_The_ PINOS ALTOS STORY _By Dorothy Watson_ First Printing July, 1960 Second Printing August, 1960 Third Printing September, 1960 This Printing April, 1970 Printed by The Silver City Enterprise Silver City, New Mexico Contents Page The Pinos Altos Story 3 Early History 5 80’s And 90’s 13 The 1900’s 18 Schools 24 Churches 27 Mines And Mining 29 The Family 35 TODAY 37 Acknowledgements 38 Photographs 41 The Pinos Altos Story Pinos Altos, the oldest Anglo settlement in Grant County, is a small town in southwestern New Mexico. It lies across the Continental Divide at an altitude of just over 7000 feet, between the Diablo Range to the north and east and the Pinos Altos Mountains to the south and west. Bear Creek begins in the Pinos Altos Mountains and flowing north divides the town, joining the Gila River near the town of Gila, twenty miles away as the crow flies. Whiskey Creek has its source in the Diablos, skirts the town on the east and by devious means finds its way to the Rio Grande. It is in a transitional zone where Ponderosa pine and junipers, pinon and scrub oak meet. There was a time when the site was covered with tall pines, when springs bubbled to the surface, and the arroyos ran with water. Ruins of pit houses and the number of shards and artifacts found in the vicinity indicate that a prehistoric people lived here before the coming of the white man. In the archives of the Mexican Government in Chihuahua, it is said, there are records of the discovery of gold in the Pinos Altos Mountains by General Pedro Almendaris, a commandant at Santa Rita, and of shipments of gold received there from San Domingo Creek in 1837. The laborers at Santa Rita were convicts for the most part and a small garrison of soldiers was stationed there to guard the convicts and also to protect them from the Indians. No doubt in the performance of their duties they scouted this far afield.