Orogrande - New Mexico Ghost Town

OROGRANDE

NAME: Orogrande
COUNTY: Otero
ROADS: 2WD
GRID #(see map): 8
CLIMATE: Mild winter, warm summer
BEST TIME TO VISIT:Spring, winter, fall

COMMENTS: A small semi-ghost
REMAINS:Many original buildings.

Oro Grande in Otero County has almost NO exsisting structures and very little trace. The one building I know that remained is the old powder house. Most of the remaining Oro Grande residents (not part of the mining town, but on the highway) have since left and I do not know if the post office even remains. New Mexico is in stage 4 reclaimation work on the mine shafts and almost all have been bulldozed and grated allowing no access to humans. (The gates provide bat entry.) The bulldozing has destoyed much of the old tailings. If you were to visit Oro Grande 4 wheel drive will not suffice entry because the road in some places has been washed out sometimes 2-4 feet deep. You will have to pack in a mile or so to see what is left around the Lucky Lucy mine and surrounding mines. I think at this point Oro Grande will be nothing more than dissapointing for old ghost town hunters. Please update so folks know and don't risk the dissapointment or the possibility of getting stuck and stranded.

Jarilla Junction, once a station on the El Paso and Northeastern Railroad, was renamed Orogrande when a gold nugget the size of a man's finger was discovered in 1905. Prospecting had started as early as 1879 in the Jarilla Mountains but the 1905 discovery started a gold rush and gave birth to the town of Orogrande. For several years thereafter, the town was the hub of intense mining activity and the population grew to several thousand people. A fifty-five mile long water pipe was laid from the Sacramento River to the townsite. Almost overnight, a hundred homes were built to house only a fraction of the influx of people. Some were forced to live in hastily erected shacks and tents. As happened so many times before, there was less gold than had been anticipated and mining activity began to wane. Today Orogrande is reduced to a post office, a few businesses and about fifteen families. Courtesy Henry Chenoweth.

Jarilla Junction, once a station on the El Paso and Northeastern Railroad, was renamed Orogrande when a gold nugget the size of a man's finger was discovered in 1905. Prospecting had started as early as 1879 in the Jarilla Mountains but the 1905 discovery started a gold rush and gave birth to the town of Orogrande. For several years thereafter, the town was the hub of intense mining activity and the population grew to several thousand people. A fifty-five mile long water pipe was laid from the Sacramento River to the townsite. Almost overnight, a hundred homes were built to house only a fraction of the influx of people. Some were forced to live in hastily erected shacks and tents. As happened so many times before, there was less gold than had been anticipated and mining activity began to wane. Today Orogrande is reduced to a post office, a few businesses and about fifteen families. Courtesy Henry Chenoweth.

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