Silver City, New Mexico

A Mountain Hideaway in the Land of Enchantment
Reprinted from the Jan-Feb 2005 issue of Southwest Aviator Magazine
Story and Photos By Ron Kilber
September 2004
If Billy the Kid were alive today, he would see that the land and mountains haven’t changed much since the late 1800s around his childhood boomtown home of Silver City. Even many of the brick buildings of his time still stand in town today. But gone are the silver miners who gave birth to Silver City, back when it was still an Apache Indian camp in 1870, 42 years before New Mexico received statehood.
While Civil War hero Ulysses S. Grant was president of the United States, hopefuls arrived in Silver City by the thousands for a chance to win the silver-ore lottery. As the town boomed, General George Armstrong Custer was making his last stand on the Little Big Horn River, U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp was keeping the peace in nearby Tombstone, Jesse James was wreaking havoc on trains carrying gold, and Mark Twain was writing Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.
Tucked away in the southwest corner of New Mexico, Silver City is now a college town thriving with students, artists, museum curators, shop owners, restaurateurs, and purveyors to the hospitality and travel industry. Ranching in the area remains a primary industry, as it has since the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1893, which ruined the silver market more than 100 years ago.
For aviators, Silver City is an undiscovered, civilized hideaway situated on the outskirts of the vast Gila Wilderness Area, home of the archeologically significant Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. Silver City is also gateway to one of the most visually stimulating and geologically fascinating areas of the Southwest, with spectacularly wooded mountains, rustic western towns, and unique adventures.