Cloudcroft is a village in Otero County, New Mexico, United States, and is located within the Lincoln National Forest. The population was 674 at the 2010 census. Despite being located in an otherwise arid region, its high elevation (8,676 feet allows for a mild summer and forested surroundings that makes it a popular tourist attraction in west Texas and southern New Mexico. It was named by Fodor's in 2002 as the Number 3 "Most Overlooked and Underrated Destination Spot." Tourism remains the primary economic driver of the village.
La Luz is a census-designated place (CDP) in Otero County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 1,615 at the 2000 census. It is located immediately north of Alamogordo and lies in the eastern edge of the Tularosa Basin and on the western flank of the Sacramento Mountains. Until 1848, La Luz was a part of Mexico. The CDP gets its name from the Spanish word for "light."
Timberon is a census-designated place (CDP) in Otero County, New Mexico, United States, and is within the Sacramento Mountains at the southern edge of the Lincoln National Forest. The population was 309 at the 2000 census.
U.S. Route 82 is an east–west United States highway in the Southern United States. Created on July 1, 1931 across central Mississippi and southern Arkansas, US 82 eventually became a 1,625-mile-long (2,615 km) route extending from the White Sands of New Mexico to Georgia's Atlantic coast.
A trestle bridge is a bridge composed of a number of short spans supported by closely spaced frames. A trestle is a rigid frame used as a support, historically a tripod used to support a stool or a pair of isosceles triangles joined at their apices by a plank or beam such as the support structure for a trestle table. Each supporting frame is a bent. A trestle differs from a viaduct in that viaducts have towers that support much longer spans and typically have a higher elevation.
The Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, often abbreviated as the C&TSRR, is a 3 ft narrow-gauge heritage railroad that operates on 64 miles (103 km) of track between Antonito, Colorado, and Chama, New Mexico, in the United States. The railroad is named for two geographical features along the route: the 10,015-foot (3,053 m)-high Cumbres Pass and the Toltec Gorge. Originally part of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad's narrow-gauge network, the line has been jointly owned by the states of Colorado and New Mexico since 1970. Today, the C&TSRR is one of only two remaining parts of the former D&RGW narrow-gauge network, the other being the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (D&SNG), which runs between the communities of Durango and Silverton, Colorado. The railroad has a total of ten narrow-gauge steam locomotives and two narrow-gauge diesel locomotives on its current roster. The railroad also operates two smaller former D&RGW steam locomotives, Nos. 315 and 168, for special events and excursions.
The Sacramento Mountains are a mountain range in the south-central part of the U.S. state of New Mexico, lying just east of Alamogordo in Otero County. From north to south, the Sacramento Mountains extend for 85 miles (137 km), and from east to west they encompass 42 miles (68 km).
Lincoln National Forest is a unit of the U.S. Forest Service located in southern New Mexico. The Lincoln National Forest covers an extensive 1.1 million acres in southeastern New Mexico. Established by Presidential Proclamation in 1902 as the Lincoln Forest Reserve, the 1,103,897 acres (4,467.31 km2) forest begins near the Texas border and contains lands in parts of Chaves, Eddy, Lincoln, and Otero counties. The Lincoln National Forest is home to three major mountain ranges: Sacramento, Guadalupe and Capitan. The three Ranger Districts within the forest contain all or part of a total of four mountain ranges, and include a variety of different environmental areas, from desert to heavily forested mountains and sub-alpine grasslands. Clean air, water, and soil are necessary elements that the National Forests contribute to the environment. Established to balance conservation, resource management, and recreation, the lands of the Lincoln National Forest include important local timber resources, protected wilderness areas, and popular recreation and winter sports areas. The forest headquarters is located in Alamogordo, N.M. with local offices in Carlsbad, Cloudcroft, and Ruidoso.
Cathey Peak is a peak in the Sacramento Mountains, in the south-central part of the U.S. State of New Mexico. It lies in Otero County, 10 miles (16 km) southeast of the community of Alamogordo.
High Rolls is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Otero County, New Mexico, United States. It is nestled within the Lincoln National Forest at the southernmost tip of the Sacramento Mountains.
Sacramento National Forest is a former National Forest in southern New Mexico. The Forest was established by Presidential proclamation on April 24, 1907 to preserve the timber-rich lands in the southern Sacramento Mountains around Cloudcroft and Mayhill. Led by inaugural Forest Supervisor C. H. Hinderer, the forest was headquartered in Alamogordo. Fourteen months later, on July 2, 1908, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 908. which consolidated the Sacramento with the nearby Guadalupe National Forest to create the Alamo National Forest. Arthur M. Neal, the last supervisor of the independent Guadalupe forest became the initial supervisor for the new Alamo National Forest, with his headquarters in Alamogordo. Under this new administrative scheme the former Sacramento National Forest was divided into a number of individual Ranger Districts within the Alamo National Forest, including Fresnal, La Luz, Mayhill, and Weed. On June 6, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson issued Executive Order 2633, which disestablished the Alamo National Forest and transferred all of its lands to the nearby Lincoln National Forest. As a result of this order, some areas of the former Sacramento National Forest, like La Luz Ranger District, lost their independent status, others were renamed, such as the Fresnal district, which became the Cloudcroft Ranger District, and others, like Mayhill and Weed, retained their original names and designations. In 1961, the Cloudcroft, Mayhill and Weed Ranger Districts were consolidated and given their current designation, the Sacramento Ranger District of the Lincoln National Forest.
The El Paso and Northeastern Railway (EP&NE) was a short line railroad that was built around the beginning of the twentieth century to help connect the industrial and commercial center at El Paso, Texas, with physical resources and the United States' national transportation hub in Chicago. Founded by Charles Eddy, the EP&NE was the primary railroad in a system organized under the New Mexico Railway and Coal Company (NMRy&CCo), a holding company which owned several other railroads and also owned mining and industrial properties served by the lines.
The Alamogordo and Sacramento Mountain Railway was built as a branch line for the El Paso and Northeastern Railway (EP&NE). Construction began from the EP&NE connection at Alamogordo, New Mexico, in 1898 to reach the Sacramento Mountain fir and spruce forests to the east. Sawmills were built in Alamogordo to mill lumber for extension of the EP&NE to reach the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. The railroad reached Cloudcroft, New Mexico, in 1900, where a lodge was built for summer tourists to enjoy the cool mountain air. Cloudcroft was laid out in several villages so tourists might avoid associating too closely with loggers and railway workers. The railway was extended from Cloudcroft to the small community of Russia, New Mexico, in 1903; and several branches were built to reach timber for the Alamogordo Lumber Company.
U.S. Route 82 (US 82) is a part of the U.S. Highway System that travels from Alamogordo, New Mexico, east to Brunswick, Georgia. In the U.S. state of New Mexico, US 82 extends from La Luz and ends at the Texas state line northeast of Lovington.
The Santa Fe Arroyo Seco Railroad Bridge in Highland Park, Los Angeles, is more than 710 feet (220 m) long and crosses the Arroyo Seco Parkway at an elevation of over 56 feet (17 m). It is the tallest and longest railroad span in the city of Los Angeles, and most likely the oldest such structure still in use. The bridge crosses the lower part of the Arroyo Seco, a watershed canyon from the San Gabriel Mountains.
Weed is a hamlet and a census-designated place in Otero County, New Mexico, United States. It lies alongside New Mexico State Road 24 on the southeastern slopes of the Sacramento Mountains at an elevation of 7,215 ft. It has had a Post Office since 1885. As of the 2010 census, its population was 63.
The Alamagordo Municipal School District No. 1, also the Alamogordo Public School District or Alamogordo Public Schools (APS), is a school district that serves the communities of Alamogordo, High Rolls, Holloman Air Force Base, Mountain Park, and La Luz and portions of unincorporated Otero County in the state of New Mexico.
Mexican Canyon Trestle is a historic wooden trestle bridge in New Mexico's Sacramento Mountains, Otero County, New Mexico, just outside Cloudcroft, New Mexico. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
Cloudcroft Municipal Schools is a school district headquartered in Cloudcroft, New Mexico. It includes Cloudcroft Elementary/Middle School and Cloudcroft High School.
