Mogollon, New Mexico
Encyclopedia
Mogollon, also called the Mogollon Historic District, is a former mining town located in the Mogollon Mountains
in Catron County
, New Mexico
, in the United States
. Located east of Glenwood
and Alma
, it was founded in the 1880s at the bottom of Silver Creek Canyon to support the gold
and silver
mines in the surrounding mountains. A mine called "Little Fannie" became the most important source of employment for the town's populus. During the 1890s Mogollon had a transient population of between 3,000 to 6,000 miners and, because of its isolation, had a reputation as one of the wildest mining towns in the West. Today Mogollon is listed as Fannie Hill Mill and Company Town Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places
.
In the 1870s, Sergeant James C. Cooney
of Fort Bayard found a rich strand of gold in the Gila Mountains near the future site of Mogollon.
A miner named John Eberle built the first cabin in Mogollon in 1889, after mines were developed in Silver Creek, which runs through the town. A jail and post office opened in 1890, and the first school was added in 1892. During this period of growth, Mogollon absorbed the population of nearby Cooney
, and helped towns like Glenwood
, Gila
and Cliff
grow because of their locations along the trail to the town. Between 1872 and 1873 the stagecoach
from Mogollon to Silver City
was robbed 23 times by the same assailant. He was eventually apprehended by agents of the Wells Fargo
.
Little Fanny was an extremely dusty mine. "Miner's consumption", a series of ailments affecting miners, caused miners to work at Little Fanny for three years or less. In response the owners developed a method of spraying water under pressure from the jackhammer
s as they broke the quartz
for removal from the mine thus reducing the dust in the air. In 1909, the population of Mogollon was about 2,000. That same year the town boasted five saloons, two restaurants, four merchandise stores, two hotels and several brothels located in two infamous red light districts. The town also had a photographer, the Midway Theatre an ice maker and a bakery. The Silver City
and Mogollon Stage Line
provided daily service, hauling passengers, freight, gold, and silver bullion eighty miles between the two towns in almost fifteen hours.
By 1915, payroll in Mogollon was $75,000 monthly. The community expanded to a population of fifteen hundred that year, with electricity, water, and telephone facilities. The school offered education to about three hundred students.
From early in its life, Mogollon was plagued by a series of fires and floods. The first big fire of 1894 wiped out most of the town buildings, which were made of wood. Fires followed in 1904, 1910, 1915, and 1942. Citizens usually immediately rebuilt, each time using more stone and adobe. Floods rushed through Silver Creek in 1894, 1896, 1899, and 1914. They washed away mine tailings, dumps, bridges, houses, and people.
During World War I, the demand for gold and silver dropped, and many of Mogollon's mines shut down. The population in 1930 had dropped to a reported two hundred. The town grew again during a short resurgence in gold value during the late 1930s, but during World War II
it shrank again, never recovering its stature.
In 1973, a spaghetti western
called My Name is Nobody
, starring Henry Fonda
, was filmed in Mogollon. A saloon and general store in town were built as part of the movie set.
Today the town is privately owned. The town is the location of several small businesses, including the Silver Creek Inn, which operates in a former bordering lodge called the Mogollon House built by Frank Lauderbaugh in 1885. The establishment is reportedly filled with ghost
s from the mining era.
The entire Mogollon community was added to the National Register of Historic Places
as Fannie Hill Mill and Company Town Historic District in 1987. It was cited for its industrial and architectural legacy from 1875 through 1949.
Several mines were built in the Mogollon-area, including the Little Fanny, Champion, McKinley, Pacific, and Deadwood. Together with older prospectors they extracted approximately one and a half million dollars of gold and silver in 1913, or about 40 per cent of New Mexico's precious metals for that year. In their lifetime, over eighteen million ounces of silver were taken from the mines of the Mogollon Mountains
, which was one-quarter of New Mexico
's total production. Close to twenty million dollars in gold and silver were extracted, with silver accounting for about two-thirds of the total. Many regarded Silver City as merely a railhead for Mogollon's eight-team freight wagons packed with gold and silver ore.
With the decline in precious metal values after World War I
, it was no longer profitable to continue operating the mines. The town grew again after a brief recovery in prices in 1937, but World War II again caused a slash in the demand for precious metals, and this, accompanied by the devastating fire of 1942, almost finished the town. In 1952 the Little Fanny was the only mine in operation; today it is shrouded in silence. When the Little Fanny mine closed down, Mogollon deteriorated.
Mogollon Mountains
The Mogollon Mountains or Mogollon Range are a mountain range east of the San Francisco River in Grant and Catron counties of southwestern New Mexico, between the communities of Reserve and Silver City. They extend roughly north-south for about 30 miles , and form part of the divide between the...
in Catron County
Catron County, New Mexico
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*89.8% White*0.4% Black*2.7% Native American*0.2% Asian*0.0% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.1% Two or more races*3.7% Other races*19.0% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Located east of Glenwood
Glenwood, New Mexico
Glenwood is an unincorporated community in Catron County, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1878 as Bush Ranch, today the town is home to approximately 300 residents. Located near the San Francisco River, Glenwood is 65 miles northwest of Silver City on U.S...
and Alma
Alma, New Mexico
Alma is an unincorporated community in Catron County, New Mexico, United States, north of Glenwood and south of Reserve.-History:Sergeant James C. Cooney laid out a town on site of Alma in the early 1870s, but left it undeveloped. The town was bought by a Captain Birney, who named it "Alma" for his...
, it was founded in the 1880s at the bottom of Silver Creek Canyon to support the gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
and silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
mines in the surrounding mountains. A mine called "Little Fannie" became the most important source of employment for the town's populus. During the 1890s Mogollon had a transient population of between 3,000 to 6,000 miners and, because of its isolation, had a reputation as one of the wildest mining towns in the West. Today Mogollon is listed as Fannie Hill Mill and Company Town Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
History
James C. Cooney
James C. Cooney was a Sergeant of the U.S. Army in the 8th U.S. Cavalry when he found large silver and gold reserves in the Mogollon Mountains of Catron County, New Mexico. He was transferred to Fort Bayard, near Silver City, New Mexico in 1870. While scouting for the 8th U.S. Cavalry north of...
of Fort Bayard found a rich strand of gold in the Gila Mountains near the future site of Mogollon.
A miner named John Eberle built the first cabin in Mogollon in 1889, after mines were developed in Silver Creek, which runs through the town. A jail and post office opened in 1890, and the first school was added in 1892. During this period of growth, Mogollon absorbed the population of nearby Cooney
Cooney, New Mexico
Cooney is a ghost town in Catron County, New Mexico, United States, east of Alma. Cooney was once home to gold and silver prospectors in the nearby Mogollon Mountains.-History:...
, and helped towns like Glenwood
Glenwood, New Mexico
Glenwood is an unincorporated community in Catron County, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1878 as Bush Ranch, today the town is home to approximately 300 residents. Located near the San Francisco River, Glenwood is 65 miles northwest of Silver City on U.S...
, Gila
Gila, New Mexico
Gila is an unincorporated town in Grant County, New Mexico, United States. It is 30 miles northwest to Silver City, New Mexico.-History:Gila and the nearby town of Cliff were settled in 1884. The area was and is primarily a ranching and farming community...
and Cliff
Cliff, New Mexico
Cliff is an unincorporated community in Grant County, New Mexico, United States.-History:Cliff and the nearby town of Gila were settled in 1884, in the Gila River Valley. The area was and is primarily a ranching and farming community...
grow because of their locations along the trail to the town. Between 1872 and 1873 the stagecoach
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...
from Mogollon to Silver City
Silver City, New Mexico
Silver City is a town in Grant County, New Mexico, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 10,545. It is the county seat of Grant County. The city is the home of Western New Mexico University.-History:...
was robbed 23 times by the same assailant. He was eventually apprehended by agents of the Wells Fargo
History of Wells Fargo
This article outlines the history of Wells Fargo & Company from its origins to its merger with Norwest and beyond. The new company chose to retain the name of "Wells Fargo" and so this article also includes the history after the merger.-Origins:...
.
Little Fanny was an extremely dusty mine. "Miner's consumption", a series of ailments affecting miners, caused miners to work at Little Fanny for three years or less. In response the owners developed a method of spraying water under pressure from the jackhammer
Jackhammer
A jackhammer is a pneumatic tool that combines a hammer directly with a chisel that was invented by Charles Brady King. Hand-held jackhammers are typically powered by compressed air, but some use electric motors. Larger jackhammers, such as rig mounted hammers used on construction machinery, are...
s as they broke the quartz
Quartz
Quartz is the second-most-abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO2. There are many different varieties of quartz,...
for removal from the mine thus reducing the dust in the air. In 1909, the population of Mogollon was about 2,000. That same year the town boasted five saloons, two restaurants, four merchandise stores, two hotels and several brothels located in two infamous red light districts. The town also had a photographer, the Midway Theatre an ice maker and a bakery. The Silver City
Silver City, New Mexico
Silver City is a town in Grant County, New Mexico, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 10,545. It is the county seat of Grant County. The city is the home of Western New Mexico University.-History:...
and Mogollon Stage Line
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...
provided daily service, hauling passengers, freight, gold, and silver bullion eighty miles between the two towns in almost fifteen hours.
By 1915, payroll in Mogollon was $75,000 monthly. The community expanded to a population of fifteen hundred that year, with electricity, water, and telephone facilities. The school offered education to about three hundred students.
From early in its life, Mogollon was plagued by a series of fires and floods. The first big fire of 1894 wiped out most of the town buildings, which were made of wood. Fires followed in 1904, 1910, 1915, and 1942. Citizens usually immediately rebuilt, each time using more stone and adobe. Floods rushed through Silver Creek in 1894, 1896, 1899, and 1914. They washed away mine tailings, dumps, bridges, houses, and people.
During World War I, the demand for gold and silver dropped, and many of Mogollon's mines shut down. The population in 1930 had dropped to a reported two hundred. The town grew again during a short resurgence in gold value during the late 1930s, but during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
it shrank again, never recovering its stature.
In 1973, a spaghetti western
Spaghetti Western
Spaghetti Western, also known as Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's unique and much copied film-making style and international box-office success, so named by American critics because most were produced and...
called My Name is Nobody
My Name Is Nobody
My Name is Nobody is a 1973 Spaghetti Western comedy film. The film was directed by Tonino Valerii and, in some scenes, by Sergio Leone. It was written by Leone, Fulvio Morsella and Ernesto Gastaldi. Leone was also the uncredited executive producer...
, starring Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
, was filmed in Mogollon. A saloon and general store in town were built as part of the movie set.
Today the town is privately owned. The town is the location of several small businesses, including the Silver Creek Inn, which operates in a former bordering lodge called the Mogollon House built by Frank Lauderbaugh in 1885. The establishment is reportedly filled with ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
s from the mining era.
Mogollon historic district
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
as Fannie Hill Mill and Company Town Historic District in 1987. It was cited for its industrial and architectural legacy from 1875 through 1949.
Several mines were built in the Mogollon-area, including the Little Fanny, Champion, McKinley, Pacific, and Deadwood. Together with older prospectors they extracted approximately one and a half million dollars of gold and silver in 1913, or about 40 per cent of New Mexico's precious metals for that year. In their lifetime, over eighteen million ounces of silver were taken from the mines of the Mogollon Mountains
Mogollon Mountains
The Mogollon Mountains or Mogollon Range are a mountain range east of the San Francisco River in Grant and Catron counties of southwestern New Mexico, between the communities of Reserve and Silver City. They extend roughly north-south for about 30 miles , and form part of the divide between the...
, which was one-quarter of New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
's total production. Close to twenty million dollars in gold and silver were extracted, with silver accounting for about two-thirds of the total. Many regarded Silver City as merely a railhead for Mogollon's eight-team freight wagons packed with gold and silver ore.
With the decline in precious metal values after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, it was no longer profitable to continue operating the mines. The town grew again after a brief recovery in prices in 1937, but World War II again caused a slash in the demand for precious metals, and this, accompanied by the devastating fire of 1942, almost finished the town. In 1952 the Little Fanny was the only mine in operation; today it is shrouded in silence. When the Little Fanny mine closed down, Mogollon deteriorated.
External links
- Uncle River's Mogollon News. A newsletter on happenings in the area between 1986 and 1994.
- Mogollon Enterprises, a company that preserves and operates several tourist and historic storefronts in Mogollon
- Photo gallery of Mogollon buildings