Mowry City, New Mexico facts for kids
Mowry City was once a ghost town in New Mexico, about 25 miles north of Deming. It started as an important crossing point on the Mimbres River for a road called Cooke's Wagon Road.
Before it was called Mowry City, this spot was known as Rio Mimbres, a stop for the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line. Later, it became Miembre's River Station, a place where stagecoaches would stop on the famous Butterfield Overland Mail route. The town existed from 1859 until the railroad arrived in southern New Mexico in 1881.
A Tricky Beginning
Mowry City grew around the Mimbres River Station, which was a relay stop for the Butterfield Overland Mail. This station was located 16 miles northeast of Ojo de Vaca Station and 18 miles west of Cooke's Spring Station.
Mowry City was created because of a very early and dishonest plan to sell land in the American Southwest. In the late 1850s, three men named Samuel J. Jones, Lewis S. Owings, and Robert P. Kelley lived in Mesilla, a town near Las Cruces, New Mexico. They owned businesses and had interests in mining. They felt there weren't enough people in the area to make them rich. So, they came up with a plan to create a new town and promote it to attract many new settlers.
Kelley had met Sylvester Mowry in 1858. He learned that Mowry was famous and well-known among people who invested money back east. Realizing that Mowry's name would attract attention, the promoters decided to name their new town Mowry City.
The Big Promises
In 1859, Kelley and his partners published a booklet called "Report of the Mowry City Association, Territory of Arizona, for 1859." This booklet described Mowry City as the future capital of Arizona. At that time, "Arizona" referred to the southern half of New Mexico Territory. The report greatly exaggerated the area's resources and what it could offer.
The report was printed far away in Palmyra, Missouri. Kelley and his brother-in-law, D. W. Hughes, even opened an office there for the Mowry City Association. They also published a newspaper called the Mesilla Miner. This paper contained fake articles that made Mowry City and the Mesilla Valley seem like a busy, peaceful place. In reality, the area was often troubled by Apache attacks. Years later, someone who knew Kelley and his partners said that they printed their newspaper in Missouri because it was "not intended for the public eye so near home." This person called the whole promotion a "swindle," meaning a trick.
Challenges and Decline
In the spring of 1860, gold was found at Pinos Altos, about 40 miles northwest of Mowry City. This discovery helped the new town grow a bit, and people like Sherod Hunter moved there. However, when the American Civil War began, a conflict known as the Bascom Affair caused the Apaches to start attacking all white settlers, miners, and travelers in the region. This made it too dangerous to promote Mowry City, and the dishonest plan ended.
The settlement continued to exist after the Civil War, at least until the railroad arrived in 1881. S. M. Ashenfelter described Mowry City in 1871 in a newspaper article. He said that Mowry City, located on the Mimbres River, had many people living there. There were large general stores, a hotel, and a flour mill. Blacksmiths worked for the people in the countryside. The main mail route from Mesilla to Tucson passed through Mowry City. This route crossed the Mimbres River right at Mowry City.
Another person, Loreta Janeta Velazquez, described Mowry City around the same time. She noted that while it had a hotel and a few stores, it also had "more drinking-saloons than do it any good." She didn't believe it would ever become a big place. She mentioned that the river often didn't have much water, but a sudden rain could turn it into a raging flood.
Mowry City eventually faded away when the railroad came through, changing how people traveled and traded goods.
