ghost town
Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to:
* Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned
Film and television
* Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser
* Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...
along the east bank of the
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico.
The length of the Rio G ...
in
Socorro County
Socorro County is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 17,866. The county seat is Socorro. The county was formed in 1852 as one of the original nine counties of New Mexico Territory. Socorro wa ...
,
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
, United States.
History
"El Contadero"
Originally the site was part of a
paraje Paraje, a Spanish term meaning in English place or spot. Paraje is a term from the original Spanish speaking settlers, in use among English speakers in the southwestern United States, particularly in New Mexico, that refers to a camping place along ...
called "El Contadero" for several hundred years along the narrow trail of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, west and south of
Mesa del Contadero Mesa del Contadero, sometimes called Black Mesa, also appeared on a 1773 Spanish map as Mesa de Senecú,El Contadero Mesa, June 27, 2012 from newmexicohistory.org accessed August 24, 2019 Source: U.S. Department of the Interior. El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail, Comprehensive Management Plan/Final Environmental Impact Statement. Santa Fe, NM: National Park Service/Bureau of Land Management,2004.
Contadero
In the 19th century, with Fort Craig, located across the river, providing protection from
Apache
The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...
attacks and providing employment, a small town named Contadero was established in the vicinity of the Corrales de Contadero in the 1860s along the river on the south side of the mesa. The towns population at its peak was 140. Its prosperity lasted until the fort was abandoned in 1884. It gradually declined, especially after 1895 when plans to develop a dam down river doomed the fields of the towns farmers along the river. By 1920 the population was 63. Within a few years the Elephant Butte Reservoir rose and covered the fields in the river valley and the town of Contadero, was abandoned. Its neighboring settlement
Paraje Paraje, a Spanish term meaning in English place or spot. Paraje is a term from the original Spanish speaking settlers, in use among English speakers in the southwestern United States, particularly in New Mexico, that refers to a camping place along ...
down river, soon followed.
The site today
Today there are only few remains of the settlement amongst the brush west of the railroad tracks, the ruin of the church and foundations of a house surrounded by Mexican era rock corrals.