Geronimo Trails & Ghost Towns -2

It seems so dark in the mornings now since DST began, especially since we’ve changed time zones. We didn’t drag ourselves from bed till 0700 and the sun still wasn’t quite up. It was cold during the night (38F), but with the electric heater, cassette toilet and the ability to brew fresh coffee, it was easy to dawdle inside Blanche till the sun started warming the day. We finally managed to get our act together and head out on Day 2 of our ghost town visits. Yesterday’s tour was pleasant enough, but other than Chloride, not very exciting. We were hoping for a bit more today and we found it.

We headed out on NM152. There were two towns we wanted to see, Kingston and Hillsboro, and a third, Lake Valley, that was 18 miles out of the way and only rated a ‘maybe’ on our list. 

Kingston, the furthest out on NM 152 was our fist stop. This old silver mining town of the 1880s was described in the brochure as having ‘a wild and wooly reputation’ but considered the ‘Gem of the Black Range’. The silver strikes were so rich and so many miners flocked to the area that by 1890 an official census showed the town to be the largest city in the New Mexico Territory… population 7,000. 

The old Percha Bank is now a museum and art gallery and the old schoolhouse is a museum as well. Both have infrequent hours and were closed during our visit. 

The town boasted 22 saloons, 14 stores, 3 newspapers, hotels, boarding houses and an Opera House. Sadie Orchard, a British emigrant, was a well-known madam who, along with her ‘retinue’, serviced the mining towns. Her first brothel was here in Kingston… on Virtue Avenue, no less. The brothel is no longer there, but the street sign is.

According to the town history, the bell is front of the fire station cast in 1887 by the L.M. Ramsey Mfg. Co., St. Louis, MO is made from the ore of local mines.

There aren’t many buildings actually still standing in town but we enjoyed viewing what there was and reading about their history. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and gang were evidently frequent visitors as was Lillian Russell and Mark Twain. None were in residence when we arrived.

Some other trivia about Kingston? Formed in the 1880s, the Spit and Whittle Club, as noted on the Kingston welcome sign, claims to be one of the oldest continuously operating social clubs in the western USA.

It was lunch time as we left Kingston and we found a cute little BLM rest area right outside of town. This area is part of the Gila National Forest and was quite pleasant including two campsites, complete with picnic tables, fire rings and vault toilets. A small trail led across stepping stones over a stream then up the hillside, providing a quick little mid-day trek after lunch.

We backtracked to Hillsboro which had its heyday back in the 1880s as well. In fact, it was the county seat back in 1884 before Sierra County moved it to Hot Springs (Truth or Consequences). The main street features a museum, an old general store and several old buildings… all of which were… yup, you guessed it… closed. 

The remains of the old courthouse and jail were interesting to explore.

We debated whether to do the 36-mile round trip to Lake Valley and finally decided why not? To our surprise, Lake Valley was actually a ghost town! Managed by the BLM, the town is totally deserted, but the BLM provides not only a self-guided walking tour brochure, but info signs and a museum as well.

Lizard Mountain is the backdrop for the town and certainly does resemble a lizard.

We began the walking tour and visited the BLM restored chapel first. David felt very comfortable behind the pulpit, did a reading and then provided a short sermon. ZZZZZZZ

We peeked in several old decrepit buildings, some with obvious uses and old abandoned mining equipment inside, others like the one above were used for supplies and livery.

Old mine shafts still dot the hillside as seen in the photo below. The big discovery was the Bridal Chamber mine in 1882. According to the BLM brochure, “Silver ore was found just 40’ from the surface. A single piece of silver from the mine was displayed at the World Exposition in Denver in 1882. It was valued at $7,000 at a time when silver was selling for about $1/ounce.” When the US currency standard switched from silver to gold in 1893, the price of silver dropped by over 90%.

The old adobe Schoolhouse (1904) also restored by the BLM, offers a little insight into rural schooling in the early 20th century as well as providing lots of old photos and history of the local mining communities.

Remember Sadie Orchard, the well-known madam from Kingston. Well, here she is. She not only ran the bordellos, she also owned and operated the local stagecoach line. I need to learn more about Sadie… she was quite the woman.

The old stone store is in remarkably good condition and has changed uses several times since it was built. In 1893, it was listed as a school; in 1902, it was a saloon. Later, it was a general store and gas station.

An old safe is all that is left from the bank and assay office. If the silver crash of 1893 didn’t devastate the town enough, a fire in 1895 totally leveled the main street. The last residents of Lake Valley were Pedro and Savina Martinez who left in 1994. Mr. Martinez had lived there for 90 years.

We concluded the walking tour then drove across the highway. High on a hill was the local cemetery overlooking the town below. Many gravesites were only piles of rocks. Some had wooden signs, long ago rotted and eroded by weather. The oldest we saw were dated 1884 and the stonework and engraving had endured. Jesse Stanley was only 16 months old when he died. A.G. Sherman, someone’s mom, also died in 1884 at age 42. Her memory and a lasting monument has survived in a very lonely place.

We inadvertently did save the best for last. Lake Valley was definitely worth the drive. Back to the campsite. We need to move tomorrow. Stay tuned… we’re just getting started on our Wild West Tour.