With only one day left in Deming, we ere determined to make the most of it. After studying Google Maps for a bit, I was able to determine a round trip route which would include ghost towns, mines and, of course, a brewery.
Our first stop was the Lake Valley Historic Townsite. After silver was discovered in 1878, the town swelled to a population of over 4000 people. It wasn’t long before the mine played out and the people scattered in search of new opportunities.
The Bureau of Land Management has restored the chapel and the school house. There is a self guided tour and an interpretive walk but, unfortunately the site is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Our search for another ghost town, not far from Lake Valley, found only beautiful scenery…
Steve had done some research as well and thought we could throw a winery in as well. The “almost” ghost town of Kingston boasts of having the oldest continuously operating social club in the American west, The Spit & Whittle Club. With a little research, I learned Spit & Whittle clubs are a gathering of people to retell tales of the past. And Kingston certainly has a storied past, at one time, it was the largest town in New Mexico with nearly 7000 residents frequenting its 23 saloons.
As we searched for the winery, we talked about what life had to have been like in the 1880’s. The boom and bust saga is nearly the same for every mining town we have ever visited. But roughly 132 residents of Kingston, refused to give up, even after the post office closed in 1957. We never did find the Black Range Vineyards and contented ourselves with a drive along Percha Creek before heading out.
Our travels took us through Gila National Forest, established in 1899. The Gila Wilderness Area, an area within the National Forest, was established in 1924. The wilderness area was the first of it’s kind in the world. It only took 40 more years for the Wilderness Act was passed.
The winding road up and down through the Black Range with lots of scenic overlooks to stop at, provided us many photo ops…
We were hoping to have a beverage in Pinos Altos at the Buckhorn Saloon, but it wasn’t going to be open for several more hours…
The Pinos Altos mine was originally known as “The El Dorado of New Mexico” and produced more than $8,000,000 in gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc before mining ended.
What we didn’t know when we left Pinos Altos was we would find the Santa Rita cooper mine a few miles down the road, one of the oldest operating mines in the US.
I have always loved the huge mining rock trucks. I mean, just look at the size of the tires!
Look how small the service truck is compared to the rock truck…
Our final stop of the day was Silver City…
Unlike the ghost or near ghost towns we visited, Silver City has not only not busted, but has tried to revitalize itself. At last we would find a beer and a burger…
After our late lunch at Little Toad Creek Brewery and Distillery, we checked out some of the buildings…
With the long drive back to Deming, we decided to call it a day.
I hope you enjoyed our search for ghost towns and will come along on our next adventure!
Coming Up…
Into Arizona