Tularosa

[Oregon Bill]

Joqua, I have seen that "Old Road Restaurant" sign. It is just past the three "Road Closed" signs.

[joqua]

Here's an interesting and coincidental news article in today's Ruidoso News:

Blazer wins Mescalero Apache presidency in Tuesday election

This Blazer is one of the many descendants of the original mill owner in Mescalero, if I guess correctly.

I realized yesterday why I haven't noticed the adobe remnants of the Blazer Mill - they blend into the background and are not easy to spot, even though I knew right where they are.

This web site will be of interest to anyone wanting to learn more about the Blazer family. A lot of interesting information on this web site, along with a number of rare photos from the mid-1800s:

https://rmoa.unm.edu/docviewer.php?docId=nmlcu1ms110.xml

[joqua]

Originally Posted by Oregon Bill

Joqua, I have seen that "Old Road Restaurant" sign. It is just past the three "Road Closed" signs.

FYI, those signs don't mean "no trespassing." They designate different sections of the former route of US-70, back when it was a 2-lane hiway. It was rerouted and became 4-lanes sometime in the 60s-70s.

I've done a screen capture of a section that might interest people who are traveling the area. In the photo, the "old road" is named Gato Mountain Road. I have placed a white arrow at a bridge crossing that "hides" a man-made waterfall that travelers used to stop to view, along with the view down the deep chasm formed by Tularosa creek. Gato Mountain Road has not been repaved since it was abandoned but the old pavement is still passable to passenger cars. Other sections of "Old Road" can be found on Google Map views.

Gato Mountain Rd. affords a great panoramic views, including the small hill known locally as "Round Mountain." The one with the white cross on the peak.

[joqua]

Originally Posted by joqua

I had forgotten about that old outdated place and am not even sure it's still doing business. I was just through there two days ago and didn't even notice it. Will look again when I drive by next Wednesday.

I did have a look and it appears to still be in business and is being kept up on the outside. Parking lot is gravel and hard to tell if it's still a nightly stay business but it's definitely dated looking (1950s style). The screen capture is still representative of how it looks today. There was one vehicle there on Wed.

[joqua]

Ever since my first post to this Tularosa thread, I've been trying to recall the name of the local historian, a resident of Tularosa, who was such a great source of information the time I joined her bus tour of historic local churches. Remembering only her first name, I did a search on "Tularosa Historian" and turned up two interesting/informative articles about her, published in 2003 and 2008:

http://www.sharonniederman.com/tularosa.html

http://www.evlanelli.com/art46.htm

I first learned that the Blazer's Mill site is on land that is not a part of the Mescalero reservation from
Cynthia.