Lost Oasis in the Organ Mountains

TUCKED INTO THE rugged folds of the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces, crumbling stone walls mark the ghostly remnants of the Van Patten Mountain Camp—once an oasis where visitors escaped the desert heat and sought mountain air for their health. Founded by Eugene Van Patten, a former Confederate soldier, the camp began as a humble homestead in 1892 and evolved into an eight-room resort hotel, also known as the Dripping Springs Resort, by 1895. Within a decade, it expanded to 32 rooms and boasted a grand dining hall that hosted weddings, dances, and lively gatherings. “It was a remote retreat, far from the heat of the city, and offered respite to the who’s who of the era,” says Doña Ana County document technician Bernardine Caporale. “I am certain deals were sealed here and novel ideas were discussed.” In the early 1900s, Van Patten’s fortunes waned amid a long legal battle over water rights and land titles with neighboring resort and sanatorium owner Dr. Nathan Boyd. By 1917, Van Patten ceded the camp to Boyd, who sold the property in 1922. Decades later, the land was preserved as part of the Dripping Springs Natural Area, where hikers can still wander the haunting ruins of this once-luxurious mountain refuge.