Cline's Corners on Route 66

NEW MEXICO LEGENDS

Cline's Corners - In the Middle of

No Where & On the Road To Everywhere

As you roll away from Santa Rosa continuing your journey down the Mother Road, look to the southwest for a 7,576 foot-high peak rising from the arid plains. The Cerro Pedernal Peak, meaning Flint Peak, is the site of numerous prehistoric flint mines and quarries. Here, the ancient peoples made tools and weapons from and traded the material with other Indian groups. Numerous artifacts have been found in the area including tools and arrow heads. Stories of buried treasure and lost artifacts have caused the summit to be pitted with the excavations of hopeful fortune hunters. At the base of peak is a natural spring that caused much disagreement for possession during the early days of cattlemen.

Cerro Pedernal Peak is said to be laden with buried treasure.

A Route 66 landmark since 1934, Cline’s Corners has been pumping gas and selling souvenirs for over 70 years. However, it hasn’t always been at the same place. In the beginning, Cline’s Corners was located in Lucy, New Mexico but the location wasn’t good for owner Roy Cline. Soon, he moved the station to Route 66, at the junction of Highway 6 and Highway 2. But then, in 1937, Route 66 was re-aligned north of his station, so Roy picked up and moved his building again. At its final resting place along the ever popular Route 66, Cline’s Corners began to do a brisk business. Old-timers in the area laugh when they remember that Cline sold gasoline for ten cents a gallon and water for a dollar a gallon. Water was obviously scarce in the area in those days.

In 1939, Roy Cline sold Cline’s Corners to a man named S.L. “Smitty” Smith, but continued to own and operate other service stations on Route 66. Continuing to grow, Cline’s Corners added more and more employees and homes were built for them, which continue to be used today. When Smitty died in 1961, the business changed hands again. Continuing to grow, a post office was added in 1964.

Today there are about sixty people working at Cline’s Corners who continue the traditions that former owners, Roy Cline and Smitty, began so many years ago. Flat tires are still repaired, someone will still fill your gas tank, biscuits and gravy are served for breakfast, and hundreds of postcards are mailed from this place in the middle of nowhere and on the road to everywhere. While you’re there, you will no doubt be sure to find a rattlesnake ashtray, a beaded Indian belt or a rubber tomahawk to remember your journey.

Cline’s Corners Today, December, 2004, Kathy Weiser.

Beyond Cline’s Corners at exit 208 is a supposed ghost town called Wagonwheel. Originally a stop for covered wagons, it no doubt could tell a story or two, but today all that stands here are the faded remains of an old motel sign and the modern Wagonwheel Texaco

Another few more miles down the road just past exit 203 is the ruins of the old Longhorn Ranch. Once a favorite old west stop along the Mother Road, the owner has long since razed most of the buildings. All that’s left today is the old rambling bank structure and nearby, the Longhorn Ranch Motel.

Continue your journey onto Moriarty, through Tijeras Canyon and on into Albuquerque.

July, 2005

Vintage postcard of the Longhorn Ranch

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