In the Sangre de Cristo mountains of New Mexico, at an elevation of almost 9000 feet, at the juncture of the Pecos River and Willow Creek, there is a place called Willow Creek Campground. Nearby and just to the southeast is a huge pile of a mine waste rock, or gangue, that has been covered with two feet of topsoil and planted with native vegetation. This was once the site of an extensive mining operation between 1925 and 1939. It was once called Tererro, a town of almost 3000. Most folks who visit the campground have little inkling that the town ever existed, for there is nothing remaining of the town or the mine except a small concrete structure that was once the mining company's vault..
Two miles to the south is another place now called Tererro consisting of a couple of dwellings, a general store, a riding stable, and a post office. Huey and Sherry Ley own the general store and the stable and Sherry is the postmistress. They can relate some of the history of the mine they have gleaned over the years, but they know only a trace of the mine and the town's existence. This book chronicles the history of both the mine and the town that has never before been put to paper in any but a very minimum of detail, and even then, often times, inaccurately. This book fills that void in extremely accurate detail.
Author Leon McDuff was four years old when in 1925 his father was the third person hired by The American Metal Company of New Mexico to superintend all wooden structures construction at a mine site they had recently acquired. Along with his brother and two sisters, they were the first children to live in what would eventually become Tererro, New Mexico. His mother was one of first two women in this town destined to reach almost 3000 people. His father was one of 178 men then living there. On August 25, 1939, at age 18, he left the deserted town to go to an aircraft trade school in Glendale, California. At the time he was one of the two original residents remaining in Tererro, having lived there longer than all but two of the original residents - his father and Jimmy Russell, the first person hired by the mining company. During WWII he served in both the Army Air Corps and Combat Engineers, Upon discharge he obtained a degree in Industrial Design. During the next 15 years he was employed in several positions of increasing responsibility in industry. His next 17 years was with Travis Air Force Base, 13 as Deputy Base Civil Engineer retiring in 1983. . Since retirement he has volunteered with Habitat for Humanity and the Fuller Center for Housing for 19 years. Founders, Millard and Linda Fuller, are close friends. He married his wife, Lois, in 1946. They have four children and seven grandchildren.
