Cuentos de Borica

Cuentos de Borica is intended to help tell the story of the far southern part of Guadalupe county known as Borica. Borica was a settlement over twenty miles south of Santa Rosa. It is about twenty-two miles from the Capilla de San Isidro, located near the center of what is known as Borica, to Santa Rosa. It is twelve miles from the chapel to Puerto de Luna. The area that has often been called Borica extends south of Puerto de Luna to the De Baca county line. It extends east to the...
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Cuentos de Borica is intended to help tell the story of the far southern part of Guadalupe county known as Borica. Borica was a settlement over twenty miles south of Santa Rosa. It is about twenty-two miles from the Capilla de San Isidro, located near the center of what is known as Borica, to Santa Rosa. It is twelve miles from the chapel to Puerto de Luna. The area that has often been called Borica extends south of Puerto de Luna to the De Baca county line. It extends east to the Pecos River and as far west as the area near U. S. Highway 54. Borica once had a post office. It was in operation from 1916 until 1919. Those years were probably also the heyday of Borica. Residents of the Borica area now receive their mail twice weekly from Santa Rosa. Borica's neighbors to the east included the twin Pecos River communities of Los Ojitos, on the east bank, and Bess on the west bank of the river. Both communities ceased to exist after the Alamogordo Dam was built in the late 1930s. The northeastern boundaries of Borica were Ojo Negro and Galisteo. Elvira was Borica's southern most neighbor in Guadalupe county. Elvira and Borica were often used to refer to the same area. Casaus, near Elvira, but in De Baca county, was also a neighboring community. Puerto, located about halfway between Borica and Puerto de Luna, was Borica's northernmost neighbor. Borica seems to have always had an identity problem. There are no U. S. Census records for Borica. People from the area were included in census records for Puerto de Luna or Puerto. Newspaper articles from newspapers other than the Santa Rosa News refer to the area as either Puerto de Luna or Santa Rosa, even though Puerto de Luna is twelve miles away and Santa Rosa is twenty-two miles away.