Historical Marker
City of Bloomfield
Bloomfield, San Juan County · New Mexico
The panel's sage crossing is a slip for safe, which is what the state's own marker list says. Bloomfield, Naabiʼání in Navajo, grew up by a crossing of the San Juan River in 1879, and its first years were the county's roughest. The Stockton gang, led by the brothers Ike and Port Stockton, rustled cattle between here and the Colorado mining camps and fought a running feud with Farmington ranchers. A Farmington rancher, Alfred Graves, shot Port Stockton dead on January 10, 1881; Ike died that September after losing a leg to a gunshot wound.
What the plaque says
Official Scenic Historic Marker City of Bloomfield Prehistoric farmers established major commu- nities along the rivers of this region in the eleventh century. Eight hundred years later, historic settlement was also made possible by abundant water. Bloomfield was established in 1879 near a site which afforded a sage crossing of the San Juan River. The hard lives of the early settlers gradually gave way to increasing prosperity made possible by irri- gation farming and horticulture.
Where it stands
36.70920, -108.01142 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- Aztec Ruins National Monument — 8.8 miA Chacoan great house on the Animas River, misnamed by settlers who thought the Aztecs built it, with original roofs nine centuries old and a great kiva rebuilt whole.
More markers nearby
- Salmon Ruin — 1.0 mi
- Aztec — 6.6 mi
- Aztec Ruins National Monument — 8.1 mi
- Aztec Ruins National Monument — 8.1 mi