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- Alto, Glencoe, Ruidoso Downs - small towns in Lincoln County
- Home
- Southeast New Mexico
- Lincoln County
- Alto, Glencoe, Ruidoso Downs - small towns in Lincoln County
Alto, Glencoe, Ruidoso Downs - small towns in Lincoln County
- By Phyllis Eileen Banks
- Published 12/28/2002
- Southeast New Mexico , Lincoln County
- Unrated
Phyllis Eileen Banks
Phyllis Eileen Banks is both writer and artist.Her articles have appeared in Southern New Mexico Magazine, FYI, Vision Magazine, Roswell Daily Record, New Mexico Magazine, Ranger Rick, Concern, Anchorage Daily News, and other periodicals. In addition, with Cynthia Smith she authored The Anchorage Fun Book.
Much of her experience has been as an editor.Her editorial experience includes The Alaska Presbyterian, The Alaska Heart, newsletter of the Alaska Heart Association, the book COCAHINIA (Consultation on Church and Human Need in Alaska), and Roaming Southern New Mexico.
"I have invisible antennae that 'vibrate' when something doesn't seem right.Of course editing someone else's work is easier than editing one's own," she says.
People stories, historical pieces, and travel writing are her favorites.She and her husband, Hal, moved to New Mexico from Alaska.
"New Mexico has some of the same mystic of Alaska – wide open spaces, different cultures.The transition was easy," says Eileen."It is truly The Land of Enchantment and no matter where you reside you carry it with you."
Phone:727-544-3713
View all articles by Phyllis Eileen Banks
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Postmaster W. H. Walker chose its name, Alto - Spanish for high. Eugene Manlove Rhodes was a cowboy writer who taught here in 1891 and 1892. However, it was known as Eagle Creek during those years. Now it is the home of artists, as well as merchants and businesses. Alto Village, a development with lovely homes, has its own golf course. The entrance to the Ski Apache slopes on Sierra Blanca Mountain is to the west on NM Highway 532 just as you enter Alto.
Glencoe, ten miles northeast of Ruidoso Downs on US Highway 70, was settled in 1875 by the Coe family. Since glen means valley, it was easy to combine the na
Ruidoso Downs, population 800, now famous for the race track and its All-American Quarter Horse Futurity Race, was originally known as Palo Verde. Hale Spring, at the base of the mountain to the south, was also a settlement of prehistoric people. According to NEW MEXICO, A Colorful Guide to the State, evidence of a large burial ground and a very large ancient irrigation ditch is here. In the 1930s a man named Heck Johnson sold lots and water rights; soon there were orchards and gardens and a small population. When an application for a post office was made in 1946, the postal department evidently translated it Green Tree.
Eugene V. Hensley, who is credited with originating the richest horse race in the world with a purse of $1,000,000, wanted Ruidoso Downs to have its own postmark. He convinced the towns people to hold an election to change the name from Green Tree. It passed and thus, in 1958, Ruidoso Downs became the official name. Racing season is from early May through Labor Day. The Museum of the Horse is also located in Ruidoso Downs.