Roy
18 miles northwest of Mosquero is the town of Roy, now the largest community in the county.
Roy was a railroad town once, when the 146-mile railway ran through it, on its way from Tucumcari to Raton. In 1901 Frank Roy established a rural post office northeast of the present townsite, giving it his family name. When the EP&SW Railroad was laying its tracks, Roy moved his operation to the most probable station and added a general store. Stimulated by land-hungry homesteaders arriving via the railroad, the town grew. Though the town named for the Roy family survives, their descendants live elsewhere.
Stop in Roy for a taste of small town life. The town has two cafes and a gas station. Notice the number of buildings that have corrugated tin on both roofs and sides.
Canadian River Canyon
For a great Northeast New Mexico adventure, drive nine miles north of Roy to Mills, now almost a ghost town, though a few inhabited residences remain. The settlement was named for Melvin Mills, a dreamer whose sad tale is a classic western drama of vision, hardwork, success and failure. Trains once stopped in Mills, but little remains today. In the middle of town, find a dirt road heading west through the grasslands. The road leads to the edge of a amazingly beautiful canyon. Make a remarkable -- and cautious -- descent down the 600-foot gorge, into the Canadian River Canyon. It's a rough, rocky and difficult road but worth it!
The Canadian River is 900 miles long and among the major drainages of the American Southwest. It begins its journey in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains at the New Mexico-Colorado border, flows southeast to Raton, then south to Conchas Lake, then east to join the Arkansas River southeast of Tulsa.
Why is a river in the plains of New Mexico called "The Canadian"? An excellent but controversial question. Some say it comes from a Native American word that means "Red River." Others say it comes from the Spanish word "canada," for the valley it flows through. Some say it was named by early homesick French-Canadian trappers. To most New Mexicans, this river has always been and still is, "The Colorado," but mapmakers finally had to give it another name to distinguish it from all the other Red Rivers!
