Hidalgo County is the southernmost county of the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,178. The county seat and largest city is Lordsburg. A bill creating Hidalgo from the southern part of Grant County was passed on February 25, 1919, taking effect at the beginning of 1920. The county was named for the town north of Mexico City where the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, which in turn was named for Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, the priest who is known as the "Father of Mexican Independence." The county is located on the Mexico–United States border.
Playas is a census-designated place (CDP) in Hidalgo County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 74.
Skeleton Canyon, called Cañon Bonita by the Mexicans, is located 30 miles (50 km) northeast of the town of Douglas, Arizona, in the Peloncillo Mountains, which straddle the modern Arizona and New Mexico state line, in the New Mexico Bootheel region.
Malpai Borderlands is a region, or areal feature, along the U.S.-Mexico border at the Arizona and New Mexico state line. It encompasses the extreme southeast corner of Arizona and the southwest corner of New Mexico describe the general vicinity. It includes areas inside the U.S. states of Arizona and New Mexico as well as the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora.
The Bonaparte Indian Band a.k.a. Bonaparte First Nation, is a member band of the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council of the Secwepemc (Shuswap) people.
The Animas Mountains are a small mountain range in Hidalgo County, within the "Boot-Heel" region of far southwestern New Mexico, in the United States. They extend north–south for about 30 miles (50 km) along the Continental Divide, from near the town of Animas to a few miles north of the border with Mexico. The range is about 12 miles (20 km) wide at its widest. The highest point of the range is the southern summit of the mile-long Animas Peak massif, 8,565 feet (2,611 m). The Animas Mountains lie between the Animas Valley on the west and the Playas Valley on the east. Nearby ranges include the Peloncillo Mountains, across the Animas Valley, and the Big Hatchet and Little Hatchet Mountains, across the Playas Valley. Physiographically, the range divides into two parts. The compact southern part, which includes Animas Peak, is higher and wider, rising up to 4,000 ft above the nearby valleys. It has a sky island character, with dense coniferous forests at the higher elevations. The longer, narrow northern portion is lower, reaching only 7,310 ft at Gillespie Peak, and is characterized by grassland and piñon-juniper woods and shrubs. The Animas Mountains lie near the Chihuahuan Desert, the Sonoran Desert, the Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico, and the mountains surrounding the headwaters of the Gila River. Biotic influences from these regions, as well as the more distant Rocky Mountains, give the southern portion of the range a great diversity of species, including "approximately 130 species of birds, 60 species of mammals, and 40 species of reptiles."
State Road 9 (NM 9) is a 109.154-mile-long (175.666 km) state road in the U.S. state of New Mexico. The highway spans Hidalgo, Grant, and Luna counties from its western terminus at NM 80 to its eastern terminus at CR A003 at the Doña Ana county line. NM 9 and NM 338 are the only remaining New Mexico State Roads to form a concurrency.
Antelope Wells is a small unincorporated community in Hidalgo County, New Mexico, United States. The community is located along the Mexico-United States border, in the New Mexico Bootheel region, located across the border from the small settlement of El Berrendo, Chihuahua, Mexico.
The Peloncillo Mountains of Hidalgo County,, is a major 35-mile (56 km) long mountain range southwest of New Mexico's Hidalgo County, and also part of the New Mexico Bootheel region. The range continues to the northwest into Arizona as the Peloncillo Mountains of Cochise County, Arizona. The extreme southwest corner of the range also lies in Arizona. It is a linear range bordering the linear San Bernardino Valley of southeast Cochise County, Arizona.
The Little Burro Mountains are a short 15 mi (24 km) long mountain range located in Grant County, New Mexico. The range lies adjacent to the southeast border of the larger Big Burro Mountains. The Little Burro Mountains are located 8 mi southwest of Silver City. State Road 90 from Silver City skirts the southern perimeter of the range on its route to Lordsburg.
The Playas Valley is a lengthy and narrow 60-mi (97-km) long, valley located in Hidalgo County, New Mexico in the Bootheel Region; the extreme south of the valley lies in Chihuahua. Playas, New Mexico is located in the northeast. The valley is noteworthy for the Playas Lake, a dry lake in the north.
The Cedar Mountain Range is a short 20 mi (32 km) long, mountain range in southwest Luna County, New Mexico, USA, just north of the Mexico–United States border with Chihuahua.
The Pyramid Mountains are a 30 mi (48 km) long, mountain range in central-east Hidalgo County, New Mexico. The city of Lordsburg and Interstate 10 lie at its northern border.
The Alamo Hueco Mountains are a 15-mile (24 km) long mountain range, located in the southeast of the New Mexico Bootheel region, southeast Hidalgo County, New Mexico, adjacent to the border of Chihuahua state, Mexico. The range lies near the southern end of the mountains bordering the extensive north–south Playas Valley; the Little Hatchet and Big Hatchet Mountains are adjacent, and mostly attached north; the mountain range series, ends south into the flatland plains of the Chihuahuan Desert. The much smaller Dog Mountains are adjacent south.
The Big Burro Mountains are a moderate length 35-mile (56 km) long, mountain range located in central Grant County, New Mexico. The range's northwest-southeast 'ridgeline' is located 15 mi southwest of Silver City.
The Animas Valley is a lengthy and narrow north–south valley 85 miles long, located in western Hidalgo County, New Mexico in the Bootheel Region; the extreme south of the valley lies in Sonora-Chihuahua, in the extreme north-west of the Chihuahuan Desert, the large desert region of the north-central Mexican Plateau and the Rio Grande valley and river system.
The Hachita Valley,, is a small valley in southwest New Mexico. The valley is in the east of the New Mexico Bootheel region and borders Chihuahua state, Mexico. Hachita, New Mexico lies in the valley's northeast, where New Mexico State Road 9 traverses east-west across much of southern New Mexico. The large, and extensive north-south Playas Valley borders to the west on the other side of the west perimeter mountain ranges.
The Antelope Wells Port of Entry is an international border crossing between Antelope Wells, New Mexico, United States, and El Berrendo, Chihuahua, Mexico. It is one of three border crossings into New Mexico, along with the Columbus Port of Entry and the Santa Teresa Port of Entry, and by far the most remote, located in the sparsely populated New Mexico Bootheel. The nearest towns, Janos, Chihuahua and Hachita, New Mexico, are both approximately 45 miles (72 km) away. The crossing is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mountain Time and is staffed by a single U.S. Customs and Border Protection employee. The port of entry was temporarily closed on April 18, 2020 due to travel restrictions between the United States and Mexico due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The port reopened on November 29, 2021.
Whitmire Spring is a spring in Hidalgo County, New Mexico. Correctly named on the Playas Lake South U. S. topographic map, it is mistakenly called Whitmore Spring on the U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System. The spring was named after J. B. Whitmire, a rancher in the 1880s, owner of the Whitmire Ranch. Whitmire Spring lies at an elevation of 4,291 feet / 1,308 meters, on the west shore of Playas Lake, near the site of the Whitmire Ranch. Whitmire Spring is one of a number of springs and seeps bordering the western edge of Playas Lake. Its water has its source in the Animas Mountains nearby to the west.
Whitmire Pass is a gap in the Animas Mountains in Hidalgo County, New Mexico. It lies at an elevation of 4,977 feet . The pass was named after J. B. Whitmire, a rancher in the 1880s, owner of the Whitmire Ranch that lies to the east of the pass, on the west shore of Playas Lake, nearby Whitmire Spring. Whitmire Creek flows from the west slope of the pass, into Animas Creek in the Animas Valley. Another unnamed arroyo runs eastward down into the Playas Valley, toward Playas Lake at Whitmire Spring.
