Historical Marker

Santa Fe Trail Cimarron Cutoff / Clayton

Clayton, Union County · New Mexico

This board ends the trail in 1880; most of its neighbors end it in 1879. Both are right about different places: the railroad reached Las Vegas in July 1879 and Santa Fe in February 1880, and wagons gave way stop by stop. The population on the Clayton face is the 1980 census figure; the 2020 count was 2,643. The ruts the panel recommends survive on the Kiowa National Grassland, where the old swales still show in the grass near here.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Santa Fe Trail Cimarron Cutoff The Santa Fe Trail was the major trade route between New Mexico and Missouri from 1821 until arrival of the railroad in 1880. The Cimarron Cutoff, a major branch of the Trail, passed through this portion of northeast New Mexico. Some of the best preserved segments of the Trail route are located at nearby Kiowa National Grasslands, along the Santa Fe National Historic Trail. Official Scenic Historic Marker Clayton Population 2,968 - Elevation 4,969 Trade caravans and homesteaders traveling the Cimarron Cutoff of the Santa Fe Trail passed near here. Clayton was founded in 1887 and named for the son of cattleman and ex-Senator Stephen W. Dorsey, one of its developers. It became a major livestock shipping center for herds from the Pecos Valley and the Texas Panhandle.

Where it stands

36.45712, -103.17074 · Directions

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