| Two
Ponyz Ranch sits on land that holds an
important place in New Mexico’s
history. The Abo ruins, just a short trail
ride from Two Ponyz, were once a Tompiro
Indian village identified by Don Juan
de Oñate in 1598. Pronounced Abó
(probably meaning “water bowl”),
the pueblo was beneficially positioned
on a major east-west trade route through
Abo Pass, a shallow gap that divides the
Manzano and Los Pinos Mountains. A well-worn
footpath that was part of a larger trade
route system between 1300 and 1600, the
Abo Pass is now a scenic byway that begins
east of Belen, follows NM 47 southeast
to US 60, and links El Camino Real National
Scenic Byway and the Salt Missions Trail
Scenic Byway. The Mission of San Gregorio
was founded next to the Abo pueblo in
1629 and a large church and convent were
constructed. The church’s enormous
walls have mostly survived, even though
the pueblo and mission were abandoned
(like neighboring Gran Quivira and Quarai)
because of relentless Apache raids before
the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. The Abo ruins
are now part of the Salinas Pueblo Missions
National Monument.
Abo Pass also has a significant
place in Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe
Railway history. In fact, in 1900 when
the AT&SF RR proposed a route through
Abo Pass, Kansas newspaper man John W.
Corbett and his friend Col. E.C. Manning
came to a site at the summit of the pass
and, noting the pleasant summer breezes
from the Manzano Mountains, named the
new community Mountainair. Two Ponyz Ranch
and Abo ruins are a convenient distance
from the center of Mountainair.
(Sources: the following
websites and Robert Julyan’s The
Place Names of New Mexico, University
of New Mexico Press, 1998.) |
