For several weekends, I have toyed with the thought of visiting the ruins at the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, which is located southeast of Albuquerque down by Mountainair.

Tim at work had told me about them a few years ago, and my dad had mentioned we had probably visited them in the past, but it took reading another history on Spanish Colonial New Mexico for it to finally click: that particular monument was a relative stone’s throw from Albuquerque, and it featured some pretty significant ruins.

After thinking about taking a day trip to see them three weekends ago, I set out on a Saturday morning two weekends ago to check them out- and got waylayed by the color and novelty of Carnuel, a little community east of Albuquerque by Tijeras, and never traveled beyond that hamlet.

Yesterday afternoon, I was at my folks helping them with some computer things, and as 3 PM rolled around and my assistance was complete, I knew I wouldn’t get to make a full excursion out of it, but I thought it was still a good idea to try and photograph some ruins at a site at sundown. It would take me an hour and a half drive to get to them, I knew, and I wouldn’t have much time there, wherever I went- but if I left soon, I would get somewhere by golden hour, and if the site was not in a shadowed valley, I could potentially get some nice photos.

I wrestled within about the idea of going for about 10 minutes, and the call of the road won. I said bye to my folks, made for Tramway, and then on for I-40 east.

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The Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument was established in 1981, when two state monuments were added to the Gran Quivira National Monument that had been created in 1909, and the monument today features not one abandoned pueblo site, but three.

The three sites were part of a vibrant native community that had existed in the valley behind the mountain for centuries, in a location recognized for its readily available salt deposits. When Spaniards entered New Mexico in the early 17th century, a visit to each pueblo brought with it Franciscan priests to settle there, and in time, the erection of a mission- in the pueblos of Abo, Gran Quivira, and Quarai. The role of salt in the area, which the locals harvested and used in trade with other Pueblo and Plains Indians, led the Spanish to call the region the Salinas District.

Today, each site is a collective of ruins, but prominent in each is the remains of a Spanish Colonial Catholic mission, providing us with significant insight into pueblo life at the time- and a clear vision of what these mission churches were actually like.

Drought in the area, coupled with intensive Apache incursions into the region in the later decades of the 1600’s, led these pueblos to dissolve around 1670- 10 years before the pueblos up and down the Rio Grande revolted against Spanish oppression.

The occupants of these villages were Tiwa speakers, which linguistically related them to members of the Isleta, Tigua, and Sandia pueblos, as well as to the Taos and Picuris people in Northern New Mexico.

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The Mission at Quarai

Facade

My race to beat the setting sun brought me to Quarai Ruins, one site of the monument that sits by the small village of Punta de Agua, by about 4:30 PM. Upon arrival, as I walked towards the visitor center, the park ranger met me at its front door, and I asked him how long I had to visit the site. He looked at his watch and tersely told me 15 minutes. He handed me a map, but I knew I didn’t need it, because at this point the lateral light from the falling sun bathed the mission ruins in a strong orange light. I knew I and my camera would, for the moment, concentrate on it.

Mission Interior

I was at the ruins for all of 15 minutes and I explored nothing else at this park except for the crumbled church, but the road trip had been worth it.

Profile, Shadow Side

After the ranger shooed us out of the site so that he could close it, I took a casual ride back to Albuquerque by continuing south on NM-55 to Mountainair, and then west on US 60 to NM-47, catching I-25 north in Belen which would take me on home.

San Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Punta de Agua, NM. Established 1878.

Crescent at dusk.