Midway Bar and Grocery at Rowe, New Mexico in 1955

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This aerial photograph is of the Midway Bar and Grocery which used to be on the south side of Rowe. The building is still there anyone can still recognize it. Back in 1955 they sold Gulf gas. Have not seen Gulf in many years. Later on it sold Texaco gas and kerosene for lamps and to start fires in local stoves.

You could also buy a few groceries and liquor there. There was a bar, no seats, just a bar there. And a jukebox in the corner. and a Three Feathers clock above the fridge.

Folks coming off of the Rowe Mesa with wood would stop by for a snack and a beer. That was before all of the DUI stuff and also before the heavy fast truck traffic. Folks traveling between Santa Fe and Las Vegas could not help but see the place. That is US 85 in front. This was before Interstate 25 came int being in the 60's.

See those houses on the upper left? I lived in the smallest one of the three.  My aunt lived next door and my maternal grandparents lived in the one inbetween us and the Midway.

I will update this particular post as I get time. If you recognize it, let me know.

Rowe, New Mexico Railroad Gang, Circa 1920

Click on the photo to make it larger. This group represents the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) gang stationed at Rowe, New Mexico in the late teens or early part of the 1920's. At least the time is a best guess by me.

Top row 1) Unknown, 2) Magdelano Ortiz, 3) Miguel Salmeron. Bottom row 1) Roman Benavidez, 2) Dick Valdez, 3) Unknown, 4) Jauquin Segura, 5) Esequil Archuleta, 6) Unknown, 7) Pablo Salmeron.

Roman Benavides (bottom, far left) was my maternal grandfather and he was the oldest of the gang here. All others were younger than him. All of these folks were the ones with the best jobs to be had there at the time. The Railroad came to Rowe in the 1880's and these gangs were common into the early 1960's.

Rowe was founded to provide labor for the railroad. Most of these folks or their fathers or grandfathers came from Las Ruedas. Las Ruedas was the community at the Pecos river and part of the Los Trigos Land Grant. Roman Benavidez married Ignacia Archuleta whose father, Juan de Jesus Archuleta, lived in Las Ruedas. Roman came from "El Gusano", now South San Isidro, further on down the Pecos River and part of the San Miguel del Vado Land Grant.

The railroad provided the best jobs in the entire area. It allowed subsistance farmers along the river to transition to wage labor in the early part of the American period.