The Organ Mountains

East of Las Cruces, the Organ Mountains rise with startling abruptness from the Chihuahuan Desert floor, their jagged granite spires thrusting nearly nine thousand feet above sea level. The name is apt. Viewed from the valley, the serrated peaks look like the enormous pipes of a pipe organ, and early Spanish travelers apparently thought so too. The name Organos appears on maps as far back as the sixteen hundreds.

These mountains are far older than their name. The granite core began forming roughly thirty-four million years ago when a massive volcanic caldera collapsed and magma forced its way upward, crystallizing slowly underground into the hard grey rock you see today. Subsequent erosion stripped away the softer material around it, leaving the resistant granite standing. The prominent spire called the Needle tops out at nearly nine thousand feet.

The Organ Mountains have sheltered and threatened humans for thousands of years. Jornada Mogollon peoples lived in the canyons and foothills from roughly five hundred to thirteen hundred of the Common Era, leaving behind pit houses, pottery, and rock art. Apache bands used the mountains as a stronghold and refuge for centuries afterward, launching raids from the high country and retreating when pursued. The United States Army spent decades trying to pacify these mountains and largely failed until the reservation era of the eighteen seventies and eighties.

In twenty fourteen, President Obama designated the Organ Mountains and the adjacent desert wilderness as the Organ Mountains, Desert Peaks National Monument, protecting some half a million acres. The monument encompasses not just the Organs but also the Doña Ana Mountains to the north, the Potrillo volcanic field to the southwest, and desert grasslands that shelter mule deer, mountain lions, golden eagles, and one of the northernmost populations of Mexican black bears.

The peaks are visible from almost everywhere in Las Cruces, a permanent landmark orienting every resident's sense of place.