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."
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Twenty-nine miles north of the border on US 54 is the second outpost, Orogrande, meaning big gold. When it was known as Jarilla, for the Jarilla Mountains, two thousand people lived there. It is reported that gold, silver, copper, and turquoise were mined between the 1880s and the 1920s. It boasted a 32 bed hospital, a 63 room hotel and The Jarilla Enterprise.
Memories of those days are rich. A few efforts to revive mining were made, but were unproductive. Ruins of the smelter are northeast of town. Water was piped down from the Sacramento Mountains for the use of the town and the railroad.
Orogrande is totally surrounded by the Fort Bliss Military Reservation. According to New Mexico, A New Guide to the Colorful State,"when the McGregor Range was extended to over 1,000 square miles in 1954, some two hundred people were displaced, and the highway connecting Orogrande and the south end of the Sacramentos was closed.” The authors report a rancher, John Prather, refused to leave, as he had lived there since 1903. During a July 1956 encounter between the government and him, the government backed down, leaving Prather the 15 acres around his house, and a check for over $200,000 for the rest of his land. He died in 1965, still ranching. Never did he acknowledge the existence of that government check.
Valmont is another outpost, 27 miles northeast, that today is but a locality on the railroad line. There was a post office from 1916-1921. A trading point, it was first called Dog Town, then Camp City and then around 1910, Shamrock. Finally in 1915, it was called Valmont, a combination of valley and mountain for the Tularosa Valley and Sacramento Mountains. At one time there was a population of 40, a school and the post office. Now, it is not even a dot on the map.