Casa Grande Trading Post & Turquoise Mining Museum

Cerrillos, New Mexico

http://www.casagrandetradingpost.com/

What do John Wayne, the B-2 Stealth Bomber, and a four-legged deer lamp have to do with the history of turquoise mining? Bob and I were wondering the same thing. At least this museum had a diorama to die for.

The Casa Grande Trading Post & Turquoise Mining Museum is a tourist trap on the "Turquoise Trail," which is a highway off the interstate that connects Albuquerque and Santa Fe. In late May 2007, web took the day to drive along New Mexico Route 14 to see what there was to see.

Cerrillos, New Mexico seemed like a ghost town. The biggest thing going on there was the trading post. There was a petting zoo, with only a few animals: a llama, goats, white doves, and a strange looking chicken. The trading post itself was full of the usual tourist souvenirs and gag gifts. (The cowboy bubble bath was a small bag of beans.)

For three dollars, we were allowed to enter the museum. A large wooden Hopi kachina greeted us with a sign that read, "This museum is self-explanatory. If you have any questions. Ask up front." I looked through the rooms, and saw displays of turquoise and the tools with which to mine it, and photographs of Cerrillos and Santa Fe from long ago. However, I also found a lot of things that didn't seem to belong in a museum about any kind of mining. Basically, if a thing was found in Cerrillos at any time during the town's history, they stuck it in the museum. I couldn't bring myself to ask the man behind the counter what a B-2 Stealth Bomber had to do with turquoise mining.

The only interesting thing in the museum on the subject of turquoise was the diorama of prehistoric mining. I can only conclude that the ancient people of Cerrillos had abnormally huge heads (the original big heads!) and all looked alike.

So, I didn't take a lot of pictures of the artifacts about turquise mining. I was more interested the other things in the museum. If this was an antique store, I would have been in heaven. Sadly, nothing in the museum was for sale.

See all my pictures from Casa Grande

Prehistoric Turquoise Mining - Los Cerrillos, New Mexico

This museum is self-explanatory

B-2 Stealth Bomber

John Wayne?

Four-legged deer lamp