Top o' the Evening to Ya from Steins, NM!

Run Stats:
Day: 455
Miles Completed: 1579.6
Miles to San Diego: 520.4
Avg Miles/Day: 3.5
Marathons Completed: 60.3
Longest Run Streak: 15 days
Shoes: Skora Fit/Skora Tempo
Playlist Favs: Tenth Avenue North, Third Day, Genesis

Bible Verse of the Day: "Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions." 1 John 3:18 (NLT)

Run Reflections: This week has been a good running week with some awesome music and great weather. I'm currently on 5 day running streak and hope I can keep it going through the weekend and into next week. I think I've finally gotten past the cold I've had for most of the month and I'm glad to have exceeded 100 miles this month - 1st time this year. If I can keep this going, I should be in a position to reach San Diego sometime this summer or early fall. I'm continuing west along I-10 and hope you enjoy learning about the latest NM ghost town that I passed through this week.

Steins, NM: Per wikipedia, "Steins is a ghost town in Hidalgo County, NM. It was originally called Stein's Pass after the nearby pass through the Peloncillo Mountains. The pass was named after U.S. Army Major Enoch Steen, who camped nearby in 1856, as he explored the recently acquired Gadsden Purchase. He was killed by members of an Apache tribe in 1873.

The town can trace its origin to a small stop on the Birch Stage Line established in 1857. The town began to prosper when mineral deposits like gold, silver and copper were discovered in the Peloncillo Mountains. The town continued to grow when the Southern Pacific Railroad established a rail line in 1878 and a local quarry was started. Steins had no natural source of water, so all water had to be brought in by train. In 1905, a rock-crushing plant was built to produce track ballast for the railroad.

In 1944, the railroad ceased operations at the Steins quarry and gave notice it would no longer subsidize water deliveries. The railway offered the inhabitants of Steins free transport elsewhere with what they could carry; most of the population accepted this offer, leaving their houses and many of their possessions behind. The post office in the town closed at that time, and eventually Steins was completely abandoned. In 1988, Larry and Linda Link purchased the locale and began offering ghost town tours. In 2011, however, Larry Link was murdered and the tours ceased". One web site I found indicated that a family member has tried to revive the tours on a by appointment basis.

Unlike the last post from Lordsburg, this week I was able to find (and have included) several pictures of Steins including a town view from wikipedia and two pictures from the web site "ghosttowns." I've also included a cool black and white photo showing a 1939 Ford traveling through Steins Pass. The photographer, Don O'Brien identified that this was his families' car and recalled "the vast emptiness of the West between cities."

I also want to reference the web link "Gone But Not Forgotten - A Story of Steins, New Mexico", one of the wikipedia sources on Steins. It contains an excerpt from the tombstone times and a reflective write up on a visitors day trip to Steins. It's very well written and contains a lot of additional pictures.

Don't know about you guys but the pictures from Steins were a highlight for me this week, particularly if you reviewed the link above. I thought it was cool to see a ghost town that provided such an in depth glimpse of what life might have been like back in the days when folks lived in this town. To me, this is the wild west that I are up reading about and seeing in the movies. I hope you caught a sense of this history of this area too.

My continued thanks to all who are sharing this virtual journey with me!

God Bless, Pat