Near the settlement of Quay south of Tucumcari, New Mexico—with layered sedimentary caliche bluffs of the 4,800-foot-high northern Llano Estacado Escarpment as towering backdrop—erosion-scarred sandstone cliffs of Mesa Redonda rise above the South Canadian River watershed.
Ghosts of Black Jack Ketchum still haunt these mesas and arroyos. In his heyday the Texas-cowboy-turned outlaw frequents this rugged wilderness with gang members to hide out between train robberies throughout the Territory of New Mexico.
After capture and trial in 1901, he pays for a life of crime at the end of a hangman’s knot in Clayton—about 100 miles north of his mesa stomping ground.
© Ilija Lukić 2024
Mesa Redonda, c. 2010
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