Clayton

History

Native Americans were present in the area of Clayton for at least 10,000 years, as evidenced by the findings at the Folsom site about 55 miles northwest of Clayton, near the village of Folsom. The first Spanish explorers in the 16th century found the region inhabited by the Apache people. In the 18th and early to mid-19th century, the Comanche controlled this region. The Spanish called their domain Comancheria. The Cimarron Cutoff of the Santa Fe Trail brought some of the first settlers through the Clayton region. The Santa Fe Trail was first established in 1821 after Spanish rule was evicted from Mexico which opened up trade between Santa Fe and the United States. William Becknell, also known as the Father of the Santa Fe Trail, became the first person to utilize the Santa Fe Trail as a trade route between the state of Missouri and Santa Fe. He established the Cimarron Cutoff, also known as the Cimarron Route, as a faster route between countries as the Cimarron Route shortened the Trail by more than 100 miles. The Cimarron Cutoff went straight through the Clayton region where travelers used the Rabbit Ear Mountains as a guiding landmark. Eventually travelers along the trail began to appreciate the rich soil around Clayton and the rolling green hills which were perfect for raising livestock. The Goodnight-Loving Trail also passed through the area (bringing cattle north from Texas) starting in the late 1860s, Stephen Dorsey, a nearby rancher, received the rights to the area where the railroad ran. His range manager, John C. Hill laid out a town site, and named it in 1887 for Clayton C. Dorsey (1871–1948), son of Senator Stephen W. Dorsey of Arkansas, who had established the nearby Triangle Dot Ranch in Union and Colfax counties. In 1892, the saloon of what would…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land. Clayton has an elevation of approximately above sea level. It is located about northwest of Amarillo, Texas. Clayton is considered to be in the Plains region of New Mexico. This region stretches to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains down to the Guadalupe Mountains. Clayton is located in the northeast corner of New Mexico, from the border of Texas and from the border of the Oklahoma panhandle. Clayton is also located near two parks, Clayton Lake State Park, and Capulin Volcano National Monument. Not far away is Black Mesa State Park in Oklahoma. A carbon dioxide field called Bravo Dome can be found near Clayton and stretches nearly 1 million acres. Clayton has a typical New Mexico cool semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk) with hot summers and cool, dry winters. The normal monthly mean temperature ranges from in December to in July; on average, annually, there are 41 days with a maximum at or above , 13 days with a maximum that remains at or below freezing, and 2.2 days with a minimum at or below . Precipitation is low and usually confined to the monsoon season from June to September when thunderstorms are frequent; the annual mean precipitation is . |source 2 = National Weather Service }} ;Notes:

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• ALVIS ELEMENTARY
  Elementary · CLAYTON · 157 students · 13.1:1 ratio
• CLAYTON HIGH
  High · CLAYTON · 131 students · 16.4:1 ratio
• CLAYTON JUNIOR HIGH
  Middle · CLAYTON · 56 students · 11.2:1 ratio
• KISER ELEMENTARY
  Middle · CLAYTON · 51 students · 12.8:1 ratio
• NORTHEASTERN NM CORRECTIONAL FACILITY
  High · CLAYTON · 1 students