Silver City Sun News - June 10, 2010

Cabins rise above old town site 

At the base of Parapet Mountain, where the mining village of Georgetown once teemed with 1,200 residents, nothing remains except a few stone walls and footers. Nature has completely reclaimed the site. The Georgetown Cemetery, located a little more than a mile down the road, is the only monument to a town that was once as large and vital as nearby Silver City.

But life is returning to Georgetown in the form of Georgetown Cabins, a cluster of brand new, upscale, single bedroom vacation cabins designed to provide comfort in the midst of scenic wilderness. Owners Jon and Susie Eickhoff launched the venture after selling their high-tech engineering service business in Michigan and moving to the Silver City area.

"We sold the business to our managers and came to find sunshine," Jon said. "And we don't regret it at all."

They found the Georgetown property while exploring the scenic byways in the area and purchased it in 2007.

"Susie and I would come out here for picnics. We loved the peace and beauty and the sense of history, and we decided to share it with other people," Jon said.

Jon's engineering training was put to good use as they worked out plans for the cabins, relying entirely on solar panels for power (and, very occasionally, on back-up diesel generators) since electric service is not available in that remote location. Water is pumped by solar power from a 790-foot well into 10,000-gallon water tanks, then gravity-fed down to the cabins. Every cabin is equipped with on-demand hot water, kitchen facilities, satellite television, and Wi-Fi Internet.

"You have all the conveniences of civilization, even though you're 2 1/2 miles from the closest power line," Jon explained. "We're also lucky because we're within range of a cell phone tower, so cell phones work out here."

The cabins overlook the old town site, and the Eickhoffs are always eager to share the information they have gleaned from archive research, oral history, and donated letters and photographs about Georgetown.

According to their research, the town grew up around a mining claim established by John Magruder. In 1877, Magruder named the fledgling town in memory of his older brother George, who had died in an accident at the Magruder Mill on the Mimbres River.

Silver was successfully mined from a number of claims and the town flourished. At its peak, the Eickhoffs discovered, Georgetown had "the territory's first upper and lower public schools, an opera house, literature hall, park and skating rink."

But, like many of its residents, Georgetown's life was brief. It was born out of the mining of silver, and it began a rapid decline less than 30 years later after the government devalued silver. An epidemic of disease which struck the town in the late 1890s, killing a large number of children, sent most of the remaining residents scrambling for a healthier location and sealed the fate of Georgetown.

The Eickhoffs are doing their best to resurrect memories of the vibrant days in the life of Georgetown. During its heyday, the town had its share of colorful characters, and Susie and Jon have named their cabins for Georgetown residents whose stories have survived the passage of time.

Their first cabin is named the Jolly-McGregor in honor of Malcolm McGregor, the prospector whose silver mine turned out to be the second highest producing mine in the Georgetown area. Georgetown Cabins are located on a 10-acre piece of property purchased from McGregor's descendants.

The second cabin is called the Lindauer Cabin after Sig Lindauer, who ran the mercantile store in Georgetown. Lindauer was said to be a generous-spirited man who was always willing to extend credit to those in need.

The third cabin is named the Lottie Deno, a notorious woman gambler who was a friend of Doc Holliday, Big Nose Kate and Wyatt Earp and his brothers. Deno is said to have taken in Doc and the Earp brothers when the fled Tombstone after the shootout at the OK Corral. The character Miss Kitty in the television series Gunsmoke was reportedly modeled after Lottie.

The fourth cabin is called the Judge Lucas Cabin, after Judge James Lucas, who, like Judge Roy Bean, handed out his own brand of frontier justice. The Judge Lucas Cabin is handicap-accessible.

The fifth cabin is the Brannin Cabin, named after Stanton Brannin, a scrappy bantam-sized mule skinner, trapper, hunter, army scout and mine owner who frequently wound up in front of Judge Lucas. He married a woman believed to be the daughter of an Apache chief and sired 13 children with her. His wife's heritage was thought to be the reason the Brannin home and mine were never bothered by marauding Apaches.

The sixth and final cabin is the Mitchell Cabin, named after John Mitchell, an immigrant from Cornwall, England. At the age of 32, while a resident of Georgetown, he reportedly married a 16-year-old Mexican girl, giving her parents a matched set of mules as a bride price.

The cabins are perfect for a romantic getaway, and, appropriately enough, the Eickhoffs welcomed the first guests to Georgetown Cabins on Valentine's Day last year. Recently, Hanover residents Francisco and Alicia Flores celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in the Lindauer Cabin, a gift from their children.

The Eickhoffs report that guests have been coming from all parts of the United States and from as far away as Canada, Germany, Spain and Sweden.

"It's very relaxing to get out here in this setting," Jon said. "It's great for people who want to get away and absorb the beauty of the scenery."

The views from Georgetown Cabins stretch away as far as the Black Range, and can be enjoyed through floor-length doors and windows in the cabins, or on balconies or patios outside the cabins, where gas grills are provided at each cabin, along with patio furniture and a fire pit.

Georgetown Cabins are available year-round. For more information, check out their website at www.georgetowncabins.com  or call (575) 534-4529.

Peggy Platonos is a freelance writer who lives in the Mimbres Valley. She welcomes feedback and story ideas at: platonos@gilanet.com.