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MOUNTAINAIR
Once, thriving American Indian trade communities of Tiwa and Tompiro speaking Puebloans inhabited this remote frontier area of central New Mexico. Early in the 17th-century Spanish Franciscans found the area ripe for their missionary efforts. However, by the late 1670s the entire Salinas District, as the Spanish had named it, was depopulated of both Indian and Spaniard. What remains today are austere yet beautiful reminders of this earliest contact between Pueblo Indians and Spanish Colonials: the ruins of four mission churches, at Quarai, Abó, and Gran Quivira and the partially excavated pueblo of Las Humanas or, as it is known today, Gran Quivira. Established in 1980 through the combination of two New Mexico State Monuments and the former Gran Quivira National Monument, the present Monument comprises a total of 1,100 acres.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF MOUNTAINAIR

The AT&SF Railway built through Abo Pass, and the railroad led to the beginning of Mountainair. When the AT&SF began construction of the "Belen Cut-off", a Kansas man, Colonel E. C. Manning, located a townsite along the proposed right-of-way. The incorporators of Mountainair were Colonel Manning, John Corbett, and perhaps a former Kansas official named Stober. W. F. Bartell opened the first business, a grocery, in 1903.

In 1907-08, with steel rails now leading on west, as well as back to Midwest and eastern markets, settlers began to arrive and file on the land. They built dugouts and houses from the abundance of pine from the nearby Manzanos. Some newcomers (just as the Spanish-Mexican farmers and Pueblo Indians had done in the past) planted beans and corn. The town boomed and Mountainair boasted of being the "Pinto Bean Capital of the World." The droughts of the late 40's and 50's as well as economic factors caused the once numerous farms to be abandoned or sold. The livestock industry then began to flourish in this area with ranching still a main business activity today.

The success of the automobile led to the paving of U. S. 60 which bends gently into Broadway, the main street of Mountainair. Garages and service stations sprang up, along with restaurants, cafes, hotels and motels. The day of the traveler and sightseer had arrived. John W. Corbett, co-founder of Mountainair, saw the immediate vicinity had much to interest touring Americans. The mountains, mesas, red sandstone bluffs, and arid plains were scenic wonders, not to mention the long-abandoned Indian pueblos and Spanish mission ruins of Gran Quivira, Abo, and Quarai. In order to preserve one of these ancient monuments, Corbett and W. McCoy purchased the land where Quarai was situated and deeded it to the State. The State eventually deeded Quari and Abo to the U. S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Now, Gran Quivira, Quarai, and Abo are all a part of what is known as the "Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument. Thousands of people visit these ruined "cities", and Mountainair proudly took the title, "Gateway to Ancient Cities."

The name SOCORRO means "help" in Spanish. In 1598, Juan de Onate gave this name to the pueblo. The Pilabo Indians gave them food and shelter. In 1680 the Pueblo people of New Mexico revolted against their Spanish masters. The people from Socorro did not join in the revolt and as a result, retreated with the fleeing Spanish to the vicinity of modern day El Paso, Texas. Their descendents still live in Socorro del Sur...Socorro of the South...in Texas.

The Spanish returned to New Mexico, in 1692 but the Socorro area remained empty. By the late 18th Century, officials in Santa Fe began planning the resettle. This was to protect the trail from Santa Fe to Chihuahua, Mexico. The Apache people were making travel through this area very dangerous -- the Chihuahua trail was already known as La Jornada del Muerto...the Trail of the Dead Man or Journey of Death.

Socorro is a fertile land. There is a very large spring at the base of the mountains which then, and now provides an abundant water supply.

The new settlers rebuilt the church and the town and by the late 1850's, Socorro numbered about 600 people. The real influx of new people, did not happen until the coming of the Santa Fe Railroad in 1880. The population jumped to over 4000 within two years. By 1886 the present town was incorporated. The 1880's and early '90's were boom years for Socorro. There was extensive mining in the mountains and hills, with smelters to handle the ore. Farming, ranching and extensive merchantile interests also added to the economy. In 1889 the New Mexico School of Mines was established and the first students arrived in 1892.

Today, the school remains one of the state's leading centers for education and research.

Reviews

BookBrowser Review:
Genre: Detective/Mystery
Reviewer: Harriet Klausner
Reviewed: 4/12/98

In Mountainair, New Mexico, special state police officer Kevin Kerney investigates the local murder of a police officer. The only possible lead in the case is a psychotic, who might have witnessed the murder. Starting with the mentally ill witness, Kevin begins to piece together a story about a bad cop prone to sexual violence.

As the case of the murdered cop winds down, Kerney starts to investigate the stealing of art worth over $8 million from the governor’s mansion. Governor Springer wants this case resolved quickly and quietly. As Kevin begins his investigation he finds a link between a frequent female visitor to the mansion, who has disappeared and an old enemy from south of the border. Kevin knows that if this connection leads him to the missing art, it could also lead him to a deadly confrontation with a man who kills without thinking twice.

SERPENT GATE is the third Kerney mystery and like the previous two (TULAROSA and MEXICAN HAT), the novel is a tremendous southwest who-done-it. Kevin is a great character who, through his actions, helps the reader better understand the difference between justice and the law. The support cast helps propel the two investigations forward, and they dexterously blend into a fast-paced story line. Michael McGarrity is no longer a rising star because he has obviously arrived.

Serpent Gate: A stay-up-late mystery
Review by Daniel Foster

After a busted relationship and a six-month-old murder investigation he's none too proud of solving, Kevin Kerney, ex-Santa Fe detective, ex-park ranger, is hired by the Chief of the New Mexico State Police to lead the investigation into the multimillion dollar art theft at the Governor's office.

The case is a political mine field, and Kerney knows that time is of the essence. Art thefts need quick closure; if not recovered in the first 48 hours, most of the art in question is never seen again. Kerney also realizes that the break-in is a political liability to the governor. He immediately takes charge.

With few leads and a police force with divided loyalties, Kerney enlists the help of an old friend to comb through the Santa Fe art community. Furthermore, Kerney cannot get his mind off the murder case he recently solved, the person he arrested, and the terrible and long-buried secrets involved in the matter.

When a state-trooper is gunned down along the highway, Kerney suspects a link between the two crimes. Clues are scarce, but slowly they are turning up. Stitching them together, he sees the trail pointing back to the state capitol, and to possible involvement with members of the governor's office, who has just decided that any misconduct which may have occurred in his office stays buried under the carpet; the investigation be damned. As the crime unravels, the case takes a sudden and unexpected swerve, and Kerney comes face to face with an old nemesis from south of the border, one who is looking to forward to Kerney's untimely demise.

"Serpent Gate," (Scribner) Michael McGarrity's third novel in the Kevin Kerney mystery series, is the best yet, which is saying a lot. This is a stay-up-late book, tightly plotted, a complex story with a wide variety of believable characters, and McGarrity gives the reader an inside view of the procedure and politics of a police investigation. "Serpent Gate" relies less on the scenic beauty and mood of New Mexico, but that's alright. It also heavier on the suspense than the two previous Kerney mysteries, showing off impressive storytelling skills. He's a very talented writer who shows no signs of slacking off. Word of mouth and hand-selling have brought the author a respectable following. With a new publisher and his best book yet written, a wider audience and bestsellerdom are in store for Michael McGarrity. Add "Serpent Gate" to your summer reading list. Highly recommended!

Salinas Pueblo Missions

Some Mountainair history

Pecos Wilderness

Trains and Mountainair (Search for "Mountainair" on your browser to see some good photos)

Sevilleta Long Term Ecology Research