Old "E"-Town, as it is sometimes called, lies upon barren
hillsides overlooking the rich Moreno valley. You have to look
hard to find what's left of Elizabethtown after you see the few
stone buildings still standing. They and the cemetery are the
only remnants of this gold mining town where 7000 people once
lived.
The Moreno gold fields reached far out into the vast Maxwell
land grant to explode "E"-Town into existence. Nearly every
treasure-filled creek and mountainside had its hydraulic mining
operations. Then in 1901 came that famous dredge the
Eleanor-- a fabulous piece of machinery that revolutionized the
mining industry here.
Fortunes were quickly made and lost and made again, until the
gold was gone and the mining era ended. And the abandoned
Eleanor squatted in her sandy river bed until the weather-filled
years reduced her to a derelict. If you look carefully you'll find
parts of her still buried in the now nearly-dry Moreno River.
Wild and giddy "E"-Town had her crimes and her outlaws as well
as her law-abiding citizens. Desperados with such colorful names
as Coal Oil Jimmy, "Long" Taylor who was six feet seven and
Pony O'Neil all stayed here.
But the worst character in all this mountain country was Charles
Kennedy. He kept a traveller's rest, just out of town on the Taos
road. It was a house of horrors to all who stayed there. Guests
disappeared mysteriously. What happened was finally brought
out when Kennedy's mistreated wife rushed into town for help.
Kennedy, was for the third time, killing another child of his. When
help arrived the murderer was burning the bones of several of
his victims. Officers found other skeletons buried under the floor.
Enraged citizens, fearing that justice would not be done,
snatched the killer from the lawmen. They put a rope around
Kennedy's neck and dragged him through the streets, choking
him to death.
Elizabethtown is on State Highway 38, five miles northwest of the
resort town of Eagle Nest where you'll find good accommo-
dations.
hillsides overlooking the rich Moreno valley. You have to look
hard to find what's left of Elizabethtown after you see the few
stone buildings still standing. They and the cemetery are the
only remnants of this gold mining town where 7000 people once
lived.
The Moreno gold fields reached far out into the vast Maxwell
land grant to explode "E"-Town into existence. Nearly every
treasure-filled creek and mountainside had its hydraulic mining
operations. Then in 1901 came that famous dredge the
Eleanor-- a fabulous piece of machinery that revolutionized the
mining industry here.
Fortunes were quickly made and lost and made again, until the
gold was gone and the mining era ended. And the abandoned
Eleanor squatted in her sandy river bed until the weather-filled
years reduced her to a derelict. If you look carefully you'll find
parts of her still buried in the now nearly-dry Moreno River.
Wild and giddy "E"-Town had her crimes and her outlaws as well
as her law-abiding citizens. Desperados with such colorful names
as Coal Oil Jimmy, "Long" Taylor who was six feet seven and
Pony O'Neil all stayed here.
But the worst character in all this mountain country was Charles
Kennedy. He kept a traveller's rest, just out of town on the Taos
road. It was a house of horrors to all who stayed there. Guests
disappeared mysteriously. What happened was finally brought
out when Kennedy's mistreated wife rushed into town for help.
Kennedy, was for the third time, killing another child of his. When
help arrived the murderer was burning the bones of several of
his victims. Officers found other skeletons buried under the floor.
Enraged citizens, fearing that justice would not be done,
snatched the killer from the lawmen. They put a rope around
Kennedy's neck and dragged him through the streets, choking
him to death.
Elizabethtown is on State Highway 38, five miles northwest of the
resort town of Eagle Nest where you'll find good accommo-
dations.
| ELIZABETHTOWN |