A Homeland in the Mountains
In southwestern New Mexico, the Black Range runs roughly north to south through what is now Gila National Forest and the Aldo Leopold Wilderness, rising above the Rio Grande valley to the east and the upper Gila country to the west. Pine and fir forest covers the high ridges, with oak, juniper and grassland lower down, and many canyons carry small streams. This is part of the homeland of the Chihenne Apache, a Chiricahua group whose name is generally translated as “Red Paint People” and who are also known as the Warm Springs Apache.
The name Warm Springs comes from the warm mineral springs at Ojo Caliente, in the valley west of the Rio Grande, a place the Chihenne used and valued. The Chihenne are one of several Chiricahua bands, alongside the Chokonen, Bedonkohe and Nednhi, and sources differ somewhat on how to describe the boundaries between them. Their territory ranged across the mountains and basins of southwestern New Mexico and, at times, into southeastern Arizona and northern Mexico.
Using the Country
The Black Range and its surroundings offered the mix of resources typical of southern mountain country: game in the forests and meadows, plant foods across elevations, reliable water at certain springs and creeks, and shelter in the canyons. Families moved among these resources through the year, using the knowledge of the land passed down over generations. The warm springs themselves were a gathering point and a place of rest and healing in the descriptions that survive.
The Chihenne also traveled and traded, and they dealt with Spanish and Mexican settlements along the Rio Grande and with the Pueblo and other peoples of the region. Mangas Coloradas, a prominent leader associated with the Chihenne, was among the best-known figures of the mid-nineteenth century. His story, and that of the conflict around the copper mines near Santa Rita, belong to other articles.
The Warm Springs Reservation
In the early 1870s, after years of conflict and negotiation, the federal government established a reservation at Ojo Caliente, sometimes called the Warm Springs agency, in 1874. For the Chihenne this was a chance to remain in their own country, and many families settled there. Their leaders included Victorio and Nana, who are discussed in their own biographies.
The arrangement did not last. In 1877, federal officials decided to consolidate Apache groups at San Carlos in Arizona, and the Chihenne were removed from Ojo Caliente. The reasons for the move are described in the sources as including administrative preferences and pressures from settlers, though accounts differ on the balance of motives. San Carlos was a hot, unfamiliar place, shared with groups who had different customs, and conditions there were hard. Many Chihenne left, and some returned to their old country.
Victorio and the Late 1870s
Beginning in 1879, Victorio led a group that left the reservation and was pursued across New Mexico, Texas, Chihuahua and Arizona over about a year. Historians generally describe this as a response to the loss of their homeland and to broken promises, though the full accounts are contested and written largely from army and Mexican sources. Victorio was killed in October 1880 in northern Mexico, in an encounter with Mexican forces at Tres Castillos, and the Chihenne who survived were scattered. Other leaders, including Nana, continued to be active afterward.
After the surrender of 1886, Chihenne people, including many who had not fought, were among the Chiricahua sent into captivity. Descendants today are enrolled in the Fort Sill Apache Tribe in Oklahoma and the Mescalero Apache Tribe in New Mexico, and the Warm Springs Apache identity continues in these communities.
The Landscape Now
Much of the Black Range is public land, with trails, campgrounds and wilderness areas managed by the U.S. Forest Service, and small towns and former mining settlements lie in and near the range. The Ojo Caliente area is a mix of ranch and private land and public land, and visitors should check land status before entering, since boundaries are not always obvious and access to many spots is restricted.
Roads in the range can be steep and rough, and weather can change quickly, so it is worth checking road conditions with local ranger offices. Prehistoric ruins and sites in the region, including those of ancestral Pueblo and Mogollon peoples, are protected by law, and removing artifacts is illegal.
Visiting With Context
The Black Range is a place where scenic beauty and a painful history overlap. Interpretive signs may reflect many viewpoints, and Chihenne descendants have their own accounts of the land. Anyone interested in the homeland should look for sources that include Fort Sill Apache and Mescalero voices, and respect any area that is closed or marked as culturally significant.