Cliff Dwelling

Photo by Carla DeMarco

It's no secret why we call New Mexico the Land of Enchantment. Our state possesses some of the nation's most beautiful natural wonders, including Carlsbad Caverns, Taos' Moreno Valley and White Sands National Monument.

Having grown up in Silver City at the doorstep of the Gila National Forest, I have always felt very lucky to have come from such a special place. During my time as a Senator, I've worked to help promote New Mexico and its splendor as a tourist destination - because it's important to our people, our economy and also our sense of pride in our home state.

With this in mind, I want to talk about a project I've had the good fortune to be involved in that will showcase some of our local treasures and help attract more tourists to our state. The project is called the Mimbres-Paquime Connection - a driving loop highlighting the natural wonders, ancient ruins and architecture of the southwestern part of our state and northwestern Mexico. I'm proud to say we've had great success in a very short time. We officially opened the Connection in a celebration in Deming last Summer with community leaders and people from all over the region, including Mexico.

And just last month, representatives from the Deming area traveled to Taos to attend the annual Governor's Conference on Tourism in an effort to get the word out about the Connection.

But what is the Mimbres-Paquime Connection and how did it all get started? The Connection is a stunning two-to-three day international driving excursion covering the binational region's most important historic sites, including the Gila Cliff Dwellings near Silver City and the Paquime Indian ruins in Mexico.

Mimbres-Paquime Connection
 
Map by SouthernNewMexico.com for informational purposes only-consult a good atlas or road map for driving instructions.

With these two major sites as anchors, the Connection's route runs from Silver City through Deming and Columbus to Palomas, Ascension, Janos and Nuevo Casas Grandes, and then back through Janos, Antelope Wells and Lordsburg to Silver City. The Connection includes visits to some of the West's most authentic ghost towns, particularly Shakespeare and Mogollon (where millions of dollars of gold, silver and copper were once produced). And the Connection offers abundant outdoor activity especially with New Mexico's Gila Wilderness and City of Rocks State Park along the route.

The idea for this project sprang from a trip I took two Summers ago with a group of people from Silver City, Deming, Columbus and Las Cruces to visit Nuevo Casas Grandes, Mexico. We sat down with Mexican officials to talk about joint efforts to improve the border region's economy. One of the things that emerged from that meeting was an agreement to start work on developing a plan for a new tourist region - similar to northern New Mexico's Enchanted Circle - that would become the Mimbres-Paquime Connection. The whole idea behind the Connection was to attract tourists to a region that has been relatively untouched, but offers so much compared with other tourist destinations around the country.

One of our challenges now is to start spreading the word about this amazing area. To that end, we've developed an annual bilingual magazine, complete with a description of sites along the driving tour, listings of hotels and restaurants and other services for tourists. With help from students and teachers at Western New Mexico University, we've also developed a web site, and have organized community education programs to help spur interest in the loop.

There's no doubt that the Connection has great potential to boost tourism in the region. With more visitors to our state, we can hopefully expand the regional economy and help create more jobs. In addition to the potential economic benefit, the Connection is also bringing people together from New Mexico and Mexico to share and protect this unique and historic region.

My hope is that we have launched a project that will continue grow in importance as more and more people come to the region. Many people I've talked to have said that there seems to be a new spirit and vitality in their towns partly because of the launching of the Connection.

Looking ahead, there's still a lot of work to be done to make this effort an even greater success. We need to continue to spread the word far and wide about the Mimbres-Paquime Connection. The key to all of this has been and continues to be the involvement of people in the communities in the region. Their dedication has helped launch something very important for New Mexico and Mexico, and very enjoyable for individuals who make the journey. All you need is a car and a sense of curiosity and exploration. I promise you will cherish memories from your travels on the Mimbres-Paquime Connection.