The Magdalena
Trail
The picturesque Sawtooth Mountains rise to an elevation of 9,240 feet.
Kelly Gatlin, La Luz Photography
A Livestock Driveway
The Magdalena railroad depot
was built in 1915 and is listed on
the National Register of Historic
Places. It now serves as the
village library.
The newly renovated Boxcar
Museum is on the north side of
the depot and open to the public.
The stockyards, shown as they
appear today, were the destination
for untold thousands of cattle and
sheep.
Example of a trough
installed by the CCC—
this one is at BLM’s Datil
Well Campground.
Quemado’s Sacred Heart Church
Leave No Trace: Plan ahead and prepare - Travel and camp on durable surfaces - Dispose of waste properly - Leave what you find - Minimize campfire impacts - Respect wildlife - Be considerate of other visitors.
U.S. Department of the Interior
Bureau of Land Management
Magdalena Stockyards circa 1885
THE CCC: In July of 1935 Civilian Conservation Corps
(CCC) Camp DG-42-N was established between Magdalena
and Datil in anticipation of work projects to improve the
Driveway. The camp was under the jurisdiction of the
Division of Grazing, as indicated by the “DG” in the camp
name.
Courtesy Palace of the Governors
(MNM/DCA) neg. #147671
In 1916 the Stock Raising Homestead Act was passed,
allowing for much larger homestead claims of 640 acres
—a square mile each. Stockmen were worried that these
large homestead claims, especially if fenced, would block
the trail. They petitioned the Secretary of the Interior for
formal withdrawal of the lands for moving livestock to the
railhead or between summer and winter range, which was
provided for within the Act. This withdrawal designated
the trail as a Stock Driveway, and most accounts refer to it
as the Magdalena Stock Driveway after this designation in
1918.
CCC construction of Stock Driveway fence
In the 1930s, drought and overgrazing threatened to reduce
western rangelands to a dustbowl. In response, the Taylor
Wells were established by the CCC at 10-mile intervals
along the Driveway. Ten miles was considered one day’s
War raged between the U.S. Army and the Apache and
Navajo in Territorial New Mexico, with varying intensity,
for 40 years. Much blood was
shed on both sides. After the Civil
War, Black Regulars (also known
as Buffalo Soldiers) came west to
serve in the frontier army, and some
were among those who fought
the Apache here. After Victorio
and most of the Warm Springs
Apache band were massacred at
Tres Castillos, Mexico in 1881, a
remnant band led by Nana (who
was lame in one foot and about 80
years old) went on a revenge raid
over a vast portion of New Mexico,
Nana, Warm Spring Apache
covering about 3,000 miles in two
months. They eluded their pursuers leader, ca. 1885
for the most part, and won the
seven major engagements that did take place. Several of
the battles occurred in this area.
OCEAN TO OCEAN HIGHWAY: Well before Route 66, the
Ocean to Ocean Highway spanned the U.S. from Santa
Monica, California to Virginia Beach, Virginia. In New
Mexico it stretched from Quemado to Clovis. It followed
an old wagon road from Springerville, Arizona to Socorro,
New Mexico—a road that may go as far back as Kit Carson
in the mid-1800s. Modern Highway 60 follows the general
route between Socorro and Springerville.
Take your time, exploring as the side roads beckon.
Remember whose footsteps you follow—Native American
hunters and villagers, great Apache warriors, a retreating
Confederate army, cowboys, sheepherders, outlaws, and
Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th
Cavalry. Slow down, get
comfortable and think of
those who came before.
Remember to honor private
property rights and federal
and state laws as you cross
these lands, and please do
not move or remove any
natural or manmade object
from its place in this very
The New Buffalo Soldiers portray Comspecial landscape.
pany D, 9th Cavalry in a re-enactment.
In the early 1920s, World War I veteran Clyde Norman, a
Texan who liked to bake, began making dried apple pies
at his business on a rocky ridge on the Ocean to Ocean
Highway, later to become U.S. 60. The word got out that
the best pies anywhere were to be found in what came
to be known as Pie Town. You can still satisfy your pie
craving at one of several eateries in Pie Town.
Featured in the movie Contact, The Very Large Array (VLA)
is part of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. One
of the world’s premier astronomical radio observatories,
it consists of 27 dish radio antennas in a Y-shaped
configuration on the Plains of San Agustín. Each antenna
is 82 feet in diameter. The data from the antennas are
combined electronically to give the resolution of an
antenna 22 miles across. There is a visitor center just
south of Highway 60.
Photo by Pam Kogler
In addition to the VLA visitor center, a selfguided walking tour features informative
signs and a trail leading to the base of one of
the giant dish antennas.
Eagle Guest Ranch dining room
at the Datil Crossroads was built
around 1900, and has been serving
hamburgers, steaks and pies ever
since.
Bureau of Land Management
Socorro Field Office
901 South Highway 85
Socorro, New Mexico 87801
575/835-0412
or
www.blm.gov/new-mexico
BLM/NM/GI-07-01-1220
The Driveway was five to 10 miles wide in places so that
enough grass would be available for the trailing herds.
It was open range, however, and was often overused by
adjoining ranches or slow-moving herds. Because of the
great distance traveled and the lack of adequate water
and forage, livestock often arrived in Magdalena in poor
condition, resulting in a reduced sale price for producers.
The CCC had been established two years earlier as part of
President Roosevelt’s “New Deal.” The CCC’s purpose was
to help conserve natural resources and to provide jobs
and training for unemployed young men between the ages
of 17 and 23 who were U.S. citizens. A force about three
million strong, they lived in work camps and earned a base
pay of $30 a month, most of which was sent home to their
families. The Corps was abolished in 1942.
Highway 60 will take you through Magdalena, Datil, Pie Town, Quemado,
and on to Springerville, Arizona.
After two decisive Civil War
battles occurred in New Mexico
in 1862 at Valverde and Glorieta,
Confederate General Henry Hopkins Sibley and his ragged,
hungry troops passed through this area on their retreat
back to Texas.
Confederate General Henry
Hopkins Sibley
Photos by Brenda Wilkinson except as noted.
THE BEGINNING: The livestock trail began in January of
1885 when the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad
completed its branch line from Socorro to Magdalena.
Ranchers from a vast area of western New Mexico and
eastern Arizona began trailing their cattle and sheep to the
Magdalena railhead, a journey of over 120 miles for some
herds. The peak trailing year was 1919, when 150,000
sheep and 21,677 cattle made the trip.
The Pie-O-Neer is one of several places in Pie
Town for a great meal or snack.
Ben Wittick Photo, Courtesy Palace of the Governors
(MNM/DCA), #16321.
Courtesy Palace of the Governors
(MNM/DCA) neg. #164502
The Taylor Grazing Act outlined a cooperative approach
to grazing administration, which led to the formation of
the Magdalena Stock Driveway Committee in 1936. The
group was made up of livestock growers and government
officials. They considered many issues, including
placement of water wells and fences along the Driveway.
THE HISTORY: The story and the
trail begin much earlier than the
cattle drives. Prehistoric bison
may have traveled through Datil
Pass as they migrated between
the North Plains and the Plains of
San Agustín, where some fell prey
to Folsom hunters some 10,000
years ago.
Courtesy Palace of the Governors
(MNM/DCA) neg.#50541
The Magdalena Trail ranks in importance with the famous Chisum and GoodnightLoving Trails. What sets it apart is its continued use into the 1970s.
Grazing Act was passed in 1934, regulating public land
grazing for the first time through permits, and establishing
the Division of Grazing. In 1939 the Division of Grazing
was renamed the U. S. Grazing Service. Then, in 1946, the
Grazing Service was merged with the General Land Office
(GLO) to form the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
DRIVING TOUR: You can tour the trail via Highway 60 from
Socorro to Springerville or the other way around as the
livestock did.
journey for cattle, and two days’ journey for sheep. Once
the CCC fences and wells were in place, livestock actually
gained weight on the trip to Magdalena. In 1956 rancher
George Farr described the Driveway trip as “a pleasure, as
well as profitable.”
