Daniel B Flores

Cuentos de La Pastura Daniel B Flores

Pastura is a Spanish word meaning pasture, the community being located on rich grasslands in the rolling llanos, plains, of southern Guadalupe County. Pastura owes its existence to the El Paso and & Northeastern railway which came into the area in 1901. Pastura is located on U. S. Highway 54 about nineteen miles southwest of Santa Rosa. It once had several elementary schools located in its vicinity. It also had a post office from 1903-60. Early pioneers in the Pastura area were sheep ranchers or worked for some of the large sheep ranchers in the area. One of the sheep ranchers was the governor of the Territory of New Mexico, Miguel Otero. The entry of the railroad into the area made it easy for the sheep ranchers to transport their sheep and wool. The early railroad was high maintenance and many men from the area worked for the railroad. The economy of Pastura was driven by the sheep industry and the railroad. As the need for workers from the two main methods of employment began to decrease, so did the economy and population of Pastura. Today the Southern Pacific railroad passes through the once thriving village. Pastura was founded in 1901 by employees of the railroad and the Pintada Trading Co., owned by the Charles Ilfeld Co. The company name was later changed to the Pastura Trading Company. Cuentos de la Pastura, tales of Pastura in English, is a collection of vignettes about Pastura and the surrounding area. Most of the vignettes have been culled from old newspaper articles about Pastura and its people. Included in Cuentos are several stories about some of Pastura's military heroes dating back to World War I. The son of a Pastura rancher was killed in a ship board coal dust explosion in WWI. Another sailor from Pastura was killed when his submarine was sunk by Japanese destroyers near the end of WWII. A Pastura soldier made the supreme sacrifice during the Korean War. Many of the vignettes are about the trials and tribulations of some of the early Pastura pioneers. Some of the vignettes are accompanied by photographs which help tell a story.