New Mexico Tourism | Western } Explore | Ghost Towns

Ghost Towns: Alma, Cerrillos, Chloride, Clairmont, Elizabethtown, Golden, Lake Valley, Loma Parda, Madrid, Mogollón, Shakespeare, Steins, Winston
Movie Sets: Bonanza Creek Ranch, Cerrillos, Madrid, Cook Ranch & the Silverado Set, Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, Eaves Movie Ranch, White Sands National Monument, Zia Pueblo

Mogollón

Southwest region of New Mexico Mogollón, also called the Mogollón Historic District, is a former mining town located in the Mogollón Mountains in Catron County. Located east of the towns of Glenwood and Alma, it was founded in the 1880s at the bottom of Silver Creek Canyon to support the gold and silver mines in the surrounding mountains. A mine called "Little Fannie" became the town's most important source of employment. During the 1890s, Mogollón had a transient population of between 3,000 to 6,000 miners and, because of its isolation, had a reputation as one of the wildest mining towns in the West. Today Mogollón is listed as Fannie Hill Mill and Company Town Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

In the 1870s, Sergeant James C. Cooney of Fort Bayard found a rich strand of gold in the Gila Mountains near the future site of Mogollon. A miner named John Eberle built the first cabin in Mogollón in 1889, after mines were developed in Silver Creek, which runs through the town. A jail and post office opened in 1890, and the first school was added in 1892. During this period of growth, Mogollón absorbed the population of nearby Cooney, and helped towns like Glenwood, Gila and Cliff grow based on their proximity to the town. Between 1872 and 1873, the stagecoach from Mogollón to Silver City was robbed 23 times by the same assailant. He was eventually apprehended by agents of the Wells Fargo.

Little Fanny was an extremely dusty mine. "Miner's consumption" caused miners to work at Little Fanny for three years or less. In response, the owners developed a method of spraying water under pressure from the jackhammers as they broke the quartz for removal from the mine, reducing the dust in the air. In 1909, the population of Mogollon was about 2,000. That same year the town boasted five saloons, two restaurants, four merchandise stores, two hotels and several brothels located in two infamous red light districts. The town also had a photographer, the Midway Theatre, an ice maker and a bakery. The Silver City and Mogollon Stage Line provided daily service, hauling passengers, freight, gold, and silver bullion eighty miles between the two towns in almost fifteen hours.

By 1915, payroll in Mogollón was $75,000 monthly. The community expanded to a 1,500 that year, with electricity, water, and telephone facilities. The school offered education to about three hundred students.

From early in its life, Mogollón was plagued by a series of fires and floods. The first big fire in 1894 wiped out most of the town's buildings, which were made of wood. Fires followed in 1904, 1910, 1915, and 1942. The town was usually rebuilt almost immediately, each time using more stone and adobe. Floods rushed through Silver Creek in 1894, 1896, 1899, and 1914. They washed away mine tailings, dumps, bridges, houses, and people.

During World War I, the demand for gold and silver dropped, and many of Mogollón's mines shut down. By 1930, the population had dropped to a reported 200. The town grew again during a short resurgence in gold value during the late 1930s, but during World War II saw the town shrink again, never recovering its stature.

In 1973, a spaghetti western called My Name is Nobody, starring Henry Fonda, was filmed in Mogollón. A saloon and general store in town were built as part of the movie set. Today the town is privately owned. There are several small businesses, including the Silver Creek Inn, which operates in a former bordering lodge called the Mogollón House, originally built by Frank Lauderbaugh in 1885. The establishment is reportedly filled with ghosts from the mining era.

The entire Mogollón community was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Fannie Hill Mill and Company Town Historic District in 1987. It was cited for its industrial and architectural legacy from 1875 through 1949.

Several mines were built in the Mogollón area, including the Little Fanny, Champion, McKinley, Pacific and Deadwood. Together with older prospectors, they extracted approximately $1.5 million in gold and silver in 1913, or about 40 percent of New Mexico's precious metals for that year. In their lifetime, over 18 million ounces of silver were taken from the mines of the Mogollón Mountains, which was one-quarter of New Mexico's total production. Close to $20 million in gold and silver were extracted, with silver accounting for about two-thirds of the total. Many regarded Silver City as merely a railhead for Mogollon's eight-team freight wagons, packed with gold and silver ore.

With the decline in precious metal values after World War I, the mines were no longer profitable. The town grew again after a brief price spike in 1937, but World War II again caused a slash in the demand for precious metals, and this, accompanied by a devastating fire in 1942, almost finished the town. In 1952, the Little Fanny was the only mine in operation; today it is shrouded in silence. When the Little Fanny mine closed down, Mogollon fell on evil days.