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P.O. Box 19423
Lenexa,
KS 66285
913-708-5119
Please report
broken links, missing pictures, or other problems online by clicking
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NEW
MEXICO LEGENDS
The Birth of Angel Fire |
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Angel Fire
is located in the majestic Moreno Valley in Colfax County,
New Mexico,
23 miles east of Taos via US Hwy 64 and 152 miles northeast of
Albuquerque. The Moreno Valley is a 15 mile long, 3 mile wide, high alpine
valley with an 8,382' base elevation. Surrounding mountains range from
11,086' Agua Fria Peak on the
south end of the valley to 12,441' Baldy Peak at the north end of the
valley. Wheeler Peak at 13,161', the highest mountain in the state, forms
the northwest boundary of the valley.
The Moache Utes, a nomadic people, gathered in
the Moreno Valley in the summer and fall. According to legend, they called
the glow against Agua Fria Peak the "fire of the gods."
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Angel Fire,
courtesy Angel
Fire Resort
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When traveling Franciscan friars came
through the area, they transposed the name into "the place of the fire
of angels." The mid-1800s would see the arrival of
Lucien B.
Maxwell and
Christopher Kit Carson, who would soon coin the phrase Angel
Fire, in 1845.
Before 1864, when
Lucien B. Maxwell acquired
the full rights to the 1.7 million acre land grant, known as the
Maxwell Land Grant, the
narrow Moreno Valley was pasture and hunting land occupied almost
exclusively by the Moache Utes and Jicarilla
Apaches. In 1867, however, everything changed when gold was discovered on Baldy
Mountain, overlooking the Moreno Valley. Within a year, 7000 fortune
hunters flooded the area. They established
Elizabethtown,
a typical
wild
west settlement salted by vigilante justice and a 17 year county
war between land owners and squatters.
In 1918,
Charles and Frank Springer, owners of the CS Ranch, completed
Eagle
Nest Dam, taming the Cimarron River and conserving water for
Colfax County.
Surrounded by rolling pasture and
stunning mountains, the fishermen began to arrive when the lake was
stocked with trout. Along with the fishermen, entrepreneurs also
arrived, building businesses and transforming the quiet farming
community into a tourist mecca, providing entertainment to the
visiting cowboys, fishermen and other tourists.
At first the small
settlement was called Therma but later it changed its name to
Eagle
Nest with the arrival of most mail addressed as such.
In 1954, Roy and George
LeBus of Wichita Falls,
Texas,
bought the 9,000 acre Monte Verde Ranch and in 1956 purchased another
14,000 acres, comprising the Cieneguilla Ranch, from the
Maxwell Land Grant Company.
Ten years after the initial purchase, they decided to develop the
property into a resort community. They called the new development "Angel
Fire",
the phrase that
Kit
Carson had long ago coined after the old
Indian
lore. In 1966 construction began in earnest and after about 18
months the early ski trails were cut, a nine hole golf course was
complete and Monte Verde Lake was ready for visitors. Word of
the resort spread quickly and soon visitors from
New Mexico,
Oklahoma,
Texas and
Kansas began to come to
Angel Fire. As the resort continued to grow, the demand for new capital for
expansion was required and the Lebus family took on additional
investors in 1969, beginning to back out of active ownership.
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In no time at all, new accommodations were
needed to accommodate these many travelers and the first condominiums were
completed in 1971. In 1972 the resort was sold to the Baca Grande
Angel
Fire Corporation. However, the Lebus
family retained more than 1000 acres of their original land. The
Baca Grande Corporation began to install utilities to lot sites, built new
roads, and cleared the ski trails of numerous rocks and trees. By
1973,
Angel Fire was visited by more than 20,000
skiers. In the same year the Country Club and Starfire Lodge were added.
Over the next
several decades the resort was sold numerous times, struggling through the
recession of the 1980s, becoming involved in endless legal struggles, and
finally winding up in bankruptcy. Finally, in 1996, most areas of
dispute were finally settled and the resort was purchased by a limited
partnership group, providing a brighter future for
Angel Fire.
Today,
Angel Fire
provides winter visitors with downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, snow
boarding, sledding, snowshoeing through alpine meadows, snowmobiling, ice
fishing, horse-drawn sleigh rides, and more.
For summer mountain enthusiasts, the resort
offers fishing and small boat rentals at Monte Verde Lake, hiking, biking,
golf, tennis, horse-back riding and the beautiful mountain views along
with the cool mountain air.
May, 2005
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Eagle
Nest Dam, Jesse L
Nusbaum, 1922, Denver Public Library
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Eagle Nest Dam, completed
in 1918, is the largest privately constructed dam in the
United States.
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From the Rocky Mountain General Store
Bumper
Sticker Madness - We've been
including great
bumper sticker
quotes in our
newsletters
since the beginning and many of you ask, why don't we sell them. Now we
do! Made of durable vinyl and measuring a generous 10" x 3" these
stickers are made for adding style to any surface. Printed using UV
resistant inks means no fading in the sun or bleeding in the rain.
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