National Register Listing

Watrous

a.k.a. La Junta

U.S. 85, Watrous, NM

The Mountain and Cimarron Branches, of the Santa Fe Trail joined at the settlement of the La Junta de los Rios Mara y Sapello (The Juncture of the Mora and Sapello Rivers) which was known simply as La Junta, until 1879 5 when the Santa Fe Railroad laid out the present day town of Watrous to the east. The small farming community became an important camping place on the Santa Fe Trail, as the Mora River delineated the New Mexican frontier, separating the Rio Grande Mexican settlements from the arid plain homelands of the Apache and Comanche Tribes. Eastbound traders and travelers stopped here to organize parties strong enough to undertake the journey back to Missouri after disposing of their trading goods in Santa Fe. For the westbound caravans from Missouri, La Junta represented the first sign of civilization along the Cimarron Cutoff and meant they had left the arid plains behind. In the active years- of the trail*-s use, the settlement at the confluence of the two rivers was accompanied by other development in the La Junta Valley including several ranches, a stage station, a corral for nearby Fort Union, a Jesuit mission, an early fort constructed by settlers, and the Village of Tiptonville.

History

It is not surprising that a settlement grew up at La Junta early in the history of the Santa Fe Trail, The soil of the Mora and Sapello river valleys was fertile, and surrounding grasslands were perfect for stock grazing. The two branches of the trail joined here, and traders and travelers weary from the long journey across the plains made good customers. After 1843, therefore, La Junta replaced Las Vegas (which in 1833 had replaced San Miguel) as the first New Mexican settlement reached by the trader caravans from Missouri. On March 27, 1843, John Scolly and nine others petitioned Mexican Governor Manuel Armijo for a grant of land at La Junta, The grant received, the Scolly grantees had colonized the triangular valley at the junction by November of 1843. In 1835 James Boney (Santiago Bone), an Englishman, and 30 others were given a grant of the same or similar lands to establish a town called Pueblo de Santiago to be laid out on the south side of the Moro River and the "public road from the United States to Santa Fe" was to pass through the center of the town from the north to south and cross the Sapello River by the most direct route. The location of this settlement is believed to be on the Phoenix Ranch property along the earliest route of the Mountain Branch, which lay on the western side of the valley and led through the Puerto del Canon. By 1841, Boney and his Mexican wife had settled in this location in a small dugout with no windows on a rise of ground and had begun" cultivating the land and building an irrigation ditch. Boney was killed by the Indians in 1846 and his family left the valley. None of the buildings associated with Boney and his settlement have survived.

Local significance of the district:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1966.