Cerrillos, New Mexico
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Los Cerrillos 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 ...
(CDP) in
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. It is part of the
Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , literal translation, lit. "Holy Faith") is the capital city, capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Santa Fe County. With over 89,000 residents, Santa Fe is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, fourt ...
Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 229 at the 2000 census. Accessible from State Highway 14 or ''The Turquoise Trail,'' Cerrillos is on the road from Santa Fe to
Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...
, closer to Santa Fe. There are several shops and galleries, a post office, and the
Cerrillos Hills State Park Cerrillos Hills State Park is a state park of New Mexico, located south of Santa Fe. Transferred to state ownership in 2009, it is New Mexico's newest state park. The hills in the park range in elevation from to above sea level. The visitors ...
, which has five miles of hiking trails. The Cerrillos Turquoise Mining Museum contains hundreds of artifacts from the
American Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...
and the Cerrillos Mining District. It also displays cardboard cutouts of characters from the film '' Young Guns'' and information on other movies which have been filmed in and around Cerrillos.


History

The first, confirmable human presence on the Galisteo River occurred around 10,500 years ago. Over the centuries, both large and small communities spread throughout the
Galisteo Basin The Galisteo Basin is a surface basin and a closely related groundwater basin in north-central New Mexico.  Its primary watercourse is the Galisteo River or Galisteo Creek, a perennial stream, for part of its course, that flows from the ea ...
. Archeological evidence of
pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...
human inhabitants includes
pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...
, vases, cups, eating and cooking utensils, stone hammers,
wedge A wedge is a triangle, triangular shaped tool, a portable inclined plane, and one of the six simple machines. It can be used to separate two objects or portions of an object, lift up an object, or hold an object in place. It functions by conver ...
s, mauls, and religious items. The
Ancestral Puebloans The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as Ancestral Pueblo peoples or the Basketmaker-Pueblo culture, were an ancient Native American culture of Pueblo peoples spanning the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southe ...
began mining Cerrillos
turquoise Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrous phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula . It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gemstone for millennia due to its hue. The robi ...
in approximately 700-900 AD. Evidence of established long-term settlements, dating back to the 13th century, includes
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 ...
villages. In the 14th century, there was increased upheaval and conflict between communities, including the burning of the Burnt Corn Ruin. During the 15th century, an influx of
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 ...
and
Navajo The Navajo or Diné are an Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Diné populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (1 ...
in the Galisteo Basin influenced and impacted the
Puebloan The Pueblo peoples are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Among the currently inhabited Pueblos, Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Zuni, and Hopi are some of the ...
s. By the time
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado Francisco Vázquez de Coronado (; 1510 – 22 September 1554) was a Spanish conquistador and explorer who led a large expedition from what is now Mexico to present-day Kansas through parts of the southwestern United States between 1540 and 1542 ...
arrived in the region, circa 1540–42, a number of indigenous settlements were abandoned. Mining in the Cerrillos Hills continued with the arrival of Spanish colonizers. The Native peoples were used for slave labor to mine these materials out of the hills under Spanish colonial rule. In 1581, the Spanish identified lead-silver deposits in “Sierra de San Mateo,” the modern Cerrillos Hills. At the turn of the 17th century, the Spanish permanently settled in the area. During the 1660s, however, a
drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D.  Jiang, A.  Khan, W.  Pokam Mba, D.  Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...
put economic pressure on the Spanish, while Puebloans abandoned settlements and
Plains Indians Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nations peoples who have historically lived on the Interior Plains (the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies) of North ...
conducted raids. A Spanish explorer,
Antonio de Espejo Antonio de Espejo (c. 1540–1585) was a Spanish explorer who led an expedition, accompanied by Diego Perez de Luxan, into what is now New Mexico and Arizona in 1582–83.pg 189 - The expedition created interest in establishing a Spanish col ...
, wrote about these treasures being mined at a place of “little hills." This is the source of Cerrillos' name. In 1680, a
landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides ...
occurred in the hills, causing mines to
cave in Cave In is an American rock band that formed in 1995 in Methuen, Massachusetts. The band's lineup solidified with the 1998 release of '' Until Your Heart Stops'' through Hydra Head Records, and their early albums were prominent in the metalco ...
and bury about 25 miners. When the Spanish attempted to restart mining operations, the Native workers revolted. Around 1695-1696
Diego de Vargas Diego de Vargas Zapata y Luján Ponce de León y Contreras (1643–1704), commonly known as Don Diego de Vargas, was a Spanish Governor of the New Spain territory of Santa Fe de Nuevo México (currently covering the modern US states of New Mex ...
appointed Alonso Rael de Aguilar as
alcalde ''Alcalde'' (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and Administration (government), administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor (position), corregidor, the presiding officer o ...
of the mining camp El Real de Los Cerrillos. However, tumultuous events in the late 17th century – drought,
small pox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living Cell (biology), cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and pla ...
, and ongoing raids – effectively ended Native turquoise mining. The
Tewa The Tewa are a linguistic group of Pueblo people, Pueblo Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans who speak the Tewa language and share the Pueblo culture. Their homelands are on or near the Rio Grande in New Mexico north of San ...
people left the area, though there were efforts in the early 18th century to repopulate with reassembled Tanos. During the 18th century, the Spanish continued to register
land grant A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...
s and mine claims in the area. The earliest well-documented Spanish mine claim was registered in 1709 by General Don Juan de Ulibarri. After
Mexican Independence The Mexican War of Independence (, 16 September 1810 – 27 September 1821) was an armed conflict and political process resulting in Mexico's independence from the Spanish Empire. It was not a single, coherent event, but local and regional ...
, restrictions on foreign visitors in New Mexico were lifted in 1821, increasing trade. Following the end of the
Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...
in 1848, the US Government manipulated land grants to make it easier for
Anglo-Americans Anglo-Americans are a demographic group in Anglo-America. It typically refers to the predominantly European-descent nations and ethnic groups in the Americas that speak English as a native language, making up the majority of people in the world ...
to purchase land. Between 1846 and 1869, the Cerrillos Hills were claimed by the Baca y Delgado Family Land Grant. In 1870, the US Government rejected the family's grant claim and made the land available for public purchase. In 1871, Stephen B. Elkins purchased 606 acres of US Government land located along the Galisteo River. He planned to build a mining town on the railroad. In the same year, Elkins gained ownership of the Ortiz Mining Grant, which contained coal deposits. Frank Dimmick and Robert Hart registered their Bonanza #3 claim in the Cerrillos Hills on January 15, 1879. The two Colorado miners set up camp and by 1880 there were five camps with a combined population of between 1,200 and 1,500 people. Further discovery of
precious metal Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical elements of high Value (economics), economic value. Precious metals, particularly the noble metals, are more corrosion resistant and less reactivity (chemistry), chemically reac ...
deposits led to increased immigration and an
economic boom An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with ...
. Eventually, there were over 2,000 Territorial mines established in the hills. March 8, 1880 was declared Cerrillos Founder's Day. In addition to turquoise, the mines produced gold, copper, silver, galena, manganese, and iron. Cerrillos Station was connected to the railway on February 15, 1880. The main line of the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at vario ...
ran within only three miles of Los Cerrillos. The rapid growth of Cerrillos gave opportunities to people who moved in. During the 1880s, the rate of development increased around Cerrillos Station and saloons, a school, churches, stores, and hotels were built. In either 1899 or 1901, electricity was first supplied to the town of Cerillos by the Cochiti Gold Mining Company electric plant in
Madrid, New Mexico Madrid ( , ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, United States. It is part of the Santa Fe, New Mexico Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 149 at the 2000 census and 204 in 2010. Today, Madrid has b ...
. Telephone lines arrived in 1905. By 1900, the mines began to shut down. The population of the area dwindled during the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
and
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. In 1961, the Cerrillos
primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
was closed due to shrinking enrollment and financial difficulties. Today, only a few of the buildings from Cerrillos' boom remain. Some of the buildings still show evidence of past movies filmed ("Young Guns" and "Outrageous Fortune") on Main Street. In January 2000, Santa Fe County purchased 1,116 acres of the Cerrillos Hills and created the Santa Fe County Cerrillos Hills Historic Park. In 2009, the park was renamed
Cerrillos Hills State Park Cerrillos Hills State Park is a state park of New Mexico, located south of Santa Fe. Transferred to state ownership in 2009, it is New Mexico's newest state park. The hills in the park range in elevation from to above sea level. The visitors ...
.


Geography

Los Cerrillos is referred to as Cerrillos by local residents. According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the CDP has a total area of , all land.


Demographics

As of the
census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, there were 229 people, 111 households, and 59 families residing in the CDP. The population density was . There were 129 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the CDP was 79.04%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.44% Native American, 0.44% Asian, 16.16% from other races, and 3.93% from two or more races.
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race were 50.66% of the population. There were 111 households, out of which 21.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.3% were
married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 7.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 46.8% were non-families. 41.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.06 and the average family size was 2.83. In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 17.9% under the age of 18, 2.2% from 18 to 24, 31.9% from 25 to 44, 33.2% from 45 to 64, and 14.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.1 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and over, there were 106.6 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $13,661, and the median income for a family was $31,161. Males had a median income of $30,446 versus $31,250 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the CDP was $14,215. About 25.9% of families and 18.4% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including none of those under the age of eighteen or sixty-five or over.


Education

It is within
Santa Fe Public Schools Santa Fe Public Schools (SFPS) is a school district based in Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , literal translation, lit. "Holy Faith") is the capital city, capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Santa Fe County. ...
. It is zoned to
Amy Biehl Amy Elizabeth Biehl (April 26, 1967 – August 25, 1993) was a Fulbright Scholar and American graduate of Stanford University and an anti-Apartheid activist in South Africa who was murdered by a black mob shouting anti-white slurs at her in ...
Elementary School, Milagro Middle School, and Santa Fe High School. Previously it was zoned to Capital High School. In 2017 the district recommended changing the boundary of the area to Santa Fe High.


See also

*
List of census-designated places in New Mexico New Mexico is a state located in the Western United States. New Mexico has several census-designated places (CDPs) which are unincorporated communities lacking elected municipal officers and boundaries with legal status. List of census-design ...


References

Harris, Linda G., Ghost Towns Alive, University of New Mexico Press, 2003 Sherman, James E. and Barbara, Ghost Towns and Mining Camps of New Mexico, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Publishing Division of the University, 1975 Simmons, Marc, Turquoise and Six Guns The Story of Cerrillos, New Mexico, The Sunstone Press Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1974 Lawson, Jacqueline E., Cerrillos Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow The Story of a Won't –Be Ghost Town, The Sunstone Press Santa Fe New Mexico, 1989




External links

{{authority control Census-designated places in Santa Fe County, New Mexico Census-designated places in New Mexico