Winters are long and a few drinks will make men brag and tongues wag. When the men got back to the fort, they took an oath of secrecy. When they returned the following spring, the Discovery Tree became the nexus for staking claims, with each adjoining claim numbered consecutively. They carved the words “DISCOVERY TREE” on a Ponderosa Fir next to their camp. Unfortunately, an early snowstorm forced them to return to Fort Union early in the fall. The copper deposits, which were later developed and known as the Mystic Lode Copper Mine, promptly became secondary. Upon further inspection, the trio found flakes of gold in virtually every culvert and gully on the west side of the mountain. While they were camping on Willow Creek at the base of Baldy Peak, one of them decided to pan gravel in a stream bed near the campsite. Moore promptly dispatched three prospectors to check out the ore deposit. Captain Moore recognized the rocks as copper ore and negotiated a deal, which included being led to where the ore was found. Moore (retired), the proprietor of Fort Union’s sutler store, which was a civilian owned commissary that supplied the soldier’s with a variety of goods. He wanted to trade the rocks for additional winter supplies. It all started when a Ute Indian arrived in Fort Union with a handful of “pretty rocks” in the fall of 1866. Cattle barons, land sharks, cowboys, opportunists, vigilantes, a serial killer, and an assorted an assorted cast of characters, many with historical infamy, populate the brief and boisterous history of Elizabethtown. Prospectors filed more than 1000 claims within the first year and Elizabethtown, aka “E-Town,” was born. There weren’t many settlers or ranchers in the area until gold was discovered in 1866. The gorgeous valley is brutally cold in the winter, surrounded by mountains, in a part of the territory that was remote and savage in the 1860s. The Moreno Valley, on the Enchanted Circle between Red River and Eagle Nest, is no exception. There had to be incentive due to the hazards associated with Native Americans who were adamantly opposed to additional newcomers taking their land. There isn’t much left, but at one time 7000 people lived there and miners extracted millions of dollars of gold and copper from the surrounding mountains and stream beds.Ī allure of the west was built on gold. These days it is incredibly picturesque, peaceful, and quiet, hardly the raucous, hard scrapping town that existed in 1870. However, Elizabethtown is one of my favorites. There are several fascinating ghost towns in New Mexico, each with a twisted tale to tell. Several New Mexico mining towns in the late 1800s were classic examples of the “Old West,” shoot out in the street mythos. New Mexico has an enormous amount of intriguing fodder for “based on a true story” westerns should that genre ever come back into style.
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