Dripping Springs Natural Area
In the late nineteenth century, Colonel Eugene Van Patten, a former confederate soldier, homesteaded property in the Organ Mountains above Las Cruces, New Mexico. He built a two-story 14-room stone resort, complete with dining room and a concert hall. Originally known as Van Patten’s Mountain Camp, it eventually became Dripping Springs Resort, named for the natural spring flowing down the canyon’s rock face.
For over 40 years, people of the Mesilla Valley visited the resort. They enjoyed the mountain scenery and participated in activities such as picnicking, dancing, and socializing. Sometime around 1906, Van Patten expanded the original building and added several structures to the resort. Ten years later he experienced financial difficulties and sold the resort property to Dr. Nathan Boyd.
Boyd arrived in New Mexico on behalf of investors who wanted to build a dam on the Rio Grande. After failing in this venture, he converted Dripping Springs Resort into Boyd’s Sanatorium to meet the needs of “lungers,” the common term for tubercular patients seeking the New Mexico cure of fresh air, good food and plenty of rest. Boyd eventually sold the property but it continued to operate as a sanatorium into the 1940s.
Discovery of streptomycin as an effective drug therapy along with a better understanding of the disease spelled the end for New Mexico sanatoriums. The buildings at Dripping Springs were abandoned and, despite sporadic attempts at historic preservation, they fell into disrepair, then ruin.
In the 1950s cattle rancher A. B. Cox purchased several adjoining properties in the Dripping Springs area. The Cox family, which had a long history of ranching on the east side of the Organ Mountains, developed the property into a successful cattle ranch. In the late 1980s, in recognition of the historical and natural value of the area around Dripping Springs, the Cox family, the Nature Conservancy, and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) crafted an agreement that led to the creation of Dripping Springs Natural Area under BLM management.
Narrative and contemporary photos by Jo Ingle, New Mexico State University. Historic photos courtesy of New Mexico State University, Archives and Special Collections.
