Land Use, Historic and Current
The County is rich in archaeological sites which indicate Paleo-Indians were probably the first inhabitants of the region, some 10,000 years ago. The most visible evidence of early settlement can be found at Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, in southern Catron County. Here pit houses possibly dating to 100 A.D., indicate the presence of the Mogollon Culture, which replaced the earlier archaic groups about 500 B.C. Sometime after 1000 A.D. the Cliff Dwellings themselves were built, along with other Pueblos overlooking the west fork of the Gila River. Tree ring dating of roof timbers indicates that construction continued in the area until about 1280 A.D. The main subsistence activities were farming, pottery and trade.
The first European contacts in the area likely came following Coronado's Expedition in 1540, although no settlements occurred until much later. Apaches moved into the area sometime during the 1600's; early Spanish maps identify southwest New Mexico as "Apacheria".
In 1822 the area came under control of the Mexican Government, but soon experienced an influx of trappers and mountain men from the United States. By 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo had ceded much of the area to the U.S.; the remainder was acquired in 1853 as part of the Gadsden Purchase. The war with Mexico brought military excursions throughout southern New Mexico as early as 1847. Diaries kept by the military and information accumulated by public land surveyors in the years following added much to the recorded information about the study area during that early period.
The discovery of gold in the Mogollon Mountains near Glenwood in 1875 brought additional settlers, many of whom turned to farming and ranching. The extension of railroads south of Catron County in the 1880's, along with the end of Indian hostilities, marked the beginning of relative stability; most forms of economic and social structure in place at that time remain today.
Irrigated agriculture by non-Indians came into widespread use in the mid-1800's. By 1875 a number of ditch systems had been established on the Gila River. By 1890, most land suitable for irrigation with surface water was under cultivation. Most of the diverted water was used to irrigate small farms, although part of the water was appropriated by owners of large ranches for livestock purposes. As the only feasible occupation on land away from the main stem of the rivers, ranching spread throughout the remainder of the area, and by the late 1800's some of the larger ranches in New Mexico had been established.
After 1940, irrigation using groundwater began in both New Mexico and Arizona. Farm development in New Mexico picked up substantially in the 1950's, with the realization that soils and climatic conditions enabled successful cash crop production, once water became available. This resulted in the creation of many farming enterprises where only livestock grazing was feasible prior to 1940.
Photo credit: Gale Moore, Glenwood Gazette
Access to the headwater areas of stream systems such as the Gila has always been difficult. Since terrain and climate typically do not favor farming or ranching, much of these areas remain primitive and undeveloped. In 1964 the government acknowledged these unique characteristics with the creation of the 438,360-acre Gila Wilderness, within the Gila National Forest. Until the mid 1990s the National Forest had been harvested for timber and wood products, as it and surrounding forests had been since the early mining days. It remains a popular destination for outdoor recreation.
