Harding County, New Mexico

35 topographic sheets and 2 fire insurance atlases across 1 place.

Research this county

From the record

2 National Register listings published here.

Sources: the National Register database, National Park Service

New Mexico within the United States

Harding County within New Mexico

Explore by year From 1905 To 1922

What the record shows

1 place in this county was surveyed for fire insurance: Roy, in 1929.
2 fire insurance atlases survive for the county. Topographic coverage is national; fire insurance survey reached only incorporated places with something worth insuring.
72 topographic sheet readings cover the county's settlements.
2 properties here are on the National Register of Historic Places: 2 buildings.
The Geographic Names Information System records 13 populated places in this county; 13 are covered by at least one topographic sheet.

Photographs

11 photographs, 1935

Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.

A corral practically buried by drifted dust. Mills, New Mexico. Therefore, the fertile top soil of a grazing area cannot be utilized
Lange, Dorothea, photographer, 1935. Library of Congress

These farm implements should never have been used for they destroyed a naturally rich grazing area. Mills, New Mexico
Lange, Dorothea, photographer, 1935. Library of Congress

An example of how listing soil into furrows helps impede erosion. Mills, New Mexico
Lange, Dorothea, photographer, 1935. Library of Congress

The rolling lands used for grazing near Mills, New Mexico
Lange, Dorothea, photographer, 1935. Library of Congress

Typical farm in the Mills area, New Mexico. These people are to be resettled, their land to revert to cattle range
Lange, Dorothea, photographer, 1935. Library of Congress

Typical Teutonic farm wife and child of Mills, New Mexico, area. Client for resettlement
Lange, Dorothea, photographer, 1935. Library of Congress

Discouraged farmers have been leaving this area over a period of years, leaving their heavy equipment in the fields. Mills, New Mexico
Lange, Dorothea, photographer, 1935. Library of Congress

Dust storm near Mills, New Mexico
Lange, Dorothea, photographer, 1935. Library of Congress

Typical view of the rolling character of the area. Town of Mills in distance, New Mexico
Lange, Dorothea, photographer, 1935. Library of Congress

The town of Mills, New Mexico. The grain elevator in background at right has been long ago abandoned. The bank is closed
Lange, Dorothea, photographer, 1935. Library of Congress

Fence corner and outbuilding being buried by dust. Misuse of lands is the chief cause of results such as this. Mills, New Mexico
Lange, Dorothea, photographer, 1935. Library of Congress

Places on the National Register

Every property in this county listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with the year it was listed and the federal nomination document.

Photograph	Property	Type	Listed	Reference
	Bueyeros School	building	1996	96000265
	Harding County Courthouse	building	1987	87000895

Digitised newspapers

6 issues

Sampled issues, machine-read from the Library of Congress scan and published page by page, so every headline and column is searchable text.

The Spanish American

Roy, Mora Co., N.M., 19??. Machine-read from the Library of Congress scan.

The county from the air

44 shown

Flown by the U.S. Geological Survey between 1937 and 1989, the Aerial Photo Single Frames collection is the definitive mid-century view of the land: fields, roads and rivers as the camera saw them. The Survey holds 1,774 frames inside the rectangle that bounds this county; the 44 frames below were taken over the county itself, chosen across the decades of flights (at most four a year from that rectangle), so one flight cannot crowd out the rest. The full set is free to browse and download at EarthExplorer under the dataset Aerial Photo Single Frames.

U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1953-10-02, scale 1:53000 — 1953-10-02, scale 1:53000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.

U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1954-06-21, scale 1:53000 — 1954-06-21, scale 1:53000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.

U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1954-09-10, scale 1:60000 — 1954-09-10, scale 1:60000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.

U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1967-02-21, scale 1:30000 — 1967-02-21, scale 1:30000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.

U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1968-03-25, scale 1:18400 — 1968-03-25, scale 1:18400. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.

U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1970-05-08, scale 1:18400 — 1970-05-08, scale 1:18400. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.

U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1971-11-08, scale 1:25200 — 1971-11-08, scale 1:25200. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.

U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1972-02-14, scale 1:18800 — 1972-02-14, scale 1:18800. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.

U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1973-06-24, scale 1:25000 — 1973-06-24, scale 1:25000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.

U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1975-06-25, scale 1:80000 — 1975-06-25, scale 1:80000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.

U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1976-08-20, scale 1:80000 — 1976-08-20, scale 1:80000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.

U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1976-08-22, scale 1:80000 — 1976-08-22, scale 1:80000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.

U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1984-07-22, scale 1:24000 — 1984-07-22, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.

Weather records

27 stations, 1 gage

The thermometers that kept this county's weather, and the gages that measured the flow of its streams, as the federal records hold them. The extremes below are measured values from those records, not estimates.

ALBERT 1893 to 1914, hottest 42.2 C, coldest -23.3 C
ROY 1905 to 2014, hottest 40.0 C, coldest -31.7 C
SOLANO #1 1909 to 1919, hottest 38.9 C, coldest -28.9 C
HOOSIER RCH 1911 to 1949
MILLS NEAR 1911 to 1922
PALO VERDE (1) 1911 to 1947
PLEASANT VIEW 1911 to 1918
ROY NEAR 1911 to 1913
JOHNSON RANCH (1) 1912 to 1914
MILLS 1915 to 1951, hottest 38.9 C, coldest -28.9 C
GALLEGOS NEAR 1921 to 1934, hottest 38.9 C, coldest -19.4 C
MOSQUERO 1 NE 1926 to 2021, hottest 41.1 C, coldest -50.6 C
BUEYEROS 4 NW 1929 to 1968, hottest 35.6 C, coldest -18.3 C
YATES 6S 1929 to 1959
CATES RCH 1941 to 1946
SCHELL RANCH 1941 to 1942
BEARD'S RANCH 1943 to 1947
SOLANO 1948 to 1959
ROSEBUD 7NW 2004 to 2026, hottest 40.0 C, coldest -23.9 C
MILLS 6 WSW 2010 to 2014, hottest 37.6 C, coldest -30.8 C
MOSQUERO 25.5 ENE 2015 to 2017
MOSQUERO 11.4 NE 2015 to 2017
ROY 22.1 ENE 2018 to 2026
ROY 6.6 SE 2018 to 2026
ROY 0.5 SSE 2019 to 2024
ROY 2.1 NNE 2019 to 2026
ROY 6.2 NNW 2019 to 2020

UTE CREEK NEAR LOGAN, NM 1942 to 2026

The 1950 census, district by district

16 districts

Who lived here in 1950, one enumeration district at a time, as the Census Bureau described each district. Each row opens its official National Archives result, with Population Schedules and ED Maps available there.

11-1Election Precinct 1, Mosquero: Mosquero village - That part in Harding County, comprising part of Election Precinct 1, Mosquero (Remainder of Mosquero village is in Election Precinct 65, San Miguel County)
11-2Election Precinct 1, Mosquero - That part outside Mosquero village
11-3Election Precinct 2, Solano
11-4Roy village, comprising parts of Election Precincts 3A, Roy, and 3B, Roy: Roy village - That part in Election Precinct 3A, Roy
11-5Roy village - That part in Election Precinct 3B, Roy
11-6Election Precinct 3A, Roy - That part outside Roy village (Remainder of Election Precinct 3A, Roy, is in Roy village)
11-7Election Precinct 3B, Roy - That part outside Roy village (Remainder of Election Precinct 3B, Roy, is in Roy village)
11-8Election Precinct 4, Mills
11-9Election Precinct 5, Yates
11-10Election Precinct 6, Dehaven
11-11Election Precinct 7. Albert
11-12Election Precinct 8, Sabino
11-13Election Precinct 9, Salado
11-14Election Precinct 10, Rosebud
11-15Election Precinct 11, Gallegos
11-16Election Precinct 12, Pleasant Valley

Wildfire, 1992 to 2020

99 fires

Every wildfire the federal occurrence database records inside this county: 99 of them, burning about 71,072 acres. 45 started naturally and none was recorded as arson. Each settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it.

Reported cause	Fires
Natural	45
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	40
Debris and open burning	4
Equipment and vehicle use	4
Recreation and ceremony	3
Smoking	2
Power generation/transmission/distribution	1

The five largest, by the area the report gives. None of them was recorded as arson.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
6 June 2020	Natural	22,872 acres	Las Vegas District	FARM CAMP
9 July 2016	Natural	9,842 acres	Las Vegas District	CLAVEL
16 June 2006	Natural	9,000 acres	New Mexico State Forestry Division	HARDING PLEX
7 March 1992	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	3,000 acres	New Mexico State Forestry Division	MEEKS
22 June 2018	Natural	2,024 acres	Cibola National Forest	BLANCO
14 July 1994	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1,920 acres	New Mexico State Forestry Division	CLAVEL
2 July 2011	Natural	1,900 acres	Las Vegas District	SALAZAR
6 June 2020	Natural	1,355 acres	Cibola National Forest	K107

Every settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it - see the settlement index below.

Storms, 1959 to 2025

60 of 186 shown

The NOAA Storm Events Database holds 186 reports for this county, causing no deaths, 11 injuries and about $343,300 in recorded property damage. Each settlement page carries the reports that name it.

Kind of event	Reports
Hail	142
Thunderstorm Wind	24
Tornado	8
Flash Flood	5
Heavy Rain	3
Funnel Cloud	2
Lightning	1
Flood	1

The most serious of them, by death, then injury, then recorded damage. The accounts are quoted exactly as the forecast office filed them.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
June 1992	Hail	not stated	4 hurt	no account filed
June 1992	Hail	not stated	4 hurt	no account filed
May 1977	Tornado (F3)	not stated	2 hurt, $25,000	no account filed
May 1962	Tornado (F2)	not stated	1 hurt, $25,000	no account filed
May 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Roy	$200,000	Several severe thunderstorms passed over western Harding County producing large hail and damaging winds, some of which were tornado-like. A mid-evening storm damaged or destroyed five barns at the Chicosa Lake State Park northeast of Roy. A second storm just before midnight tore a porch off a park bunk house and blew over a radio communications tower. Total damage from the two storms was estimated at $200,000.
May 2021	Hail	Roy	$50,000	A trained spotter west southwest of Roy reported 1 inch hail from a severe thunderstorm moving southeast through the area. The observer also reported that their home roof was leaking as a result of hail damage. Damages are estimated for the roof damage.
July 2016	Hail	Mosquero	$25,000	Large hail and strong winds produced heavy damage to a residence eight miles east-southeast of Solano. Golf ball size hail and 75 mph were reported. Windows were busted out of. A power pole was broken off at the base. A 12 inch diameter tree limb was snapped off the tree. The large hail piled up three to four inches deep.
June 2025	Hail	Rosebud	$5,000	Quarter size hail was able to break 2 storm windows at a residence. Damage is an estimate.
August 1993	Hail	Mosquero	$5,000	The public reported golfball-size hail 6 miles east of Mosquero at 1718 MST.
July 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Bueyeros	$4,000	A large 4 foot diameter tree was knocked over by the strong wind gusts.
June 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Rosebud	$3,000	Observer noted that thunderstorm wind gusts broke a few electrical poles.
June 2023	Hail	Yates	$1,000	A trained spotter reported quarter size hail that produced damage to windows and skylights.
June 2020	Hail	Rosebud	$300	Hail up to the size of nickels fell a few miles northwest of Rosebud. The combination of hail and strong winds was enough to damage several window screens at a residence. Damage amounts are a rough estimate for two windows.
August 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Mills	-	The Mills Canyon RAWS measured a 70 mph wind gust from a severe thunderstorm.
June 2025	Hail	Bueyeros	-	Hen egg size hail was observed in far northeast Harding County from a supercell thunderstorm.
July 2025	Flash Flood	Mosquero	-	Flash Flooding made Trigg Road impassable near the confluence of Conejo and Vallentine Creeks with a concrete culvert becoming inundated and damaged. Location is approximate.
July 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Mosquero	-	Trained spotter reported 3 inch tree limbs snapped from tree. No damage was reported.
June 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Rosebud	-	A trained storm spotter relayed an estimated thunderstorm wind gust of 58 mph. A nearby spotter reported weak and old tree limbs down.
May 2024	Hail	Rosebud	-	Golf ball size hail from a severe thunderstorm was observed in southern Harding County northwest of Ute Lake State Park.
July 2023	Hail	Roy	-	Quarter size hail was reported.
July 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Mills	-	A mesonet station near Mills measured a thunderstorm wind gust of 58 mph.
May 2023	Hail	Rosebud	-	There was a public report of penny size hail 7 miles north of Ute Lake State Park.
May 2023	Hail	Rosebud	-	There was a public report of penny size hail 6 miles north-northeast of Ute Lake State Park.
June 2023	Hail	Roy	-	Hail was mostly dime size but some were up to half dollars.
June 2023	Hail	Mosquero	-	Tennis ball size hail reported east-northeast of Mosquero, NM.
June 2023	Hail	Roy	-	Hail fell for at least ten minutes.
June 2023	Hail	Solano	-	Quarter sized hail caused damage to flower gardens.
June 2023	Hail	Mosquero	-	Golf ball size hail fell with a cell that tracked over Mosquero, NM.
June 2023	Hail	Rosebud	-	The Rosebud COOP observer reported pea to nickel size hail.
July 2023	Hail	Roy	-	Quarter to golf ball size hail was reported.
June 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Mills	-	A RAWS station near Mills reported a 59 mph thunderstorm wind gust.
June 2022	Hail	Mosquero	-	The Harding County emergency manager reported quarter size hail near Mosquero.
June 2022	Hail	Roy	-	A storm chaser near Roy reported quarter size hail.
May 2021	Hail	Mills	-	A trained spotter reported nickel size hail in Mills from a strong thunderstorm.
July 2021	Hail	Mills	-	A trained spotter reported nickel size hail from a strong thunderstorm near Chicosa Lake State Park.
July 2021	Hail	Mills	-	A trained spotter reported one inch hail from a severe thunderstorm near Mills.
July 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Mills	-	Downburst winds up to 70 mph were reported near Mills.
May 2020	Hail	Roy	-	Half dollar size hail reported near Mills Canyon.
May 2019	Hail	Mosquero	-	Nickel size hail was reported in Mosquero.
May 2019	Hail	Rosebud	-	Penny size hail was reported a few miles northwest of Rosebud.
June 2019	Hail	Bueyeros	-	Quarter size hail reported several miles south of Bueyeros.
June 2019	Hail	Rosebud	-	Golf ball size hail a few miles west of Rosebud.
June 2019	Hail	Yates	-	Penny size hail reported 22 miles east-northeast of Roy.
June 2019	Hail	Rosebud	-	Half dollar size hail a few miles south of Rosebud.
June 2019	Hail	Rosebud	-	Half dollar size hail fell a couple miles south-southeast of Rosebud.
June 2019	Hail	Rosebud	-	Hail up to the size of two inches was reported four miles south of Rosebud.
June 2019	Hail	Rosebud	-	Quarter size hail fell along NM-39 north of Tucumcari.
June 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Rosebud	-	Thunderstorm wind gusts up to 60 mph were estimated along NM-39 north of Tucumcari.
July 2019	Hail	Rosebud	-	Nickel size hail fell a few miles north of Rosebud.
July 2019	Heavy Rain	Mosquero	-	The COOP observer near Mosquero reported 3.34 inches of rainfall from storms overnight.
August 2019	Hail	Rosebud	-	Nickel size hail reported near Rosebud.
August 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Bueyeros	-	High winds pulled plants from ground and downed several tree limbs. Very heavy rainfall and small hail accompanied the high winds.
August 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Mills	-	A peak wind gust up to 58 mph was reported at Mills Canyon.
May 2018	Hail	Rosebud	-	Ping pong ball size hail five miles north of Logan.
May 2018	Hail	Mosquero	-	Hail up to the size of quarters near Mosquero.
May 2017	Hail	Roy	-	Hail up to the size of golf balls in Roy.
August 2017	Flash Flood	Mosquero	-	NM-102 flooded and impassable between mile markers 3 and 4 at Tequesquite Creek.
August 2017	Flood	Rosebud	-	Ute Creek above Logan reached minor flood stage of 7 feet at 600 am MDT on the 23rd and periodically remained above minor flood stage through 300 am MDT on the 25th. The river crested at 8.67 feet with a discharge of 3,964 cfs at 945 am MDT on the 23rd.
August 2017	Flash Flood	Yates	-	Rancher reported 5 inches of rainfall. Water was running off Mesa Quitaras and flooding everywhere. Carrizo Creek is running like a river.
June 2017	Hail	Roy	-	Hail up to the size of quarters near Roy.

Mines and quarries

32 recorded

The Survey's mineral resources record lists 32 workings inside this county. 12 still produce and 20 are closed or unrecorded. Each settlement page carries the workings within five miles of it.

Commodity	Workings
Sand and Gravel, Construction	23
Calcium	8
Uranium	1

The least common of them first, because a county's hundredth gravel pit says nothing its first ten did not.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Polita Number Two	Uranium	Unknown
Materials Pit 56-64-S	Calcium	Producer
Materials Pit 56-66-S	Calcium	Producer
Materials Pit 59-82-S	Calcium	Producer
Materials Pit 63-16-S	Calcium	Unknown
Materials Pit 66-30-S	Calcium	Producer
Materials Pit 76-4-S	Calcium	Producer
Materials Pit 76-5-S	Calcium	Producer
Materials Pit 76-7-S	Calcium	Producer
Bains Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer	Sedimentary
Materials Pit 56-67-F	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Materials Pit 58-115-F	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Materials Pit 58-116-S	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Materials Pit 59-83-F	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Materials Pit 60-20-S	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Materials Pit 63-15-S	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Materials Pit 63-17-F	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Unnamed Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Unnamed Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Unnamed Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Unnamed Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Unnamed Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Unnamed Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Unnamed Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Unnamed Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Unnamed Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Unnamed Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Unnamed Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Unnamed Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Unnamed Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Unnamed Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Unnamed Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown

Every populated place in the county

Named settlements recorded in the Geographic Names Information System, each with the topographic sheets covering it. Villages, hamlets and abandoned places alike. Each is shown with the nearest named watercourse or landform and the survey quadrangle it falls on. The 1 place that was also surveyed for fire insurance comes first, with the number of atlases and photographs held for them.

Roy

North Harding census division · 87743 · Roy quadrangle

7 sheets, 1954 to 1981

Fire insurance: 2 atlases
Albert

North Harding census division · 87743 · Near Carrizo Canyon · Albert quadrangle

4 sheets, 1954 to 1973
Armenta Plaza

North Harding census division · 87743 · Near Cañon Armenta · Canon Encierro quadrangle

7 sheets, 1954 to 1981

No longer a settlement
Bueyeros

South Harding census division · 88415 · On Del Muerto Creek · Bueyeros quadrangle

4 sheets, 1954 to 1973
Dehaven

North Harding census division · 87743 · Yates SE quadrangle

7 sheets, 1954 to 1982
Gallegos

South Harding census division · 88426 · On Deposito Creek · Gallegos quadrangle

4 sheets, 1954 to 1969
Mills

North Harding census division · 87730 · Mills West quadrangle

9 sheets, 1954 to 1998
Mosquero

North Harding census division · 87733 · Mosquero quadrangle

4 sheets, 1954 to 1973
Rosebud

South Harding census division · 88410 · Rosebud quadrangle

4 sheets, 1954 to 1966
Rosebud Farms

South Harding census division · 88410 · Rosebud quadrangle

4 sheets, 1954 to 1966
Sabino

North Harding census division · 87743 · Sabino quadrangle

4 sheets, 1954 to 1973
Solano

North Harding census division · 87746 · Solano quadrangle

7 sheets, 1954 to 1981
Yates

North Harding census division · 87743 · Yates quadrangle

7 sheets, 1954 to 1982

The vanished settlements of Harding County: the places named above that are no longer on the map.

Recorded here

Roy, New Mexico

7 topographic sheets and 2 fire insurance atlases, 1929

Provenance

Topographic sheets. USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, county index, measured from the bulk metadata.
Fire insurance maps. Library of Congress Sanborn collection, faceted to this county.
Photographs. Each place queried individually against the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs search.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.