Though the tiny town of Los Cerrillos wasn’t founded until 1879, the area’s history dates back more than 1,500 years to a time when turquoise and lead deposits played an important role in the lives of the first Native American inhabitants and influenced early Spanish explorations and the settlement of New Mexico .

The first Spanish explorers, disdaining turquoise and more interested in finding gold and silver, pretty much left these early Indians alone when they first came to the area in 1540. It wasn’t until the mid 1600’s that the area was first settled by “outsiders” when a cattle ranch was established south of the Santa Fe River near Alamo Creek.  It was at this time that the nearby hills were given the name Los Cerrillos , meaning “little hills.”  Around this same time the Span iards returned and forced the Indians to work the Mina del Tiro Mine for silver, until the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.

In 1695 Governor Vargas appointed a mayor for El Real de los Cerrillos, making it the oldest western mining settlement for which there is a clear record.  However during the Reconquista of 1696, El Real de los Cerrillos was abandoned.  Though most of the Spaniards were gone, the area Indians continued to make use of the mines.

In 1879, two miners from Leadville, Colorado found deposits of gold in the area and in no time, American prospectors rediscovered the ancient diggings in the Cerrillos Hills. Before long there were hundreds of prospectors roaming the area in search of gold, silver, lead, copper, and turquoise.  The Cerrillos Mining District was formed in March, 1879 and almost immediately over 1,000 claims were filed.  A number of mining camps sprang up, including Dimmick’s Camp, later known as Carbonateville, for its lode of silver carbonate.

The village of Los Cerrillos was first established as a tent camp between the lead and silver mines of the Carbonateville to the north and the coal mining camp of Madrid and the gold mines of the Placer and Ortiz Mountains to the south.

Los Cerrillos flourished as a natural access point between the two areas; however, it really began to grow with the arrival of the railroad in 1880.  The town was laid out by the Santa Fe Railroad in 1880 and the same year, a post office was established. Two years later the mining camp became an official city, when the railroad siding was built, the town held its first election, and the first permanent home was completed. 

Just a few of the area mines survived into the 20th century, the biggest of which was the American Turquoise Company, a subsidiary of Tiffany’s of New York on the north side of the Cerrillos. When World War I commenced, several of the lead mining operations were reopened, including the Cash Entry and the Tom Paine mines.  However, by the time the depression began in 1929, all large company mining was ceased. Today, some small private mines continue to be worked by hobbyists, but the majority of turquoise mined in New Mexico still comes from these beautiful hills. 

Today, the charming, tree-shaded town of Los Cerrillos is officially a "ghost town," though many residents continue to live there and the town thrives as a Santa Fe day trip destination.  On some days, these dusty streets are filled  with traffic much like they were more than a century ago.  The washboard dirt roads of Los Cerrillos and the remaining buildings on its old Front Street look much like a movie set, and in fact have been used as in some 13 movies. The films The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca , Young Guns, Young Guns II, and Vampires were made there, as well as John Wayne’s 1972 movie, The Cowboys, filmed just north of the town.