THE END: A very interesting journey through Hillsboro to Lake Valley, NM

We had planned on going up to the Camino Real Cultural Center but it was getting later in the morning and we were afraid that the car would get too hot for Tucson while we did the Museum so we headed to Hillsboro and the Ghost Town of Lake Valley instead.

We have passed through Hillsboro a couple of times but could never find the Museum open. This time we finally made it in. Quite interesting with 7 rooms chock full of stuff. The Museum was built before 1893 and was the Ocean Grove Hotel (and brothel) owned and run by Sadie Orchard and Tom Ying, a Chinaman she hired to run the restaurant

Here is the the largest electric freezer purchased by Ying for $600 cash. Electricity was finally brought to the Town to bring in the power to run it.

Jim the guy in charge of the Museum gave us a personal tour. We also got to see some of the planters he makes from plastic. Here is a piece made to look like weather wood.

This one looks like a rock. They are really amazing. Inside the museum he had asked Gary to pick up a mold for silver bars to see how heavy it was - Gary was ready to pick up something weighing 75lbs or so but it was one of his cast plastic pieces and was very lightweight.

We stopped at the park across the street for a picnic lunch before continuing on to Lake Valley. There was a couple camping there in a tent with 4 horses.

We got to talking to them and found out that they were traveling across the country on Horseback.

Here's an excerpt from a Fox News Story:

The story of Art Lamely, Sue Hemming, and four horses started in Broken Bow, Nebraska several years ago.

"After a 30-year marriage went south, I had two horses left and Horace Greeley said go west young man, so I figured I would," says Art.

Art was riding his horse Big John through Pine Bluffs, Wyoming when he met Sue. He stopped to get the horse a drink of water while Sue was watering her flowers.

Sue was widowed and about to lose her house. So she bought a couple of horses and hit the trail with Art. Destination: America

As you go on horseback you'll see the scenery change at three miles an hour you see things people just don't see," says Art.

They've crisscrossed the west, working odd jobs, living in a tent

We stayed and talked to them for a while and gave some apples to Big John, Josie, Lucky and Benjamin their horses. They mentioned that they were coming through T or C in a few days so we said we'd check around to see where they might be able to stay with their horses.

We bid Happy Trails and continued on to Lake Valley.

On the way out we viewed the remains of the Old Courthouse.

Here is a picture of what it looked like originally. When the County Seat was moved to T or C the records kept getting stolen and returned to the Courthouse in Hillsboro. The Courthouse in Hillsboro was eventually condemned and closed. With the county seat moved to T or C, Hillsboro did not become the boom town as it had been foreseen and the courthouse fell into ruins.

Next we arrive at Lake Valley

Lake Valley was a silver-mining town it had its heyday from 1881 to 1893. The last resident left in 1994.

The mines produced well for a few years after miners tunneled into a silver-lined cavity they named the “bridal chamber” that alone yielded 2.5 million troy ounces (78 tonnes) of silver

We parked at the old School House where the visitors center was. The town is now privately owned and managed by the Bureau of Land Management and open for walking tours. The door was locked and there were signs warning of rattlesnakes in the area. Gary got Tucson out of the car and I was getting some water for him and us when I heard Gary yell "HOLY COW" and I looked up and saw him running backwards.

This is what caused such a reaction - he was walking in the parking lot looking at the buildings when he heard the rattlesnake, looked down and saw it crossing in front of him!

I kept my distance with the zoom lens and caught it going into the foundation holes of the School House. We decided at that point not to do the trails!

I guess we made enough noise to wake up someone from the BLM and they came over and opened the museum for us. It was quite a good size one room schoolhouse. The ranger told us that when she asked young children what the hole in the school desk was for their answer was not inkwells, but 'obviously a hole for the computer cords'.