Exploring Sugarite Canyon Coal Camp

There’s not much left of Sugarite today… but these rocks and foundations were once a busy coal-mining town tucked away in the canyon just outside Raton, New Mexico. The Sugarite Coal Camp was established in the early 1900s, with the town really taking shape around 1912. At its peak, roughly 1,000 people lived here — miners and their families from places all over the world, including Croatia, Italy, Ireland, Poland, Scotland, Japan, and northern Mexico. The camp had everything a town needed: a schoolhouse, post office, company store, clubhouse, and rows of company homes built along the hillsides. The clubhouse became an important gathering place for the community, hosting dances and other activities. Coal was hauled out of the canyon by a gravity-powered tram system and shipped by rail. But as the demand for coal declined and railroads moved toward diesel and electric locomotives, Sugarite's future began to fade. The mine closure was announced in 1941, and by early 1942 the camp was essentially finished. Most of the wooden buildings and homes were removed, sold, or moved to Raton. What remained were the stone foundations, walls, and a handful of historic structures. Today, Sugarite Canyon State Park preserves what's left of the old camp, giving us a chance to walk through the remains and imagine what this canyon looked like more than a century ago. 1912–1941. A town of nearly 1,000 people… now mostly foundations in the forest. Have you ever explored the ruins of an old mining town like Sugarite? #NewMexico #SugariteCanyon #RatonNM #NewMexicoHistory