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Photograph of Watrous
Photograph by Donald W. Dickensheets, Photographer, Public domain. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Watrous

A National Historic Landmark. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.

From the record

“Watrous, also named La Junta, is a National Historic Landmark District near Watrous, New Mexico. It encompasses the historic junction point of the two major branches of the Santa Fe Trail, a major 19th-century frontier settlement route between St.”

Wikipedia article Watrous (La Junta), CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 14 National Register listings published here for Mora County · listed in 1966 · category: District · a National Historic Landmark.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • Address. U.S. 85, Watrous, 87753
  • When was it listed? October 1966
  • Category. district
  • Census division. Wagon Mound
  • National Register reference number. 66000480 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

15 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 15 fires within 5 miles of Watrous between 1994 and 2019, burning about 307 acres in total. 5 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined5
Natural5
Debris and open burning5

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
8 August 2003Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionPOWERLINE
6 August 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreLas Vegas DistrictPHOENIX
5 August 2003Naturalunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionCOTTONWOOD
10 August 2003Naturalunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionDOGIE
5 July 1994Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionSTARKEY
25 July 2016Natural273 acresLas Vegas DistrictBLACK WILLOW RANCH
13 July 2017Natural1.2 acresLas Vegas DistrictSCHOOL FIRE
19 June 2006Naturalunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry Divisionnot named

Every fire recorded in Mora County

Mines and quarries near this property

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Watrous: 2 unknowns, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
B.T.U. PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducerSedimentary
Materials PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Materials PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown

Every working recorded in Mora County

Storms near this property

10 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Watrous, the town this property stands in, in 10 storm reports between 1993 and 2012: 10 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2007HailWatrous$2,000The hail ranged from 0.88 to 1.50 inches in diameter. Damage was reported to windows, trees and vegetation. A funnel cloud was also observed.
May 1993HailWatrous$500The public reported nickel-size hail in Watrous at 1630 MST.
August 1998HailWatrous-Quarter size hail was reported in both Watrous and Valmora.
August 2012HailWatrous-no account filed
August 2012HailWatrous-no account filed
June 2007HailWatrous-no account filed
July 2005HailWatrous-no account filed
July 2005HailWatrous-no account filed
May 1997HailWatrous-no account filed
August 1996HailWatrous-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Mora County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

2 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Tipton-Black Willow Ranch Historic District4.2 miles2001
Fort Union National Monument7.4 miles1966

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 66000480 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Mora CountyAll 14 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • 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.