Tokay - New Mexico Ghost Town

TOKAY

NAME: Tokay
COUNTY: Socorro
ROADS: 2WD
GRID #(see map): 5
CLIMATE: Mild winter, warm summer
BEST TIME TO VISIT:Spring, winter, fall

COMMENTS: The townsite is occupied by a private ranch.
REMAINS: A few original remnants

The San Antonio Coal Company was organized about 1918 to mine coal in the area about nineteen miles southeast of Socorro and was named Tokay. During its prime, the town catered to about five hundred residents and supported a mercantile store, a church and a boardinghouse for miners among other establishments. There was also a two-story building that housed a pool hall on the first floor and a schoolroom on the upper floor. In the late 1940s, the mining operation closed and most of the frame buildings were moved to Socorro. Today the townsite is occupied by a private ranch. Courtesy Henry Chenoweth. TOKAY. Former trading point 2 mi Sof US 380, on old NMM RR, 8 mi E of San Antonio. Coal was once mined here from an exensive deposit developed by B. H. Kinney. TOKAY. Post office 1919/1932. Submitted by: Samuel W McWhorter "The state had to have a name for the town and Kinney was already taken. They were at the train station where the coal was shipped from and on a car were Tokay grapes, so he picked Tokay for the name of the town. He built a general store (had his own coins made), post office, bunk houses, his house." The bunkhouse of the Tokay Coal Company (it was never called San Antonio Coal Company until after it closed) is now part of the Fite Ranch B&B. I went out to their website and learned that the main house was badly damaged by fire in 2001 but it was rebuilt. Don't know how close to the original it is; Mabel and her husband visited Fite Ranch this past September so I'm waiting to hear back from her about that. On a separate topic, my husband and I live very close to Drawbridge, which I didn't notice on your interactive map: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drawbridge,_California http://www.sanjose.com/underbelly/unbelly/Draw/draw2.html He's figured out how to walk out to it, a very dangerous proposition; between you and me I hope he never does it. If he does, he'll come back with photos. All the best, Christine Emerson-Moulton The History recorded by Elinor "Ruth" Kinney Gannaway SHORT BIOGRAPHY: This is a website that documents the history of the Bartlet Hoyt Kinney Family by Mabel Alice Lovejoy Kinney. It includes information about Tokay, Carthage, Fort Craig and Madrid, New Mexico...all are ghost towns now. www.kinneyfamily.us Blessings! Submitted by: Sam Mayer

The San Antonio Coal Company was organized about 1918 to mine coal in the area about nineteen miles southeast of Socorro and was named Tokay. During its prime, the town catered to about five hundred residents and supported a mercantile store, a church and a boardinghouse for miners among other establishments. There was also a two-story building that housed a pool hall on the first floor and a schoolroom on the upper floor. In the late 1940s, the mining operation closed and most of the frame buildings were moved to Socorro. Today the townsite is occupied by a private ranch. Courtesy Henry Chenoweth.

TOKAY. Former trading point 2 mi Sof US 380, on old NMM RR, 8 mi E of San Antonio. Coal was once mined here from an exensive deposit developed by B. H. Kinney. TOKAY. Post office 1919/1932. Submitted by: Samuel W McWhorter

"The state had to have a name for the town and Kinney was already taken. They were at the train station where the coal was shipped from and on a car were Tokay grapes, so he picked Tokay for the name of the town. He built a general store (had his own coins made), post office, bunk houses, his house."

The bunkhouse of the Tokay Coal Company (it was never called San Antonio Coal Company until after it closed) is now part of the Fite Ranch B&B. I went out to their website and learned that the main house was badly damaged by fire in 2001 but it was rebuilt. Don't know how close to the original it is; Mabel and her husband visited Fite Ranch this past September so I'm waiting to hear back from her about that.
On a separate topic, my husband and I live very close to Drawbridge, which I didn't notice on your interactive map:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drawbridge,_California

http://www.sanjose.com/underbelly/unbelly/Draw/draw2.html

He's figured out how to walk out to it, a very dangerous proposition; between you and me I hope he never does it. If he does, he'll come back with photos.

All the best,
Christine Emerson-Moulton

The History recorded by Elinor "Ruth" Kinney Gannaway

SHORT BIOGRAPHY: This is a website that documents the history of the Bartlet Hoyt Kinney Family by Mabel Alice Lovejoy Kinney. It includes information about Tokay, Carthage, Fort Craig and Madrid, New Mexico...all are ghost towns now.

www.kinneyfamily.us

Blessings!

Submitted by: Sam Mayer

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