Borrego Pass is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) consisting of two Navajo communities[4] and a trading post in the Navajo lands of McKinley County, in northwestern New Mexico, United States. In Navajo its name is Dibé Yázhí Habitiin,[5] meaning "Upward Path of the Lamb." As of the 2020 census, the population was 117.[3]
Borrego Pass, New Mexico | |
|---|---|
  Borrego Pass  Borrego Pass | |
| Coordinates: 35°34′23″N 108°00′18″W / 35.57306°N 108.00500°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New Mexico |
| County | McKinley |
| Area | |
• Total | 13.23 sq mi (34.3 km2) |
| • Land | 13.23 sq mi (34.3 km2) |
| • Water | 0.00 sq mi (0.0 km2) |
| Elevation | 7,438 ft (2,267 m) |
| Population | |
• Total | 117 |
| • Density | 8.8/sq mi (3.4/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-7 (Mountain (MST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-6 (MDT) |
| ZIP codes | |
| Area code | 505 |
| FIPS code | 35-08493 |
| GNIS feature ID | 886640[2] |
History
editThe community formed around the Borrego Pass Trading Post which was opened in 1927 and was first operated by Ben and Anna Harvey,[6] and then starting in 1935 by Bill and Jean Cousins.[7] It was sold in 1939 to Don and Fern Smouse who operated it for over forty years. The trading post was named after the nearby Borrego Pass[2] an ancient water gap, across the Continental Divide,[8] that cuts into the Dutton Plateau.[9]
Geography
editBorrego Pass is located in east-central McKinley County on Navajo Route 48, 15 miles (24 km) by road southeast of Crownpoint[10] and 16 miles (26 km) north of Prewitt. The town center, including Borrego Pass School, sits at an elevation of 7,369 feet (2,246 m)[11] less than a mile southwest of the pass proper.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Borrego Pass CDP has an area of 13.2 square miles (34.2 km2), all land.[1] The Continental Divide runs through the northern and eastern parts of the CDP, sometimes forming its northeastern border. Most of the community, on the south side of the divide, drains southward toward Casamero Draw and eventually the Rio San Jose, part of the Rio Puerco watershed leading to the Rio Grande and the Gulf of Mexico. The northernmost part of the CDP drains north toward Kim-me-ni-oli Wash, a tributary of the Chaco River, part of the San Juan River watershed leading to the Colorado River and ultimately the Gulf of California.
Education
editThere is a Navajo school at Borrego Pass, the Borrego Pass School (Dibé Yázhí Habitiin Óltaʼ) which was established in the early 1950s.[4] In 1972, it became one of the first contract schools of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (B.I.A.).[citation needed] It is now affiliated with the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE).[12]
It is in Gallup-McKinley County Public Schools.[13] It is zoned to Crownpoint Elementary School, Crownpoint Middle School, and Crownpoint High School.[14]
Notes
edit- ^ a b "2024 U.S. Gazetteer Files: New Mexico". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 18, 2024.
- ^ a b c U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Borrego Pass, New Mexico
- ^ a b "P1. Race – Borrego Pass CDP, New Mexico: 2020 DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171)". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved November 20, 2024.
- ^ a b Iverson, Peter (1983) The Navajo Nation University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico, volume 2, pages 144–145, ISBN 0-8263-0652-7
- ^ Bright, William (2004) Native American placenames of the United States University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma, page 71 ISBN 0-8061-3576-X
- ^ "Trading post listed as 'historic place'" Archived July 13, 2011, at the Wayback Machine KRQE News 25 October 2010
- ^ Cousins, Jean; Cousins, Bill and Engels, Mary Tate (1996) Tales from Wide Ruins: Jean and Bill Cousins, traders Texas Tech University Press, Lubbock, Texas, pages 77–85, ISBN 0-89672-368-2
- ^ Julyan, Robert (1998) "Borrego Pass" The Place Names of New Mexico (revised edition) University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico, page 46, ISBN 0-8263-1689-1
- ^ Lekson, Stephen H. (1999) The Chaco meridian: centers of political power in the ancient Southwest Altamira Press, Walnut Creek, California, page 119, ISBN 0-7619-9180-8
- ^ Eddington, Patrick and Makov, Susan (1995) Trading post guidebook: where to find the trading posts, galleries, auctions, artists, and museums of the Four Corners region Northland Publishing, Flagstaff, Arizona, pages 133-134, ISBN 0-87358-612-3
- ^ "Borrego Pass (populated place)". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Dibe Yazhi Habitiin Olta, Inc (Borrego Pass)". Bureau of Indian Education. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
- ^ "2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: McKinley County, NM" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
- ^ "GMCS Address Lookup". Gallup-McKinley County Schools. Retrieved January 15, 2022. - KML files: High boundaries and locations.