Bonanza City, New Mexico facts for kids
Bonanza City is a ghost town in New Mexico, United States. It is located about 13 miles (21 km) southwest of Santa Fe. The town was started in 1880 because gold and silver were found nearby. It was left empty in the early 1900s. Later, a movie set called The Bonanza Creek Movie Ranch was built near the old town. This set looks like a mining town from the late 1800s.
Exploring the Cerrillos Hills
The Cerrillos Hills are a group of hills in New Mexico. They hold many valuable resources. These include silver, gold, lead, copper, and turquoise.
Long ago, the Puebloans mined for turquoise in these hills. This was happening as early as the 900s CE. In the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish took over the area. They made Pueblo people work as slaves to mine turquoise, lead, and silver.
In 1680, the Pueblo people fought back in the Pueblo Revolt. They forced the Spanish out of New Mexico for a time. After this, large-scale mining mostly stopped until the late 1800s.
The Cerrillos Hills region became part of Mexico in 1821. Then, it became part of the United States in 1848. In 1879, the U.S. government began selling land in New Mexico. This included the Cerrillos Hills.
Later that year, two miners found gold and silver there. This started a big mining rush. Many new mining towns grew up around the hills. By the end of 1880, over 500 mining shafts were open in the area.
The Original Bonanza City
Bonanza City was founded in 1880 by John Mahoney. The name "Bonanza" means "prosperity" or "rich ore pocket" in Spanish. It was one of many towns that started after valuable minerals were found.
By July 1881, the town had a store, a post office, a hotel, and a smelter. It also had a church and a priest in the early 1880s. However, it lacked some important services like a barbershop or a shoe store. At its busiest, Bonanza City may have had up to 2,000 people. This was likely between 1880 and 1883.
In 1883, the Bonanza City post office closed. The smelter was moved to Albuquerque. This happened because Bonanza did not produce enough ore. The town's population dropped to 200 by 1884.
The town continued to shrink after 1885. By 1890, most people had left. Bonanza City saw a small return of activity in the early 1900s. A small smelter was built then. But the town was completely abandoned sometime in the early 20th century. Today, only building foundations and the ruins of the smelter remain.
Bonanza City as a Movie Set
The Bonanza Creek Movie Ranch is located near the old Bonanza City ruins. The Hughes family bought the ranch in the 1940s. They started using it for filming movies in the early 1950s. Parts of the movie The Man from Laramie were filmed there.
Many other films have been shot at the ranch. These include Silverado and A Million Ways to Die in the West. The TV show Kid Nation was also filmed there in 2007. This show had 40 children, aged 8 to 15. They tried to rebuild a pretend version of Bonanza City. They aimed to fix the mistakes of the original town's people.
At first, films used outdoor scenes or fake building fronts. But starting in the 1980s, a permanent movie set was built. The Hughes family and movie companies built complete buildings. These buildings have water and electricity.
On October 21, 2021, the movie Rust was being filmed at Bonanza. The production of the movie was later moved. It is scheduled to restart in January 2023, but not in New Mexico.
