Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument

P.O. Box 517
Mountainair, New Mexico 87036

Phone
Telephone
(505) 847-2585

Once, thriving American Indian trade communities of Tiwa and Tompiro speaking Puebloans inhabited this remote area of central New Mexico. Early in the 17th-century Spanish Franciscans visited the area and found it ripe for their missionary efforts. However by 1677 the entire Salinas District, was depopulated of both Indian and Spaniard alike.

Directions:

The Mountainair headquarters can be reached by taking I-25 south from Albuquerque to Belen, then NM 47 diagonally to US 60, then east 21 miles to Mountainair. To travel the historic highway route from the north, take I-40 east from Albuquerque to NM 337, drive south 54 miles to Mountainair. Information on the Quarai, Abó, and Gran Quivira ruins, as well as the surrounding area, are provided by National Park Service rangers at all three ruins and park headquarters.

Abó: Ruins are 9 miles west on US 60 and one-half mile north on NM 513. Telephone: (505) 847-2400.

Gran Quivira: Ruins are 26 miles south on NM 55. Telephone: (505) 847-2770.

Quarai: Ruins are 8 miles north on NM 55 and 1 mile west. Telephone: (505) 847-2290.

Cultural Resources

What remains today are austere yet beautiful reminders of the early contact between Pueblo Indians and Spanish Colonials. The ruins of four mission churches, at Quarai, Abó, and Gran Quivira and the partially excavated pueblo of Las Humanas or, as it is known today, Gran Quivira. Established in 1980 through the combination of two New Mexico State Monuments and the former Gran Quivira National Monument, the present Monument comprises a total of 1,100 acres.

Natural Resources

Salinas Pueblo Missions was set aside because of the importance of the cultural resources, however, there is a major connecting link to the natural resources. The link is the importance of man's adjustment to a marginal land and the man-land relationship during the past 1,000+ years of occupation.

Things To Do

Walking the interpretive trail through the missions and pueblos, sight seeing at the three historic sites, visit the museums, picnicking, bird watching and wildflower identification.

Take a moment to explore the Teaching with Historic Places lesson plan and supporting material created to help tell the story of the park.

Nature

Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, located in central New Mexico comprises 3 units: Abó, Quarai, and Gran Quivira with elevations ranging from 6100 to 6600 above sea level. Vegetation is predominantly pinyon-juniper woodlands and associated shrubland, including cacti. Good riparian conditions exist at Abó and Quarai.

Salinas Pueblo Missions is positioned within the Estancia Basin, east of the Manzano Mountains. In Pleistocene time the Estancia Basin held a lake. Surrounding the margins of the valley beaches, bars, and spits are distinguishable. Eventually the lake dried up and the American Indians associated with the pueblos of Salinas cultivated staple foods such as corn, beans, and squash, on the fine loamy lake deposits.

Salinas Pueblo Missions was set aside because of the importance of the cultural resources however, there is a major connecting link to the natural resources. The link is the importance of man’s adjustment to a marginal land and the man-land relationship during the past 1,000+ years of occupation.

Salinas Pueblo Missions is situated in the foothills of the Manzano Mountains. The word Manzano is derived from the word "manzanas" which is Spanish for apples. It is said that the small Hispanic village and the surrounding mountains take their name for the ancient orchards here. The orchards were believed to have been planted by the Franciscan priests in the early 17^th century, however, the trees have been dated no earlier than the 1800s.

Elevations in the Manzano Mountain range form 6,000 feet in the foothills to 10,098 feet on Manzano Peak. Vegetation consists of pinyon-juniper woodlands in the lower elevations to mixed conifer forests in the high country. The terrain, cut with canyons and rocky outcrops, is fairly steep and rugged.

The approximately 112,000 acres, comprising the Manzano Mountains are administered by the Mountainair Ranger District of the Cibola National Forest. The Manzanos are a long, narrow range trending north and south. 

The area slopes gently up from the Estancia Valley in the east to about 8,000 feet elevation and then rises abruptly to the ridgeline. The west face drops sharply into the uplands of the Rio Grande Valley.

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