Buckhorn Saloon – Pinos Altos, New Mexico
In 1859, 49ers returning home from California discovered gold among the tall pines (Pinos Altos) north of Silver City. Word spread like wildfire. In short order, there were more than 700 men prospecting in the area. As with other boom towns, rampant lawlessness made prospectors lives exciting to say the least. Miners faced an anything goes attitude in the pursuit of gold punctuated by frequent raids by marauding Apaches. In the “Apache War” of 1861, Cochise joined his father-in-law Mangas Coloradas (an Apache war leader who towered at 6’7″) and some 400 Apache warriors to drive away miners from their traditional homeland. In its early days Pinos Altos saw a veritable who’s who of fame and infamy. In the 1860s, Old West legend Roy Bean operated a mercantile in Pinos Altos before moving to West Texas to gain fame as Judge Roy Bean “The Law West of the Pecos.” Henry McCarty (William Bonney was just an alias), the infamous Billy the Kid, began his life of crime in the area. As the area’s gold began to deplete, families turned to ranching. Some of the largest ranches in the country once were located just outside of town. Evidence of ranching…
