Apache Creek is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in Catron County,

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 67. Located northeast of Cruzville, it is situated at the confluence of Apache Creek and the Tularosa River. The Apache Creek Pueblo, also called the "Apache Creek Ruin", is near the town. It was listed by the New Mexico Historic Preservation Commission in 1969.(2007
Properties By County
New Mexico Historic Preservation Commission. Retrieved 6/14/07.

History

Apache The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...

leaders

Mangas Coloradas Mangas Coloradas or Mangus-Colorado (La-choy Ko-kun-noste, alias "Red Sleeves"), or Dasoda-hae (c. 1793 – January 18, 1863) was an Apache tribal chief and a member of the Mimbreño (Tchihende) division of the Central Apaches, whose homela ...

Victorio Victorio (Bidu-ya, Beduiat; ca. 1825–October 14, 1880) was a warrior and chief of the Warm Springs band of the Tchihendeh (or Chihenne, often called Mimbreño) division of the central Apaches in what is now the American states of Texas ...

Geronimo Gerónimo (, ; June 16, 1829 – February 17, 1909) was a military leader and medicine man from the Bedonkohe band of the Ndendahe Apache people. From 1850 to 1886, Geronimo joined with members of three other Central Apache bands the Tchihen ...

, Chato and

Cochise Cochise ( ; Apache: or , ; later or , ; June 8, 1874) was the leader of the Chiricahui local group of the Chokonen and principal nantan of the Chokonen band of a Chiricahua Apache. A key war leader during the Apache Wars, he led an upri ...

carried on

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrori ...

against United States settlers in this area. Cochise's infamous

Alma Massacre The Alma Massacre involved an April 28, 1880, Chiricahua Apache raid on United States settlers' homes around Alma, New Mexico Territory. At least 41 people were killed during the raid. Details The Chiricahua Apache raiding party was led by Vi ...

was carried out from this area, as well. Originally the Apache were friendly to the explorers and colonists, but when their land and water was taken over by the pioneers they fought back. The warfare came to an end after the surrender of Geronimo in 1886. From 1928 to 1958 Apache Creek had its own

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

, and since then mail has gone to

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

Present

Apache Creek has a cemetery that dates from 1900 through the 1960s.

Demographics

Apache Creek Pueblo

The Apache Creek Pueblo is located north of the town of Apache Creek. It was listed by the New Mexico Historic Preservation Commission in 1969 as the "Apache Creek Ruin". The site has been identified as an Upland Mogollon

pueblo Pueblo refers to the settlements of the Pueblo peoples, Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, currently in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. The permanent communities, including some of the oldest continually occupied settlement ...

with

pit-house A pit-house (or pit house, pithouse) is a house built in the ground and used for shelter. Besides providing shelter from the most extreme of weather conditions, this type of earth shelter may also be used to store food (just like a pantry, a l ...

s occupied between 1150-1300 A.D. The pueblo had between 25 and 50 rooms with masonry construction throughout.

Education

It is in the Reserve Independent School District.

References

{{authority control Census-designated places in Catron County, New Mexico Census-designated places in New Mexico Mogollon culture