Messrs. Birch, Snively and Hicks would not recognize the valley if they
could come back one hundred years later. Gone are the tall pines that
gave the place its name; gone for the greater part of the year are the
streams where they placered for gold; gone are burros that carried their
tools and supplies; gone is the excitement of a rich find and gone, too,
are the hundreds of placer miners who followed them seeking “El Dorado”.
Today there are approximately fifty families and a few lone individuals
living in the camp, many of whom are descendants of “old timers”. They
refuse to admit that they live in a “ghost town.” They think they are
very up-to-date because they use and enjoy modern conveniences. Instead
of smoke rising into the sky there are TV antennas bristling over the
homes. No longer do they buy wood by the burro load and hire Jose Maria
Romero, invariably with a gunny sack over his shoulder, to cut it into
stove lengths. Now they heat and cook with butane or electricity which
comes from Silver City. No longer do they fill lamps and polish chimneys
but light their homes with the flick of a switch. No longer do they draw
water with an old oaken bucket, now just a museum piece, from a well,
but thanks to electric pumps, they have only to turn a tap. If children
but knew what they had missed, how thankful they would be, with no wood
box to keep filled, no bringing in of chips and water for household
needs. No longer do the women bend over a wash tub, scrubbing out grime
and grease on a wash board. It is only a fifteen minute drive to a
laundromat. Cars, trucks, and “jeeps” have taken the places of horses,
mules and burros for transportation needs and pleasures. No more do they
send first-of-the-month orders to the company store and have them
delivered. Now, finding themselves short of margarine, or bread, or
wanting a frozen vegetable, they take the Ford or Chevrolet and drive to
a supermarket. Who plays baseball now or spend an evening around the old
piano singing old familiar songs when one can watch sports events on TV,
or listen to the radio? No longer do the men gather around the
pot-bellied stove in the store or sit on the long benches outside,
settling the affairs of the world. A favorite commentator or the
pictures in Life keep them informed, and with so many smart men in Santa
Fe and Washington, why should they worry? No longer do the workmen
trudge up and over the hills to the mines and return from their shifts
in single file, whistling and singing down the trail to their homes. If
they worried about the meager wages of former days, it was not apparent.
Now they ride in cars and trucks to their work in Silver City, Hurley
and Santa Rita, often “cussing” their employers or the union, depending
on their status in the industrial field. Housewives say the only
convenience they lack is an electric dishwasher—and “who wouldn’t rather
buy than be one?” The most common complaint is insufficient water for
lawns, gardens and those dishwashers. If and when there is town water
Pinos Altos will be truly a suburban Utopia.