Organ
“...In the 1930s the mines in the area became inundated with water and were no longer feasible for use and with the onset of the Great Depression, mining operations ceased...”
The initial mining camp of Organ was officially established as a community back in 1883, though there had been mining activity since the late 1840s. The town's greatest population was around eighteen hundred at the turn of the century. At that time, Organ had seven saloons, a Catholic church, a two-teacher schoolhouse, two smelters, two general stores and a tunnel jail that was originally a powder magazine. In the 1930s the mines in the area became inundated with water and were no longer feasible for use and with the onset of the Great Depression, mining operations ceased. However, with the opening of White Sands Missile Range and the testing of the Nuclear Bomb in 1945, Organ began to thrive again as a community providing homes and leisure services to military personnel and government contractors.
Location
14.5 miles NE of Las Cruces
Getting There
Organ is now a modern day community on U.S. Highway 70, with many of its residents presently employed at the White Sands Missile Base. The few remaining landmarks of Old Organ have been engulfed by the present town. As of the 2010 census, its population was 323.
Images Courtesy of John Mulhouse and City of Dust Blog (http://cityofdust.blogspot.com/organ)