Colorado Ghost Town Books/Maps
Rayado NM or Reyado and even Ryado New Mexico Townsite - Ghost town
This town sits on the edge of the Philmont scout Ranch. It is located where the two Santa Fe trails, Mountain and Cimarron, intersect. The name is derived from the Spanish term "streaked". Not sure where that came from. Originally part of the famous Maxwell land grant and an important stop on the Santa Fe Trail.
Kit Carson lived here for awhile in 1849. Stories abound about his adventures with marauding Indians and the stealing of livestock by the Apaches. One version has Kit chasing down the Indians, killing 5, and retrieving his livestock. He also is credited with the capture of a Mr. Fox who apparently was plotting to murder a wealthy traveler. Kit claims the name Rayado comes from the Comanche Indian chief of the same name that lived in the area.
There was also a Federal Garrison located here. A post office was in operation from 1873 to 1911. Some claim this was one of the first permanent settlements in Colfax County. In the early 1920's the land was bought and then donated to the Boy Scouts of America by Waite Phillips.
Photos courtesy of Mike Sinnwell March 2009
A viewer writes - Tuesday April 5th 2011 -- I think this is a picture of my grandfathers brother and his wife-Charles and Lottie (Zastrow) Horning taken in 1915 or 1916 in front of what I think is the house pictured on your website, but taken from a different angle. They lived at Rayado from 1911-1919.The model T looks new and is a 1915 or 1916 Model T.
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Mike, Attached are the obituaries for Charles and Lottie Horning from the Las Cruces News and his WWI Draft Card. The draft card says he was living at Miami, but farming at Rayado. His obituary says they left Rayado in 1919, but hers says they lived in the Las Cruces area since 1922 ? It is possible that they did not actually live at Rayado, just farmed there, and their home was at Miami? My grandfather was Arthur Bradshaw Of Hotchkiss, Colorado mentioned in the first notice. Charles had moved to Custer County, Colorado in 1883 from Phelps County, Missouri, before moving to Colfax County in 1911.
Charles Henry Horning came to Custer County, Colorado in 1883 from Phelps Co., Missouri with his grandparents Joseph and Maria (Johnson) Keeler , brother Joseph Harrison and sister Insette May and settled at Mckensie Junction where Joseph & Maria Keeler and David Bradshaw Sr. are buried. Charles's mother Clara Cowden had married Joseph Harrison Horning Sr. 07 Jan 1869 at Pleasant Hill, Missouri who died 1879 at Joplin, Missouri, she then married David Elbert Bradshaw 20 Jun 1880 in Crawford Co., Missouri. They moved to Miller County, Missouri where sons David & Arthur Bradshaw were born and moved to Custer County in 1888. His mother Clara is buried at Union Highland Cemetery near her infant son Bryce and son David and his wife Edith (Downey), his sister May Ives and her husband John, but they are in a different section of the cemetery.
Charles Horning married Lottie Larain Zastrow, daughter of Paul and Hattie
(Porter) Zastrow Nov 22 1903 at Greenwood in Custer County and they moved to
Rayado, or Miami, Colfax Co., New Mexico in 1911. They then moved to the Las
Cruces area of, Dona Ana Co., New Mexico in 1919. Charles died at Mesilla Park
in 1951, Lottie died 1969 at Las Cruces and both were buried at the Masonic
Cemetery in Las Cruces as were Lotties parents Paul and Hattie (Porter) Zastrow.
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