Lordsburg to Silver City, New Mexico:
False Front to the Backcountry?
Next stop, Lordsburg
At the North American
Continental Divide
is there something to hide
among roadrunners,
cactus and tumbleweed?
One lonely highway,
rumor of a portal to another time,
UFOs and deep underground
military bases,
and only 44 miles that
Connect poverty-stricken,
out-in-the-open Lordsburg,
(where cars on the interstate
from San Diego, Tucson, and El Paso
zip past east and west)
To its wealthy,
well-padded
and secluded neighbor
to the north,
Silver City.
What you’ll encounter down in the Bootheel
Down in the Bootheel
of New Mexico
on U.S. Route 10,
Lordsburg interred
WWII Japanese-American citizens
And current displaced children
from south of the border,
beyond that,
it’s like pulling into a ghost town,
but one where you can still pump gas,
Buy a lottery ticket,
or hook up your EV
at a charging station;
with sketchy, far-flung motels,
ones from pulp magazine stories
Or hideouts
for cartel members on the sly.
"There are no people outside or
cars on the road. It’s super eerie,"
commented one traveler.
"Like a broke down car on blocks,
the city of Lordsburg sits parked,"
said a blogger,
"It has a thriving methamphetamine trade
and a lot of border patrol."
Amtrak still stops here,
but if you get off, it’s to nowhere,
"All these failed stores and businesses,"
another observer noted,
"So you better have your ride waiting.”
Lift to Silver City
And if you do, you can get a lift
to Silver City, because there
are no buses, Silver City,
more than a mile high,
home to 30 art galleries,
Numerous shops and restaurants,
a white-washed, tile-roofed
Spanish-style university,
retiree haven
for former CIA agents,
A community dotted with homes
of witness protection program denizens,
its golden heart strongly beats
amidst collapsed veins of silver mines
and a defunct handle of a name,
With no reasonable means of support
or employment in the present era,
yet somehow maintains a shimmering
police station and city hall that’d be
the envy of a big city.
Return to Lordsburg
Was Lordsburg left to its scarecrow
wreck, ruin and decay on purpose?
"Nothing to see here, y’all,
get your gas, charge your Tesla,
then please be on your way."
Like a dilapidated doorway,
a false front
hanging on squeaky hinges,
Lordsburg stands askew
and only slightly ajar,
This con of a crossroads,
dissuading most,
yet the determined seekers
turn left on Highway 90
where secret stairs push upward
To the vibrancy of Silver City,
well protected on the south
by this low-lying cover
called Lordsburg, on the north
and east by Gila National Forest,
On the west by Axle Canyon Preserve.
"Silver City?
One of the most isolated
outposts I’ve ever been to,"
said one visitor.
Author: Cynthia Gallaher
Photo: Jasperdo on Flickr
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