Roy approaching from the south

Mills and Mills Canyon

Mosquero

The name means "a swarm of mosquitoes or flies" in Spanish, named for a nearby creek. The county seat of Harding County. Interestingly, it is right on the county line next to San Miguel County.

Looking along main Street from the west end of Mosquero

Black Lake

A large, flat playa with black dirt and no water in it I've ever seen. This one is really off the beaten path, NE of Mosquero. From the north end of the playa, I could see six or so houses in the 30 square miles of the basin.
This is Black Lake. The entire area from here to the far horizon is the playa.

Trigg Ranch Road

The really back way from Logan to Mosquero. And a wonderful drive, mostly along the old Dawson RR ROW. Watch for washouts!

Raton

Tucumcari

Arriving in Tucumcari from any direction is dramatic. A green oasis of farms and civilization in the midst of an arid but spectacular landscape with huge mesas in all directions, Tucumcari lies at the base of Tucumcari Mesa with its natural looking radio antennas. The name of the town is shrouded in controversy; no one really knows the derivation of the name. My own suspicion is it was made up by a land developer. But maybe I'm excessively cynical.

This was the epitome of the "Wild West" in the frontier days. One nickname after the railroad came in in 1901 was "Six Shooter Siding" due to the lawlessness. All the "big names" of western history lived here for a time: Billy The Kid, Wyatt Earp, and Black Jack Ketchum (see Clayton) who hung out around Mesa Redondo a few miles south of town.

Tucumcari's primary significant was as a "jumping off place" to further travel to the west. Between the Pecos and Canadian valleys is Sunshine Mesa. For early automobiles with their 20 horsepower engines and for other travelers, it was formidable. Both Santa Rosa and Tucumcari benefited from the increased maintenance this strain on early automobiles and horses created. Not to mention the strain on the people traveling.

The Dawson railroad line passed through Tucumcari from north to south while the freight trains came in from the NE via Logan across a spectacular trestle over the Canadian (see Logan) from Kansas City. Route 66, running east and west paralleled the tracks over Sunshine Mesa. The mountains and mesas dominate life in Tucumcari.

A Tabblo of this area is here.

Logan

Three blocks wide and eight blocks long. Located on a bluff above the Canadian River. With trains and trucks passing through almost continuously.
One of my regular stopping places on my travels as the Express Inn has both high speed internet and reasonable rates. Except during bass fishing contests when all the motels are full.

Cuervo

This was an important location along Route 66 since any traffic headed west was leaving the Canadian River Valley and had a significant climb ahead of them. Any last minute needs (human and vehicle) had to be done here.

This is also the most southwestern location in the Valley. Over Sunshine Mesa to the west lies Santa Rosa and the Pecos Valley; the Caprock is to the south.
A Tabblo of the ghost town of Cuervo is here.

If you look at the background of the picture of the large Cuervo building, the escarpments of the High Plains outlyers on which Mosquero and Roy are located are visible in the distance. This escarpment was created by the Canadian River and Ute Creek leaving a "peninsula" of the High Plains intact.
The bluffs above Ute Creek near Gallegos.

Clayton

Black Jack Ketchum met his fate here. Dramatically. When he was hanged, someone miscalculated and he was decapitated on the drop. The picture was in all the papers! A notorious man, there was no love lost at his execution.

Clayton's website has lots more information about this crossroads town.

Capulin

This town is most noted for its namesake volcano (actually a cinder cone), Mount Capulin, a nearby National Park. This volcano was active over 10,000 years while Folsom Man was hunting mammoths in the area.

Humans were here as long ago as the Ice Age. Roughly 12,000 years ago you could well have witnessed the receding glaciers while an active volcano or two still spewed ash and lava into the atmosphere. Right here, you could have seen an occasional woolly mammoth as well as the ancient buffalo hunters pursuing the gigantic ancestor to our modern-day bison.

It was a long held belief that humans had only been on this continent for 3000 years or so, but a discovery just north of the Capulin Volcano, near the little town of Folsom, changed all that. Almost 80 years ago, a local cowboy discovered bones of a gigantic buffalo. Scientist studying those bones discovered that the animal didn't die of natural causes, but had been hunted and killed. Among the bones they found the spear tips used by man, subsequently named the Folsom Man after the nearby town.

Texas Locales:

Adrian

The midpoint on Old Route 66. A farm town now as it was then. No cell phone service available.

A Tabblo of Adrian is here.

Vega

A farming town on the south edge of the Canadian River Valley with a distinctive, new water tower.

A Tabblo of Vega is here.

Old Tascosa

A real wild west town in its day. Which is long gone.

A Tabblo of Old Tascosa and Boot Hill is here.

Amarillo

Also on the south edge of the Canadian River Valley. Lubbock has the people; Amarillo has the banks (as in money) in the Texas Panhandle. And a nuclear weapons trigger disassembly plant (Pantex) which usually functions without incident.

Channing

This site was founded by the XIT Ranch as a headquarters for the ranch. It is still a farming and ranching community.

A Tabblo of Channing is here.

Dalhart

Folsom

The details of Folsom are here but the pictures are here.