Elizabethtown, New Mexico

Last updated

Elizabethtown, New Mexico
Elizabethtown, New Mexico.jpg
USA New Mexico location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Elizabethtown
Location within the state of New Mexico
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Elizabethtown
Elizabethtown (the United States)
Coordinates: 36°37′09″N105°17′04″W / 36.61917°N 105.28444°W / 36.61917; -105.28444
Country United States
State New Mexico
County Colfax
Elevation
[1]
8,485 ft (2,586 m)
Time zone UTC-7 (Mountain (MST))
  Summer (DST) UTC-6 (MDT)
GNIS feature ID928727 [1]

Elizabethtown is an unincorporated community in Colfax County, New Mexico, United States. [1] It is located just off New Mexico State Road 38, between the communities of Eagle Nest and Red River. Elizabethtown is situated just east of the Carson National Forest. The community is a former mining town and lies northeast of Scully Mountain and west of Baldy Mountain.

Contents

History

Elizabethtown, mining relics, 1939 Elizabethtown, 1939.jpg
Elizabethtown, mining relics, 1939
Church at Elizabethtown (1943) Church Elizabethtown New Mexico.jpg
Church at Elizabethtown (1943)

Elizabethtown began in 1866 when miners began placer mining and founded hard rock mines like the Mystic Copper Mine. It was New Mexico's first incorporated town. The town was founded by the Captain William H. Moore, the commander of Fort Union, New Mexico (north of Las Vegas, New Mexico), and was named after his daughter, Elizabeth Catherine Moore. Nicknamed "E-Town," the town rapidly grew to from 1867 to 1879 during a regional gold rush. At its height of prosperity in 1869, Elizabethtown possibly had between 5,000 to 9,000 residents, making it the most populous place in New Mexico at the time, although the exact number is uncertain since no census was taken. In 1870, it was designated the first seat of the newly formed Colfax County. However, by 1872, the population had dwindled to about 100 residents as the gold rush subsided and the mines dwindled. Consequently, the county seat was moved to Cimarron.

The town was somewhat revived when the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad passed nearby in the early 1890s, making mining feasible once again. The village was also part of the Colfax County War. However, a fire in 1903 destroyed the majority of the wooden town. As the mines declined, the town population dwindled, and by 1917, few called the Town home.

Today, Elizabethtown consists of a small collection of ranch homes, built atop the once bustling city. Many of these homes are informal houses built over time with available materials. The only remnant of the original town is the stone wall of boarding house. Additionally, there is a large cemetery atop the hill, containing graves belonging to various individuals, primarily Hispanic.

Charles Kennedy

Serial killer Charles Kennedy lived between Elizabethtown and Taos, luring weary travelers to dine and stay with him at his cabin; he may have killed 14 or more people. [2] Kennedy was killed by a group of angry vigilantes, led by the notorious Clay Allison.

Major highways

See also

Flag of New Mexico.svg New Mexicoportal

Baldy Town, New Mexico

Eagle Nest, New Mexico

List of ghost towns in New Mexico

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leadville, Colorado</span> City in Colorado, United States

Leadville is a statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 2,633 at the 2020 census. It is situated at an elevation of 10,158 feet (3,096 m). Leadville is the highest incorporated city in the United States and is surrounded by two of the tallest peaks in the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amador County, California</span> County in California, United States

Amador County is a county located in the U.S. state of California, in the Sierra Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,474. The county seat is Jackson. Amador County, located within California's Gold Country, is known as "The Heart of the Mother Lode". There is a substantial viticultural industry in the county.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colfax County, New Mexico</span> County in New Mexico, United States

Colfax County is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,387. Its county seat is Raton. It is south from the Colorado state line. This county was named for Schuyler Colfax (1823–1885), seventeenth Vice President of the United States under U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silverton, Colorado</span> The only incorporated Town and county seat of San Juan County, Colorado, United States

Silverton is a statutory town that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only incorporated municipality in San Juan County, Colorado, United States. The town is located in a remote part of the western San Juan Mountains, a range of the Rocky Mountains. The first mining claims were made in mountains above the Silverton in 1860, near the end of the Colorado Gold Rush and when the land was still controlled by the Utes. Silverton was established shortly after the Utes ceded the region in the 1873 Brunot Agreement, and the town boomed from silver mining until the Panic of 1893 led to a collapse of the silver market, and boomed again from gold mining until the recession caused by the Panic of 1907. The entire town is included as a federally designated National Historic Landmark District, the Silverton Historic District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cimarron, New Mexico</span> Village in New Mexico, United States

Cimarron is a village in Colfax County, New Mexico, United States, which sits on the eastern slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The population was 792 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth most populous municipality in Colfax County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red River, New Mexico</span> Town in New Mexico, United States

Red River is a resort town in Taos County, New Mexico, US in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The population was 542 at the 2020 census. Red River is on the Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway, and is 36 miles (58 km) from Taos.

Eagle's Nest, The Eagle's Nest, Eagle Nest, Eagles Nest or Eaglenest may refer to a bird nest for eagles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gold Country</span> Historic gold-mining region in Northern California

The Gold Country is a historic region in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, that is primarily on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. It is famed for the mineral deposits and gold mines that attracted waves of immigrants, known as the 49ers, during the 1849 California Gold Rush.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dawson, New Mexico</span> Ghost town in New Mexico, United States

Dawson is a ghost town in Colfax County, New Mexico, United States. Dawson is located approximately 17 miles northeast of Cimarron, and was the site of two separate coal mining disasters in 1913 and 1923. In 1950, the mines were closed, and by 1954 the last residents had left and the post office closed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baldy Mountain (Colfax County, New Mexico)</span> Mountain peak in New Mexico, US

Baldy Mountain, Baldy Peak, Mount Baldy, or Old Baldy is the highest peak in the Cimarron Range, a subrange of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico. It is located in Colfax County, about 6 miles (10 km) northeast of Eagle Nest. It rises abruptly, with 3,640 feet (1,110 m) of vertical relief, from the Moreno Valley to the west and has a total elevation of 12,441 feet (3,792 m).

Sheep Ranch is an unincorporated community in Calaveras County, California. It lies at an elevation of 2359 feet.

Ute Park is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Colfax County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 71. It was formerly part of the Maxwell Land Grant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maxwell Land Grant</span>

The Maxwell Land Grant, also known as the Beaubien-Miranda Land Grant, was a 1,714,765-acre (6,939.41 km2) Mexican land grant in Colfax County, New Mexico, and part of adjoining Las Animas County, Colorado. This 1841 land grant was one of the largest contiguous private landholdings in the history of the United States. The New Mexico communities of Cimarron, Dawson, Elizabethtown, Baldy Town, Maxwell, Miami, Raton, Rayado, Springer, Ute Park and Vermejo Park came to be located within the grant, as well as numerous places that are now ghost towns.

Moore's Flat was a historic mining town located on the San Juan Ridge about 19 miles northeast of Nevada City, California and about 5 miles northeast of North Bloomfield, California. The town was about 1 mile south of the Middle Yuba at an elevation of about 4200 ft. On either side of it, lay the mining towns of Orleans Flat and Woolsey's Flat, each about I mile apart. All three were settled around 1851 and their histories frequently intertwine. Collectively, they are sometimes referred to as "The Flats." All three were part of Eureka Township.

Cherokee is a former gold mining community in Nevada County, California. The community has also been known as Patterson, Melrose, and Tyler. It is located on the San Juan Ridge about 4 miles east of North San Juan. Its elevation is 2,516 ft (767 m) above sea level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway</span>

The Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway is a New Mexico Scenic Byway and National Forest Scenic Byway located in Northern New Mexico. It begins and ends in Taos, New Mexico.

The French Henry mine is a gold and silver mine located on Baldy Mountain. The mine was in operation intermittently from 1870 to 1938. Part of the Baldy Mining District, the mine has changed ownership many times and is now owned by the Boy Scouts of America as a part of Philmont Scout Ranch. The French Henry is no longer operational.

The Baldy Mining District was one of the largest gold producing districts in New Mexico. Also sometimes known as the Elizabethtown Mining District, it encompasses Baldy Mountain. There is no longer any large scale mining. Most of the land is now owned by the Boy Scouts of America as a part of Philmont Scout Ranch. The Baldy Mining District is approximately 18,247 Acres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baldy Town, New Mexico</span> Mining Ghost Town

Baldy Town, New Mexico is a former mining town in the Baldy Mining District in Colfax County, New Mexico. Baldy Town was established in 1868, to service mining prospects on the East side of Baldy Mountain, notably the Aztec Mine. After Baldy Town's initial high profit boom from 1868 to 1870, Baldy Town suffered a series of booms and busts as investors and prospectors searched for profitable lodes. The town was originally a conglomerate of miner's homes and services in Ute Meadow. Then in 1886, Baldy Town's core was moved to a strip of services just above the Aztec Mill. The new town grew to accommodate hundreds of residents with a store, stables, saloons, boarding houses, a church, small school, and post office. In 1895, at the height of its population, Baldy Town was home to around 1,000 residents. Multiple ambitious and extensive expeditions were made from 1870 to 1936 to discover additional gold veins, but only a select few found substantial lodes. By 1941, Baldy Town had been deserted and a majority of its infrastructure sold. In 1963, the eastern half of Baldy Mountain, including former Baldy Town, was donated to the Boy Scouts of America by Norton Clapp. Today, Baldy Town operates as a staffed camp at Philmont Scout Ranch providing a living history program regarding mining as well as logistical support like food resupply for hikers

References

  1. 1 2 3 U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Elizabethtown, New Mexico
  2. Story of Charles Kennedy - at Legends of America