Raton Pass

[tamrock]

I drove to Red River New Mexico this afternoon and stopped to take a picture of this old church along the hillsides heading up over Raton pass that's on the border of Colorado and New Mexico. One day I may find my way up to it and have a look around.

 

[old digger]

Looks old, maybe there would be some good finds around on the church grounds?

 

[roaddust66]

I bet it's " snowin' on Raton " tonight...

 

[vpnavy]

Nice photograph!

 

[coazon de oro]

Howdy Tamrock,

If you take a metal detector, a good place to try would be the front of the church. It has been a Mexican tradition that after a baptism, the children would chant in chorus "BOLO PADRINO", and the Godfather would throw coins in the air to them. The well being of the Godson would depend on the generosity of the Godfather.

 

[tamrock]

I bet it's " snowin' on Raton " tonight...

Sweet song! roaddust,
Raton was high and dry tonight. Been on Raton a few times in the snow, not sure its a good time to sing about. One of the worst storms I traveled was there. Was heading south on I25 and the snow started on Raton pass at around 6pm. It took me till after midnight to make it to Las Vegas, New Mexico. I had a CB and I and two other truckers drove trough a blizzard at a slow 30 mph pace. I had to keep my drivers window down so I could see the road reflectors on the side of the road, as that's how I could tell I was still on it..

 

[tamrock]

Howdy Tamrock,

If you take a metal detector, a good place to try would be the front of the church. It has been a Mexican tradition that after a baptism, the children would chant in chorus "BOLO PADRINO", and the Godfather would throw coins in the air to them. The well being of the Godson would depend on the generosity of the Godfather.

That's interesting coazon, I so do love the Mexican traditions and have attended a few weddings in my time. This to me is one of the most pleasant places I travel to. The people I deal with always make me feel welcome here with 'genuine' smiles on their faces. Thanks!

 

[kenstein]

I bet it's " snowin' on Raton " tonight...

It just wouldn't be right to not mention the late great Townes Van Zandt, creator of this fine song and many others.

 

[texasred777]

I had not heard Pat sing this song before. Although I never met Pat, I know Pat's mom and stepdad. Met his stepdad in about 1980!

 

[RGINN]

Excellent, Tamrock, as I have been right there and walked around that site, until I noticed some signs sayin no trespassing. It wasn't gated and we just drove right in. To me, it had the appearance of a company mining town, but I could never find out much about it. Lots of foundations. I doubted it to be an early Hispanic settlement as they would not have left the cross on the church. (Maria questioned that) Nobody came to run me off so we just eased on out after some pics. And Mexican events are fun, but it seems like every time a baby gets baptized, or there's a boda, or a quince (those are gettin fewer as those girls would rather have a car) or even a birthday ol Padron Roberto is at the top of the invitation list and expected to chip in somethin. A gift card from Tar-jay works usually but you can be talkin some serious money on a quince. But it's all worth it cause they're showin the old Gringo some respect, and I get all the free food I can eat!

 

[tamrock]

How neat you scoped it out and I would think the area to be searched over a few times with a MD, I'm thinking the church is from around 1870ish? ?, but the cross could have been replaced don't you think? I believe there's a cross on the old crumbled down adobe brick church at the Pueblos north of Taos and it was built at the time before the Pueblo revolts, may be important to keep a cross on the holy churches no matter the condition? ...The place does seam to invite you to have a look around. Indeed an old mining town with a rich coal mining history in this area. I'm thinking the town may be Wooten Many Mexican and Italian coal miners from this area. Just north of here was the site of the Ludlow massacre. I'll stop at times at the Ludlow memorial and pay my respects to those who had been killed by the powers of big money and their hired government thugs.

 

[RGINN]

I think I figured it out, thanks to Google Earth and Wikipedia. This is Morley, CO. The site was called Cima by the Spanish who passed through here regularly in the late 1700's. In 1878 the railroad built a station here to house workers. In 1906, the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company built the town for its workers in the Morley coal mine. It had a post office, grade school, and St. Aloysius Catholic Church. The peak population was about 600 in the 20's. In 1909 there was a methane explosion in the mine that killed over 300 workers, and was called the largest man-made disaster in history up until that point. Due to high levels of methane the company switched from electric powered machinery to mule power, which eventually proved too costly. In 1956 the company closed the mine and destroyed the town to avoid being subjected to liability by squatters and trespassers. The demolition crew left the front of the church standing, which was pretty cool. And if the company still owns the site, if they let me in to detect, no way will I hold them liable for whatever scrape or bump I might get. (I won't share with them either; fair trade off!)

 

[tamrock]

I think I figured it out, thanks to Google Earth and Wikipedia. This is Morley, CO. The site was called Cima by the Spanish who passed through here regularly in the late 1700's. In 1878 the railroad built a station here to house workers. In 1906, the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company built the town for its workers in the Morley coal mine. It had a post office, grade school, and St. Aloysius Catholic Church. The peak population was about 600 in the 20's. In 1909 there was a methane explosion in the mine that killed over 300 workers, and was called the largest man-made disaster in history up until that point. Due to high levels of methane the company switched from electric powered machinery to mule power, which eventually proved too costly. In 1956 the company closed the mine and destroyed the town to avoid being subjected to liability by squatters and trespassers. The demolition crew left the front of the church standing, which was pretty cool. And if the company still owns the site, if they let me in to detect, no way will I hold them liable for whatever scrape or bump I might get. (I won't share with them either; fair trade off!)

Thanks! RGINN. Good bit of research, I'll buy that.

 

[RGINN]

By the way Tamrock, I was lookin at real estate for sale in that area and I found one listing for this whole site for sale, $220,000. Several folks could get together, pool their resources and buy it. As far as detecting, it might not pay for itself, but I'll bet tons of interesting finds. I wouldn't touch it as there is a mine site there and sooner or later the government would come and want you to clean that up, since it was your property. If somebody on here does buy it, y'all remeber me.

 

[tamrock]

By the way Tamrock, I was lookin at real estate for sale in that area and I found one listing for this whole site for sale, $220,000. Several folks could get together, pool their resources and buy it. As far as detecting, it might not pay for itself, but I'll bet tons of interesting finds. I wouldn't touch it as there is a mine site there and sooner or later the government would come and want you to clean that up, since it was your property. If somebody on here does buy it, y'all remeber me.

That's a fact!.. Old coal seam could ignite any time and smoke you out of there or end up down the road a superfund. Good odds it could be smoldering now. I herd reports that the area of Trinidad has been experiencing an unusual frequency of small earthquakes and scientists are headed in to find out why. Scientists Study Trinidad-Area Earthquakes | KRCC

 

[RGINN]

Just to bump this up for tamrock, I don't watch too much TV but I had heard some folks talk about that Diggers show so I got some free time and found it on the TV right now. I'm sure it's a rerun, but those two guys are down there at Morley diggin some pretty cool stuff up. Right now, they are down there at the Ludlow Massacre site. It must have been a real trick to get permission to detect there. Kind of an interesting program, but those boys apparently drink way too much coffee.

 

[tamrock]

Just to bump this up for tamrock, I don't watch too much TV but I had heard some folks talk about that Diggers show so I got some free time and found it on the TV right now. I'm sure it's a rerun, but those two guys are down there at Morley diggin some pretty cool stuff up. Right now, they are down there at the Ludlow Massacre site. It must have been a real trick to get permission to detect there. Kind of an interesting program, but those boys apparently drink way too much coffee.

Those digger guys crack me up. Back in my Climax mine days we got 2 young fellas fresh out of BV high school. They were best of buddies from kindergarten. They were just like those two guys on Diggers. Their names were "Terry & Jerry" and we gave em, the names "Mut & Jeff"... I drove up in to Ludlow memorial site, once some time ago it was late in the evening. It is a place that give you the chills. It's good the diggers will bring some attention to the tragedy of Ludlow. History such as that should be thought about and reviewed over time IMO.