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Hachita, New Mexico, too tough to die!
Though officially in Grant County, New Mexico, Hachita is located right on the edge of Hidalgo County and has been more a part of our county than of Grant. The colorful community was once called Eureka and came about as a tent community due to deposits of turquoise, lead, tin, copper and silver that were discovered in the Little Hatchet Mountains. The quantity and quality of the ore that was mined was never sufficient enough to keep the town going and so it began to dwindle.
From the very beginning, the sparsely settled area around Eureka, later to be called Hachita, was not a life for the faint-hearted. The people who lived at the mines and on the ranches were in constant danger of attack by roaming bands of Indians, fugitives from the reservation or members of the Apache tribes that were still at large. Outlaws of every sort disrupted the peace of the community of Hachita, attacking and robbing whoever crossed their paths. The Black Jack Ketchum gang routinely traveled through Hachita, Shakespeare, Animas, Steins, Granite Gap and near the Rodeo area.
The community continued to struggle to maintain its existence and managed to survive into the next century though still dependant on the mines. It wasn't until 1899 that the president of the big copper-producing Phelps Dodge Company used his influence to have its railroad tracks extended from Lordsburg to Hachita to join the El Paso and Southwestern lines. When they laid in the new tracks they actually missed the town of Hachita by several miles. Many of the people of the town of Hachita actually packed up and moved to the new site of the railroad line, located nine miles to the east of the heart of the flat, open Hachita Valley and the original Hachita town site. Along with their belongings they took the town's name, leaving the nearly deserted mining settlement to be known as Old Hachita from then on. Now it is one of several historical ghost towns located in the area that are not often visited by tourists passing through.
New Hachita was officially born in 1902 and had a post office and not much more. During the next decade, a school and several churches were built and there were many new businesses that were erected along the Main Street of town. A hotel, a couple of stores, a blacksmith, a barber shop, saddle and boot maker and mercantile were added to the community and of course a western town isn't complete without the addition of several saloons. Though the majority of the original businesses are no longer in operation, the buildings are still standing. A very old Catholic Church still remains in Hachita, the beautiful architecture struggling to stay intact. Another tiny, old adobe church is just around the corner and nearby is what the locals call, a midget house. The roof low to the ground and a house so tiny it looks to have been constructed for a playhouse once upon a time.
There are very interesting buildings in the Hachita area and the ghost towns near by are all in their original state. The area is a terrific place for getting back to nature, doing outdoor sports, enjoying and photographing the birds and wildlife and is a great place to stop and visit. Residents in the area can point you to great places for rock hounding, hunting, and many other recreational activities. Stop by for a bite to eat and stay for awhile. The residents will great you with a warm smile and a hardy handshake.
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