Baldy - New Mexico Ghost Town

BALDY

NAME: Baldy
COUNTY: Colfax
ROADS: 2WD
GRID #(see map): 2
CLIMATE: Cool winter with snow, warm summer
BEST TIME TO VISIT:Spring, summer, fall

COMMENTS: The site has been taken over by the Philmont Boy Scout Ranch.
REMAINS: A few mine tailings.

Alma's post office was established in 1888, and eventually discontinued in 1926. Near the barren top of baldy mountain is the site of the ghost town of Baldy. This area was known for its easy picking placer gold deposits and many mines sprang up starting about 1866. Eventually, there were enough people to warrant a town and by 1897, Baldy had 200 inhabitants, a school, methodist church, twelve producing mines, four stamp mills, a telephone line, blacksmith, barber, launderer, justice of the peace, many saloons, a general store, and a livery stable. Then in 1900, W.P. McIntyre, convinced there was a mother lode in the mountain, decided to tunnel through the mountain starting from each end and meeting in the middle. 36 years later, the two ends met within an inch of each other but the mother lode was never found. By 1941, the towns life was over and today it is a boy scout camp.	The Baldy telephone, circa 1891 Courtesy Museum of New Mexico

Alma's post office was established in 1888, and eventually discontinued in 1926. Near the barren top of baldy mountain is the site of the ghost town of Baldy. This area was known for its easy picking placer gold deposits and many mines sprang up starting about 1866. Eventually, there were enough people to warrant a town and by 1897, Baldy had 200 inhabitants, a school, methodist church, twelve producing mines, four stamp mills, a telephone line, blacksmith, barber, launderer, justice of the peace, many saloons, a general store, and a livery stable. Then in 1900, W.P. McIntyre, convinced there was a mother lode in the mountain, decided to tunnel through the mountain starting from each end and meeting in the middle. 36 years later, the two ends met within an inch of each other but the mother lode was never found. By 1941, the towns life was over and today it is a boy scout camp.

The Baldy telephone, circa 1891
Courtesy Museum of New Mexico

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