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Some history of Datil, Catron County, New Mexico
Datil became a community in 1884 as a stop on the wagon road between
Magdalena and Quemado. The Beefsteak Trail, a livestock route,
forked here, one road continuing on west to Quemado and the other branching
southwest to Old Horse Springs. Thousands of cattle and sheep were driven
from Springerville, Arizona, through Datil to the stockyards in Magdalena
from the 1880's to the 1950's.
Datil is in Catron County about 34 miles west of Magdalena. Originally
the stage stop here was called Baldwins until 1886 when the
Post Office Department renamed it "Datil" for the nearby Datil
Mountains. The U. S. Army built "Camp Datil on Datil Creek, north of
the Trail, in 1884, to protect settlers from Apache raids. The Camp
was abandoned two years later.