This group of 9 GCs was established by a group of friends who enjoy geocaching with good historical context. This set of caches along Highway 9 are associated with the old railroad called El Paso and Southwestern Railroad. The El Paso and Southwestern Railroad was a short-line American railway company which operated in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, with line extensions across the international border into Mexico. The railroad was known as the Arizona and South Eastern Railroad from 1888 to 1902. (Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Paso_and_Southwestern_Railroad).
Now the railroad bed is parallel to Highway 9 and all the GCs are easily accessible from a paved road. The GCs are placed as near as possible to most of the RR stops along the route between Santa Teresa and Hachita. Some of the old RR Water Stops are on Private land, so GCs are placed near to the site, but within the Highway Right of Way. Please respect the Private land.
Hachita - The name Hachita was derived from the Spanish word “hacha” meaning small axe or hatchet. The reason this name was applied to this region of southern New Mexico is unknown, but the word is used to name several geographical features in the area in both English and Spanish variations. Big Hatchet Peak, Little Hatchet Mountains, Hachita Valley are a few examples.
Prior to the arrival of the railroads in the Hachita valley, ranchers sparsely populated the area. Their cattle grazed in the abundant grasslands of the valley. A few mining settlements appeared around the 1870’s in the Little Hatchet Mountains to the west and in the Apache Hills to the east with the discovery of turquoise, gold and silver in the area. Bands of Apache Indians frequented this desolate region and ranchers and miners were under constant threat of attack. https://sites.google.com/site/ghostsofthesouthline/towns/hachita