Catskill - New Mexico Ghost Town

CATSKILL

NAME: Catskill
COUNTY: Colfax
ROADS: 4WD
GRID #(see map): 3
CLIMATE: Mild winter, warm summer
BEST TIME TO VISIT:Spring, winter, fall

COMMENTS: Hard Drive In
REMAINS: Ten perfectly preserved redbrick charcoal ovens

Catskill enjoyed a reputation rare for towns in the 1890s. It was known as a happy and fun loving town. Its citizens contributed time and money to build a church, a recreation hall, a racecourse, a dance pavilion, a picnic ground and a ballpark. It had a twenty-two-piece band as well as a dance orchestra. It was a fun loving town without violence. It was also a lumbering and sawmill town. It produced charcoal in such great demand that three thousand cords of wood were burned daily in the Catskill ovens. During the boom years thirty to fifty flatcar loads of lumber were shipped daily. The town was born in 1890 and had a good life until 1902. The timber around Catskill was becoming scarce and one by one the sawmills began closing down. In that year, the tracks of the Colorado and Southern Railway were pulled up cutting off Catskill's lifeline. There are a few surviving relics of the town most notably ten perfectly preserved redbrick charcoal ovens east of Catskill beside the Canadian River. Once so easily accessible by rail, it can now only be reached with a four-wheel-drive vehicle.Courtesy Henry Chenoweth.

Catskill enjoyed a reputation rare for towns in the 1890s. It was known as a happy and fun loving town. Its citizens contributed time and money to build a church, a recreation hall, a racecourse, a dance pavilion, a picnic ground and a ballpark. It had a twenty-two-piece band as well as a dance orchestra. It was a fun loving town without violence. It was also a lumbering and sawmill town. It produced charcoal in such great demand that three thousand cords of wood were burned daily in the Catskill ovens. During the boom years thirty to fifty flatcar loads of lumber were shipped daily. The town was born in 1890 and had a good life until 1902. The timber around Catskill was becoming scarce and one by one the sawmills began closing down. In that year, the tracks of the Colorado and Southern Railway were pulled up cutting off Catskill's lifeline. There are a few surviving relics of the town most notably ten perfectly preserved redbrick charcoal ovens east of Catskill beside the Canadian River. Once so easily accessible by rail, it can now only be reached with a four-wheel-drive vehicle.Courtesy Henry Chenoweth.

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