FIND LOTS OF BIG SKY AND OPEN SPACE ALONG OLD US 60
US HIGHWAY 60
SAILING THE OCEAN-TO-OCEAN HIGHWAY TO THE PIEWAY
The first transcontinental highway, from Virginia Beach, Virginia, to Los Angeles, California, was begun in 1912 and not completely paved until 1947. This road began well before Route 66; it followed an old wagon road from Springerville, Arizona, to Socorro. Today’s US 60 basically follows the same configuration. Unlike Route 66, it was never realigned. It remains the slow road two-lane through New Mexico going east to west, with a 65-mph speed limit, no billboards, no chain restaurants, and no chain motels. This is a journey through several of New Mexico’s parallel universes: the Old West, the high-tech scientific world, the world of the arts, and the world that was opened up by the railroad. If instead of heading west, you turned east, taking off from I-25, you would pass through many miles of “big empty,” ancient Spanish mission ruins (see Chapter 9), the salt lakes east of Willard, and farming communities devastated by the drought after drought brought by 20th century climate change. Continuing on to Clovis and the eastern border with Texas are little towns and iconic Santa Fe Railway mission-designed stations. The stations were spaced 17 miles apart, for that was how long steam engines could travel before needing to take on more water.
But much of the trip west feels like a trip on a roadway to the sky, without landmarks or bearings along the roadside. There’s so little traffic the driver feels like they own the road, traveling at a speed that allows for taking in both the vastness and the emptiness. Along the way, pass through the villages of Magdalena, Datil, the Very Large Array, Pie Town, and Quemado. Travel through the Plains of San Agustin, a stretch of desert about 50 miles west of Socorro that spans Socorro and Catron Counties and extends south of US 60. Coinciding with the 1947 Roswell Incident that inspires UFO curiosity (see Chapter 7) was a report of another incident out here, according to Grady L. “Barney” Barnett, involving the reported crash of an intact craft and the recovery of several alien bodies on the Plains of San Agustin. He supposedly passed a lie detector test, but otherwise, little is actually known about this “other Roswell incident.” For the past decade, the area has been generating controversy because of plans afoot to drill the aquifer and pipe water to metropolitan areas like Rio Rancho. The floor of the valley held a lake during the Pleistocene, from about 2.8 million years ago to the last Ice Age, 11,700 years ago. It is possible to travel on US 60 all the way through New Mexico from the Texas to the Arizona borders.
Socorro is a hub of history and modern technology. The town was named by Juan de Onate in 1598 because he and his party, crossing what became the Camino Real, were aided by native Piros. It remains a fascinating place with historic architecture and is the home of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, founded when Socorro was a center of mining activity. It remains a pleasant small town with a pretty plaza for special events and farmers markets, and it makes a good jumping off place for points east, south, and west.
The Socorro Heritage and Visitor Center, a block west of the Plaza, exhibits vintage photos that tell the story of old Socorro. Here is the place to pick up the brochure for the City of Socorro Historic Walking tour and get oriented. The tour is organized into three historic districts: the San Miguel Church District; the Church-McCutcheon District, and the Kittrel Park-Manzanares District.
A highlight is the Garcia Opera House. Built in 1884–87 by the widow of, and dedicated to the memory of, Juan Garcia, the adobe walls are almost 3 feet thick and the raked stage makes for a fine presentation; it is a preferred venue for community arts events.
San Miguel Church is one of the oldest Catholic churches in the United States, believed to be built between 1615 and 1626. The massive walls are almost 5 feet thick and the church’s hand-carved vigas (beams) were hauled many miles. Following the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, area Piro Indians fled south with the Spanish to El Paso. The church was rebuilt in 1816. It is estimated that 100 to 200 people are buried beneath the church, including General Manuel Armijo, the last governor of New Mexico Territory.
Local legend tells that an Apache Indian raid in the early 1880s was thwarted when attackers saw a man with wings and a shining sword hovering over the church door. Consequently, the church’s name was changed to San Miguel. San Miguel Fiestas are celebrated here September 27–29.
The Capitol Bar, on the east side of the Plaza, started out as the Bianaschi Saloon in 1896 for the sale of local wine. It remains one of the oldest ongoing bars in the United States.
Continue 27 miles west of Socorro on US 60. The face of Mary Magdalena, also known as the Lady of the Mountain, is supposedly visible on the mountainside on the eastern edge of town, but it takes a keen imagination to see it. Magdalena had its glory days as the shipping railhead of the Hoof Highway or Beefsteak Trail, the destination of cattle drives from ranches 125 miles west to Arizona and through the Plains of San Agustin. This little town is undergoing something of a revival and has sprouted a dozen galleries, several coffee shops, and a busy annual schedule of events, notably Old Timers Day during the second weekend in July, when a Queen who must be over age 70 is selected.
The Magdalena Public Library, located in the repurposed 1915 AT&SF station, keeps things lively with biweekly lectures and cultural events. The library has an excellent permanent exhibit of posters, magazine advertisements, photos, and art reproductions once displayed in railroad depots and Fred Harvey hotels throughout the Southwest.
The Box Car Museum is a restored AT&SF boxcar alongside the library stocked with local memorabilia about local history, mining, and cattle drives circa 1885–1930. The Box Car Museum displays old photographs and objects from yesteryear’s frontier life. The park bench area on the old train station loading dock is a great place to rest under the shade of the cottonwood trees and imagine what life might have been like in this Old West town.
The Magdalena Café and Steakhouse serves only fresh, never frozen, fruit and vegetables. During summer weekends, diners are treated to a mock, old-fashioned gunfight during lunch. The clientele is an interesting mix of movie crews, ranchers, longtime locals, artists, and more recent arrivals.
The Magdalena Hall Hotel is an original cowboy hotel built in 1917, with Kelly’s Café, which serves health-conscious food and coffees.
The Route 60 Trading Post and Gallery sells authentic jewelry made by Navajo living in nearby Alamo along with cowboy art. There’s quite a collection of “junque” alongside the post that proprietor James Chavez refers to as his “Museum of Rust,” featuring many “antiques on wheels.” He knows the area well and gives tours booked in advance.
THE MAGDALENA PUBLIC LIBRARY IS A REPURPOSED AT&SF TICKET OFFICE
Magdalena has several interesting coffee shops, including Ex-presso and Evett’s Gallery and Coffee. You can usually find at least one of them open, though here, as in most small towns, hours are uncertain and vary by season.
Datil, 35 miles west of Magdalena on US 60, was named for the nearby Datil Mountains. The name translates as “date” and may refer to a wild fruit that once grew here.
The landmark Eagle Guest Ranch is located at the intersection of US 60 and NM 12, in Datil. This roadhouse began as a gas station and grocery shop in the early 20th century to serve automobiles that began coming through. Steaks and burgers are the usual fare, and the Mexican food on Friday will heat your soul. It’s a favorite of dusty cowboys and well-armed hunters.
Datil Well Campground, US 60 to Datil, south 1 mile on NM 12, has a 1-mile moderate hiking trail through pinon-juniper and ponderosa pine. This site is one of 15 wells that supplied water along the 1880s cattle driveway between Magdalena and Springerville. Firewood is provided at 22 campsites.
Driving into Glenwood, 104.4 miles south of Datil via US 180 and NM 12, is like discovering a little piece of countrified Shangri-lá. This is a pleasant stop for gas and a bite to eat at any café that happens to be open.
To find the Catwalk (575-539-2481), come to Glenwood and go left on NM 174 for 5 miles. Originally constructed by miners in 1889, this high walkway and suspension bridge leads to a waterfall through narrow Whitewater Canyon. Flooded out a few years ago and then rebuilt, it is especially beautiful in the fall, hiking among the sycamore and rock walls. The trail is easy and maintained for the first 0.5-mile. Please check status and carry water.
Mogollon is one hour south from Datil on NM 180, left on NM 159 between Glenwood and Alma. Considered one of the state’s more remote and well-preserved ghost towns, this gold and silver mining village deep in the Gila Wilderness is accessible only by a 9-mile road, NM 159, that climbs 2,080 feet with many sharp switchbacks and without guardrails. The last 5 miles become a one-lane road. Founded in 1895, this gold rush boomtown was the state’s leading mining district by 1915. For accommodations, check the restored 1885 Silver Creek Inn, open on weekends during summer, and check road conditions carefully before taking this trip.
Returning to US 60, many will recognize the Very Large Array from the movie Contact, starring Jodie Foster. The Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array is 50 miles west of Socorro on US 60. Twenty-seven dish antennae, movable on tracks across the roadway around 100 square miles of desert. Each dish is 82 feet across and weighs 230 tons. You can learn more about radio astronomy at the visitor center. Scientists are not looking for life beyond planet Earth here—they are measuring radio waves. The visitor center and gift shop offer displays and videos and are open all year from 8:30 a.m. to sunset. You may find information on star birth, galaxy growth, and black holes here. There is a self-guided tour for viewing the antennas up close.
As you travel across the Plains of San Agustin, the vegetation changes as the elevation increases, transforming from a grassy plain to a cooler pine forest within the Cibola National Forest.
Pie Town, located right on the Continental Divide, is 21 miles northwest of Datil on US 60, a 20th-century homesteader community immortalized by photos made by photographer Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. Although they were lured here by desperation, the land was too dry to farm, so these tough pioneers baked their way through the Depression by selling homemade pies to cowboys who came through on the Hoof Highway. The tradition of homemade pie-making is carried on to this day, and people come from all over the world for the experience. In the early 1920s, WWI-veteran Clyde Norman began making and dried apple pies on the Ocean-to-Ocean Highway, staying in the spot where his car broke down.
While other cattle drives such as the Chisum and Goodnight-Loving trails faded away with the coming of the railroad, the Magdalena Trail remained vital in use until the 1970s. The trail for livestock began in January 1885, when the AT&SF completed its branch line from Socorro to Magdalena. Ranchers from western New Mexico and eastern Arizona drove their cattle as far as 120 miles to ship them. Because the area was protected from homesteading claims, the trail was designated the Stock Driveway. In places it was 5 to 10 miles wide, to provide grass for stock. To improve the driveway, the Civilian Conservation Corps was established. The CCC built wells at 10-mile intervals along the Driveway, considered one day’s journey.
A highlight of Pie Town is Pie-O-Neer Café, US “Pieway” 60, with a reputation for the best pie in New Mexico, served on the Continental Divide by proprietor Kathy Knapp, the Pie Lady of Pie Town. Savory green chile apple, sky-high coconut cream, and so many other varieties—so much pie, so little time—make it difficult to choose.
KATHY KNAPP IS THE PIE LADY OF PIE TOWN—MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE ONE HOMEMADE PIE AT A TIME
Quemado is 43 miles west of Pie Town on US 60 and 33 miles from the Arizona border. The name means “burnt” in Spanish. This is the place to meet with transportation for Walter de la Maria’s Lightning Field, an installation of 400 polished steel poles that catches changing light and New Mexico’s high desert lightning. The location is 45 miles away. Reservations must be made several months in advance.
Quemado Lake Recreation Area (575-773-4678). From Quemado, west on US 60 0.5 mile, south on NM 32 for 16 miles to NM 103. Eight hundred quiet, unspoiled acres of ponderosa pine border a 131-acre trout lake. There is camping, along with 7 miles of hiking trails with good birding.
IN THE AREA
Accommodations
HIGH COUNTRY LODGE, 303 First Street, Magdalena. Call 575-854-2062. $–$$.
SILVER CREEK INN, NM 159, Mogollon. Call 866-276-4882. $$–$$$.
WESTERN MOTEL & RV PARK, 404 First Street, Magdalena. Call 575-854-2417. $–$$.
Attractions and Recreation
ALAMO NAVAJO RESERVATION. Call 575-854-2686.
BOX CAR MUSEUM, 108 North Main Street, Magdalena. Call 575-854-2361.
CAPITOL BAR, 110 Plaza, Socorro. Call 575-835-1193.
DATIL WELL CAMPGROUND, US 60 to Datil, south 1 mile on NM 12. Call 575-835-0412.
ELVIRES’ ROCK SHOP AND SAW SHOP, East US 60, Magdalena. Call 575-854-2324.
KARL G. JANSKY VERY LARGE ARRAY, 50 miles west of Socorro on US 60. Call 575-835-7000.
MINERAL MUSEUM, 801 Leroy Place, southeast corner of Canyon Road and Olive Lane on New Mexico Tech campus, Socorro. Call 575-835-5420.
QUEMADO LAKE RECREATION AREA, Quemado. Call 575-773-4678.
ROUTE 60 TRADING POST & GALLERY, 400 1st Street, Magdalena. Call 575-854-3560.
SOCORRO FARMERS’ MARKET, 101 Socorro Plaza, Socorro. Call 575-312-1730.
SOCORRO HERITAGE AND VISITOR CENTER, 217 Fisher Avenue, Socorro. Call 575-835-8927.
WALTER DE LA MARIA’S LIGHTNING FIELD, Quemado. Call 505-898-3335.
Dining and Drinks
EAGLE GUEST RANCH, US 60 and NM 12, Datil. Call 575-772-5612. $$.
FRANK & LUPE’S EL SOMBRERO, 210 Mesquite, Socorro. Call 575-835-3945. $–$$.
M MOUNTAIN COFFEEHOUSE, 110 Manzanares Avenue, Socorro. Call 575-838-0809. $.
MAGDALENA CAFÉ AND STEAKHOUSE, 109 South Main Street, Magdalena. Call 575-838-0809. $$.
PIE-O-NEER CAFÉ, US “Pieway” 60, Pie Town. Call 575-772-2711. $.
SOCORRO SPRINGS RESTAURANT, 1012 North California Street, Socorro. Call 575-838-0650. $$.