By Mark Wing, based on research by Paul and Marilyn Duncan and Dave Ferro. Photos by Mark Wing (unless otherwise noted).
Thursday was our first tour day and our destination was Ft. Union National Monument located near Watrous, NM. This was a roundtrip of 108 miles. Paul Duncan, our current Tin Lizzies President and one of the three tour organizers, held a driver’s meeting after breakfast at 8:45 in front of the Plaza Hotel. He explained that on the way to Ft. Union, we were going to have a brief visit to Storrie Lake State Park, the church in Golondrinas, view Santa Fe Trail ruts still remaining from the Cimarron Cut-Off and Mountain Trail Branches.
Our first stop, only 5 miles from the Plaza Hotel, was Storrie Lake State Park.
We had an unscheduled stop before making the turn to Golondrinas. Andy Andrews 1924 Model T touring car was overheating and also suddenly stopped running. Kirk and Karmeron Peterson and Paul Duncan and passenger Al Ahlrich were there to assist Andy in loading the touring car onto the “trouble trailer” being pulled by our club treasurer Marilyn Duncan. The other tour participants were kept informed via cell phones and waited in a graveled area on the side of the road.
Once Andy’s car was loaded up, we proceeded through open ranch land and entered the Village of Golondrinas (est. 1835). This area used to supply Ft. Union with produce. We passed over the Mora River and stopped to view the adobe church, San Acacio de las Golondrinas, built in 1862.
We also passed the Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge and continued on NM-446 through Watrous heading north. We stopped to view the Santa Fe Trail ruts.
We passed the junction of NM-446 and NM-161 and passed over Interstate 25, entering the Ft. Union National Monument. We were greeted by several park rangers who were expecting our arrival. We had pre-ordered box lunches and enjoyed them in a picnic area prior to a tour scheduled for 1 PM.
We were given an excellent tour by a young park ranger named Mary. Ours was the largest group she had ever guided on a tour.
The tour covered topics such as how people traveled on the Santa Fe Trail, the strategic importance of Ft. Union, and how it stayed out of Confederate control during the Civil War. Mary explained that at its height during the Civil War, as many as 650 people were living and working at the fort!
When the tour was complete, we began the 54 mile drive back to the Plaza Hotel by returning via the same route we had taken to get to the fort.
Once we returned to the “Our Lady of Sorrows” Catholic Church parking lot, Larry and other club members began troubleshooting Andy’s car. Larry discovered that the nut holding the roller in the commutator had fallen off! Luckily, Larry had a spare commutator with him and the touring car started. Unfortunately, warm and cool areas of the radiator indicated that some area had little to no coolant flowing through it which caused Andy’s car to overheat.
Click on links (below) to access other tour days:
Sept. 22 – Following the Santa Fe Trail Tour, Day 1, Plaza Hotel
Sept. 23 – Following the Santa Fe Trail Tour, Day 2, Fort Union
Sept. 24 – Following the Santa Fe Trail Tour, Day 3, Pecos
Sept. 25 – Following the Santa Fe Trail Tour, Day 4, Mora
Sept. 26 – Following the Santa Fe Trail Tour, Day 5, return home