Cloverdale, On The Edge Of Forever

 The dirt road that leads to Cloverdale is, for the most part, well-maintained. However, there are some  stretches of washboarded road, which makes for slow going. Washboarded roads can be rough on a vehicle's suspension and axles, so anyone that ever wants to visit Cloverdale should be aware of this. I seriously doubt the road has been improved since I last went there in February of 2009. I had the advantage of going there in the winter. The dirt road was harder than usual after a succession of winter freezes, so that made driving somewhat easier than it was the one other time I visited this remote ghost town, which was in late summer several years earlier.
  As one drives south on Cloverdale Road, he or she will discover a gradual greening of the land. The landscape changes from harsh, unforgiving desert to a luxurious grassland. Such is the location of Cloverdale. A grassland may not sound very impressive, but in the New Mexico Bootheel, it is a soothing respite to the harshness of the nearby desert. This is also a very ecologically diverse grassland. The 'entrance' to the grassland is first marked by a grove of cottonwood trees. The grass cover is very short and thin at first, but becomes taller, thicker and more luxurious farther south, reminiscent of the African savannas.
  In 1880, a ranch was started in the area that would later become Cloverdale by Michael Gray and his two sons. One of his sons described the area as "a big, green meadow of about a thousand acres which was at the time covered with red top clover and watered by numerous springs."
Michael Gray had paid a cattle rustler $300 for his squatter's claim to the ranch. A year later, one of Gray's sons was killed in the Guadalupe Canyon Massacre. As a result, Gray moved his family to Arizona, but in the meantime he continued to occupy the ranch on his own to "prove up" his claim. On November 20, 1883, shortly after receiving legal title to the ranch, he sold the ranch to George Hearst and his partners for $12,000. George Hearst was the father of William Randolph Hearst who made a fortune in the newspaper business. William Randolph Hearst is the grandfather of Patty Hearst, who became famous in the 1970s with the staged kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army. 
  After George Hearst purchased the ranch, him and his business partners established the  Victorio Land and Cattle company, which is still in operation today. The Victorio Land and Cattle Company along with the Pacific Western Land Company and the Gray Ranch occupy a huge portion of the New Mexico Bootheel today. The Gray Ranch later split off from Victorio and became an empire of its own.

Life On The Frontier

In the far southern part of Hidalgo County, New Mexico is the most isolated ghost town I have ever visited. It is (was?) called Cloverdale. To get there, go 11 miles west of Lordsburg on Interstate 10 and then exit off onto Exit 11 (State Highway 338) and head south. It is 25 miles to Animas, a town of 148 people. This is where the state maintained highway ends. However, the road continues past Animas as County Road C-1. About 10 years ago there was a big squabble between the state and private interests over the ownership of the road south of Animas, which resulted in the state giving up the road and turning it over to the county. Until that time, The state highway ended 18 miles south of Animas, at the end of the pavement and it was a county road beyond that. Even earlier, the state highway continued even farther, as a graded, dirt road all the way to Cloverdale and beyond. It once connected with another dirt road that went  east over San Luis Pass, in the
San Luis Mountains just 4 miles from the Mexican border. This east-west road, once called State Highway 79, connected with State Highway 146 (now called State Highway 81) which leads to the most remote border crossing between the United States and Mexico. The former State Highway 79 was a graded dirt road. This road still exists, but it is a private road that is mostly on the property of the Gray Ranch, one of the most biologically diverse places in North America.
  Cloverdale was located a few miles west of this former highway intersection. Cloverdale's isolation proved to be its undoing. As one is driving south of Animas to visit the forlorn remains of this town, one has to negotiate 20 miles of dirt road that is usually in good condition, but sometimes the county does not grade it on a regular basis and, even when it is graded, it contains sharp rocks that have been known to shred the tires of many unwary travelers.
  A visit to Cloverdale requires some preparation. Heck a visit to most areas in New Mexico's Bootheel require advance preparation, but Cloverdale even more so because of the unpaved road, sharp rocks, no water or cell phone signal and  lack of amenities. It is best to stock up on water in Lordsburg or Animas and also take some other drinks, a lunch or snack and make sure your tires are in good condition before visiting Cloverdale. It is also advisable to let someone know, such as Sheriff's Department or the State Highway Patrol, of your whereabouts and your approximate time of return in case something goes wrong in this remote area.

A Desolate Land

The vast majority of Hidalgo County, New Mexico is remote and uninhabited. That can be said about many places in the western part of the United States, but the remoteness of  Hidalgo County has to be seen to be believed. It varies from desert to grassland to pinon/juniper scrub to ponderosa pine forest, depending on elevation. though the vast majority of the county is part of the Chihuahuan Desert, which spreads from western Texas to southeast Arizona and south into Mexico.. The most remote areas visible from a highway are along State Highway 81 south of Hachita (which is in Grant county) and county road 1 south of Animas. These roads are the most extreme, but the principal east-west route south of Interstate 10, State Highway 9, is also extremely remote.
Most of the mountains in Hidalgo County are unnamed and have never been measured. In most of the mountain ranges, only the highest peak has been measured and named. In others, there may be 2 or 3 named and measured peaks in the entire range while all of the other eminences in the mountain range remain a complete mystery. All of the mountain ranges have been named, but most of the individual mountains have not. The flora, fauna and geology in large portions of the county are little known and have not been studied. But is is likely similar to other areas of the Chihuahuan Desert.
  Hidalgo is a county where most of the population is concentrated in or near the county seat, Lordsburg. In fact, the second biggest population center in the county is a subdivision instead of a town. The Windmill subdivision is the second largest populated area in Hidalgo County. It has approximately 300 people.
  Hidalgo County is bisected by the Continental Divide, which divides waters flowing into the Pacific Ocean with waters flowing into the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico. In many places in this part of New Mexico, the Continental Divide is almost imperceptible. It follows mountain ranges in some places, but, in other places is merely a slight rise in the land that is barely distinguishable from the desert around it.
  This remoteness, isolation and desolation is a big part of the attraction of Hidalgo County, in my mind. It reminds me of a simpler time, a time before modern civilization destroyed or severely altered the landscape. A time when society was more primitive. There are portions of Hidalgo county that are still untouched by modern society. Other areas have felt the hand of man, but in a very subtle way. When my mind harkens back to a more primitive time, Hidalgo County, plus neighboring parts of Luna, Grant and Dona Ana Counties come to the forefront. This is the area that is collectively known as the "Bootheel" of New Mexico.