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The Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument is located in the U.S.state of New Mexico, near Mountainair. The main park visitor center is in Mountainair.
Salinas Pueblo ruins Courtesy National Park Service
Once, thriving Native American trade communities of Tiwa and Tompiro speaking Puebloans inhabited this remote frontier area of central New Mexico. Early in the 17th century Spanish Franciscans found the area ripe for their missionary efforts. However, by the late 1670s the entire Salinas District, as the Spanish had named it, was depopulated of both Indian and Spaniard. What remains today are austere yet beautiful reminders of this earliest contact between Pueblo Indians and Spanish Colonials: the ruins of four mission churches, at Quarai, Abó, and Gran Quivira and the partially excavated pueblo of Las Humanas or, as it is known today, Gran Quivira.
The Quarai Ruins are located near Manzano, New Mexico, about 8 miles north of Mountainair, at about 6650 feet (2026 m) above sea level. There is a visitor center and a 0.5 mile (0.8 km) trail through the ruins.
Abó Ruins
Mission ruins at Abó
The Abó Ruins are located about 9 miles west of Mountainair, at about 6100 feet (1859 m) above sea level. There is a visitor contact station, a 0.25 mile (0.4 km) trail through the mission ruins, and a 0.5 mile (0.8 km) trail around the unexcavated pueblo ruins.
Gran Quivira Ruins
Pueblo and mission ruins at Gran Quivira
The Gran Quivira Ruins are located about 25 miles south of Mountainair, at about 6500 feet (1981 m) above sea level. There is a small visitor center near the parking lot. A 0.5 mile (0.8 km) trail leads through partially excavated pueblo ruins and the ruins of the uncompleted mission church.
