The Ghost Town of Steins
In
1878 the Southern Pacific Railway was pushing its steel fingers across
the hot, mountainous, arid country of New Mexico and Arizona. The
company developed a quarry from which they extracted rock, sending
the heavy loads east and west as they built the railroad bed. The
town of Stein, named after Captain E. Stein of the US army, grew up
at the pass. The town protected the workers from the perils of the
desert Indians, as well a providing a place to stay close to their
job.
This
was far from safe country to live in. Just a few miles north, the
Indians attacked the Butterfield Stage, killing all the occupants.
Three of the stagecoach passengers were hung upside down over a fire
to die. A rural gravel road leads to the monument, which marks the
site of the Butterfield Stage Massacre.
The town grew to over 1300 inhabitants and bustled with activity.
That was then. When the railroad building was over, Steins remained
a railroad town used for maintenance. In the early 1940's diesels
replaced the high maintenance steam engines. Boom days were gone,
and the town began to shrink, and one day, who can say the exact date,
Steins became a ghost town.
One day
Larry Link was in the area looking for rattlesnakes. He was told to
go up to the old ghost town of Steins and talk to the town's owner.
Lots of rattlesnakes lived among the old ruins wining and dining on
pack rats and other little animals. Larry was captivated with Steins,
and bought it on the spot, but one little task remained. He had to
inform his wife, Linda. The conversation was something like, "Dear,
sell the house and come on over here to New Mexico. We've bought a
ghost town. After the initial shock, and a couple of years of less
then full enthusiasm for the idea, she now would not leave the place.
She loves it.
When
they arrived there was nothing really suitable to live in, and they
commuted on weekends to Steins. They began a massive cleanup, salvaging
old artifacts, and burning the trash, and… oh yes... removing
a few hundred rattlesnakes.
Steins sits on the pass, shaded by Interstate 10, just before the
Arizona border. From the highway it's difficult to see much, except
for a few old rooftops. It is necessary to go into the townsite and
start wandering. You'll likely find Linda in the old store keeping
a fire going in the old round woodstove, reminiscent of the stoves
in old train depots. This store just oozes an ambiance of old, old
stuff. The papered walls are covered with bizarre wallpaper; dollar
bills, many with signatures, from all over the world.
For a small fee you can take the tour through buildings that look
as if the occupants just left them the way they were the day they
abandoned Steins, but maybe planned on returning. Original furniture,
tables, beds chairs, lamps, all appear to be waiting for the owners
to return and resume their lives there.
Steins still looks out on the railroad, busier than ever now. Twin
tracks climb over the pass, permitting trains to meet and bypass each
other before continuing on upon the single tracks that vanish across
the endless desert.
If you're not in a hurry, stop at Steins, 16 miles west of Lordsburg,
New Mexico. If you are old enough the town will bring back a bit of
nostalgia, and if you're only a young whippersnapper, you'll see some
neat articles in the rooms. Your parents can explain how modern appliances
like the clothes wringer and the scrub board functioned to make life
easier for the families that lived there so long ago.
Tell them Jim sent you.
Happy RVing!
For more than four decades James Stoness has travelled
the roads of North America, photographing and writing about what he has
seen. His travel articles and beautiful pictures have been published in
several magazines and newspapers. He is also the author of five western
novels.
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