Buckman is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

Santa Fe County, New Mexico Santa Fe County (; meaning "County of the Holy faith" in Spanish) is a county located in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2020 census, its population was 154,823, making it New Mexico's third-most populous county, after Bernalillo Count ...

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

, about south of

San Ildefonso Pueblo San Ildefonso Pueblo (Tewa language, Tewa: Pʼohwhogeh Ówîngeh ’òhxʷógè ʔówîŋgè"where the water cuts through" ), also known as the Turquoise Clan, is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, Santa Fe Coun ...

, on the east bank of the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...

White Rock Canyon White Rock is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Los Alamos County, New Mexico. It is one of two major population centers in the county; the other is Los Alamos (the county seat). The population was 5,725 at the 2 ...

History

About 1899, Henry F. (or Henry S, depending on source) Buckman, a lumberman from Oregon, constructed a plank bridge across the Rio Grande at the point where the narrow-gauge

D&RG The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad , often shortened to ''Rio Grande'', D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a narrow-gauge line running south fro ...

railroad's Santa Fe Branch, popularly known as the

Chili Line The Chili Line, officially known as the Santa Fe Branch, was a narrow-gauge branch of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW). It ran from Antonito, Colorado, to Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Denver and Rio Grande Railway (D&RG) began ...

, diverged south-eastward toward Santa Fe from its route along the river bank. Buckman had contracted to have a road blasted up a side canyon onto the

Pajarito Plateau The Pajarito Plateau is a volcanic plateau in north central New Mexico, United States. The plateau, part of the Jemez Mountains, is bounded on the west by the Sierra de los Valles, the range forming the east rim of the Valles Caldera, and on the e ...

, and he moved a sawmill in to harvest stands of

Ponderosa Pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine, is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is t ...

. A small community grew at the railway stop, supported by the timber harvesting, and a post office was established on July 22, 1899 with Mr. Buckman as the postmaster. By 1903 Mr. Buckman's sawmills had stripped all of the pine for which he had been licensed (and allegedly much more) and he departed, with the closure of the post office on January 5, 1903 and the collapse of the community. The post office was activated again 1913 - 1925. The stop on the railway, the bridge, livestock pens and the road remained for several years, and continued to serve a number of homesteads on the Plateau, as well as the Los Alamos Ranch School and

Bandelier National Monument Bandelier National Monument is a United States National Monument near Los Alamos in Sandoval and Los Alamos counties, New Mexico. The monument preserves the homes and territory of the Ancestral Puebloans of a later era in the Southwest. Mos ...

. After a road bridge was constructed in 1924 at Otowi, about 3 miles north, the Buckman bridge and its road fell into disuse and were abandoned. The railroad closed in 1941 and was removed during the following year.

Present Day

Virtually no trace now remains of the community or bridge. In 2001 the site was chosen for the Buckman Direct Diversion Project, a water supply development owned by, and serving the city and county of Santa Fe. The BDDP became operational in 2011.

References

* Harris, L.G. & Porter, P; ''Ghost towns alive: trips to New Mexico's past'', UNM Press 2003;

External links

{{Santa Fe County, New Mexico Ghost towns in New Mexico