Van Houton Mine, Raton, New Mexico

The Van Houton Mine remains and ghost town is here on the NRA Whittington property. From the main road, you go to the end and turn left, and keep driving. This road takes you past most of the places for shooting, the cabins and primitive camping. We drove to the mine on Thursday, and I would have gone further, except for Jim getting vertigo. I had parked and started walking to look at some things, and he was looking down on the canyon. We should have kept going to the main mine entrance. We probably won't go back as it's supposed to start raining and since it's a one lane narrow road, I don't want to drive it wet. But, I did find a picture of the mine entrance:

Van Houton was originally developed in 1901 and 1902 by the Raton Coal and Fuel Company. The mines were referred to as the Willow Mines. In 1904 and 1905 the mines were re-named the Van Houton Mines after company president J. Van Houton. In 1907 and 1908 the mines were taken over by the St. Lewis Rocky Mountain and Pacific Company. Kaiser Steel Corporation bought the Van Houton Mines in 1955 and sold the canyon area to the National Rifle Association in 1974.

A railroad operated by AT&SF was completed in 1902. Six mines operated periodically from 1901 to 1954. The coal mine in Van Houton was bituminous and primarily used for cooking. All mining was done underground. At its peak approximately 1200 persons lived in the canyon. This marker is dedicated to those who lived and mined in this canyon. It was installed in 1988 by the New Mexico Abandoned Mine Lane Bureau.

There are plaques along the road to the mine entrance, so I stopped at each one to take a picture. These are pictures and explanation from the time the mine was operational and people lived here.

The Dawson Club

The Van Houton Club

Hunting, picnicking, golf and dances were all common forms of entertainment for the people of Van Houton. So was baseball. Van Houton's team was originally called the Swaastiks named after the Swastika mine. Just prior to World War II, the team changed its name to Van Houton. The nearby mining town of Dawson fielded one of their rival teams.

After his 10, 12, or 14 hour shift, little was left for the miner but a meal and bedtime. Here we see the inside of a typical miner's cottage, circa 1910. The miner's wife has brought decorum and civilization to an otherwise difficult and drab existence. Most of the items shown here were taken from a 1903 Sears & Roebuck catalog.

The Club House

The Club House or "amusement hall" opened on May 16, 1920. Around 3,000 people attended the opening and a baseball game was played by the Van Houton baseball team. The clubhouse was home to a variety of activities including a pool hall, domino room, barber shop, meeting room and an auditorium. Van Houton had a 22-member Big Band that would perform during events. In addition to the band, the clubhouse could furnish music with a player piano, and a gramophone. Van Houton also had dances. Many times when Sugarite, Yankee or Dawson gave a dance, Van Houton would put off its dance and attend these. This also helped bring crowds from these camps to Van Houton on Saturday nights and Sundays. A picnic and dance always followed a ball game on Sunday.

General Store

The tipple played a crucial role in the coal mining operation. The coal was brought here to be sorted and loaded into train cars. The Atchison, Topeka, and Sante Fe Railroad then hauled the coal off to be to be sold and processed. Van Houton had two separate tipples. One was used for mines 1, 2, 4 and 6 and the other was used for mine 5.

The mule stables 

In the early decades, these mines ran on mule power. Mules are excellent beasts of burden, and they certainly lived up to their potential in these deep, dark shafts. As a stockman myself, I really felt for the lot of those poor mules hauling the ore. A mine shaft is an unnatural enough place for a man to toil; but at least he had a reason for being there. The mule, who spent long days without blue sky or fresh air, never did understand. ~~ Ron Kil

That's the end of what I found and took pictures of. The following is a YouTube video that I found that the family Haskins did while exploring the Van Houton Mine: