Abo Canyon

Abo Canyon (elevation 5771 ft), also known as Abo Pass, is a canyon situated between the Manzano Mountains to the north and Los Pinos Mountains to the south. It is located in central New Mexico in the Southwest United States.

From pre-Columbian times, the pass provided the most direct trading route through the mountains between Plains tribes such as the Abó, Gran Quivira, Quarai, and others located in the Estancia Valley to the east, and the Pueblo cultures of the Rio Grande to the west. The route these traders took led past Abo Pueblo, dating from the 14th century, strategically located near a cluster of springs on the eastern slope of the pass. Salt mined from nearby basins was one primary good traded along this trail, along with beans, cotton and buffalo meat. The old footpath is now the Abo Pass Trail Scenic Byway (see External links below). The Spanish arrived in the 16th century, calling the area Las Bocas de Abo. They used this pass as a route between the Rio Grande valley and the three “salt missions” they constructed northeast of the pass, now ruins preserved as part of the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument. Shortly after the United States' acquisition of New Mexico in 1846, US Congress authorized a search for a direct rail line through the nation. In 1853 a small military expedition of approximately 100 men occupied the area surveying the canyon. The Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad began construction in 1868, originating in Topeka, Kansas and expanding to the west through Colorado. The railroad, primarily used to facilitate the trade of buffalo hides and cattle, expanded south over Raton Pass and Glorieta Pass, reaching Santa Fe and Albuquerque in 1880. In the early 20th century, the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad wished to find an alternative route to its existing mainline over Raton and Glorieta Passes, to avoid the gradients of up to 3.5% on these passes. The company surveyed a route through the Abo Canyon, which could be achieved with a gradient of no more than 1.25%. Known as the Belen Cutoff, the route was completed in 1908, connecting to the AT&SF system at Belen, New Mexico and at Amarillo, Texas. The Cutof

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