Historical Marker
Clifton House Site
Historical marker location:
US 64, Raton vicinity, New Mexico
( 10 miles west of Raton)
Three-quarters of a mile west of here at the Canadian River crossing was the popular overnight stage stop on the Old Santa Fe Trail. Clifton House was built in 1867 by rancher Tom Stockton, and materials were brought here overland from Dodge City. For years it served as headquarters for cattle roundups. After abandonment of the Santa Fe Trail in 1879, it fell into disuse and burned.
New Mexico was the birthplace of several famous figures in American history, including the outlaw Billy the Kid, the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, and the astronaut Harrison Schmitt, who was one of the last men to walk on the moon.