Ancho Ghost Town N of Carrizoso

[Highmountain]

This place was a railroad town, only a few houses probably abandoned shortly after WWII when everything changed from steam to diesel. Appears to have been occupied from the turn of the last century until just after WWII. There's the remains of a large brick-making operation across the fence to the west, and lots of interesting whatnots lying around there, and on the hill above.

Parts of it were re-occupied during the hippie-dopesmoker times of the '60s-70s, but there's no water available. Lots of signs they were doing everything in their power to collect runoff in all manner of cisterns.

Maybe the RR folk ran them off or maybe they just found other things to do with themselves. Looks as though the place emptied out around Christmas time and fairly sudden, left all manner of things lyinig around inside the houses.

The place belongs to the Railroad. I don't know the legalities about nosing around there, but 1998 I spent a few days turning over rocks and pieces of debris and was never challenged by anyone, never saw anyone.

 

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[OroGrande]

Nice read..... "My House of Old Things" existed there for years. Full of history of the area and quite facinating artifacts and old collectibles, fun visit. Sadly the owner recently died and the surviving family members decided to close it and auction most all the "stuff" off on ebay.... too bad. Further up 462 is the mining town of Jicarilla, now a ghost town and closed to the public, but one can drive through on the Forest Service Road. No metal detecting without permission from the FS. Also the GPAA has a claim for its members to prospect and some have had success. Intersting old mining area. Thanks for the post. "Oro"

 

[Highmountain]

Nice read..... "My House of Old Things" existed there for years. Full of history of the area and quite facinating artifacts and old collectibles, fun visit. Sadly the owner recently died and the surviving family members decided to close it and auction most all the "stuff" off on ebay.... too bad. Further up 462 is the mining town of Jicarilla, now a ghost town and closed to the public, but one can drive through on the Forest Service Road. No metal detecting without permission from the FS. Also the GPAA has a claim for its members to prospect and some have had success. Intersting old mining area. Thanks for the post. "Oro"

Thanks for the info and reply Oro. I wasn't aware of the Jicarilla ghost town.

I almost wish the operators of this site would maintain a database of all the various types of information available here to make it easier to access. This site is rich with information about all manner of subjects, but almost impossible to retrieve it. I'd bet here resides the best reservoir of historical information of many types anywhere on the web. All dressed up and no place to go insofar as anyone locating it.

Gracias,
Jack

 

[OroGrande]

Thought you would like to see some pics of Jicarilla Ghost Town and mines in the area.....fun to visit....lots of scenic beauty.

 

[Jonsered]

Interesting to see someone talk about my area. Spent many an hour working the Ancho / Jicarilla / White Oaks area. A few coins, some buttons, and a couple of tenths of a gram of dust. Was really more of a silver area. Nonetheless, I have encountered a few folsk who claim to have taken some good coins and a good bit of dust of the the White Oaks area itself.

 

[stude]

I worked on that RR for 37 yrs. Ancho is a siding next to "My House of Old Things". The property owned by the RR is only the immediate track area and 50 ft to either side. All of the surrounding property and buildings are privately owned! This is a GREAT detecting area but I would strongly recommend that you obtain permission first. This is extremely difficult to obtain unless you know somebody there. Hang out for a while in one of the bars in Carrizozo, buy some drinks for the locals and you may get lucky.

 

[stude]

BTW, there are still people living in Ancho and White Oaks. They don't care much for strangers but they are friendly people if you introduce yourself first.

 

[stude]

Since we were talking about it (or maybe it was just me) the railroad from El Paso through Alamo, Carrizozo, and Santa Rosa has been there for a long time. In the steam engine days there was a station every 10 miles. I have found a lot of old bottles and other good stuff just walking the right-of-way. Metal detecting is tough because there is a LOT of scrap iron. But there are finds to be made.