About the Area.

Cuchillo - named for nearby Cuchillo Negro (Black Knife) Creek, which in turn took its name from a local Apache chief, was settled by Hispanic farmers and ranchers in the 1850s. It became a stop for the stagecoach line and a resting place for travelers in the late 1800s, being midway between the railroad in Engle and the mines near Chloride and Winston.

The former stagecoach stop has housed a general store, bar, Post office, mercantile, barns, stagecoach repair shop and hotel. The building dates back to the beginning of the town's history. Old adobe structures and 1907's San Jose Catholic Church are also extant.

The annual Pecan Festival is held the last Saturday in February, offers pecan pies and candy, arts and crafts vendors, and entertainment. The proceeds benefit the New Mexico Boys and Girls Ranch.

Monticello - was established as Canada Alamosa (Cottonwood Canyon) in 1856 by farmers from early villages along the Rio Grande searching for new and fertile farmland. It was close to the Warm Springs Apache territory, with whom the early settlers of this community learned to trade; then, as headquarters for the Southern Apache Agency, the town was actually home to 500 Apaches in 1870.

In 1881, the first postmaster - Aristide Borguet - renamed the community Monticello for reasons that just aren't clear.

The town is laid out in traditional Spanish style, with a church, stores and businesses surrounding a central plaza. The outer walls of the perimeter buildings were thick adobe with gunsight holes for defense, and remains of the old adobe town walls are still visible.

Today the plaza is a small community park, and 1867's San Ignacio Catholic Church still stands sentinel on the north side, where it's used regularly. The old cemetery, with graves dating back to the 1700s, is nearby as well. There are no stores or facilities available, and all buildings are on private property.

Chloride - was founded in 1879 after silver chloride ore was discovered nearby. By late 1881, the city boasted eight saloons, three general stores, restaurants, butcher shops, at least one brothel (and probably more), a newsstand, candy store, lawyer, doctor, Chinese laundry, lumber yard, assay office, boarding house, school, livery stable, two hotels, stage line, and a population of about three thousand.

Winston - was first settled in 1881 under the name Fairview. By 1884, the town boasted a population of over three thousand served by a hotel, meat market, saloons, horse races, mercantile, drug store, physician, sawmill, two freighters, school, stagecoach, and plays performed at Cloudman Hall (named for the local butcher).

The town's name was changed to Winston in 1930 to honor pioneer resident Frank Winston, who made good as a miner, business leader, and state legislator - and won the hearts of the local people when, as a business owner, he extended credit to them in hard times.

Today, this community of miners, ranchers and retirees offers a small general store, post office, bar, and bed-and-breakfast / cafe. Frank Winston's home and carriage house still stand, along with an 1890 schoolhouse, old post office, and chapel in this beautiful valley.

A community fiesta is held the third Saturday in April featuring a parade, barbecue, flea market, cow-chip poker and a dance. A fall festival on the last Saturday in September has contests reminiscent of early mining days. Picnic tables are available at the Winston Community Center Park any time of year.

Gila National Forest - is one of the nation's largest (approximately 3.3 million acres, nearly one-fourth of which is set aside as designated wilderness) and most scenic year-round recreation and natural areas. It contains more federal land than any other national forest outside Alaska, providing a diverse, accessible landscape offering wide-ranging recreational experiences including hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, wildlife viewing, hunting, almost 500 miles worth of fishing streams, camping, backpacking, rock climbing, and jeeping.

Twenty campgrounds are available in the national forest; seven with drinking water and toilets. With few exceptions, visitors can roam the woods at will, wrapped in a cloak of peace and quiet.

Abundant wildlife includes elk, deer, antelope, black bear, mountain lion, big horn sheep, javelina, wild turkey, hawks (including red-tailed hawks), eagles (including bald eagles), cranes, and songbirds. Some species occur nowhere else in New Mexico. A comprehensive pamphlet titled "Fish, Amphibians, Reptiles and Mammals... A Species Checklist for the Gila National Forest" is available at the Ranger Station in Truth or Consequences. 30 fish species, 11 amphibians, 44 reptiles and 81 mammals are identified. Another pamphlet titled "Birds of the Gila National Forest" is also available, listing 166 species known to breed in the Gila, 114 others that are more or less regular non-breeders, and 57 species considered to be casual (recorded 3-5 times) or accidental (recorded but once or twice). Altogether, there are 453 species of vertebrates to be found in the Gila, including 35 sensitive, threatened, or endangered species.

This topographically rugged area, with elevations ranging from 4,200 to 10,900 feet that cover four distinct life zones, was part of the traditional hunting and gathering land for the Warm Springs Apache, but - as will become evident during your travels - created an impressive barrier to early American settlement. The area includes the convergence of the southern Rocky and northern Sierra Madre mountain systems, covered with forests of spruce, fir, ponderosa, aspen, juniper and pinon. Lower elevations witness an overlap of the Chihuahuan and Sonoran desert ecosystems supporting ocatilla and other cacti.
Note that the legislated wilderness areas within the Gila National Forest - the Gila Wilderness and the Aldo Leopold Wilderness - are restricted to foot or horseback travel. The 1964 Wilderness Act states that a wilderness is "an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain."

This undeveloped natural country can refresh the human spirit simply by its grandeur, purity, and remoteness. An extensive system of trails offers pleasant hikes through cool forested mountains or along shady streams. Backpackers will find plenty of beautiful, wild, rugged, and remote country for long trips in quiet solitude. Day hikers will find good trails and many opportunities for pleasant explorations and wildlife viewing.

The Gila Wilderness encompasses 558,065 acres: the first wilderness designated by act of Congress (1924), and still the largest. The Aldo Leopold Wilderness is another vast wilderness (202,016 acres) along the Continental Divide, named for the early naturalist who encouraged preservation of wildlands.

Of the many wilderness trails, the most popular are in the Gila Wilderness between the Middle Fork of the Gila River and the southwestern rim of the Mogollon Mountain Range. Since this area contains more water and high mountains than other parts of the forest, visitor use is heavier. There are, however, many trails throughout the forest that are as wild and lonesome in character as those in designated wilderness.

Truth or Consequences - Long before the area of Truth or Consequences, NM was settled by white people, this was considered intertribal neutral ground by Southwestern Indians who came here to relax, heal, and trade news.

History being what it is, by 1882 the town of Palomas Hot Springs (which was later shortened to Hot Springs) was bustling around the site.

Today, this growing community of over 7000 residents on the banks of the Rio Grande is considered a recreational paradise with a year-round mild climate and a friendly atmosphere offering two museums, golf, tennis, bowling, several municipal parks for picnicking and recreation, a municipal airport, conference and convention facilities for group gatherings, many hotel and motel accommodations, and - of course - the healthful and invigorating hot mineral springs and bath houses.

The entire downtown business district floats on a thick layer of sand and quicksand, which, in turn, covers a huge pool of 110-degree-Fahrenheit mineral water which comes to the surface through wells and pools. Most of the historic spas were built in the 1930s, and renovated in more recent times. They continue to provide warmth, comfort, stress relief and ease of muscle pain to residents and visitors alike.

Hillsboro became the seat of Sierra County in 1884, a distinction that was subsequently given to Hot Springs in 1938 (twelve years before that city changed its name to Truth or Consequences). There were stores, a public school, churches, hotels, restaurants, saloons, a bank, newspaper, an assay office, three stamp mills, and many other businesses.

Today Hillsboro is a well-known community of writers, artists, ranchers and miners. This picturesque tree-lined village features the must-see Black Range Museum stuffed with artifacts dating from 1875-1900... the 120-year-old General Store (now operating as a restaurant)... two churches, a post office, lodging accommodations, shops, art galleries, a small grocery store... and remnants of a former glory.

Kingston - was a silver mining boom town - at one time, the largest settlement in the territory, with a population of 7000 people. It was also one of the wildest towns in the Wild West.

Jack Sheddon's discovery of a rich lode of silver ore at the Solitaire Mine in 1882 marked the beginnings of a city that quickly boasted a bank, 22 saloons, 14 groceries, 3 hotels, 3 newspapers, a brewery, gambling halls, a British madam (Sadie Orchard) with a brothel on Virtue Avenue, and an opera house where Lillian Russell's troupe once performed. It has a wild history and was visited by many of the colorful and notorious figures of the day; one of its resident wits (Sheba Hurst) was immortalized by Mark Twain in his novel Roughing It.

Several bad fires and the ravages of time have greatly reduced the number Kingston's historic buildings. Today Kingston is a quiet village of about 30 creative residents nestled in the majestic Black Range Mountains. Lodging, the Percha Valley Bank Museum of mining artifacts and antiques (open by appointment only), and a couple unique shops are offered. The large cemetery outside of town is still in use, and contains a large monument to a revolutionary war soldier buried there in an unmarked grave. The Spit & Whittle Club, the nation's oldest continuously-active social club, dates to 1888... and they're still meeting in the old schoolhouse.

Photographers and landscape painters should plan to spend some time in this gateway to the Gila National Forest. Hiking, mountain biking, and camping are also popular.

Williamsburg - The town of Williamsburg, New Mexico blends seamlessly with Truth or Consequences; it's easy to think that they're the same city.

Named after its first mayor, Dr. T. B. Williams, Williamsburg has always been in the shadow of T or C. When the residents of that larger city voted to change from the name Hot Springs to Truth or Consequences, the residents of Williamsburg voted to change the name of their town to Hot Springs. Nine years later they reconsidered, and restored the original name. Still, it's funny and a bit telling.

A disastrous flood in 1976 prompted construction of the Powey Mud Springs Canyon Dam in 1980. Its unusual washboard-like face, designed to impede the flow of floodwater and debris, is visible on the other side of I25 from much of Williamsburg. You can visit the dam by following Cooke Street west of town two miles.

Williamsburg offers additional stores and services to travelers including a community park with basketball, tennis, and picnic shelters with tables.

Engle- founded in 1879 as a station on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, became a thriving railhead. Construction of nearby Elephant Butte Dam from 1911- 16 raised the population when a spur line was built to haul supplies. An early resident of Engle was Eugene Manlove Rhodes, a well-known writer of western novels in the early 1900s.

Today, freight trains pass through Engle without stopping. Only a few people and three buildings remain; the school is still in use as a community center and church for residents of the ranches in the surrounding area.

Running nearly parallel to the railroad is the original Camino Real, the Royal Road from Mexico City to Santa Fe. Established in 1598, the road was used for hundreds of years as caravans made their way north or south with trade goods, livestock and settlers. This section of the route was called Jornada del Muerto (Journey of The Dead). Heat, lack of water and frequent Indian attacks escalated the use of the name for this area. A historic marker indicates the Jornada.

Lake Valley - named in 1878 for ancient lake beds nearby, was a silver mining town with a heyday population of over 4000 people... along with stamp mills, crushers, smelters, assay offices, 12 saloons, three churches, hotels, stores, a school, and two newspapers - but not until after 1882, when the town moved to its third and final location after the Bridal Chamber Mine was discovered. This mine produced 2.5 million ounces of silver ore so pure that it was shipped unsmelted to the mint. Over three million dollars worth of silver were eventually mined in the area.

The 1893 silver panic wiped out the town, and a fire destroyed Main Street in 1895. Now there are a few vacant buildings, including a chapel, on private property. The cemetery is across the street from town.

The 1904 schoolhouse, maintained by the Bureau of Land Management, has been restored and is open to the public. A resident caretaker is available to answer questions about the area, and walking tours of the old town site and cemetery are offered.