This cache is part of the larger Santa Fe Trail GeoTour. Be sure to visit www.santafetrail.org/geocaching to learn about the PASSPORT ACTIVITY to accompany this Geo Tour. The container at this site is a large Bison-Brand container with log book and swag. If you are participating in the Passport activity, the code word is located on the inside of the container on the top of the lid and is clearly identified as Code Word. Permission to set caches has been obtained. We ask that all cachers please respect all property at the sites where our caches are set.
This cache is near the town of Cimarron, NM.
Old Cimarron is a cluster of several Santa Fe Trail-era homes and buildings, led by the two-story adobe St. James Hotel, built in 1872-80. The historic district includes the Old Plaza and Well, the Lucien Maxwell Mansion site, National Hotel, Swinks Gambling Hall, Dahl Brothers Trading Post & Warehouse, Aztec Mill and the Meagers-Sanderson Stagecoach Line Office. The trail entered the Old Plaza from the NE and followed NM 21 south to the hamlet of Rayado. The Canadian River crossing is nearby.
The Santa Fe Trail wagon trains entered the Cimarron plaza from the east after crossing the Cimarron River. The Cimarron Plaza and well are one block east of New Mexico Highway 21. The St. James Hotel is on the east side of New Mexico Highway 21 in Cimarron. This hotel was built next to the Santa Fe Trail in its later days and was reportedly a hangout for outlaws. The building has been restored and operates today as a hotel and restaurant and is said to be haunted.
The Aztec Mill is in the southwest corner of Cimarron. It was built in the 1860s to provide flour to the Maxwell ranch and the Jicarilla Apache Indian Reservation, as well as Santa Fe Trail travelers. Today it is operated as a museum. Swink's Gambling Hall is at the south edge of Cimarron. Built in the 1870s, it was a saloon and dancing hall during the later trail days.