Photos by George Plant
Mimbres Cultural Heritage Site 101516
Mimbres Cultural Heritage Site 101516
From left, Harold Markel, portraying J.D. Ross, and Cary Hartman playing the witness to the murder, loading hay. In far right background is Michael Barragree playing the shooter Benjamin Gooch.
Mimbres Cultural Heritage Site 101516
J.D. Ross, lessee of Gooch's land sees Gooch, has a conversation with him, which turns into an argument.
Mimbres Cultural Heritage Site 101516
Gooch shoots J.D. Ross at close range and runs off.
Mimbres Cultural Heritage Site 101516
Marilyn Markel, education coordinator of the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site provides a detailed narrative of the history of the property.
Mimbres Cultural Heritage Site 101516
This new display at the Mattocks Ruin Museum is of replicas of pottery excavated on site.
Mimbres Cultural Heritage Site 101516
This new model of the nearly 200 room settlement at Mattocks Ruin was made by Bill Hudson, retired art teacher.
Mimbres Cultural Heritage Site 101516
The original settlement of those who built on the Mattocks Ruin site was on the hill in the center background, on the east side of the Mimbres River.
Mimbres Cultural Heritage Site 101516
In the afternoon of October 15, 2016 Marilyn Markel led a group of visitors along the pathways of the Mattocks Ruin.
The Mimbres Heritage Site, also known as the Mattocks Ruin for the family who later inhabited the site where Mimbre+
The event started off with a bang, quite literally, when three actors, portraying J.D. Ross loading hay, shooter Benjamin Gooch, who murdered Ross, and a witness to the murder after a conversation between the two turned into an argument. Although identified, Gooch quickly left the area and remained on the lam for decades.
Also part of the festivities were a talk on the history of the ruin, including more recent history, tours of the museum, where replicas of ancient pottery found on the site are re-created with realistic gourds by Pierre Nichols, a scale model of the site by Bill Hudson, and walks along the pathway through the ruins, led by Marilyn Markel,the site's educational coordinator and members of the Grant County Archaeological Society.
The event was sponsored by the Grant County Archaeological Society and the Imogen F. Wilson Education Foundation.