The Apache Kid Wilderness has a long, rich history, full of lore from the Wild West. Basham noted in his report documenting the archeological history of the Cibola’s Magdalena Ranger District that “he heritage resources on the district are diverse and representative of nearly every prominent human evolutionary event known to anthropology. Evidence for human use of district lands date back 14,000 years to the Paleoindian period providing glimpses into the peopling of the New World and megafaunal extinction.“ Much of the now Magdalena Ranger District were a province of the Apache. Bands of Apache effectively controlled the Magdalena-Datil region from the seventeenth century until they were defeated in the Apache Wars in the late nineteenth century. In fact, the Apache Kid Wilderness is named for a Native American called the Apache Kid. Angered by his relentless raids, in 1906, local ranchers hunted him down into Blue Mountain, killed him and blazed a tree to mark the spot. However, some accounts say that it was actually the famous warrior Massai who died that day. The hacked remains of the tree can still be seen today. While the Apache Kid is perhaps the most famous outlaw of the area, other notorious Apaches like Cochise and Geronimo and outlaw renegades Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch also have ties to the area. The Apache Kid Wilderness includes Vicks Peak, which was named after Victorio, “a Mimbreño Apache leader whose territory included much of the south and southwest New Mexico.” Famous for defying relocation orders in 1879 and leading his warriors “on a two-year reign of terror before he was killed,” Victorio is at least as highly regarded as Geronimo or Cochise among Apaches. Native Americans lingered in the San Mateo well into the 1900s. We know this by an essay written by Aldo Leopold in 1919 where he documents stumbling upon the remains of a recently abandoned Indian hunting camp. A mining rush followed the Apache wars – gold, silver, and copper were found in the San Mateo Mountains. It wasn’t until this time that extensive use of the area by non-Native Americans occurred. While some mining activity, involving gold, silver, and copper, occurred in the southern part of the range near the end of the nineteenth century, the prospecting/mining remnants are barely visible today due to collapse, topographic screening, and vegetation regrowth. While miners combed the mountains for mineral riches during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, stockmen drove tens of thousands of sheep and cattle to stockyards at the village of Magdalena, then linked by rail with Socorro. In fact, the last regularly used cattle trail in the United States stretched 125 miles westward from Magdalena. The route was formally known as the Magdalena Livestock Driveway, but more popularly known to cowboys and cattlemen as the Beefsteak Trail. The trail began use in 1865 and its peak was in 1919. The trail was used continually until trailing gave way to trucking and the trail official closed in 1971.
The Apache Kid Wilderness Area provides phenomenal hiking, camping, backpacking, hunting, horseback-riding, stargazing opportunities. An extensive network of trails is located in the Wilderness Area. Many loop trips can be made, and the area can easily accommodate a 1-week backpack trip. The Wilderness Area is located in the remote and rugged San Mateo Mountains. Far from any population centers, the area will surely offer solitude for those who venture into the backcountry.
