Abandoned Record
About Brilliant
Brilliant is an unincorporated community in Colfax County, in the U.S. state of New Mexico. An old variant name of Brilliant was Swastika.
This is a site record: what public sources say about Brilliant, gathered in one place. We haven't written a full guide yet, so history, current access and photos are still to come. Treat the status as unknown until a guide confirms it.
Map
Where Brilliant is
Historic maps
5 historic USGS maps cover Brilliant
Topographic sheets from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain), oldest first. Older sheets often show the camp, mines and roads while the place was alive. The downloads are large map scans; USGS topoView shows them in the browser.
- 1915 Brilliant sheet, 1:62,500 · GeoTIFF download
- 1954 Raton sheet, 1:250,000 · GeoTIFF download
- 1958 Raton sheet, 1:250,000 · GeoTIFF download
- 1971 Tin Pan Canyon sheet, 1:24,000 · GeoTIFF download
- 1981 Raton sheet, 1:100,000 · GeoTIFF download
Directions
Getting there
Before you go
- Many ghost town sites are on private land, active mining claims or tribal land. Check land status and ask permission.
- Roads to old townsites are often unmaintained dirt. Map apps may route over closed or impassable tracks.
- Removing artifacts from public land is illegal under federal and most state laws.
Nearby
Other sites near Brilliant
Straight-line distance to other mapped sites in our New Mexico index.
Sources
Sources
- ghosttowns.com, "Brilliant": county, roads, climate, best time to visit, remains.
- Wikipedia, "Brilliant, New Mexico": coordinates and summary.
- Wikidata Q19600597.
- USGS GNIS 902183.
- USGS 3D Elevation Program, elevation at the coordinates.
- USGS The National Map and Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain).