If you are like most people who come to New Mexico for the first time you probably checked out the New Mexico travel website newmexico.org and decided to bypass the southern part of the state and head to the Santa Fe/Albuquerque area. Don't feel bad, that's what the Spanish, the first non-Indian visitors to New Mexico did as well. They preferred the more hospitable northern sections of the state and for good reason. The part of their trip taking them through what is now known as Sierra County was known as the Jornado del Muerto or Journey of Death. It was a 90 mile water-less shortcut through the desert to avoid a westerly bend in the Rio Grande avoided by travelers because of it's deep arroyos, canyons and treacherous quicksand.
As the Spanish continued their expansion from Mexico into what is now known as New Mexico, settlements developed along the southern Rio Grande, but the forbidding Black Range remained unsettled and the homeland of the Warm Springs Apache, en.wikipedia.org/Chiricahua. This area where Hillsboro is located stayed largely off limits until the Mexican American War in 1846 when Lt. William H Emory led a small topographical party across the Black Range to the Mimbres Valley and on to California. The 8400' pass above Hillsboro is named after him. The story of Emory's travel through Mexico and on to California can be found at history.army.mil/books/mexico/topo/Ch3.htm.
It wasn't until 1877, when the Percha Creek ore samples of prospectors Dave Stitzel, Daniel Dugan and Joe Yankee are assayed to reveal a an amazing rich lode that things began to change. The hills around the Percha creek are touched with the magic of gold and a boom town is born. Names are drawn from a hat and Hillsborough becomes the first point of an legendary mining triad. The sister towns are silver rich Kingston and Lake Valley (vivanewmexico.com/ghosts) whose Bridal Chamber mine boasts the purest silver ever mined.
It's not long before the miners are joined by another kind of entrepreneur pursuing a different kind of fortune. The small tent city of Hillsborough, now shortened to Hillsboro explodes and soon has its share of saloons, bordellos, banks and assorted stores including a general merchantile. The store which later became the Miller Drugstore sees the town through boom and bust. It is the hub of activity, being a stage stop, refuge from Indian raids, post office, bank, telegraph office, soda fountain and the original phone company. A devestating flood destroys the main brick building in 1914, but business continues in what was the attached adobe storeroom. Today it is still the hub of community activity and known as the General Store Cafe.
Today the towns of Hillsboro and Kingston have become a refuge for artists, writers and retirees drawn to beauty and the solitude of the Black Range. A locally maintained website, blackrange.org catalogues the flora, fauna and opinions of the stubbornly independent people who make the Black Range today. They are joined by modern entrepreneurs including the blackrangevineyards.com and the blackrangelodge.com in Kingston.
As the Spanish continued their expansion from Mexico into what is now known as New Mexico, settlements developed along the southern Rio Grande, but the forbidding Black Range remained unsettled and the homeland of the Warm Springs Apache, en.wikipedia.org/Chiricahua. This area where Hillsboro is located stayed largely off limits until the Mexican American War in 1846 when Lt. William H Emory led a small topographical party across the Black Range to the Mimbres Valley and on to California. The 8400' pass above Hillsboro is named after him. The story of Emory's travel through Mexico and on to California can be found at history.army.mil/books/mexico/topo/Ch3.htm.
It wasn't until 1877, when the Percha Creek ore samples of prospectors Dave Stitzel, Daniel Dugan and Joe Yankee are assayed to reveal a an amazing rich lode that things began to change. The hills around the Percha creek are touched with the magic of gold and a boom town is born. Names are drawn from a hat and Hillsborough becomes the first point of an legendary mining triad. The sister towns are silver rich Kingston and Lake Valley (vivanewmexico.com/ghosts) whose Bridal Chamber mine boasts the purest silver ever mined.
It's not long before the miners are joined by another kind of entrepreneur pursuing a different kind of fortune. The small tent city of Hillsborough, now shortened to Hillsboro explodes and soon has its share of saloons, bordellos, banks and assorted stores including a general merchantile. The store which later became the Miller Drugstore sees the town through boom and bust. It is the hub of activity, being a stage stop, refuge from Indian raids, post office, bank, telegraph office, soda fountain and the original phone company. A devestating flood destroys the main brick building in 1914, but business continues in what was the attached adobe storeroom. Today it is still the hub of community activity and known as the General Store Cafe.
Today the towns of Hillsboro and Kingston have become a refuge for artists, writers and retirees drawn to beauty and the solitude of the Black Range. A locally maintained website, blackrange.org catalogues the flora, fauna and opinions of the stubbornly independent people who make the Black Range today. They are joined by modern entrepreneurs including the blackrangevineyards.com and the blackrangelodge.com in Kingston.
