Raton

The town took its name from the mountain and the pass, ratón being Spanish for mouse. Its post office opened as Willow Springs in 1877, became Otero in 1879 and Raton in 1880, and the old Willow Springs ranch stood near today's Maxwell Avenue and Third Street. The name has not always been loved: in 1986 a local sign painter proposed going back to Willow Spring. The population printed on the panel is the 1980 census figure; by 2020 it had fallen to 6,041.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Raton Population 8,225 - Elevation 6,379 Once the Willow Springs freight stop on the Santa Fe Trail, the town of Raton developed from A.T. & S.F. repair shops establish- ed when the railroad crossed Raton Pass in 1879. Valuable coal deposits attracted early settlers. Nearby Clifton House was a stage- coach stop until the Trail was abandoned after 1879.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fishers Peak State Park — 16 mi
  The flat-topped landmark over Trinidad and Raton Pass, a trophy-hunting ranch until 2019 and Colorado's second-largest state park since 2020, with a summit trail since 2023.
• Capulin Volcano National Monument — 26 mi
  A cinder cone you can drive to the top of, rising more than a thousand feet from the high plains east of Raton, whose lava broke out of its foot rather than its crater.

More markers nearby

• First Automobile in New Mexico — 1.1 mi
• Santa Fe Trail — 5.0 mi
• Raton Pass — 8.3 mi
• Women of the Santa Fe Trail — 17 mi