Lincoln | New Mexico

Lincoln is full of history about Billy the Kid, who was apparently creating mayhem in this neighborhood.    These buildings were at the Museum/Visitor Center.  They say that this town is the most restored town in the state. 

This is interesting, right in town.  My first guess was some kind of water storage - wrong!  It dates back to the 1850s and it was built to protect the Spanish-Americans from the Apache Indians, called a Torreon.

This is the doorway to get inside.  Low clearance and a huge thick slab of wood for a door.

Inside, there's a ladder leading to the upper level.

I went up to the second level, and found a ladder going further up.

The buildings in town are interesting - restored, but not modernized. 

This is one of the stores.

The shop owner must have lived in one part of it.

A display of chiles and other items that might have been sold way back when.  The dark items hanging against the wall are the chiles that are strung on some type of line and dried.  New Mexico is famous for the chiles, and you'll note they do not spell it "chili", and it's nothing like chili.  It's more of a sauce for flavoring. 

The post office is still in use today.

Sharing the building with the post office is a general store, which was quite interesting and stocked with all sorts of items that were available back in the late 1800s.

Everytime I see these women's shoes, I am amazed that they had really tiny feet - they are not very wide!

This was found in the back room, along with a few other treasures.

Mail truck!

Inside the doctor's office, there were all sorts of medical equipment.

The chandelier in the living room.

Another building that has been kept in good shape. 

I think this is the prettiest building in town, I love the adobe brick wall in front.

The courthouse was also the jail.

The courtroom. 

For some reason, it was also the site of the Masons.

This coach cost $1000 when it was purchased, quite a bit of money in those days..  It could hold up to 9 people, as long as a few of them wanted to sit on the top.  It was drawn with 4 horses and made a whopping 8-9 MPH, on good roads.  It was in use from 1889 - 1912.

I just love these old stoves, and this one is a bit fancy.

The courthouse must have had quite a bit of money passing through it.

Billy the Kid was held in jail in this courthouse.  One day, he managed to escape and stole a pistol.  Below, you can see some bullet holes in the wall.

It is said that he killed the sheriff that day.

Full Service?

A situation happened a few days ago that still has me surprised and a bit amazed. 

I’m in a little town called Mason, Texas and stopped at a local Chevron gas station to get some gas.  I pulled up at the pump and a man came out and snatched the fuel line and started to open my gas tank.  In shock, I looked at him and looked at the pump – and saw the price was $4.25.   I looked again at the big sign on the road that said $3.53.  I asked him what the correct price was – he told me it was $4.25 for full service.   Full Service??!  Since when do we have full service gas stations?  I told him I didn’t want to pay that price and he told me I’d have to pump it myself at the other pump.  There were no signs or warnings.

Obviously, I pulled around to the other pump – really – over $.70 per gallon to have someone pump your gas?  I got out at the other pump with my credit card – no place to swipe it through.  No signs telling me what to do.  I start to the office and he stopped me, saying “Pump first, Pump first.”   OK, I guess I can do that.  As I was pumping gas into my tank, I got a bit suspicious and figured I’d only put $20 in, just in case.  Most stations want the credit card swiped through first – there has to be a catch. 

I went in to pay, he swiped my card and then I saw him figuring something on his calculator and the price on his cash register increased from the amount I pumped in.  I asked him what the increase was for – he told me that it was a 5% charge for using a credit card.  I shook my head and told him it would be the last time I would stop in there.  I’m so glad I didn’t fill my tank, my truck is thirsty and it could have run up to $60 or more.    This guy also does some auto repairs there, but he doesn’t seem too busy, you can imagine why. 

I’ve been in Texas now for about 6 weeks and have really enjoyed my time here.  The people have been friendly and helpful and I’ve really enjoyed the places I’ve visited.  Even Mason, the town is a cute little gem in the middle of the state, a no-stoplight town.  I won’t let one greedy man change my opinion of the state. 

Still – I can’t get over it – full service at a gas station!  OK, when is the last time anyone ever saw that – except for the handicap signs that we had on the fuel pumps in Florida?  And then it was the same price. 

 

Dig It!

Mason, Texas is known for topaz stones that have been found in areas surrounding this little town.  It is not being mined commercially, so there are three ranches that allow you to come on their property to search for them.  For a fee, of course.

The museum in town has quite a few of these stones on display, the largest one is uncut and is at least the size of a baseball.   There are some smaller ones, about the size of golf balls or a little larger, also uncut.  They also have stones that have been cut and faceted – complete with a star.  They are beautiful!  Texas gets lots of mileage out of that Lone Star!

It sounded like a fun idea, so I called and made arrangements to go out to one of the ranches to search.  It was a great day for digging – low humidity and total clouds for most of the day.  There was a large area that we could search  – there were two women besides myself.  We were given a few pointers by our guide, who then left us to our own devices. 

I decided I would dig close to a riverbed and ended up digging partly in the water of the small streambed.  It’s hard work, especially with wet sand/pebbles/stones.  You put a shovelful into the sifter and then scratch through it.  I found some nice stones and pebbles, but no topaz.  I tried a few more places and then decided I’d climb on top of the rocks for some photos, just for a break.  Besides, there was a nice breeze up on top!

I came back down and it was time for lunch.  The other two women had not found any topaz either, and decided it was time for them to leave.  I took a quick break, ate my sandwich and scouted out another place to dig.  I searched for another hour or so and decided I’d had enough, I’d been out there for about 4 hours.

I didn’t find any topaz, but I had a good time and it was interesting.  I’ve heard of places in other western states where you can search for stones, and I bet I’ll try it again.  I will probably do some research and see if I can find hints to make my next search more successful.