Back in the pine-sheltered mountains of southern New Mexico
is that gem of a ghost town--Pinos Altos. It lies six miles N.E. of
Silver City on State Highway 25 and was born in 1837 when
General Pedro Almendaris, a Mexican, found gold in Santo
Domingo Gulch. Convict laborers from the Santa Rita copper
mines dug the ore here that was mule-packed to smelters in
Mexico. Apache trouble became so bad that the Mexicans
abandoned the mines. Later, gold-fevered Americans came to
work with picks and gold pans.
By the 1860' s tents and cabins were everywhere; prospectors
were arriving on foot, burro-back and stagecoach. Placers were
going full blast and some miners panned as much as $15 a day
in gold. Soon mines like the Pacific, Adriatic and Bear Creek
boomed Pinos Altos into one big glory hole. Over $8,000,000
came from gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc.
The Apaches still worried Pinos Altos. One day 500 Indians
led by Cochise and Mangas Coloradas war-whooped into town
and broke up miners' camps and stole mining equipment. Miners
rushed in from nearby claims to battle the Apaches. A dozen
Indians were killed and the others rode off into the Mogollons .
Again and again the redskins attacked the town and each time
they were driven off. Finally, the miners and the Indians made a
pact. A large cross was erected on a hill north of town. As long as
the cross stayed on the hilltop there would be no killings. The
pact was never broken.
Pinos Altos had its noted men. Sam and Roy Bean opened a
store here before Roy became a judge and made Law West of
the Pecos famous. Later came the Hearsts to add to the family
wealth from the Pinos Altos mountains.
Today a paved road winds through this delightful settlement
pockmarked with old diggings. You'll see, next to the Catholic
church, the old cemetery with its historic headstones. Here are
the graves of the soldiers who died defending the town against
the 500 Apache Indians. You'll see the Watson store, an old-time
trading place where gold dust was exchanged for merchandise.
Fifty families live here, some in the original log cabins of those
bonanza days. In Pinos Altos you take your time to explore old
trails and roads leading into the magnificent mountain wilderness.
Roads traveled by burros that helped make men rich.