Mural: Tucumcari

Bob Wills

Tribute to Bob Wills in Roy, New Mexico (Sixgun Siding)

(TDbD) On this day in 1975, Texas swing musician James Robert (Bob) Wills died.
He was born in 1905, near Kosse, Limestone County, Texas. In 1913 his family moved to Hall County, where Wills learned to play the fiddle; in 1915 he played at his first dance.
He played for ranch dances in West Texas for the next fourteen years, and his life and career were greatly influenced by that environment. During that time he brought together two streams of American folk music to produce western swing. Continued

The Dawson Branch

A tribute to "The Polly," in Mosquero, New Mexico. The Polly was a passenger car hitched to the end of coal drags on the Dawson Line. It was a slow way to get to Tucumcari, but people had an odd affection for the old car.

The Dawson Line (or Dawson Branch or Roy Branch or Dawson Railway), was a Southern Pacific Railroad line that went from Tucumcari, New Mexico to the coal mining town of Dawson, New Mexico.
The line was built by the El Paso & Northeastern Railroad System which later became The El Paso & Southwestern Railroad, before being absorbed by the Southern Pacific.
Traffic, being mostly coal trains, was slow-going, and train crews were known to pack their rifles and fishing rods with them for diversion at sidings. As slow as it was, it gave Dawsonites the opportunity to travel anywhere a train went in the United States.
The town of Dawson, its mines, and railroad were abandoned in the early 1950's.

Mountainair Mural

Mosquero Murals: Hanging Out

Cowboy Mural: Mosquero, New Mexico

Mural: Waitress

Mosquero, NM

Mural: Trash Bear

Mosquero, NM

Mural: Some Guys

Mosquero, NM

Fort Bascom Mural

Tucumcari has an impressive number of murals decorating the town. This one does double duty, advertising the Fort Bascom Trading Post, a secondhand store, and informing people about Fort Bascom (1863 - 1870), which was located just a few miles out of town.