Whitmire Spring is a

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a he ...

Hidalgo County, New Mexico Hidalgo County () is the southernmost county of the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,178. The county seat and largest city is Lordsburg. A bill creating Hidalgo from the southern part of Grant County was p ...

. Correctly named on the Playas Lake South U. S. topographic map, it is mistakenly called Whitmore Spring on the

U.S. Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March ...

Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and location information about more than two million physical and cultural features, encompassing the United States and its territories; the Compact of Free Association, asso ...

. The spring was named after J. B. Whitmire, a rancher in the 1880s, owner of the Whitmire Ranch.Robert Julyan, The Place Names of New Mexico, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1998, pp.379-380 Whitmire Spring lies at an elevation of , on the west shore of

Playas Lake Playas Lake is a dry lake or playa in Hidalgo County, New Mexico, United States. It lies at an elevation of . It consists of a long dry lake running north northwest south southeast within the Playas Valley between the Animas Mountains on the west ...

, near the site of the Whitmire Ranch. Whitmire Spring is one of a number of springs and

seep A seep or flush is a moist or wet place where water, usually groundwater, reaches the Earth's surface from an underground aquifer. Description Seeps are usually not of sufficient volume to be flowing beyond their immediate above-ground location. ...

s bordering the western edge of Playas Lake. Its water has its source in the

Animas Mountains The Animas Mountains are a small mountain range in Hidalgo County, within the " Boot-Heel" region of far southwestern New Mexico, in the United States. Location They extend north–south for about 30 miles (50 km) along the Continental Div ...

nearby to the west.Technical Report - New Mexico State Engineer, Issues 15-18, New Mexico State Engineer, 1954, Issue 15, pp.11-12

History

Whitmire Spring was a stopping point of the expedition of Lt. Col.

Philip St. George Cooke Philip St. George Cooke (June 13, 1809 – March 20, 1895) was a career United States Army cavalry officer who served as a Union General in the American Civil War. He is noted for his authorship of an Army cavalry manual, and is sometimes calle ...

and the

Mormon Battalion The Mormon Battalion was the only religious unit in United States military history in federal service, recruited solely from one religious body and having a religious title as the unit designation. The volunteers served from July 1846 to Jul ...

from November 23–24, 1846. The expedition's route became known as

Cooke's Wagon Road Cooke's Wagon Road or Cooke's Road was the first wagon road between the Rio Grande and the Colorado River to San Diego, through the Mexican provinces of Nuevo México, Chihuahua, Sonora and Alta California, established by Philip St. George Coo ...

, and was part of the southern route of the 49ers to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

during the

California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

. The spring was the first significant source of water found by the expedition after two days and 40 miles travel, southwest of Burro Cienega. Whitmire Pass through which Cooke's expedition crossed the Animas Mountains on November 25 lies 7 miles west southwest of the springs.Report from the Secretary of War, Communicating a Copy of the Official Journal of Lieutenant Colonel Philip St. George Cooke, PUBLIC DOCUMENTS PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, DURING A SPECIAL SESSION BEGUN AND HELD AT THE CITY OF WASHINGTON, MARCH 5, 1849, Congressional Edition, Volume 547, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1849. pp.1-85
/ref> After the early 1850s this part of Cooke's route was replaced by the shorter Tucson Cutoff as the main route of east–west travel. Toward the end of the

Apache Wars The Apache Wars were a series of armed conflicts between the United States Army and various Apache tribal confederations fought in the Southwestern United States, southwest between 1849 and 1886, though minor hostilities continued until as l ...

, during the 1880s J. B. Whitmire was the first settler at the springs and made them the site of his ranch house until he sold out.

References

Springs of New Mexico Bodies of water of Hidalgo County, New Mexico Cooke's Wagon Road History of Hidalgo County, New Mexico {{NewMexico-geo-stub

History

See also

References