Primarily serving the cattle ranches of the area, an old store built of solid stone, serviced the villagers. Still standing the test of time, this old mercantile rises above the prairie today, long after its customers headed for parts unknown. Surrounding this old store are other relics of a time long past - houses and ranch buildings of an earlier cattle trade.

A ghost building in Montoya, December 2004,

Kathy Weiser.

When Route 66 pushed through, more services were made available to those early travelers including Richardson’s Store and Sinclair Station. Opening in 1925, this old store continued to do business until the mid 1970's when its owner passed away. During the Mother Road's heyday, it was a popular stopping point. You can still see what remains of this old mercantile beyond a chain link fence, where the old gas pumps stand regally speaking of better times.

This old town also sports a building with the words “Cold Beer” painted across its side. Whether it was a tavern or a store is unknown today, but for sure, there hasn’t been any cold beer served here in a long, long time.

West of Montoya, the old highway rides the plains dotted with juniper and mesquite, for the next 12 miles, until your reach yet another ghost town – Newkirk. It is along this stretch of the old highway that you will pass over what was the Goodnight-Loving Trail where cowboys once herded thousands of head of cattle northward to markets in Denver, Colorado and Cheyenne, Wyoming.

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