Silver City and Grant County

New Mexico Business Journal, Feb, 1998 by Stephen Siegfried

Ancient cultures once prospered in the fertile river valleys of this area. Now retirees and tourists are flocking here, drawn by the superb climate and natural beauty.

In recent years, property values in and around Silver City have skyrocketed during a housing boom perhaps like none since the 1870 silver strike that gave the town its name. It's officially a "town," by the way, and not a "city," despite its name.

Since the beginning of the decade, new custom-built homes and subdivisions have sprung up in a three-mile area that borders the town. And plans are in the works for multi-phase developments, that, if built, would double the size of the community. The surge in growth, town and county officials say, has them aggressively planning for the future. Sewer and water projects are in the works, and the town is looking for ways to improve traffic flow, which only recently has become a problem.

"It's obvious we've been discovered," said Mayor John Paul Jones, who answers to "J.P." and who grew up in what was once a quiet mining and ranching community. The town recently completed a comprehensive plan "that lays out what we want our community to be in the next 20 years," Jones said, adding that Silver City, because of extensive national publicity that has fueled its growth, is challenged to be "proactive rather than reactive." Incorporated in the study is a 40-year water plan and a traffic pattern survey with projections until the year 2025. In addition, Jones said, an annexation task force has been formed to address growth-related issues while reviewing zoning and subdivision ordinances.

"At the risk of sounding biased, and I guess I am, I have to say Silver City is one of the finest communities in the country to live in."

Others seem to agree.

Silver City is listed in Norman Crampton's book, The 100 Best Small Towns in America and was recently touted in a segment of the Oprah Winfrey Show. Last year, it was the subject of a Los Angeles Times feature story about the most desirable retirement communities for baby-boomers, claiming developments in the area will "cater to the aging Sierra Club crowd" where the emphasis is "on hiking trails and nature instead of golf carts and water aerobics." (For those less inclined to spend their retirement off in the high-lonesome, Silver City does have an 18-golf course, and water aerobics classes are available through the continuing education program at Western New Mexico University.)

"We've found that many who relocate here come for an event or on vacation," said Linda Miller, executive director of the Silver City/Grant County Chamber of Commerce. "They like what they see. They come back to retire."

With a community of quaint Victorian homes, a downtown area that is testimony to one of New Mexico's most successful MainStreet Projects, a modern hospital, a state university, commercial air service and outdoor recreational opportunities galore, Silver City would seem to be precisely what retirees are looking for.

The area's main attraction is the 3.5 million-acre Gila National Forest, which encompasses the Gila and Aldo Leopold wilderness areas. The Gila was the nation's first officially designated wilderness, with 800 miles of hiking trails, archaeological and historic sites, fishing, hunting and a natural diversity that spans five life zones.

On opposite walls in the foyer of the Grant County Courthouse are two murals painted in the 1930s by a WPA artist. One depicts an open-pit copper mine. The other is a scene from a working cattle ranch.

Ranching and mining are still mainstays of the Grant County economy, Phelps Dodge Corporation's Chino Mines Go. and its Tyrone Branch combined to contribute more than $297 million in personal, business and local government income to the county in 1996. An additional $243 million in economic benefits from the two properties was parceled out to other parts of the state, with the greatest impact felt in Bernalillo, Santa Fe and Dona Ana counties. Of that sum, much was spent on goods and services with firms in the Albuquerque metropolitan area, according to a Phelps Dodge financial statement.

The county's largest employer, Phelps Dodge paid more that $69 million in salaries to Chino and Tyrone workers in 1996. The two properties produced a combined 268,000 tons, or 496.4 million pounds of copper during that period.

Cobre Mining Co. Inc., the county's other copper producer, recently won the New Mexico Association of Commerce and Industry VIVA award. The award is given to companies that demonstrate vision, investment in the community, vitality of growth, and action "in making New Mexico a better place to live." Entrepreneurs Jeff Ward and Rich McNeely began resurrecting the Continental Mine at Fierro in 1992 'after forming Cobre Mining. The mine, which was shut down in 981, now has about 360 employees. In December of last year, Phelps Dodge made an offer of $105 million to buy Cobre, an offer Cobre must respond to by February.

In past years, the New Mexico Stockman's Annual Directory ranked Grant among the leading counties in calf production. The number of mother cows has declined from about 55,000 three years ago to roughly 37,000 in 1997, said Ron Lamb, county agricultural extension agent. Lamb cites drought and the removal of cattle from federal grazing allotments as the reason for this decline.