New Mexico Trip

I spent the night in Glenwood, NM and was able to connect to the internet for the first time since I left Las Cruces. Many thanks to the Lariat Motel owners for letting me use the phone line in their house. First stop of the day was the Catwalk of Whitewater Canyon in the Gila National Forest. The catwalk clings to the wall of the canyon and was originally built by miners in 1889 to get to a gold mine 4 miles up the canyon. Before gold was discovered in Whitewater Canyon, it was a hideout for Indians and desperadoes like Geronimo and Butch Cassidy.	The Catwalk
End of the line	A town called Whitewater grew at the end of the canyon to support the miners and a steady supply of water was needed year round. A four inch water line was installed. It was built inside a wooden box packed with sawdust to keep it from freezing in the harsh winters. Later the water line was increased to 18 inches to keep up with the demands of a growing town. Brace holes were drilled by hand in the solid rock walls to support wooden beams. The beams held the water line. The workmen who had to walk the water line to keep it repaired dubbed it the Catwalk. The mine closed in 1913 because of inadequate ore processing methods. The mine just wasn't profitable.
The boulders you see in the picture on the right are the size of houses. They split away from the canyon wall and clutter the floor of the canyon, forcing the water to twist and turn as it rushes down the valley. There are hundreds of waterfalls and inviting pools along the hike. The original catwalk and the water line has been washed away by numerous storms and floods. The new catwalk was built by the Forest Service in 1986 out of the flood path.	Whitewater Canyon
Mine tailings near Mogollon	Near the Catwalk is an old mining town called Mogollon (pronounced Muggy-OWN) in the Mogollon Mountains. On the way to Mogollon (another terrific motorcycle road) you have huge open vistas and you can see a lot of old mine sites. The white spot in the picture on the left is caused by rock that is taken out of the mine shaft. The rock is dumped at the mine entrance and is called 'tailings'. As you travel the American West, you can spot many abandoned mines by the tailings.
The town of Mogollon has been called a Ghost Town by many guidebooks but it has been constantly inhabited since 1875 when gold was discovered on Silver Creek. Many of the old buildings are still in use and the hillsides around the town are dotted with stone foundations of the miner's cabins. The Mogollon Theater is now an antique shop but it still has the original stage. The room you see above the porch is the projection booth. Miners in this area were making $50 per day in a time when the national average was only $3.50 per day.	Mogollon Theater
General Store	More than $1 million a year was mined here in the peak years of 1912 to 1915. Now Mogollon is inhabited mainly by artist attracted to the picturesque settings and remoteness of the area. There are unique shops and galleries to be found here and even some new construction as the town becomes more popular.

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