Farmington, NM

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Farmington Depot 1926

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Farmington is located in a fertile river valley where the Animas and La Plata rivers join the San Juan rivers. The area was once called Three Rivers by Native Americans. The abundance of water has made this an ideal fruit growing region.

Mormons established one of the first permanent settlements at Fruitland which is a little east of today's Farmington. Peach and walnut trees were some of the first crops grown and the area has always produced corn in abundance.

Cattle ranchers moved into the area and along with them came the cowboys. By 1880, Farmington was a rough and brawling town with several famous outlaw groups. Shoot outs were common and the ranch hands often feuded with other gangs such as the Stocktons from Durango.

One story puts the cowboys in an early type of movie house one night. It seems they did not think much of the picture show and began to intimidate the showman who proceeded to jump out the window and ran off into the night in fear of his life.

Eventually oil and was discovered in the region and then later it was natural gas. Coal was also found in abundance and is the fuel used today at the large Four Corners power plant near Farmington.

The Navajo reservation is just west of Farmington so the town has extensive roots connected with the Native Americans. Today the tourist industry provides a good economy for the City and the natural gas and coal fields are still in production. Fishing along the San Juan river is some of the best in the world, especially around Navajo Reservoir east of Farmington. A horse racing track in town still operates and the cowboys still come around to keep the old west flavor.

The railroad came to Farmington in 1905. When first constructed the tracks were standard gauge to Durango. However, when it became clear that the main line from Alamosa would never be converted from narrow gauge to standard gauge, the Farmington Branch was converted to narrow gauge. This may be the only time in the railroad history that a line was converted from standard to narrow gauge.

In the 1950's and 60's long trains hauling pipe for oil and gas production were frequent on the railroad. The pipe was carried on gondola cars that had the end siding removed.