FOR Monday, February 6th, 2011 7:00 p.m.

Our speaker will be Matt Barbour, a project director for the Museum of New Mexico Office of Archaeological Studies in Santa Fe.  Matt presentation is entitled: A Truly New Mexican Capitalist Venture: Investigating the New Mexico Central Railway. 

The New Mexico Central Railway, affectionately known to many as the “Bean Line,” was founded as the Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Pacific Railroad in 1900 and was in operation until 1926. Success of the railway was tied to agriculture in the Estancia Basin and to markets in Santa Fe, El Paso and beyond. Recent archaeological investigations in Santa Fe, the northern most stop for the New Mexico Central Railway, have unearthed much of the infrastructure which once serviced the line. Examining these archaeological phenomena provides evidence as to the speculative nature of the enterprise and the lack of capital investment which ultimately led to its demise.

Our meeting place is in the East Torrance Soil and Water Conservation District’s new building located a block north of Hwy 55 on 10th Street.

OUR MEETING PLACE