Monument

Monument, New Mexico

Dona Ana County

Elevation 4,111

Nothing remains of this water stop and siding except a dirt ramp that once was used to load ballast from nearby cinder cones onto railroad cars. Located less than 1/2 a mile north of the Mexican border on a lonely stretch of the railroad grade where it crosses the Potrillo lava fields, this town probably was a loading stop for several cinder quarries located about a mile north of town. There is a road heading north of the railroad grade at this point, leading to these cinder quarries. This town was refered to as Monument on the 1915 USGS map. On a 1950 SP timetable it was refered to as Mark.

The "Monument National Forest" Just kidding... this large mesquite tree is growing on a mound of rock and gravel that appears to be a loading ramp used to load cinders from nearby quarries onto the trains.

This page is part of the "Ghosts of the Southline" website, illustrating the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad and many of the abandoned towns along its route.

Photographs and documentation found on this website are the property of Lloyd W. Sumner

This site was created and is maintained by Lloyd W. Sumner