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Hanover New Mexico family history - THANKS to Phyllis in Westminster CO.

Hope this works for you. I scanned my photographs I took several years ago.  The photo which you sent looks to me like it might be the changing house.  The miners would suit up in their coveralls, hard hats and other gear when they arrived for their shifts.  Afterward, they would leave all of their gear behind.  I think they used to have lockers, but I don't think they were official lockers which actually locked - they were more likely just make-shift arrangements for keeping all of the gear separated out.  It seems to me that there might have also been a make-shift shower available for those who wanted to wash up before they went home.

Rocky could not resist putting this one up front..

My rattlesnake!  Back when I was about 12, my Dad gave me a 22 and taught me how to use it.  It used to be my job to drive the pigeons away from the grain bins when the harvest hands were filling up the grain bins after harvest.  Naturally, I brought my 22 with me when we moved to Hanover.  We arrived in Hanover in June of 1967 and my son was born in August of 1967 - so I was sort of huge when we arrived - but I had still been out, target practicing - so the other ladies up on the hill knew that I had a gun.  One day, I received a call from one of the other mothers, who told me that the kids had spotted a rattlesnake in the road leading up to the houses at the top of the hill - and would I please come kill it.  Fortunately, I was still able to hit something that small and had some ammunition left - so there he is - learned the hard way not to mess with a bunch of women interested in keeping their children safe!

  

These are mostly just home photos. Back in those days, the photo albums with sticky pages which you could just use to put the photographs on the page and forget about it were all the rage.  Unfortunately, over the years, the plastic outer cover also stuck to the pages, so it is no longer possible to remove any of the photographs from the books.  On the first page, we have pictures of my two sons, David and Charles, playing in the back yard of our next door neighbors, Hugh and Bonnie Riley and their son, Bruce.  That is me in one of the top pictures, helping the kids get some of the toys operational.  Next pictures on this page are of Charles and David, exploring the site while the men get ready to close the mine down for good.  

                            

Next page are more pictures of David and Charles, exploring the operation as the men close down the operation.  I once knew the names of all of those fellows in the second row - but they escape me now.  Maybe someone else will recognize them.  I remember that our postmistress was Mary Mascarenas and it IS possible that one of the fellows was related to her - but I wouldn't swear to it at this late date.

Some more of the fellows, shutting down the New Jersey Zinc Mining Operation.  Again, I once knew all of these folks - but their names escape me now.

More miners, shutting down the New Jersey Zinc Operation.

My sons, Charles William and David Andrew, in the living room, in front of the fireplace, in the company house where we lived in Hanover.  Below that are pictures of the interior of Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Silver City.  Last picture on this page is of the pastor, Rev. Cliff Henderson, and his wife, Jean, with our two sons, David Andrew and Charles William. The boys are wearing lederhosen when they wore for a Sunday School Christmas pageant about Christmas around the world.

A picture of my husband and me standing with our sons, Charles William and David Andrew, inside Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Silver City.  The rest of the pictures on this page are some of the foundations for New Jersey Zinc Company housing which had been abandoned years before.  

Our sons, Charles William and David Andrew, paying a visit to the Shrine of St. Rita before we packed up our moving van and headed out for parts unknown.  The bottom picture is a pretty good exterior shot of the New Jersey Zinc Company house where we lived from 1967 until the mine closed down.  I believe we paid something like $20 per month for the house, which included all of the utilities.  We were surprised when we arrived there and learned that the ONLY way to have television was to subscribe to cable.  So we called the cable guy up and he told us that it would take cost $1 per month to hook up to cable.  After we agreed, he told us how to make the connection and hook our set up to the cable.  All very laid back.  Wouldn't it be grand if we could still hook up to cable for $1 per month?  

Leaving New Mexico for our next adventure.  We were the last to leave.  All of the buildings were deserted by this time.  We actually felt that we couldn't afford to stay in motels until we arrived at the next job, so we camped out in National Forests for the rest of the trip.   

Close up of Rev. Cliff Henderson and his wife, Jean, inside Church of the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church with our sons, David Andrew and Charles William, following a Sunday School Christmas pageant.  

Close up of the New Jersey Zinc Company house where we lived from 1967 until the mine closed.  House was at the top of the hill.  

Exterior shot of Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Silver City - somewhere between 1967 and 1970.  

Close up of our next door neighbors in Hanover, the Riley Family, with our sons.  This was probably pretty close to the time when the mine closed.  Left to right are Bonnie, holding my youngest son, David.  Then Hugh and their son Bruce.  My son Charles is standing in front of Bonnie.  

Another close-up of the interior of Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Silver City - probably around 1970.  

 

Close up of my son Charles, visiting the shrine of St. Rita.  

Close up of Charles and David, enjoying the fireplace in the living room of the New Jersey Zinc Company house where we lived from 1967 until the mine closed.

Charles and David, visiting the shrine of St. Rita.

This is the view of the New Jersey Zinc mine shaft from the front porch of our company house.  When it rained, the rainbow often seemed to be ending at the mine shaft!  Kind of interesting!

This is about Christmas, 1968.  One of the pictures shows some of the miners, heating up their burritos and tacos for their lunch break, down inside the mine.  Bottom picture was my oldest son, Charles, getting ready to light the Advent candle.  His brother was born in January of 1969 - so his existence was still pretty blissful at that point!   

These folks lived across the street from us.  They were Danny and Latta Desai and their daughter, Sima.  Danny had come from India to study engineering in the United States.  After he had graduated and become established, Danny brought his wife to live in the United States, and took the job with New Jersey Zinc Company.  They had been living in Hanover for a while by the time that we arrived.  Their daughter, Sima, and our son, Charles, were both born about the same time.  So they were good chums.  I believe that both children were delivered by the same doctor - Dr. Leslie T. Hamm, in Silver City.  

More photos of the scenery which we could see from our house. If you look closely, you will notice a friendly donkey, trying to get a closer look at my son, Charles, in the second row of pictures.  There were several donkeys and horses which just sort of wandered around the camp.  Not sure who they owned them - but they were pretty curious.  

A close-up of the Desai family - our neighbors across the street.  I am holding my son Charles, who is getting acquainted with their daughter, Sima.  Latta is holding Sima and Danny is in the background - about 1968.  

 

This was about Easter of 1969 - by this time, Charles's blissful existence had come to an end, and he was still getting used to it all.  Of course, he thought the Easter eggs were balls and couldn't figure out why he couldn't get them to bounce.  One of the friendly horses stopped by and he had a chance to sit on the horse's back.  Bottom picture is an interior shot of the kitchen in our company house.  

 

  

This was Christmas of about 1969.  I thought you might find this interesting because, on Christmas Day, we were all outdoors with no coats on.  The greatest thing about living in Hanover was that the weather was fairly pleasant all year round.  Also, we had gone up into the woods and cut the tree down ourselves.  There is also a good shot of the mine shaft from our front yard.   

 

This was about September of 1968.  This page includes a pretty clear shot of one of the donkeys which roamed free throughout Hanover.  They were always pretty friendly.  This was a vacation trip which we took to Colorado.  In the top picture, I am standing in our front yard and you can see the Riley's house behind me.

 

 

I wasn't sure what other ghost town you were interested in, but I grew up in Stratton, Colorado, and had relatives who lived in Vona and Bethune, so I also have some pictures of that area.  I was born in Mullen, Nebraska and my folks homesteaded around Thedford.  I believe that we had one of the last homesteads granted in Nebraska for that time period.  My Dad grew up in Dodge City and my mother grew up in Scott City.  Below is a picture of me, hitching a ride on my Dad's favorite cow pony - Nitro. Thedford, Nebraska, about 1943.  

 

My sister and I, headed out to round up the cows near Stratton, Colorado - probably about 1949