Mountain Mail’s Last Issue

After nearly 30 years of publishing local news for Socorro and Catron counties, the Mountain Mail will cease to produce a local newspaper.
Owner Thomas Guengerich said the newspaper’s financial situation is unsustainable and that the outlook for the future does not seem to look any brighter.
“I want to sincerely thank all the people who have been faithful readers of the Mountain Mail for many years,” Guengerich said. “Hearing positive feedback from people in all communities in Socorro and Catron counties was the most gratifying part of being involved with the Mountain Mail.”
He also expressed thanks to all the contributing writers and photographers who have helped produce the newspaper over the years.
Over the past year, the newspaper’s advertising revenues have continued to slip in every area. Cost-cutting measures, such as eliminating full-color printing, were not enough to make a difference. While readership remains strong with only a small decrease in subscriptions over the past year, the advertising revenues have fallen dramatically.
“The decision to close the doors and stop publishing was very difficult,” Guengerich said, “In the end, going out of business is regrettable, but the best choice. We had a good run, but it’s time to call it quits.”
The last edition of the Express will be published next Monday, Sept. 14. The Magdalena Mountain Mail was first published in 1980. Valley Independent Publishing purchased the newspaper in 2002.

Mountain Mail’s Last Issue

The Earth Doesn’t Need Us

Magdalena Potluck
by Don & Margaret Wiltshire

The planet would do wonderfully well without us. When we talk about saving the planet; we are really talking about saving us. We are destroying what we need to survive, air, water, food.
The wolf would limit numbers of grass eaters and the prairies would grow grass to maturity. The aquifers would remain and feed moisture to those grasses. The grasses would shelter seedling trees. The air would have more oxygen, less erosion.
We have been destroying it all. That’s what we are good at.
We destroy species that help us live and could help us live.
Over grazing destroys grasslands. It is natural for a wolf to help the grasslands as it lives to survive. It does the earth a service. We don’t.
We live to survive. We have good brains to help us. Yet we often don’t use them well. Our brains are compromised by our egos and our greed.
Every year we learn more about the intelligence of animals and plants. For centuries we have been too ego centered to acknowledge their intelligence. We live in a constant state of denial.
Chief Seattle’s speech on land is one of the greatest documents in our recorded history. Politely, he told us how we are destroying ourselves. He told us how we could save ourselves. In turn, Western Civilization just took advantage of him.
Some think that on the close horizon there is the end of Western Civilization. If that is the case, some will survive who want to do it all over again with the same ego-greed orientation. They, of course, will save their weapons.
Others are raising their consciousness. They know we belong to the earth, we don’t own it. The earth’s crust is the EARTH’s crust. The aquifers belong to the earth and no man can own them. The grasslands belong to all, not just the greedy.
To raise your consciousness you don’t have to read a book, belong to a group, join a political party. All you have to do is breathe deeply. Use your senses. See the truth before you. Listen less to the ego voice in your head and more to what is around you. Consciousness is awareness.
Many indigenous people have told us we live in a dream world. We are not conscious. We want things to be as we want them to be. Usually because of our own greed; that nagging sense of being empty, alone and fearful.
Being conscious one can discover they are all they need to be, they are never alone and their needs are truly few. Conscious-people don’t need ego tasks like proving identity and personal value. They are in tune with nature, wholly part of the universe.
However, food, shelter, air and water needs to be available. It needs to be good.
Using science we have made some poor choices in the past. Pesticides continue to handicap us worldwide. They hurt plants, animals and humans. Still we continue using them.
Now environmental science tells us we are in our 11th hour, in the last few minutes of the last hour, historically speaking. They want us to make it, to survive. They are speaking to us just as Chief Seattle did years ago. Will we listen?
Many don’t want to listen. They think economics is the bigger problem. Economics is nowhere without nature and its resources.
We are nowhere without nature and its resources. Living in a box that’s gold lined, diamond studded and dollar padded will kill you if you don’t have good water, food and air. Not to mention how fast you’d get bored!
We have the ability to remember the past and look to the future. They say that separates us from animals and plants. I have my doubts. Whatever the case, they plan for the future better then we do.
Take a deep breath, live and let live.

The Earth Doesn’t Need Us

OPINION: Sylvia And Her Mining Company Become Victims of Squirrel

Sylvia
by Anne Sullivan
“Sylvia!” I shrieked, “How many times have I told you to stop digging under the house?”
Without stopping, her paws spraying dirt behind her, Sylvia answered, “I don’t know exactly. Maybe four or five times.”
“So why are you still digging?”
“Because the gold from the Lost Adams Diggings is buried here. I know it.”
“No, it’s not,” I said to divert her. “I happen to know it’s buried up-canyon where the tall rocks are. Why don’t you do more digging there?”
‘I would,” she replied over her shoulder and still without ceasing her labor, “but there’s no way to transport the gold down here.”
“What about your sweet little wagon pulled by squirrels?”
“There’s been a problem with that,” Sylvia said, actually stopping her digging. “The squirrels have gone on strike.”
”How come? I thought you were paying them with my walnuts.”
“The strike wasn’t because of lack of payment. You remember that two-timing rat of a squirrel I was interrogating under the house. The one that escaped when you stopped me from killing him.”
“Yes, I remember well. It was considerably more than interrogation.”
“Not really,” Sylvia said. “It was sanctioned by the government of Swingle Canyon.”
”What government is that?”
“RingWorm, Gordo and me. The Big Three Government.”
“Lord help us and perish the thought,” I said with a sigh. “Anyway, what’s that poor squirrel got to do with the strike?”
Sylvia’s usually kind face registered her rage. “The big sissy evidently went to the grievance rep to complain about his treatment and the union steward took his side. I tell you, help isn’t what it used to be.”
“Maybe not, but what happened?”
“All our squirrels went out on strike and now they’re suing me for everything I’ve got. That stupid squirrel said I bullied him. It’s all your fault; you should have let me kill him.”
“It’s a poor leader who passes the blame.”
“Huh?” said Sylvia, resuming her digging. “Anyway, now we have no way to transport the gold.”
After digesting this news, I suggested, “What about using some other animal to pull the wagon?
There’s Gordo. What about him?”
“I already asked him. He says it’s not in his job description. I have been wondering about the mice. Didn’t they pull a carriage for that Cinderella person?”
“I believe they did. That’s a great idea,” I said. “We have a plethora of mice this year. Giving them honest work might keep them out of my bedroom. Think of the mouse lives that could be saved.”
“A lot, I guess,” Sylvia allowed. “It will take many mice to pull the wagon, especially when it’s full of gold.”
“How will you recruit them?”
“I’ll put it to them that it’s better than death by sticky trap and axe. That ought to convince them,” Sylvia said. “If that doesn’t, RingWorm and Gordo as their overseers can crack the whip. Gordo enjoyed practicing his whip cracks until he broke the whip.”
“To show you how sincerely I believe the gold is buried up-canyon and not under my house,” I said, “I’ll stake you to another whip, a bigger one.”
“Do you really and truly believe there’s gold in these here rocks?” she asked.
“Bound to be,” I said, and maybe it wasn’t a lie.

OPINION: Sylvia And Her Mining Company Become Victims of Squirrel

Man Awaiting Murder Trial Accused Of Theft

By John Larson
SOCORRO - A Socorro man who was free on bail and awaiting trial on a murder charge has been arrested for the theft of a boat, its motors, and related fishing gear.
Atanacio “Smokey” Cordero, 25, who will be tried in District Court on Feb. 1, 2010, for the Christmas Eve murder of Michael Martinez, was arrested Monday, Aug. 31, following an investigation by Off. Rocky Fernandez of the Socorro Police Dept.
In addition, Juan Benavidez, 34, and Jennifer Garcia, 30, have each been charged with the same four felony counts. If convicted on all counts - burglary, larceny, conspiracy, and vehicle theft – each could be sentenced to nine years in the penitentiary and pay fines of up to $30,000.
According to the criminal complaint, Cordero removed a boat and trailer from a storage establishment on Frontage Rd. with the assistance of Benavidez and Garcia.
In his report, Fernandez said that Juan Benavidez confessed the robbery. Benavidez told Fernandez that he and Cordero initially tried to take the motors off the boat while still in the storage yard. Attempts to remove the motors at the scene failed, so the entire boat and trailer were hitched to Jennifer Garcia’s vehicle and towed off the property.
The report states that the boat and all of its contents were then taken to a spot near New Mexico Tech, where they had time to figure out how to remove the motors. The motors eventually ended up at a residence in Valencia County, the report said.
The stolen property was valued at $13,421.52, according to an itemized list submitted by the owner. Fernandez said the final amount could be substantially higher. An arrest warrant has been issued on Juan Benavidez. Jennifer Garcia hearing will be Thursday, Sept. 10, at 9 a.m.

Man Awaiting Murder Trial Accused Of Theft

Chemist Drawing Metals From Soils Using Native Plants

By John Larson
SOCORRO – The mining of the future may be in the extraction of metals, such as uranium, from a crop of blue fescue, rather than digging it from the ground. A scientist at the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center is working on research that will accomplish just that.
New Mexico Tech Professor Dr. Christa Hockensmith said that her project has proved successful in reclaiming soil polluted by toxic chemicals and even radiation.
The plants concentrate these metals in above-ground portions of the plants. The plants can be harvested, dried, and smelted to recover the metal in a process known as metal phytomining.
“I’ve been working with this for the last ten years,” Hockensmith said. “Even before I came to New Mexico Tech. Here we’re testing which are the best plants to absorb the heavy metals out of the soil.”
She said her research has been successful with lead, mercury, uranium, and other heavy metals.
“Suppose you have a field contaminated with heavy metal, and you would like to grow corn or whatever,” Hockensmith said. “You test the soil for what metals are present. Then you plant a crop of plants that ‘like’ that metal. Then you harvest that crop and test the soil again to measure the remaining amount of metal. If it’s still present, you can plant the crop again until the soil is clear of the contaminating metal.”
The process is known as phytoremediation.
She said uranium can be remediated by blue fescue, and salt cedar is a “sponge for nickel.”
“Some plants are also used for removing pesticides, and you can even remediate PCPs with plants,” Hockensmith said.
After the toxic substance is pulled into the plant, the metals can be removed.
“You can do a number of things with the plants after harvesting,” she said. “For example, you can burn them at relatively low temperatures and harvest the metals from the plants.”
Phytomining is a win-win situation because the cost is low, and the recovered metals are valuable, Hockensmith said.
Hockensmith is conducting further research into which plants are the most productive in a special greenhouse at EMRTC.

Chemist Drawing Metals From Soils Using Native Plants

Missing Man Found In Old Abandoned Mine

By John Larson

SOCORRO – The body of a Magdalena man was recovered Friday night from an 65 foot mine shaft after being missing for over a month.
David Heiss, 53, was last seen July 22 by Deputy Marshal Ed Sweeney following a report of Heiss threatening two men with a firearm at his campsite above Patterson Canyon.
Magdalena Marshal Larry Cearley’s police report stated that on Wednesday, Aug. 26, Nester Martinez told him he found a makeshift cover built over the abandoned Mask Mine, and also spotted Heiss’ pickup high centered in an arroyo near the mine. Martinez said he went to the mine and found personal items including a rifle owned by Heiss.
Heiss had renamed the mine the “Iron Mask Mine.”
The report said that Cearley investigated Martinez’ statements, arriving at the mine, a quarter-mile from the dead end road at Patterson Canyon, at about 3:30 p.m.
Cearley found Heiss’ orange pickup truck stuck in an arroyo next to a tree, and noticed spider webs around the tires, indicating the truck had been there some time.
The pickup’s door was also open.
The report said that there was a campsite at the mine, which was a vertical shaft covered by several wooden planks making a frame. A bedroll was on the frame. Food was thrown about the area from animals.
Cearley saw a single rope attached to a log and the frame that stretched across the opening of the mine. The rope had been used by Heiss to lower himself down into the mine.
Cearley took a mirror and looked into the bottom of the vertical shaft, about 85 feet down.
He noticed the east wall of the shaft had fallen in, and with the mirror a white object was seen “which could have been Heiss.”
The east wall of the shaft had fallen into the shaft and the rope was stuck.
Cearley left the area and returned at about 6 p.m. with New Mexico State Police officer Steve Carter, who attempted to pull on the rope, which broke under the large rock that had fallen into the shaft.
The rope was pulled out and left on the outside of the shaft.
Before investigating the scene further, Cearley went back to town and checked Heiss’ residence at 1302 First St. in Magdalena. They found the doors padlocked from the outside and no sign of Heiss.
Heiss’ mother, Lucy Pino, said she had not seen her son for about a month, and that she was worried.
Carter then contacted Captain Randy Trujillo for a search and rescue mission.
Rescue and recovery personnel from several agencies, including the State Police dive team, and other personnel from as far away as Carlsbad and Questa.
New Mexico State Mine Inspector Terence Foreback and his staff also assisted with the recovery of Heiss. Foreback, whose office is under the auspices of New Mexico Tech, received a call August 27 from Cearley, requesting assistance.
“At that point we contacted the Bureau of Mine Safety at New Mexico Tech to begin a coordinated search of the shaft,” Cearley said. “We need to recognize those people. They really know what they’re doing.”
A press release from New Mexico Tech said that Foreback first contacted Robert Eveleth, senior mining engineer with the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources at New Mexico Tech to obtain the history of the mine to ascertain what conditions could be expected.
Then, Foreback assembled experts for the purpose of examining the old shaft at the Iron Mask Mine to determine if Mr. Heiss had suffered an accident. Mine rescue personnel from several organizations were contacted for assistance: Chevron Mining Inc.’s Questa Mine, Carlsbad Waste Isolation Pilot Project, AML personnel from the New Mexico Mining and Minerals Division AML Bureau in Santa Fe and search and rescue personnel from the National Park Service. These groups converged at the site Thursday, Aug. 27, and made preparations to begin exploring the mine shaft the following morning.
“The University of New Mexico owns a pickup truck with a hoist and cage that Dr. Scott Altenbach, bat biologist, uses to enter abandoned mine shafts for the purpose of internal mine bat surveys,” Foreback said. “Dr. Altenbach agreed to offer use of this truck for the search and possible recovery effort.”
Associate State Mine Inspector Chris Hefner was on site at 6 a.m. Friday, Aug. 28, to oversee the safety of the search and recovery operation.
“We lowered a National Park Service Search and Rescue member down into the mine in the basket of Dr. Altenbach’s hoist. He found the body about 65 feet down floating in water,” Hefner said. “A haz-mat team had to be called in, because of the biological hazard and gasses that may have been present at the bottom of the mine, and we contacted the State Police dive team.”
The dive team arrived on site Friday and recovered Mr. Heiss late in the afternoon.
“This was a very successful operation” said Hefner. “The cooperation between state and federal agencies, state and local law enforcement and private industry was remarkable. We hope to never have a rescue situation in the future, but we will be much better prepared if we do.”
The Iron Mask Mine was last operated in the 1930’s as a silver and copper operation and is on patented claims. The Iron Mask Mine is one of what could be hundreds of old mines in the Magdalena Mountains that haven’t been sealed off after they were abandoned.
Five weeks earlier was apparently the last time anyone had seen Heiss, Cearley said.
His report said that Addy Allen and Gary Edder had called him to report a fire burning in Patterson Canyon on July 22. The two men went ahead up to the area and found Heiss, who was irate. They said he ran them off and threatened them with a firearm.
Cearley and Deputy Marshal Ed Sweeney, along with Seventh District Attorney investigators R.D. Hayes and Levi Lovato, met Heiss in his parked pickup truck next to the mine shaft. Heiss told them he was planning on staking a claim on the mine, and showed Cearley a knotted rope he had fashioned to lower himself into the mine from a head-frame he built over the shaft. Heiss also had a bedroll over the mine shaft where he slept.
According to Socorro County Clerk Rebecca Vega, Heiss had filed a lode claim in 1989, but apparently for a manganese mine. Vega had no record of a claim for Heiss’ Iron Mask Mine.
After two days of preparation, Heiss’ body was recovered Friday afternoon.
Cearley said people must be careful when running across open mines.
“I can’t emphasize this too much. Mines are dangerous. Stay away from them,” he said. “The reason these mines are closed because there’s nothing in them, except a level of water at the bottom.”
Cearley said there are at least 100 open mines in the Magdalena Mountains.
“Even on the north side of town,” he said.
A memorial service for Heiss is scheduled for 11 a.m. this Saturday, Sept. 5, at Montosa Campground on Highway 60, west of Magdalena.

Missing Man Found In Old Abandoned Mine

Small Quakes Shake Valley

By John Larson

SOCORRO – The ground has been rumbling under the Socorro area in recent weeks.
The second local earthquake of greater than 2.0 magnitude in the last two weeks was felt last Sunday in the Lemitar area.
The epicenter of the quake was about seven miles northeast of Socorro and 3.1 miles below the surface. In the last 10 days of August, a swarm of micro-earthquakes occurred, keeping the seismologists busy, but not noticeable to residents.
The first quake to shake up Socorro this month was August 19. According to measurements taken by instruments operated by the New Mexico Tech Geophysics Program and U.S. Geological Survey, the 2.6 magnitude quake occurred at 7:57 p.m.
It was centered about three miles northeast of Socorro. Many residents also heard the quake rumble. As of early Tuesday, New Mexico Tech seismic technician Jana Stankova-Pursley had identified hundreds of small earthquakes, most much too small to be felt, in the area associated with the recent activity.
The chairman of the Earth and Environmental Science Department, Dr. Rick Aster, told the Mountain Mail that the epicenter was only about four miles below the surface.
“That’s why it was felt so strongly in the immediate Socorro area even though it was a tiny earthquake,” Aster said. “It also created a loud boom that was heard throughout the area.”
Within two hours following the event, two aftershocks smaller than magnitude 1.0 had occurred, Stankova-Pursley said.
The recent earthquakes appear to be similar to hundreds of such quakes that have been documented in the area during the past several decades, Aster said.
The quakes, just east of the Rio Grande, are linked to a thin lens of molten rock – known as the Socorro Magma Body – situated 12 miles under the surface in the Belen-Socorro area.
Aster said the pancake shaped “blister” is slowly inflating and stressing the rocks above it, causing the ground above it to rise one to two millimeters a year.
“This inflation, and rising, probably in association with shallow heated water, causes shallow earthquakes, generally in the 1.0 or 2.0 magnitude range,” he said.
Records at New Mexico Tech show that the Socorro region averages six earthquakes a year with a magnitude of 2.0.
The strongest recorded earthquake was recorded in 1906, and measured near 6.0 in magnitude.
“This is the most seismically active area in New Mexico,” Aster said. “And the Socorro magma body is the most studied geologic feature of its kind in the world.”

Small Quakes Shake Valley

Obituary

Lester Garland Davidson
July 5, 1918 – Aug. 28, 2009

Lester Garland Davidson, 91, who was born in a dugout home in Plain, N.M., in Quay County, on July 5, 1918, and came to Albuquerque through Tijeras Canyon in a covered wagon in 1928, passed away Friday, August 28, 2009, at his home in Bosque Farms. He was preceded in death by his wife, Mary June Wright Davidson.
Davidson lived in Socorro County (Bosque and Veguita) for many years following his retirement in the 1980s in Albuquerque.
Davidson was the son of John C. Davidson and Elizabeth Rector Davidson, who came to Quay County and Plain from Bowling Green, Ky., to homestead in 1907.
A World War II veteran, Davidson was an Army infantryman in the Pacific theater, and was part of an invasion force into Japan until the use of the atomic bomb ended the conflict. He was one of four brothers in the war. The others, all of Albuquerque and still living, are Clint Davidson, 94, and younger brothers James (Jay) 87, and Dave, 82. Lester is also survived by a sister, Jean Seck of California. Two sisters, Daisy Givens of Albuquerque, and Lena Neuman of Tucumcari preceded him in death.
He is also survived by four children – daughters Lesta Davidson Moffett of Bosque Farms, Leslie Anne Gabaldon of Albuquerque, and Elaine Hurd of Haskell, Okla., and son, Lester Davidson Jr., of Bosque, N.M. He left nine grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren.
Davidson will be laid to rest at the Santa Fe National Cemetery next to his wife.
He attended Forrest Grade School, Quay County, before coming to Albuquerque where he attended Monte Vista Grade School, Lincoln Junior High and Albuquerque High. He worked at Kinsella Glass for more than three decades, and served as shop foreman for most of that time.
As a young man, Lester played semi-pro baseball in Albuquerque’s top league, along with his brothers and father, who often made up most of the infield, including the pitcher. In the late 1930s an American Legion team he played for, Coca Cola Bottling, represented New Mexico in a national tournament in Wichita. He also bowled in Albuquerque’s highest leagues.
He will be remembered for many things, including his strong work ethnic and love of family.
There will be a celebration of his life at the home he shared with his daughter Lesta and her husband in Bosque Farms, 900 Green Acres Lane, at 11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 4. All are invited to attend the celebration and share memories.

Obituary

NRAO Discovery Explains Gravitational Phenomenon

By Dave Finley, NRAO

Scientists using a continent-wide array of radio telescopes have made an extremely precise measurement of the curvature of space caused by the Sun’s gravity, and their technique promises a major contribution to a frontier area of basic physics.
“Measuring the curvature of space caused by gravity is one of the most sensitive ways to learn how Einstein’s theory of General Relativity relates to quantum physics. Uniting gravity theory with quantum theory is a major goal of 21st-Century physics, and these astronomical measurements are a key to understanding the relationship between the two,” said Sergei Kopeikin of the University of Missouri.
Kopeikin and his colleagues used the National Science Foundation’s Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) radio-telescope system to measure the bending of light caused by the Sun’s gravity to within one part in 30,000.
With further observations, the scientists say their precision technique can make the most accurate measure ever of this phenomenon.
“With more observations like ours, in addition to complementary measurements such as those made with NASA‘s Cassini spacecraft, we can improve the accuracy of this measurement by at least a factor of four, to provide the best measurement ever of gamma,” said Edward Fomalont of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory NRAO.
Kopeikin and Fomalont worked with John Benson of the NRAO and Gabor Lanyl of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. They reported their findings in the July 10 issue of the Astrophysical Journal.
“Since gamma is a fundamental parameter of gravitational theories, its measurement using different observational methods is crucial to obtain a value that is supported by the physics community,” Fomalont added.
Bending of starlight by gravity was predicted by Albert Einstein when he published his Theory of General Relativity in 1916. According to relativity theory, the strong gravity of a massive object such as the Sun produces curvature in the nearby space, which alters the path of light or radio waves passing near the object. The phenomenon was first observed during a solar eclipse in 1919.
Though numerous measurements of the effect have been made over the intervening 90 years, the problem of merging General Relativity and quantum theory has required ever-more-accurate observations. Physicists describe the space curvature and gravitational light-bending as a parameter called “gamma.” Einstein’s theory holds that gamma should equal exactly 1.0.
“Even a value that differs by one part in a million from 1.0 would have major ramifications for the goal of uniting gravity theory and quantum theory, and thus in predicting the phenomena in high-gravity regions near black holes,” Kopeikin said.
To make extremely precise measurements, the scientists turned to the VLBA, a continent-wide system of radio telescopes ranging from Hawaii to the Virgin Islands. The VLBA offers the power to make the most accurate position measurements in the sky and the most detailed images of any astronomical instrument available.
The researchers made their observations as the Sun passed nearly in front of four distant quasars – faraway galaxies with supermassive black holes at their cores – in October 2005. The Sun’s gravity caused slight changes in the apparent positions of the quasars because it deflected the radio waves coming from the more-distant objects.
The result was a measured value of gamma of 0.9998 +/- 0.0003, in excellent agreement with Einstein’s prediction of 1.0.
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

NRAO Discovery Explains Gravitational Phenomenon

San Antonio Home Listed On State Historic Register

By John Larson
SAN ANTONIO – A Victorian-style adobe house in San Antonio is now on the State Register for historic buildings.
The house, at 1776 Main Street, was built by Constancio Meira in 1907, and is now undergoing renovations by current owners Robert and Denise Selina.
Selina said the project will take from 18 to 24 months to complete.
“As for our plans, over the next 18 months or so we are trying to renovate the exterior of the house and outbuildings,” he said.
The Selina’s renovations will include new architectural shingle roof on the main residence, restoration of windows, repairing wood and trim molding along the eaves and gables, restoration of the chimneys, stucco repair, and other renovations.
“We’re currently working on some of the landscaping work and the chimneys. We’ll get the electrical work done next, followed by the new roof for the main residence,” Robert Selina said.
The state is recognizing the structure as having historical merit. A press release said that Constancio Miera was a mover and shaker in San Antonio in 1906 when the Carthage coal fields re-opened and gave the community its second boon. 
The following year, Miera built his family a large Territorial Victorian home out of adobe and today it is one of the few remaining buildings from San Antonio’s heyday.
In 1880, San Antonio de Senecu, which was originally settled in 1660, was the largest city in New Mexico south of Albuquerque. The Santa Fe Railroad built a line to the coal fields in 1881, which greatly accelerated the town’s growth. The fields closed 10 years later, but re-opened in 1907 and operated until 1951.
During the early part of the twentieth century, Miera built several buildings, some of which still stand including his first home, also listed in the State Register.
He built the modern day San Antonio Catholic Church and the now-closed Crystal Palace, whose historic “Hilton Bar” also is listed and in service to patrons at the Owl Bar and Café, a destination for locals and travelers and the watering hole for scientists and personnel who prepared the Trinity Site for detonation of the world’s first atomic bomb.
Miera lived in the home until his death in 1951 and a daughter continued to reside there until 1983. San Antonio peaked shortly after construction of the family’s second home. Floods in 1929 and 1937 destroyed many of the town’s buildings and quite a few of those that remained were scavenged for materials as the town sank from its period of prosperity.  The Miera House is significant as one of the few remaining buildings from the era.
“The newest listings in the State Register focus on turn-of-the-century New Mexico shortly before it achieved statehood and up into the 1960s. They illustrate how preservation can help provide an important link from a community’s past to its present,” said Jan Biella, who began serving as interim State Historic Preservation Officer for the New Mexico Historic Preservation Division in August.
The Selinas will preserve the home using state income tax credits for rehabilitating historic properties. Their tax credit project was approved by the Cultural Properties Review Committee of the Historic Preservation Division of the Dept. of Cultural Affairs. 
Persons owning listed properties in New Mexico are eligible to receive credits on their state income taxes over a five-year period for up to 50 percent of rehabilitation costs or a limit of $25,000 per project. 

San Antonio Home Listed On State Historic Register