A History of Highway 60

and the Railroad Towns on the Belen, New Mexico Cutoff

In 1903 the AT&SF Railroad began laying track on the Belen Cutoff from Belen, New Mexico to Amarillo, Texas. The railroad company encouraged settlement of New Mexico’s eastern plains by sponsoring emigrant trains, a quicker method of transport for settlers moving their belongings and livestock across the country. Towns were founded along the route with the arrival of the railroad. Billy the Kid was shot and killed by Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner. Taiban’s Pink Pony Saloon & Dancehall publicized cock fighting and had a live snake den in the basement. Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart stopped at Portair Field in Clovis while flying across the country in the 1920s. Did you know Mountainair was the Pinto Bean Capital of the World, Negra has one of the last vintage gas stations in the state, Butch Cassidy and his gang trailed cattle to the railhead in Magdalena, and Montague Stevens was one of the last hunters to stalk grizzly bears? This book will give you answers to these questions as well as a glimpse into the history of this fascinating part of New Mexico, “The Land of Enchantment.”