At its height, the town reached a population of 3000 people. Even so, the town boomed and busted within the three years it took miners to consume the easily accessible silver. The boomtown that quickly erupted was named Ralston City, after William Ralston, President of the Bank of California, who financed much of the early development of the mines. In 1870, prospectors discovered silver outcroppings on a nearby ridge. The relay station expanded to become a stagecoach station known as Mexican Springs. When scouting out a location for a military mail relay station between Fort Thorn and Fort Buchanan around 1856, this spring made for a logical location and the original structures around Shakespeare. Long before European explorers explored the region, native tribes came to the spring and left evidence of their daily lives in metates* that dot the landscape. In the desert that is southwest New Mexico, this particular spot of land offered one notable thing: a reliable spring. A bit of both is found in Shakespeare Ghost Town, the remains of a thriving mining town now passed down through a family of caretakers and conservationists. ![]() Yet, scrappy people have lived and even thrived in this area for generations. ![]() ![]() The winds whip by at intensities provoking an early warning system for dust storms and sun protection is warranted even in the winter. ![]() Southern New Mexico is a harsh desert environment.
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