High Rolls, New Mexico
| High Rolls, New Mexico | |
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High Rolls General Store
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 High Rolls, New Mexico
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| Coordinates: 32°57′03″N 105°50′8″W / 32.95083°N 105.83556°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New Mexico |
| County | Otero |
| Elevation | 6,800 ft (2,100 m) |
| Time zone | MST (UTC-7) |
| • Summer (DST) | MDT (UTC-6) |
High Rolls is a small unincorporated community in Otero County, New Mexico, United States. It is nestled within the Lincoln National Forest at the southernmost tip of the Sacramento Mountains. Elevation is approx. 6,800 feet (2,100 m). High Rolls includes a general store, a post office, an elementary school, two churches, and sometimes a bar. High Rolls has many local attractions and festivities for the locals or first time visitor to enjoy. It is also home to two annual festivals, the Cherry Festival and the Apple Festival, both presented by The High Rolls/Mountain Park Lions Club.
Mexicans who settled in the Tularosa Basin in the mid-1880s obtained water rights to graze cattle in the fertile canyons of the Sacramento Mountains. By the 1880s, homesteaders discovered the area, bought the water rights and began establishing farms.
David M. Sutherland located in the High Rolls area in 1883 and was soon followed by Francisco Maes and Cipriano Tefoya, who came up from La Luz in 1884 and settled in the Mountain Park area. P.M. “Uncle Button” Nelson, Jack Tucker and William Karr married sisters and moved into the region in 1885. Other early settlers included I.Q. Snow, Hamilton Kimberlin, Michael Mulchay, George Van Sickle, Eugene Sullivan, Fletcher and James Thompson, J.M. Bennett, Venturo Giron, George Wofford, Charlie McClure, Antonio Vargas and Ben Wooten.
They built and maintained ditches to divert the Fresnal water to their crops and built the first dirt road from Fresnal to La Luz. Fresnal, later known as Wooten, had the first post office in the area, established in 1894.
The coming of the railroad in 1898 opened up the area for the shipment of goods to market and development of the tourist trade. By 1899, trains went as far as Toboggan Canyon, where passengers were transferred to stagecoaches for the final miles to Cloudcroft. Freight depots and Wells Fargo offices were built in both High Rolls and Mountain Park. The railroad operated on a regular basis until World War II. It finally ceased operation in 1948.
The first official use of the High Rolls name was in 1901, when the post office was moved from Fresnal (Wooten) to High Rolls. The name, which was sometimes spelled as one word, Highrolls, supposedly came from the shape and elevation of the area as compared to the sharper peaks higher up.
Mountain Park received its name from Edgar Cadwallader, who came there in 1903 with the intent to grow fruit and vegetables. Others settled in the area and the resulting orchards produced apples, cherries, peaches, pears, cauliflower, and cabbage. It became so successful that the post office was moved there from High Rolls in 1904.
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Wikipedia