San Marcial was a farming and ranching community near Black Mesa (Mesa del Contadero) located on the Rio Grande about 25 miles south of Socorro.  The general area was also known as "Valverde" - the green valley - due to the rich, fertile farm lands along the river. Other settlements in the area included La Mesa, Valverde, Geronimo, and "Old Town" or Plaza Viejo.

 

The area is steeped in history. Prior to the Spanish Entrada in 1598, there were several pueblos in the area occupied by the native Piro people.  These were the Trenaquel (Tiffany), Tzenoqué (Senecú), San Pascual and San Felipe pueblos.  San Pascual was the largest known Piro pueblo with approximately 750 rooms. Franciscan priests built a mission and planted the first vineyard in New Mexico at the Senecú pueblo . All pueblos were abandoned by the 1680 Pueblo Revolt and never reoccupied. Remnants of these pueblos still exist except Senecú - it has never been found - believed swallowed by the Rio Grande, but located very near the San Marcial townsite.

 

During the Spanish occupation of New Mexico, the area was used as a paraje - a camping spot - for travelers along El Camino Real trail. The lush fields at Valverde along the river offered good grazing and water for the livestock and the weary travelers.

 

Fort Conrad was built in 1854 on the west side of the river adjacent to Valverde to protect travelers along El Camino Real trail. However, frequent river floods forced the abandonment of the fort in 1857, relocating to higher ground south of San Marcial by building Fort Craig.

 

Valverde, north of Black Mesa, was also the site of the Civil War Battle at Valverde fought on February 21, 1862, one of two major battles in New Mexico between the rebel Texan and Confederate forces and Union soldiers and the New Mexico Volunteers from nearby Fort Craig.

 

 

San Marcial began as a small Spanish farming settlement shortly after the Battle at Valverde in 1862.  The boom began at San Marcial in 1880 when the the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe (AT&SF) Railroad selected the area as a major railroad hub. At San Marcial were built machine shops, a foundry, roundhouse with turntable, and other facilities to support the railroad, in addition to housing for the train and track maintenance crews. Hundreds of men were hired by AT&SF for the San Marcial shops and the train crews.  By the early 1900s, the population was around 1,500 persons, becoming Socorro County's 2nd largest town. It had a Harvey House, a bank, churches, schools, mercantile stores, a newspaper, and other businesses typical of a growing small city.  San Marcial and surrounding villages became prosperous communities. The railroad paid good wages which spawned many local lucrative businesses and personal wealth. With the railroad, the local farmers and ranchers were able to move their crops and cattle quickly and cheaply to market. Gold ores from the nearby mining town of Rosedale were shipped from San Marcial, as were thousands of head of cattle from the adjoining Victoria Land and Cattle Company (now Armendaris Ranch). Compared to other struggling towns in Socorro County, life was good in San Marcial.

The hopes and dreams of San Marcial and her citizens came to a disasterous end in a matter of hours in 1929. On August 13 and September 23, two devastating floods roared down the Rio Grande, the result of very heavy monsoon rains that overwhelmed the river.  However, it wasn't just San Marcial. Flood waters began north of Socorro that destroyed much of San Acacia, Polvadera, Lemitar, Bosquecito, San Antonio, San Antonito, and Guadalajara (south of San Pedro) before reaching San Marcial. Thousands of acres of fertile farm land were destroyed, buried under 3-4 feet of silt. Businesses, homes,schools and churches were erased along the river, along with the Santa Fe Railroad depot and shops.

 

San Marcial sat in flood waters for months causing the adobe walls to melt and wood structures to collapse. Advanced notice of the arriving flood allowed the area to be evacuated before the flood waters arrived; there were no casualties. The town crumbled into the murky silt and was never rebuilt. The railroad relocated employees to Albuquerque, Belen, and El Paso. A few hearty families rebuilt the nearby small communities of Valverde, Geronimo, La Mesa, and PlazaVeijo. However, these towns were completely destroyed by another flood in 1937. The Army Corps of Engineers stated the area would always be flood-prone and declared the region untenable, meaning those left destitute by the 1937 flood could not obtain bank loans or insurance to rebuild. The region has remained completely abandoned ever since except one surviving ranching family.

 

The San Marcial floods occurred in days before FEMA or other relief programs. Hundreds of once prosperous families were left destitute. Many relocated to Socorro and Magdalena to find any employment they could to survive.

 

The "San Marcial flood" completely changed the face of Socorro County. A major commerce center was gone with her citizens permanently displaced. A once booming railroad town ceased to exist, moving hundreds of jobs and hundreds of thousands of dollars of local spending out of the county. Thousands of acres of fruitful farm land, cotton fields, vineyards and orchards along the river were lost and never reclaimed. Even the thick bosque along the river, occupying once fertile farmland, is the result of these floods. Most important are the huge number of families that were completely wiped out by the floods, many who have never recovered from the affluence they once had.

 

The effect of the San Marcial floods is a major chapter in the history of Socorro County and should never be forgotten.