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 ...

Hidalgo County, New Mexico Hidalgo County ( es, Condado de Hidalgo) is the southernmost county of the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 4,894. The county seat and largest city is Lordsburg. A bill creating Hidalgo from the southern part ...

. Correctly named on the Playas Lake South U. S. topographic map, it is mistakenly called Whitmore Spring on the U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System. 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, near the site of the Whitmire Ranch. Whitmire Spring is one of a number of springs and seeps bordering the western edge of Playas Lake. Its water has its source in the Animas Mountains 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 called ...

and the Mormon Battalion 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 ...

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

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that 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 fro ...

. The spring was the first significant source of water found by the expedition after two days and 40 miles travel, southwest of

Burro Cienega Burro Cienega is a stream that arises at an elevation of 5990 feet, at , in the Big Burro Mountains in Grant County, New Mexico. Its mouth is at 4196 feet at a playa about 5.5 miles southeast of Lordsburg in Hidalgo County, New Mexico. History O ...

. 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 The Tucson Cutoff was a significant change in the route of the Southern Emigrant Trail. It became generally known after a party of Forty-Niners led by Colonel John Coffee Hays followed a route suggested to him by a Mexican Army officer as a shorte ...

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 southwest between 1849 and 1886, though minor hostilities continued until as late as 1924. After the Mexic ...

, 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