Editing Colfax County, New Mexico (section)

==History==
Colfax County was originally part of [[Taos County, New Mexico|Taos County]], one of the original nine counties created by the [[New Mexico Territory]] in 1852. In 1859, the eastern part of Taos County, including all of the territory of Colfax County, was split off to form [[Mora County, New Mexico|Mora County]]. Colfax County was established on January 25, 1869, from the northern part of Mora County. The original county seat was the gold mining town of [[Elizabethtown, New Mexico|Elizabethtown]].<ref name="Pike">{{cite book|last=Pike|first=David|title=Roadside New Mexico: a guide to historic markers|publisher=University of New Mexico Press|year=2004|location=Albuquerque, NM|pages=434 p|isbn=0-8263-3118-1}}</ref>{{Rp|37–38}}

By 1872, when the gold rush in Elizabethtown had died down, the county seat was moved to [[Cimarron, New Mexico|Cimarron]]. Cimarron was on the stage coach route along the Mountain Branch of the [[Santa Fe Trail]], and was the headquarters of the [[Maxwell Land Grant]]. The Colfax County Courthouse in Cimarron is a contributing structure in the [[Cimarron Historic District]], and is still in use as a [[Masonic lodge]].

In 1881, the county seat moved from Cimarron to [[Springer, New Mexico|Springer]], on the former [[Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad]], since 1996 part of the [[BNSF Railway]]. The [[Colfax County Courthouse in Springer]] was the site of one of the last important shoot-outs in the [[Colfax County War]].<ref name="Pike"/>{{Rp|122–124}} This former courthouse, which is on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] is now a museum devoted to the [[Santa Fe Trail]].

The eastern portions of Colfax, [[Mora County, New Mexico|Mora]], and [[San Miguel County, New Mexico|San Miguel]] counties were severed to form [[Union County, New Mexico|Union County]] in 1893.

After a referendum and a bitter legislative fight, the county seat moved from Springer to [[Raton, New Mexico|Raton]] in 1897.<ref>{{cite book|last=Conway|first=Jay T.|title=A brief community history of Raton, New Mexico|publisher=Gazette Print|year=1930|location=Raton|pages=17 p}}</ref>{{Rp|23–24}} Raton was an important coal-mining town, and was also a railroad center. The citizens of Raton raised $8000 to pay one third of the costs of a new courthouse. That courthouse was replaced in 1932 by the current [[Colfax County Courthouse (Raton, New Mexico)]], an [[art-deco]] [[Works Progress Administration|WPA]] structure that also is on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2008a}}</ref>