Sugarite Canyon State Park

A town called Sugarite sat in this canyon, and almost nothing of it is left. Coal mining started here in eighteen ninety-four. The town itself was laid out in nineteen twelve, and at its peak nearly a thousand people lived in it. Then the mines began closing in nineteen forty-one. Three years later the post office and the railroad shut down too. What remains is stone and foundation, spread along Sugarite Creek. An interpretive trail crosses the creek and runs straight through the ruins of the coal camp. Several other trails start at the visitor center and lead to the same place. The park itself came much later, in nineteen eighty-five. The land is still owned by the city of Raton, which leases it to the state of New Mexico on a ninety-nine year agreement. Raton has been drawing its water out of this canyon since eighteen ninety-one, and the two lakes here still supply it.