Playas Siding

Phelps Dodge came back to this valley seventy years after its railroad. In 1971 it built a copper smelter about ten miles south of the old siding and, because there was nowhere for workers to live, a company town called Playas, with about 1,000 people at its height. Falling copper prices closed the smelter in 1999, and the town emptied within a year. New Mexico Tech bought Playas in 2004 for $5 million in Homeland Security money and turned it into a training ground for first responders and the military, real houses standing in for real towns.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Playas Siding In 1902, Phelps Dodge and Company built The El Paso and Southwestern Railroad to link El Paso, Texas with the copper mines of Bisbee, Arizona, and eventually, with several other mining towns throughout the region. Highway 9, New Mexico's "Border Route" between Columbus and Rodeo, parallels the old rail line, and actually utilizes a portion of the abandoned EP & SW railroad bed between Columbus and Anapra.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Smuggler's Trail — 11 mi
• The Clanton Hideout — 11 mi
• Hachita — 18 mi
• Rodeo Intermediate Field Civil Aeronautics Authority # 57A — 25 mi