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| Statute of Pancho Villa in the Mexican border town of Palomas. |
A visit to Pancho Villa
State Park Columbus makes for a
great winter get away.
The park features plenty of roomy campsites and clean
restrooms and a remarkable museum dedicated to the real Mexican invasion of the
United States
back in 1916.
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| Pancho Villa State Park Museum. |
During the early morning hours of that historic day about 500
of revolutionary leader Pancho Villa’s troops snuck across the U.S.
border and attacked the sleepy town and Army garrison stationed at Columbus
New Mexico
Historical accounts speculate as to the attack’s purpose
ranging from Villa’s need for military and other supplies or in revenge for
American meddling in Mexico ’s
revolution.
The attack was repulsed though leaving many of the invaders
and a few villagers and some soldiers dead. The U.S. Army then launched its own
invasion into Mexico
in search of Villa but the Army expedition returned home empty-handed after a
year.
The story is better told in viewing the documentary film and
reading the interpretive displays within the park’s museum. Visitors will find
a full size replica of an early model biplane hanging in the spacious museum, a
restored military truck and display cases featuring firearms, uniforms and
other items from the era.
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| Display in the Pancho Villa State Park museum. |
Outside the museum visitors will find one of the Army’s armored
trucks on display and more interpretive signs along trails around the park
which was once known as Camp Furlong
The park is popular with travelers known locally as
“snowbirds” and is reported to be busiest during the winter months. Unfortunately
several telephone calls to park management seeking further information about
the park and its operations were not returned.
During a recent visit plenty of spaces with hookups were
still available even on a Friday afternoon. A $10 tent site came with a covered
shelter, picnic table and fire ring. It should be noted that the park’s
proximity to the nearby highway and the ease with which sound travels across
the desert could prove bothersome to some tent campers.
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| Tent site at Pancho Villa State Park. |
Columbus, a town of about 1,600, boasts a restored railroad
station, U.S. Customs House and several other historic buildings from its vibrant
past. Visitors and residents can eat at several different and very good restaurants,
shop at the grocery and liquor store and get gas at the town’s convenience
store.
Tourism, agriculture, retail trade and government employment
account for much of the economy of the region. The city of Deming and
Interstate-10 is about 30 miles north of Columbus and the Mexican border town
of Palomas is about three miles south on N.M.11.
Visitors to the small, friendly Mexican town of Palomas
will find an imposing statute of Villa astride a stallion leading a charge with
pistol in hand in front of the town’s municipal building.
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| Main Street in Palomas, Mexico |
Visitors also may encounter whistle blowing adults in
reflective vests hustling along busloads of children returning from school in Columbus .
The kids were born in the United States
but live in Mexico
and attend school in Columbus as
American citizens.
Many Americans frequent Palomas to get cheaper prescription
drugs and dental work or shop at The Pink Store. The landmark corner store
features a dizzying array of arts and crafts, tax free liquor and great food and
drinks. Visitors may even be handed a complimentary margarita upon entering.
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| American tourists, Bill Diven and Karl Moffatt of New Mexico, enjoy a margarita inside the renowned "Pink Store" at Palomas, Mexico. |
After roaming the streets and shops of Palomas, Americans returning to the U.S.
may need little more than a
valid New Mexico
driver’s license to get back into the country. However, custom checkpoint
officers say publicly that they would rather see a passport or at the very
least a birth certificate along with a driver’s license.
About 47 miles of 30-foot tall, thick steel fence is being
installed between the New Mexico
border towns of Santa Teresa and Columbus, says Border Patrol Agent and
Spokesperson, Ramiro Cordero.
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| The border wall under construction in February, 2020 between Santa Teresa and Columbus N.M. |
Visitors to the area can easily find the border wall about
25 miles east of Columbus off N.M.
9 at Dona Ana County Road A-1. The wall can be found a mile down the dirt road
on public land administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
Cordero acknowledged that the area is open to the public but
recommended anyone visiting to see the wall might want to let the local Border
Patrol Office know just to avoid any potential problems.
Despite the daunting sea of vast desert here the border is
routinely crossed illegally because of its close proximity to highways running
parallel on either side, Cordero says.
In the past all that stood in the way was a four strand
barbed wire fence. In 2008 squat “Normandy ”
style vehicle barriers were installed. Now it’s 30-feet tall “Bollard” fencing,
spaced steel tubes filled with rebar and concrete and topped with a flat steel
section.
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During a recent visit to the area the border wall could be
seen towering in the distance as it rose from the desert. Standing right next
to it revealed just how daunting a structure it is.
Those visiting the area to enjoy all the borderlands have to
offer area will find several other state parks nearby including City of Rocks
and Rockhound State
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| View of Cookes Peak from Luna County Road 019 off N.M. 26 between Hatch and Deming N.M. |
