Two different features
Two similar-sounding names often get mixed together. The Sacramento Mountains are a mountain range in south-central New Mexico, east of the Tularosa Basin, rising to forested peaks. The Mescalero Escarpment (also called Mescalero Ridge) is a different feature: an escarpment generally described as the western edge of the Llano Estacado, the high Plains in southeastern New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle region. The two are separated by the Pecos valley and other lowlands.
Both are connected with the Mescalero Apache by name and history. This article looks at how these landscapes figure in the history, with caution about details that vary in the sources.
The Sacramento Mountains
The Sacramento Mountains include high forested slopes, meadows and canyons, and the nearby peak of Sierra Blanca, the highest mountain in the area. Sierra Blanca holds special significance for the Mescalero. Mescalero people regard it as sacred, and the nation’s official sources are the right place to learn how they describe it. As with other sacred places, some knowledge associated with it is not shared publicly. Other Apache sacred mountains in the Southwest are discussed in separate articles.
The mountains offered many resources. Higher elevations supplied deer, elk and other game, along with pine, juniper and other plants. Lower slopes and canyons supplied agave, yucca, seeds, nuts and berries at different seasons. Springs and streams were important in a dry country. Rugged terrain also provided places of shelter and defence.
The basins and the desert
To the west of the Sacramento Mountains lies the Tularosa Basin, a dry region of desert plains, salt flats and, further in, the white gypsum dunes now known as White Sands. Mescalero people travelled through these lowlands and used the plants and animals of the desert. The contrast between mountain and basin allowed seasonal movement: people could shift between elevations as plant foods ripened and game moved.
Mescal roasting, the practice from which the Mescalero name is generally said to derive, took place where agave grew, and the pits and other traces left by such activity are of interest to archaeologists. The details of where and how the Mescalero practised it varied, and the picture today comes from both archaeology and historical accounts.
The escarpment and the Plains edge
East of the Pecos, the Mescalero Escarpment marks the transition to the Llano Estacado. Apache groups, including Mescalero people, travelled onto the Plains to hunt bison and to trade or encounter other peoples. This was part of a wider pattern of Apache movement between mountain and Plains country, a theme in the history of the eastern Apache nations. The Comanche and other Plains peoples also used this country, and encounters could be hostile.
The name Mescalero for this feature is a Spanish and English label; it does not tell us how the Mescalero themselves named or used the place.
Fort Stanton and the 1860s
In the mid-1800s, the U.S. Army established posts in the region, including Fort Stanton on the edge of the Sacramento Mountains area. These posts were part of the effort to control the Mescalero and open the land to settlement. During the campaigns of the early 1860s, soldiers pursued Mescalero groups in the mountains, and many were taken to Bosque Redondo. After their departure from that site in 1865, the mountains again became a refuge and homeland, and the Mescalero reservation was later established in the Sacramento Mountains area.
The reservation and the landscape
The Mescalero Apache Reservation includes mountain land, forest and canyon country. It was created in 1873 by executive order, generally dated to that year, and its boundaries changed later. Forest, water and timber resources became important to the nation’s economy and to federal policy toward the reservation. Today the nation manages its lands and enterprises, which change over time. Readers should consult the Mescalero Apache Tribe’s own website for any current information.
Other people also use and value these mountains, including ranchers, towns, recreational visitors and agencies, and there have been disputes over land and water over the years. This is a general observation and not an account of any specific case.
Respect for place
For Mescalero people, mountains are not merely scenery but homes of history, memory and meaning. Visitors to the region should remember that the reservation is a living community, with its own rules about access, photography and ceremonies. Many places within the wider landscape also carry significance for other Native nations.
Sources
Descriptions of the landscape come from geologists, archaeologists, historians and Mescalero sources. Elevations, boundaries and locations are best confirmed with current maps and official sources.