 
History of Otero Mesa
The lands of the Greater Otero Mesa Area have
born witness to the presence of Native Americans, the Spanish
in the Colonial era, Mexicans, and the sovereignty of the United
States. Both prudence and due diligence should be exercised to
insure that our cultural heritage is not jeopardized in a precipitous
rush to exploit this fragile landscape.
Prehistory & Native Americans
In prehistoric times, salt was a necessary food additive for
human survival. It was used widely as a food preservative and
therefore a valuable commodity for trade. The salt deposits in
the eastern Tularosa Basin provided a significant resource upon
which the populations living in the high plains desert region
depended.
 Human
habitation in the Hueco Mountains extends back 10,000 years. with
various Native American cultures being identified as having occupied
the land since these first inhabitants. Radiocarbon dating indicates
that ceramics were introduced into the salt deposit regions of
the eastern Tularosa Basin between 700-1000 A.D. These ceramic
vessels were fragile and it has been suggested that they were
used to transport and store salt from the salt beds too more densely
occupied sites.
Unfortunately, many of these remains were collected in the 1920's
from these sites. Grooved and ungrooved stone axes, mauls, projectile
points, metates and manos can be seen in private collections in
the area. But information as to when, where and under what circumstances
they were removed from their sites is lacking.
The Hueco Tanks State Park contains numerous petroglyphs and
pictoglyphs and is a sacred site to several Native American tribes.
Petroglyphs and pictoglyphs are also found in the caves and stone
outcrops in the Guadalupe and Cornudas Mountains. The Guadalupe
Mountains are a sacred site to the Apache Indians where the Apache
deity White Painted Woman, a central figure in the female coming-of-age
ceremony, rests.
Spanish Colonization
The need for salt also led the Spaniards to these salt deposits
during the Hispanic Colonial Period. In addition to preserving
food, the Spanish used salt to refine silver ore.
In 1692, Don Diego de Vargas, the newly appointed Governor of
New Mexico, ventured east--seeking salt for the people of old
El Paso (known as Juarez today). He and his force traveled from
the Hueco Mountains to the Cornudas Mountains, Crow Spring (Ojo
de Cuervo) and on to the "South Point" of the Guadalupe
Mountains.
His is the first written account documenting the presence of
salt deposits, a description of the Guadalupe Mountains, and critically,
the finding of water at Alamo, Crow, and Guadalupe Springs.
The route De Vargas took became the preferred route from El Paso
to the salt deposits and the Guadalupe Mountains because of this
discovery of water. The presence of Apaches in the region was
a significant barrier to the full use of the route and the land
it accessed until the later part of the 19th century.
Westward Expansion of the United States
With the end of the Mexican War in 1848, the lands north of the
Rio Grande were ceded to the United States by Mexico. United States
Military maps of the era show that the De Vargas trail continued
to be used as an access to the Guadalupe Mountains and points
east. In 1858, the 1st Butterfield stage heading west encountered
the 1st Butterfield stage heading east at the foot of the Guadalupe
Mountains along the De Vargas trail. This famous stage route that
ushered in the California gold rush and brought farmers, miners
and ranchers west utilized the very route that De Vargas had opened
from the Hueco Mountains to the Guadalupe Mountains.
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