Borrego Pass Trading Post

Borrego Pass Trading Post Historic District
Borrego Pass Trading Post is located in New Mexico
Borrego Pass Trading Post
LocationBldg. 1601, Co. Rd. 19, Borrego Pass, New Mexico
Coordinates35°39′26″N 108°06′20″W / 35.65722°N 108.10556°W / 35.65722; -108.10556
Area12 acres (4.9 ha)
Built1927
Built byHarvey, Ben & Anna; Cousins, Bill &; Smouse, D. & F. Frances Bloomfield
Architectural styleOne-story rubble stone
NRHP reference No.11000475[1]
Added to NRHPMarch 29, 2012

The Borrego Pass Trading Post, at Borrego Pass, New Mexico, is a historic trading post. The post and associated structures and sites were listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Borrego Pass Trading Post Historic District in 2012.[1] It includes, or has also been known as, the Ben Harvey Trading Post.[1] The listing was for a 12 acres (4.9 ha) historic district which included 11 contributing buildings, two contributing structures, and four contributing sites.[1]

It is a traditional Navajo trading post, significant also for association with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; like many trading posts it was operated by Anglos, and mainly served Navajos. The Borrego Pass Trading Post was established in 1927 by Ben and Anna Harvey.[2]

The Borrego Pass community formed around the trading post which was opened in 1927 and was first operated by Ben and Anna Harvey,[3] and then starting in 1935 by Bill and Jean Cousins.[4] It was sold in 1939 to Don and Fern Smouse who operated it for over forty years. The trading post was named after the nearby Borrego Pass[5] an ancient water gap, across the Continental Divide,[6] that cuts into the Dutton Plateau.[7]

It was recommended for National Register listing in 2010.[2]

Location: Building 1601, County Road 19 Other names: Tiish Bito (Snake Spring); Dibe Yazhi Habitiin (Lamb Route) Historic function: Commerce/trade; Religion Historic subfunction: Department Store; Religious Structure

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
  2. ^ a b Staff (October 25, 2010). "Crownpoint Trading Post Eyed for National Historic Register". Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
  3. ^ "Trading post listed as 'historic place'" Archived July 13, 2011, at the Wayback Machine KRQE News 25 October 2010
  4. ^ Cousins, Jean; Cousins, Bill and Engels, Mary Tate (1996) Tales from Wide Ruins: Jean and Bill Cousins, traders Texas Tech University Press, Lubbock, Texas, pages 77–85, ISBN 0-89672-368-2
  5. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Borrego Pass Trading Post
  6. ^ Julyan, Robert (1998) "Borrego Pass" The Place Names of New Mexico (revised edition) University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico, page 46, ISBN 0-8263-1689-1
  7. ^ Lekson, Stephen H. (1999) The Chaco meridian: centers of political power in the ancient Southwest Altamira Press, Walnut Creek, California, page 119, ISBN 0-7619-9180-8