This chapel was erected in 1968 by Dr. Victor Westphall in memory of his son David Westphall and all U.S. personnel killed in the fighting in Vietnam. It was first dedicated as the Vietnam Veterans Peace and Brotherhood Chapel, and on May 30, 1983, . . . — — Map (db m45749) HM
Black Jacks Hideout. In Turkey Creek Canyon near here, the outlaw gang of Thomas Black Jack Ketchum had one of its hideouts. After a train robbery in July 1899, a posse surprised the gang at the hideout. The outlaws scattered after a . . . — — Map (db m45784) HM
You are now at the Great Plains-Rocky Mountain boundary. The Cimarron Range, one of the eastern-most ranges of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in this part of New Mexico. Elevation 6,800 feet. — — Map (db m45764) HM
This high mountain park is part of a state wildlife area and is managed by the New Mexico State Park Division in cooperation with the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish. Trout fishing is excellent in the Cimarron River, and the park offers fine . . . — — Map (db m45755) HM
These spectacular cliffs are cut by the Cimarron River through igneous rock known as a sill and composed of the rock type monzonite which was emplaced some 40 million years ago as these Southern Rocky Mountains were being uplifted. Elevation 8,000 . . . — — Map (db m45753) HM
The difficulty of bringing caravans over rocky and mountainous Raton Pass kept most wagon traffic on the Cimarron Cutoff of the Santa Fe Trail until the 1840's. Afterwards, the Mountain Branch, which here approaches Raton Pass, became more . . . — — Map (db m45821) HM
The Saint James Hotel
Has been placed on the
National Register
Of Historic Places
By the United States
Department of the Interior
1872 — — Map (db m45779) HM
Eagle Nest was a place where members of several Indian tribes were said to have come to collect ceremonial feathers. Before 1919, Charles Springer acquired the land and built a dam for irrigation. It now has a capacity of 78,000 acre feet and . . . — — Map (db m45752) HM
The discovery of gold on Baldy Mountain in 1866 brought such a rush of fortune-seekers to the Moreno Valley that “E-town” became a roaring mining camp almost overnight. Because of water and transportation problems, and a decline in ore . . . — — Map (db m45751) HM
Across Moreno Valley stands Wheeler Peak, 13,161 feet, highest peak in New Mexico. Rocks of Wheeler Peak and the Taos Range are highly resistant granites and gneisses of Precambrian age. Moreno Valley is underlain by soft sandstones and shales . . . — — Map (db m280100) HM
Santa Fe Trail
(Via Bent's Fort) 1822-1879 Marked by the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Territory of New Mexico 1910 — — Map (db m227255) HM
Women of the Santa Fe Trail. The Women of the Santa Fe Trail endured untold hardships traveling across the Great Plains. In 1829, six Hispanic women were the first known female travelers going east on the trail. In 1832, Mary Donoho was the . . . — — Map (db m280101) HM
Three-quarters of a mile west of here at the Canadian River crossing was the popular overnight stage stop on the Old Santa Fe Trail. Clifton House Site was built in 1867 by rancher Tom Stockton, with materials brought overland from Dodge City. For . . . — — Map (db m280102) HM
Robert L. Dodson bought a steam-powered Locomobile in Denver with plans to drive it to Albuquerque. Accompanied by a Locomobile representative, on November 30, 1900, the pair became the first motorists to traverse treacherous Raton Pass into New . . . — — Map (db m77850) HM
Built in 1896 by the Smith brothers, Scottish immigrant coal miners, the Palace Hotel became the crowning jewel of the many holdings acquired by the frugal Smiths. Nearly lost by fire in 1932, the Palace was purchased and restored by the Tinnie . . . — — Map (db m196359) HM
Once the Willow Springs freight stop on the Santa Fe Trail, the town of Raton developed from A.T. & S.F. repair shops established when the railroad crossed Raton Pass in 1879. Valuable coal deposits attracted early settlers. Nearby Clifton House was . . . — — Map (db m77849) HM
Opened by William Becknell in 1812, the Santa Fe Trail became the major trade route to Santa Fe from Missouri River towns. The two main branches, the Cimarron Cutoff and the Mountain Branch, joined at Watrous. Travel over the Trail ceased with . . . — — Map (db m202790) HM
To the north is Raton Pass, a treacherous connection through the rough mountain terrain between Colorado and New Mexico. Wagon trains traveling on the Santa Fe Trail camped here, at a trail stop called Willow Springs, to either prepare for or . . . — — Map (db m77851) HM
Built in 1879 at a cost of $9,800, this building served as the Colfax County Courthouse from 1882 through 1897, when the county seat was moved to Raton. This building housed the New Mexico reform school for boys from 1910 to 1917 and has been a . . . — — Map (db m55206) HM
Point of Rocks. Point of Rocks was a major landmark along the Santa Fe Trail. Located in Jicarilla Apache country, it was near here that the party of Santa Fe merchant J.W. White was attacked in 1849. Kit Carson was a member of the military . . . — — Map (db m55207) HM
Located in the old Maxwell Land Grant and near the Cimarron Cutoff of the Santa Fe Trail, Springer served as Colfax County seat from 1882 to 1897. Several men were killed here in one of the late flare-ups of the Colfax County War, a dispute between . . . — — Map (db m45823) HM
Point of Rocks was a convenient camping spot for Santa Fe Trail travelers going in both directions. When the caravans camped here going west they knew they were two weeks from the end of their 900-mile journey. Here they would have their first . . . — — Map (db m156696) HM
Traveling on the Santa Fe Trail, the commercial road which ran 900 miles between Franklin, Missouri, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, could be long, hard, and dangerous. Obtaining water was sometimes a problem and, along with breakdowns and bad weather, . . . — — Map (db m156697) HM
Reaching altitudes more than 13,000 feet, well watered, and forested, the Rocky Mountains are host to numerous recreational activities including skiing, fishing, hunting, and camping. To the north can be seen numerous volcanic peaks that lie east . . . — — Map (db m55208) HM
Dwellings of many sizes are spread across the mesas and canyons of Bandelier. Some, like the small site here, were seasonal homes or field houses occupied during the summer while crops were tended. The Ancestral Pueblo people grew corn, beans, and . . . — — Map (db m264491) HM
"Los Alamos became a magical place...one had only to walk along the piρon-covered promontory to look over the Pajarito Plateau and the Rio Grande Valley." -J. Robert Oppenheimer
"Whenever things went wrong at Los Alamos, and there was . . . — — Map (db m269944) HM
Albert J. Connell In Lieu Entry: October 1930 Ashley Pond bought H. H. Brook's ranch in January 1917. That same year, Pond hired Albert J. (A. J.) Connell to be the director of the newly formed Los Alamos Ranch School. The school did not own all the . . . — — Map (db m156673) HM
In the 1200s, this site was home to a group of Tewa-speaking people who may have come from Mesa Verde or Chaco Canyon. They built structures with blocks of tuff (welded volcanic ash). This building was two stories high and contained bedrooms, . . . — — Map (db m269719) HM
Homesteaders in the early 20th century used a small depression in the landscape on this site, fed by snow melt and rainfall, for watering stock. Then in 1923, the Ranch School constructed a low dam in Los Alamos Canyon, dredged out the depression, . . . — — Map (db m269951) HM
When the top-secret World War II Manhattan Project took over the Los Alamos Ranch School, housing for the hundreds and then thousands of people pouring into town was limited. The army constructed dormitories and apartments; it brought in trailers, . . . — — Map (db m269729) HM
When the first museum for Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (now Los Alamos National Laboratory) appeared in 1954 in an old ice house on the banks of Ashley Pond, its collection contained classified materials and it was not open to the general . . . — — Map (db m269987) HM
These sculptures of the Laboratory Director (Oppenheimer) and the Military Director (Groves) of the Manhattan Project, were designed to memorialize the historic photo of the two men standing at Ground Zero at Trinity Site after the successful . . . — — Map (db m269947) HM
In the 1920s, Los Alamos Ranch School Director A. J. Connell hired local homesteader Severo Gonzales Sr. to build this stone firehouse. It housed a cart with a water tank, pump, and hose for extinguishing fires that were a danger due to droughts and . . . — — Map (db m269716) HM
A thousand years ago, the first peoples on the Pajarito Plateau were hunter-gatherers who sought game and piρon nuts, along with obsidian from the nearby Valles Caldera. Beginning in the 1200s, the Ancestral Pueblo people began settling the area, . . . — — Map (db m269713) HM
Fuller Lodge was built in 1928 as the Ranch School dining room and kitchen. It also served as guest's and nurse's quarters and contained apartments for staff. Named for Edward P. Fuller, a staff member at the Ranch School, it is made of 771 massive . . . — — Map (db m196722) HM
The original dwelling on this site, a small staff cottage for the Los Alamos Ranch School, burned in 1931. The replacement stone home served the school's finance director, Fred Rousseau. During World War II, Edwin McMillan, who won the 1951 Nobel . . . — — Map (db m269740) HM
Harold H. Brook Homestead Entry: August 1908 Los Alamos Ranch School Purchase: 1917 Harold Hemingway Brook was an agronomist from Illinois who came to Santa Fe for treatment of tuberculosis. He recovered enough to apply for homestead entry in . . . — — Map (db m156686) HM
As the Los Alamos Ranch School grew in enrollment and prestige in the 1920s, director A.J. Connell wanted additional space to serve his students and staff. He hired architect John Gaw Meem, who was early in his career, to design the new building. . . . — — Map (db m269946) HM
Each student at the Los Alamos Ranch School (1917-1943) was assigned a horse, responsible for its care, and required to learn horsemanship. Since the Ranch School curriculum included Scouting, they established Troop 22 in Los Alamos, and was the . . . — — Map (db m269733) HM
The human history on the Pajarito Plateau goes back at least 10,000 years. Paleoindians first hunted its forests; millennia later, Pueblo Indians farmed its broad mesas before abandoning their settlements for locations along the Rio Grande. The . . . — — Map (db m156599) HM
Today a memorial stands at the site of the original Ice House. During World War II, nuclear components of the Trinity device (a prototype nuclear weapon) were assembled here to be detonated later at Trinity Site 255 miles south near Socorro, New . . . — — Map (db m156695) HM
This memorial marks the site of the Los Alamos Ranch School Ice House, used to store blocks cut from Ashley Pond when winter ice grew to a foot thickness. The original building was made of logs. In the mid-1920s, a stone building replaced the wooden . . . — — Map (db m269954) HM
Volcanic eruptions from more than a million years ago and subsequent erosion formed the Pajarito (little bird) Plateau. From the top of Pajarito Mountain to the Rio Grande at the bottom of White Rock Canyon, the plateau's mountainsides, mesas, and . . . — — Map (db m270030) HM
Located near the ancient Indian sites of the Pajarito Plateau, Los Alamos is one of New Mexico's newest towns. In 1942 a boys ranch school became the headquarters of the Manhattan Project, which led to the development of the atomic bomb. Los Alamos . . . — — Map (db m196361) HM
Los Alamos National Laboratory is a multi-disciplinary laboratory operated by the University of California for the Department of Energy. It encompasses more than 43 square miles of mesas and canyons in northern New Mexico. The laboratory has a . . . — — Map (db m156698) HM
[Top plaque]
A Registered Cultural Property
State of New Mexico
U.S. Post Office
Los Alamos
Built 1948
Los Alamos' original permanent
U.S. Post Office. It is the last
remaining portion of the original
community center . . . — — Map (db m196711) HM
In 1943, this site was the east entry gate to the "secret city" of Los Alamos, home of the Manhattan Project, which required credentials for entry until 1957.
In 1986, Sunrise Kiwanis recognized the need for a place for campers to park while . . . — — Map (db m269609) HM
From 1917 until 1948, the Los Alamos Ranch School dormitory, known as the Big House-because it was the largest building on the Pajarito Plateau when it was built-stood near this site. While students had desks and dressers in their rooms, they slept . . . — — Map (db m269723) HM
Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory has been designated a Registered National Historic Landmark Under the provisions of the Historic Sites Act of August 21, 1935 this site possesses exceptional value in commemorating or illustrating the . . . — — Map (db m156699) HM
Two gifted WWII leaders whose unique partnership won the wartime race to build an atomic bomb Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer Laboratory Director Los Alamos Laboratory 1942-1945 General Leslie R. Groves Commanding General Manhattan Engineer . . . — — Map (db m156700) HM
One of the few remaining World War II-era buildings in Los Alamos, the Performing Arts Center (PAC) was originally built as the East Cafeteria, serving members of the military during the Manhattan Project. The Los Alamos community often struggled to . . . — — Map (db m269956) HM
Originally constructed for Bruns General Army Hospital in Santa Fe in 1943, this chapel was moved to Los Alamos in 1947 as the military turned over the Manhattan Project base to the newly formed Atomic Energy Commission. It is one of 604 such . . . — — Map (db m270004) HM
Built during the Manhattan Project, this 40-person dormitory is one of the few remaining World War Il-era buildings in Los Alamos. Construction drawings date from April 1943. Dormitory buildings like this one housed single military men and . . . — — Map (db m270031) HM
In 2004, President George W. Bush signed legislation for the National Park Service (NPS) to investigate whether the Manhattan Project - an ambitious scientific and engineering endeavor that forever changed the world - should be the subject of an NPS . . . — — Map (db m269949) HM
Martha Brook Homestead Entry: August 1913 Los Alamos Ranch School Purchase: 1920 Martha Brook was Harold Brook's mother. Brook applied for homestead entry in Martha's name in August 1913 for 150 acres of what is now Eastern Area, the airport, and . . . — — Map (db m156687) HM
Gardens have graced the area adjacent to Fuller Lodge since the days of the Los Alamos Ranch School. As early as 1930, Helen Sulier, the school's nurse, created a small flower garden near this site. Ranch School students, staff, and families fondly . . . — — Map (db m269710) HM WM
Skiing has always been a favorite pastime for Los Alamos residents. Ranch School boys trudged up Sawyer's Hill and skied the short incline. During the Manhattan Project, European scientists, accustomed to spending winters on the slopes, built a rope . . . — — Map (db m269708) HM
Peggy Pond Church, author of the Southwest classic The House at Otowi Bridge and daughter of Los Alamos Ranch School founder Ashley Pond, will forever be The First Lady of New Mexican Poetry. As she rode the Pajarito Plateau and camped . . . — — Map (db m280156) HM
On the morning of September 11, 2001, terrorists flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the west face of the Pentagon, taking 184 lives. This block of limestone, recovered from the damaged structure, is one of the Laboratory's memorials to the . . . — — Map (db m270012) WM
During World War II, mail to Los Alamos residents was simply addressed to P.O. Box 1663, Santa Fe, New Mexico. When the Manhattan Project's existence was made known to the outside world in 1945, the Secret City could again use its Los Alamos . . . — — Map (db m196708) HM
This stone building, which replaced a wooden one that burned in 1933, housed the Los Alamos Ranch School's electrical generators. Foreman Jim Womelsduff and his assistants had to maintain the diesel power plant, which included disassembling it on a . . . — — Map (db m269709) HM
Victor Romero built his first homestead cabin on a nearby mesa in 1913. The Romero family rebuilt the cabin around twenty years later. Their homestead was appropriated by the government in 1942, and the cabin was moved here in the 1980s — — Map (db m269714) HM
Floyd Womelsduff, the chief mechanic at the Ranch School, built this house for himself and his mother in 1925. They lived here throughout the Ranch School era. When the Manhattan Project arrived, the cabin served as emergency housing for essential . . . — — Map (db m269705) HM
The Los Alamos Ranch School dormitory, known as the Big House because it was the largest building on the Pajarito Plateau, stood near this site from 1917 until 1948. Students slept on unheated, screened porches no matter what the weather. The dorm, . . . — — Map (db m269722) HM
The History is Here campaign was a major fundraising effort conducted by the Los Alamos Historical Society during 2012-2016. Our motivation was to enable the preservation and communication of the remarkable history and inspiring stories of Los . . . — — Map (db m269945) HM
Los Alamos Ranch School director A.J. Connell originally built this stone cottage for his sister May, a painter who taught art and music at the school. The large, bright living room doubled as her studio.
During the Manhattan Project, from 1943 . . . — — Map (db m269736) HM
Among those tempted by the Homestead Act of 1862, which offered free land in exchange for the successful establishment of a farmstead, was Victor Romero. In 1913 he applied for 15 acres of land that is now within the boundaries of Los Alamos . . . — — Map (db m156598) HM
During WWII, the US government encouraged citizens to plant victory gardens. Growing food, instead of buying it, meant there was more farm-grown food available to send to troops overseas. Growing a victory garden gave families fresh produce, a . . . — — Map (db m269942) HM
Inside you'll learn about Los Alamos during the Cold War, an era of political and military tension between the United States and the Soviet Union that began after World War II and lasted until 1991. It was a "cold" war because, despite ongoing . . . — — Map (db m269943) HM
William Mackwood Hopper Homestead Entry: August 1908 Harold H. Brook Purchase: 1914 Los Alamos Ranch School Purchase: 1917 William Mackwood Hopper met Harold Brook when they both lived in Santa Fe. In August 1908, four days after Brook applied for . . . — — Map (db m156681) HM
"During Project Y housing was top priority, and the army saw fit not to supply Los Alamos with either a Chapel or, at first, a chaplain. It was more than a year after the end of the war when General Groves (commander of the Manhattan District) . . . — — Map (db m270025) HM
This mill was built in the 1870s by Vicente Romero. In 1851 he established the La Cueva Ranch by purchasing land from several grantees of the Mora Land Grant which had been conceded by Governor Albino Pιrez in 1835. According to legend Vicente . . . — — Map (db m73281) HM
This ranching community was established by Vicente Romero in the early 1850s. The grist mill was built in the 1870s. Its proximity to Fort Union and the Santa Fe Trail helped the ranch develop into one of the regions most important commercial . . . — — Map (db m280175) HM
In New Mexico, women blessed with special knowledge of herbs, household remedies, human health and strong faith are trusted to cure real or imaged maladies. Known as Curanderas, these women have been an integral part of the Hispanic fabric in . . . — — Map (db m280176) HM
St. Vrain Mill The St. Vrain Mill is a stone, water-powered, vertical gristmill. The mill (molino de piedra in Spanish) was one of several in the Mora Valley that supplied flour and meal to nearby Fort Union in the mid-1800s. The mill was . . . — — Map (db m145867) HM
Santa Fe Trail
(Via Bent's Fort) 1822-1879 Marked by the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Territory of New Mexico 1910 — — Map (db m227257) HM
Santa Fe Trail
(Via: Bent's Fort)
1822 - 1879
Marked by the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Territory of New Mexico
1910 — — Map (db m244825) HM
Wagon Mound is the westernmost natural landmark on the Santa Fe Trail. It could be seen for miles by weary travelers making their way over the long and arduous road. The promontory was named by the trail travelers for its resemblance to a large . . . — — Map (db m156740) HM
This last great landmark on the Santa Fe Trail was named for its resemblance to the top of a covered wagon. At Wagon Mound, travelers could cross from the Cimarron Cutoff to Fort Union, which is located on the Mountain Branch of the Trail. The two . . . — — Map (db m45824) HM
The low line of trees to the south marks La Junta (the junction) of the Mora and Sapello Rivers. It is also known as La Junta because its location is where the Cimarron and Mountain Branches of the Santa Fe Trail join. Arriving with the U.S. . . . — — Map (db m156802) HM
In 1848, the U.S. Secretary of War ordered Lieutenant Colonel Edwin V. Sumner, as commander of the Ninth Military Department to "revise the whole system of defense (sic)" in the New Mexico Territory. The immediate goal was to move U.S. troops out . . . — — Map (db m156808) HM
For many of the years between 1851 and 1891, Fort Union was the greatest economic powerhouse in the New Mexico Territory. The single Army officer who controlled the huge complex that made up the Fort Union Depot some 400 acres of storehouses, . . . — — Map (db m148810) HM
Just ahead you would have seen a military general store. This was one place at Fort Union where people were always coming and going, every day. Soldiers from the Post, the Depot, and the Arsenal as well as civilian travelers, Army wives, and . . . — — Map (db m149002) HM
In this early 1860's view, the Commissary Storehouse is hidden behind the shed-like structure on the right. This huge building housed tons of canned and bottled goods, salted meats and fish, as well as onions and potatoes to feed the garrisons of . . . — — Map (db m149005) HM
We cannot sit down and have such a set of [horse] thieves run off with our stock with impunity. The Civil authorities seem to be powerless to cope with them. James H. Carleton, lieutenant colonel commanding Fort Union, March . . . — — Map (db m149180) HM
Depot Officers Quarters under construction in the early 1860s. The gable-roofed building behind the unfinished Officers Quarters is the Sutlers Store. Photo of the completed Quarters was taken in the 1870s. — — Map (db m149181) HM
In the distance you can still see the adobe remnants of the Fort Union Arsenal. This ordnance depot stored and issued the weapons and ammunition needed for all Army operations throughout the Southwest for 30 years. Longstanding Army practice was . . . — — Map (db m149001) HM
Imagine 2,000 to 3,000 freight wagons a year being off-loaded into these enormous buildings. In these five warehouses, the United States Army stored, inventoried, organized, and redistributed thousands of tons of food and equipment to support the . . . — — Map (db m149004) HM
The deep ruts etched into the earth in front of you are a record of Fort Union's role as the guardian of the Santa Fe Trail. Formed from a network of routes used for hundreds of years by American Indians, Spaniards, Mexicans, New Mexicans, and . . . — — Map (db m148988) HM
Fort Union Arsenal (marker south side)West of Fort Union near the base of the mesa are the ruins of Fort Union Arsenal. The first Fort Union was built at this location in 1851. In 1867 this wooden fort was razed and the adobe Arsenal . . . — — Map (db m156765) HM
Fort Union National Monument 1851-1891. Once the largest post in the Southwest, Fort Union was established to control the Jicarilla Apaches and Utes, to protect the Santa Fe Trail, and to serve as a supply depot for other New Mexico forts. . . . — — Map (db m45829) HM
You are looking at the largest United States military base to be found for 500 miles in any direction during the late 1800s. There was nothing bigger from Kansas to California. For 25 years, this frontier-era Army post was a federal . . . — — Map (db m148970) HM
On the indigenous pathway that became the Santa Fe Trail, Native Americans long traveled and traded. After Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, the Santa Fe trail developed as an international commercial highway connecting Mexico with . . . — — Map (db m156800) HM
Here you get one night in bed tonight you are on Guard, tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock you get relieved one hour after coming off Guard You have to Saddle up and go on Herd. Come in with the Herd at 4 p.m., spend one hour grooming your horse, . . . — — Map (db m149183) HM
For 24 years the officer in command of the cavalry and infantry troops at Fort Union lived here. The post commandant issued the orders that determined the daily duties and routines for hundreds of enlisted men, non-commissioned officers, . . . — — Map (db m149000) HM
On the hillside in front of you, the wagon ruts of the Santa Fe Trail bear silent witness to the passage of time and nations moving east and west. When Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, legal trade began between the United States . . . — — Map (db m156801) HM
This square, open yard was once full of men hard at work. The Santa Fe Trail and the rough, unpaved roads of New Mexico Territory in the 1800s were tough on freight wagons and the livestock that hauled them. Inside this Mechanics' Corral over . . . — — Map (db m149007) HM
For westbound travelers, camping here in this green river valley meant that their journey on the Santa Fe Trail was almost over. For travelers headed east it represented a decision, for the trail split here into two very different adventures. The . . . — — Map (db m148818) HM
The landscape before you has changed little over time. It remains remote and quiet, with little visible evidence of human influence. The Sangre de Cristo Mountains in front of you formed as ancient sedimentary rocks were faulted upward. Lying in . . . — — Map (db m156799) HM
There were few chances for family life for any enlisted man in the United States Army on the frontier. Regulations did not allow new recruits to have a wife or child. No soldier could marry without the permission of his commanding officer. That . . . — — Map (db m148994) HM
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