Threats to Recreation and Tourism
The Threat:
Silver47 Exploration Corp. (formally Summa Silver LLC), an extractive mining company from Canada is on the way to destroying Mogollon and plans to partner with an extractive mining company which would completely destroy Mogollon and its surrounds. Already the access roads to the drill pads are being overused by large and heavy vehicles. Graveyard Gulch’s Fanny Road to the Cemetery and the Fire House is often turned into an impassable muddy mess. Silver47 work night shifts creating noise and light pollution. The scale of the threats posed by future extractive mining is appalling. For example: to extract the current finding of 50 grams of silver per ton of ore, that one of many tons must be transported down the single-lane mountain road which is also used by residents, visitors and local service and livestock vehicles. It is already a challenging road to drive.
The Recreation and Tourism:
Mogollon is a ghost mining town surrounded by US Forest Service land. Mogollon is recognized as one of the most important mining towns in New Mexico from the town’s founding in 1889 to the final closing of the nearby Fannie Hill mill in 1942. Mogollon Town and Fanny Hill Mill & Company Town are listed on the National Parks Service’s Register of Historic Places. Buildings of note in Mogollon are listed on the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs’ Register of Cultural Properties. The historic Cemetery, although not yet listed, is a place often visited by tourists, descendants and historians.
The Gila calls those who treasure The Wild. Mogollon is their western gateway to the Gila Wilderness and is the departing point for hikers, fishermen, photographers, hunters, birders, and outfitter led pack-trips. Also for those on their way up to Willow Creek or Loco Mountain for a weekend of camping. Or just to take a picnic and see the glorious views and perhaps some wildlife such as elk, bear or hummingbirds.
The town of Mogollon with 14 residents is also a destination for tourists. On Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays between May and October, visitors to Mogollon will find places open for business: The Old Kelly Store is an art gallery with something for everyone; Mogollon Woodworks offers fine craftsmanship; the Museum gives an inside look into mining and the miners’ way of life; the Cemetery Archives reveal the threats to life in a frontier mining town. To wander through this old Cemetery with its ornate to primitively-fashioned headstones and grave markers, poignant epitaphs, and cast-iron family plot fences is to relive the history of Mogollon. A gentle walk at Whitewater Mesa Labyrinths can be found on the high desert mesa on the way up the mountain to Mogollon.
For weekend breakfast or lunch in Mogollon, The Purple Onion Cafe, is open for outdoor dining on the main street. The Purple Onion Cafe has won awards for Best Green Chile Cheeseburger, garnering state- wide attention. Seasonal weekend accommodation is available at the Silver Creek Inn, a retreat center available by reservation. Silver Creek Inn is located in the beautifully renovated historic J. P. Holland General Store and has been featured on New Mexico True, our state’s television campaign to focus on unique places of history and culture.
Mogollon residents and others are striving to ensure that our ecosystem is still here for future generations to enjoy. We make a living through our small businesses; protection of our Historic Districts; protection of our Dark Skies; and protection of the peace and quiet missing from urban life all to benefit others.
We, Mogollon Concerned Citizens, believe that a heritage and other tourism economy is here to stay and is preferable to a destructive, extractive industry of short-term economic benefit to Mogollon.
