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| Mimbres, New Mexico |
Summer of 1972 I met my wonderful wife and soul mate, Becky. We’ve been married now for 36 fun and adventurous years. When we met she and her family lived on a place in Mimbres, New Mexico. It was on the edge of the Gila National Forest which is in the South West corner of New Mexico. The closest city is Silver City, New Mexico.
http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/gila/home
This is land of many famous Apaches like Chief Victorio, Geronimo, Chief Mangus, Cochise, and Chief Nana. A good read for the history can be found with this book.
“From Cochise to Geronimo: The Chiricahua Apaches, 1874–1886”
An ancient people lived here called the Mimbreno Indians. That was a long time before the Apaches lived here. On Becky’s family’s place are two Mimbreno Indian archeological digs. If you visit the Maxwell Museum on the campus of the University of New Mexico, you can see many fine examples of Mimbreno pottery on display.
https://www.unm.edu/~maxwell/
Here is an example of what the pottery looks like.
Becky and I have seen these pots in Museums across the country.
On the far side of the river under the bluffs is an old Calvary road. The Calvary had a camp just north of the property where they would do logging and haul lumber down to the forts along the Rio Grande river.
One time Becky and I found an old miner’s rock cabin. Inside was an old iron bed frame buried in a pack rat’s nest. We dug the bed frame out, carried it down to the house and Becky refinished it. This has been our guest bed in our house ever since. We had to have the bed rails extended so it would fit a modern size mattress. So if you ever wonder by and stay with us you’ll have to ask to sleep on the old miner’s bed. It sleeps pretty well I’m told.
Becky’s parents sold a portion of the land to the Nature Conservancy and now that portion is an official Nature Sanctuary. It is open to hiking, bird watching and just enjoying the beauty of the valley. The house is gone now but the old barn is still standing. All the story’s that this place could tell. There is an old horse corral that was used to break horses in. I can still see the cowboys sitting on the fence just like in the John Wayne movies.
Recently we had the opportunity to spend a day wondering around the old place. So many memories and good times.
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| McAnally Barn, Mimbres, New Mexico |
We’ve always loved hiking along the Mimbres river which was just down the hill from Becky’s old home. The home is gone now but the river still meanders through the valley. I tried to find the tree that has our initials carved on it but a thunderstorm was rolling in and ran out of time. I’m sure it’s still there. That will have to be another trip.
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