Cimarron
Photo by Teresa Norris
For Outdoor Enthusiasts
See elk, deer, turkey and other game, as well as enjoying camping and mountain lake fishing at the Valle Vidal, a portion of the Carson National Forest. Enjoy camping and stream fishing in Cimarron Canyon State Park.
Hiking and Backpacking
Hikers will find many trails in Cimarron Canyon to explore. Clear Creek Canyon is six to seven miles on a good path around three waterfalls. Go to mile marker 292. Tolby Canyon is 14-miles round trip down an old road and through a beautiful meadow. Ask at Tolby Campgrounds for directions. Jasper and Agate Trails start just east of the Palisades. Ask at Maverick Campground for this three-mile round trip down an old road.
Two trails in the Barker Wildlife area to explore are the Wilson Mesa Trail, two miles to the top of the mesa with beautiful views and a running spring, and Bonita Canyon, down an old road seven miles to Beatty Lakes.
Cimarron Canyon State Park
PO Box 185
Eagle Nest, NM 87718
575-377-6271
Carson National Forest
208 Cruz Alta Road
Taos, NM 87571
575-758-6200
For History Buffs
Cimarron dates back to the early 1800s. The Mountain Route of the Santa Fe Trail entered on the northeast corner of the plaza. Cimarron was a stop on the Santa Fe Trail and a hangout for traders, mountain men and desperados. It was also the home of Lucien Maxwell, the largest single landowner in the western hemisphere, who once owned almost 2 million acres of land of the Maxwell Land Grant. Maxwell had inherited much of the grant from his father-in-law Charles Beaubien, who had applied for the large grant of land In February 1843 with his partner Guadalupe Miranda. In 1849 Maxwell convinced Kit Carson to join him at Rayado, at the junction between a trail to Taos and the main road to Santa Fe. Maxwell built a large house and several smaller outbuildings with Carson adding a much smaller adobe hut to the complex. By July the inhabitants of Rayado numbered over 40. By 1857 Maxwell sold his interest in Rayado, bought some of the remaining shares of the Land Grant from his relatives and, by 1858 moved his family to Cimarron where he was appointed Postmaster and Indian Agent. Within two years of his father-in-law's death in 1864, Maxwell had managed to purchase additional deeds to that part of the Grant he had not inherited. On January 28, 1870, Maxwell sold almost 2,000,000 acres of land to a group of Colorado investors fronting for an English company for $1,350,000. Although Maxwell's house in Cimarron burned many years ago, the plaza and well still exist. Then travel to Philmont Scout Ranch's Kit Carson Museum.
Cimarron’s original hotels — The Oxford, The St. James, and The Swastika – circa 1880’s.
Photo courtesy of Cimarron Chamber of Commerce.
Put On Your Walking Shoes
Take a self-guided tour of 18 historic sites, including: the Aztec Mill, the Courthouse-Masonic Lodge, Lambert Park, The Adobe, Schwenk's (Swink's) Gambling Hall, Barlow and Sanderson Stage Stop, Jail, St. James Hotel, National Hotel, Old Town Plaza and Well, Dahl Brothers Trading Post, the site of Lucien Maxwell's Mansion, Grave Sites of Pablo Beaubien and Verenisa Maxwell, the site of Maxwell's Barn, Maverick Club Rodeo Grounds, City Park, statue of Lucien Maxwell and the Mountain View Cemetery. Walking tour brochures are available from the Cimarron Chamber of Commerce and at the Aztec Mill Museum.
The Aztec Mill Museum
Courtesy of Les Davis, Aztec Mill Museum
The Mill has weathered the elements since 1864 and remains in remarkably sturdy condition. It was built by Lucien B. Maxwell at a cost of approximately $50,000. The mill was built in 1864 to provide flour for the Army in the Southwest and the Indian Agency. It was capable of turning out 300 barrels of flour per day. Like a silent sentinel towering above the river and village, this historic landmark has witnessed the passing events of Cimarron's colorful history. It is only fitting that many exhibits of northeast New Mexico's past be entrusted to its rustic walls, preserved for posterity. The mill is now a museum operated by the CS Cattle Company and is open during the summer.
Aztec Mill Museum
NM 21
Cimarron, NM 87714
575-376-2913
The St. James Hotel
Courtesy of the Cimarron Chamber of Commerce
The St. James began as a saloon built in 1872 by the Frenchman Henri Lambert, the personal chef to President Abraham Lincoln and General Ulysses S. Grant. The hotel was established in 1880. In the beginning, the hotel was a place of violence. 26 men were killed within the two-foot-thick adobe walls. The notorious gunman Clay Allison is said to have danced on the bar, once part of the present elegant dining room, which still has bullet holes in the pressed tin ceiling. Other notables who stayed at the St. James include train robber Blackjack Ketchum and Buffalo Bill Cody, who met here with Annie Oakley to plan his Wild West Show. Zane Grey ("Fighting Caravans") and governor Lew Wallace ("Ben Hur") wrote at the hotel and Frederic Remington sketched the nearby hills. Today the hotel is a place of quiet elegance, fine food and drink, expert and friendly service and unsurpassed hospitality. The St. James Hotel offers 12 restored rooms beautifully decorated with priceless antiques, the famous dining room, a modern ten room hotel annex and a cafe. The hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
St. James Hotel
617 S. Collision
Cimarron, NM 87714
575-376-2664
866-472-5019
www.stjamescimarron.com
Philmont Scout Ranch
Courtesy Cimarron Chamber of Commerce
More than 18,000 scouts come from all over the world each year to enjoy treks and a variety of programs at Philmont Scout Ranch, the world's largest camping facility, southwest of Cimarron.
Once arriving at the 137,493 acre ranch, scouts and staff members find themselves busy with a number of activities, including leadership training, the standard 12-day treks and other specialized treks such as rock climbing, horseback riding, archaeology and conservation. And they have plenty of wide open spaces, too. Philmont Scout Ranch, a 45 minute drive from Raton west on Hwy 64, encompasses about 214 square miles of terrain, much of it in the rugged and pristine back country of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
Three museums on Philmont Scout Ranch are open to the public. The Philmont Museum houses the collections of the first Chief Scout. The Villa Philmonte is the restored summer retreat of Waite Phillips, benefactor of the ranch. The third museum owned and managed by the Philmont Scout Ranch is the Kit Carson Museum at Rayado (Hwy 21, mile 12), which contains historical artifacts from northern New Mexico. Living history is presented all summer, with the blacksmith shop, a noon meal cooked in the patio, and black powder demonstrations. The beautiful Rayado valley was visited by five major Spanish Expeditions following the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 and the Reconquest in 1692. United States troops were stationed at Rayado before Fort Union was established.
Philmont Scout Ranch
John Clark, Director
17 Deer Run Road
Cimarron, NM 87714
575-376-2281
www.philmont.com
For more information about Cimarron
For more information about rounding up a visit to Cimarron, contact the Cimarron Chamber of Commerce.
