view from the pulpit

The St. John Methodist Espiscopal Church is a stone building erected in 1897 atop Johnson Mesa.  Johnson Mesa is a high, stark plateau-- lushly green this time of year -- rising 2000 feet above the Raton valley.  In 1887 miners from Raton, disgruntled with hard work in the mines, took advantage of free land and attempted ranching and farming on the mesa.  Alas, equally hard work and harsh weather took their toll.  Today, where once there was a homestead on every 160 acres, only a few ranches, abandoned homesteads -- and the Johnson Mesa Church -- remain.