Bingham, New Mexico

We visited Bingham, NM on our way home from vacation 7/30/11 

this is the street sign at the highway

 

this is the old adobe home my mom helped build, two parents 11 children lived here. If I counted right :-)

During the early 1930's my grandparents Samuel Grant and Nora Bingham and their children drove in a covered wagon and Model T from West Texas to the middle of New Mexico in search of land. There they homesteaded, ranched and built a home, store and school. My mom was about 13 years old. The youngest of the Bingham children were born in Bingham, Earl and Pearl. My mom had fond memories of her days in Bingham, NM even if times were hard. Her stories were much like those of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her series of books Little House on the Prairie. I think that is why she loved those books and The Oregon Trail and O Pioneers so much. She collected icicles off the eaves in the winter and dropped them down in the cistern to have water in the summer. She held on to the cows tail one evening in a storm so the cow could lead her home. She helped raise her younger siblings, made adobe bricks for their home and collected rocks and helped build the school. She loved her teacher there. Fond memories and great stories shared by my mom.
Wonder just where Bingham is located. Almost dead center of the state. Just north of the Trinity testing site. Equal distance from Carizzo and Socorro. Yep-- about 3 miles east of nowhere. :-) But the Valley of the Fires where lava flowed at one time is not too far away. There is a pretty cool Rock Shop up on the highway now and I had a lovely time visiting with the lady that owns it.