More about Graham, New Mexico

Graham, also called Whitewater, situated at the mouth of Whitewater Canyon, at one time housed about two hundred people and was a mill town. Gold and silver deposits discovered about 1889 in the mountains above the canyon produced the development of several mines. Because Whtewater Canyon is so narrow, it was impossible for a mill to be built at the mines--so the canyon mouth was selected as the mill site.

John T. Graham constructed the mill in 1893 and the young town was named for him. Although water ran plentifully in the upper reaches of Whitewater Creek, it was often dry at the mill site. Supplying water to meet the demands of the mill's steam generator and those of the towspeople was solved with the construction of a four-inch water pipe starting up in the mountains and terminating three miles down the canyon at Graham. Built at the same time as the mill, the small pipe was packed in sawdust and encased in wood to prevent freezing.

By 1897, with the installation of a larger generator, an eighteen-inch pipe was built parallel to the smaller pipeline to answer the increasing needs for water. Building the two water lines was an engineering feat. Holes had to be drilled into the hard rock walls to brace the support for the pipes. The men who walked the eighteen-inch pipe to repair it called it the "catwalk". The mill never proved to be as successful as was hoped and when it closed in 1913 and again for good in 1923, Graham was abandoned.

Graham and Whitewater Canyon had a few dubious claims to fame. The town blacksmith was William Antrim, whose wife's son was the infamous Billy, the Kid. The seclusion of Whitewater Canyon served as a sanctuary for Geronimo's and Nana's Apaches, and later for Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch.

Nothing is left of Graham today except a few foundation ruins of the mill. Whitewater campground now stands at the mouth of the canyon, and the water lines, long since torn down, have been replaced today by a metal catwalk built by members of a CCC camp located here in the 1930's. Visitors can enjoy walking up the catwalk as it weaves up the canyon, following the same course as once did the old pipes.