Highway 60 & the Belen Cutoff: A Brief History

By Dixie Boyle

The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad began construction on the railroad route that became known as the Belen Cutoff shortly after the turn of the twentieth century. Towns quickly came to life beside the tracks. One town named Sunnyside later changed to Fort Sumner was created when the Eastern Railway was completed in March of 1906. In 1910 the National Highway Association laid out an auto route across the nation from coast to coast. A. L. Westgard was hired to make a trip in search of the best route. New Mexicos section of Highway 60 crosses the middle of the state between Texico and Quemado. By 1918 Highway 60 emerged from a wagon road to a primitive truck road. The highway follows the route of the Belen Cutoff from Abo Pass to the Texas border. The western half of the route runs between Socorro and the Arizona state line. The last section of the route to be paved was between Quemado and the Arizona border in the late 1940s.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1432760904
• ISBN13: 9781432760908
• Release Date: July 2010
• Publisher: Outskirts Press
• Length: 146 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.3" x 6.0"