Watrous and Loma Parda
Two isolated towns were at one time important stops on the Santa Fe Trail, albeit for very different reasons! Today, Watrous, just off of I-25 in southernmost part of Mora County, is a roadside hamlet. Early travelers on the Santa Fe Trail knew it as La Junta, because it was located at the confluence of the Mora and Sapello Rivers. From Watrous to Wagon Mound, some of the finest Santa Fe Trail ruts are visible from the access road northeast of the I-25 exit-366. Six miles northwest of Watrous, on Hwy 161 traveling toward Ft. Union, is the ghost town of Loma Parda, once known as "Sodom on the Mora." It started out as a small, respectable farming and sheepherding community, but when Fort Union opened, it became a rendezvous for soldiers on leave and traders from the Santa Fe Trail.
Santa Fe Trail Ruts
Photo by Russ Finley, courtesy of Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce
Fort Union National Monument
Travel eight miles on Hwy 161 to Fort Union National Monument for a superb history lesson. In 1851 the fort was built near the place where the Cimarron Cut-off left the Santa Fe Trail and began defending the new Territory. It was a strategic military post and quartermaster depot throughout the Indian wars and the Civil War, as well as an important commercial center and a ready market for local produce until its abandonment in 1891. At one time Fort Union was the largest fort west of the Mississippi. In its prime, the fort maintained supplies sufficient for a full year, including storehouses for two million bushels of grain, stables for 1,000 horses, yards to stack 2,000 tons of hay and barracks for 400 soldiers. At its peak this sprawling fort housed a population of 3,000 soldiers and civilians.
Today Fort Union National Monument is open to the public throughout the year. Interpretive programs are offered with living history talks and demonstrations on summer weekends June through August, giving visitors the flavor of life in a frontier fort. The visitor center has displays of military equipment and clothing, a bookstore, Santa Fe Trail information and films. Outdoor picnic tables are available.
Fort Union National Monument
National Park Service
P.O. Box 127
Watrous, NM 87753
505-425-8025
www.nps.gov/foun
Put On Your Walking Shoes
Visitors may walk 1.6 miles through Fort Union National Monument on a self-guided walking tour. Little of the fort remains but adobe walls, stone foundations and chimneys. Walk the quiet paths and listen to the wind whistling through the crumbling ruins. Walk past the remains of corrals and storehouses. See what's left of the hospital, commissary, ordinance depot and officers' quarters. Go figure, the remains of the stone jail have survived in the best shape of all the buildings! The largest visible network of Santa Fe Trail grass-covered wagon ruts can also be seen.
For more information about Watrous
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