This website is dedicated to the human history of the Black Range. It is part of a suite of websites. The original Black Range website has a wealth of information about the Black Range including its human history. This site (BR3) supplements that part of the original Black Range website dealing with human cultural history. The Black Range - 2 (BR2) website supplements the natural history portion of the original Black Range website.
The Black Range website is no longer updated (as of July 1, 2017) and because of that some of the links at that site may become broken. Instead, we supplement it with BR2 and BR3. Other than the fact that there is no direct lick from the original Black Range website to the BR2 or BR3 websites (the opposite is not true) this structure should be transparent.
The Black Range has a rich cultural history. Although there were human inhabitants in the region prior to the Mimbres culture, it is that culture which is historically preeminent. Following the Mimbres reorganization the most important cultural group was the Apache. The Spanish explorers and settlers followed with a smattering of fur traders from the north. Anglos from the United States and Mexicans from that newly independent nation were the next to enter the area. Following the last wave of immigration, the area was influenced heavily by the Mexican-American altercations; Apache-Everyone Else wars; and the revolt of the slave-holding states of the United States.
Mining defined the region initially, for the Spanish, Mexicans, and Anglos. First at the copper mine now known as Santa Rita and then by gold, silver, and other metal deposits found along the length of the range - on both the east and west side of the mountains. Ranchers followed the miners. The historically significant individuals associated with the region include Aldo Leopold, Albert Fall (of Teapot Scandal fame), Robert Ingersoll (the famed orator and politician), and Edward Drinker Cope (the famed paleontologist).
The major economic drivers for the region are currently ranching, mining, and retirees. The retirement community in the range appears to be the ascendant economic force.
To the left you will find an index and link farm to the pages of the original Black Range website.