Steins

Overview

A town that drank from the train

Steins sits in a gap in the Peloncillo Mountains, a few miles east of the Arizona line. The pass is named for Major Enoch Steen, an Army officer who camped nearby in 1856. A stage stop followed in 1857, the Southern Pacific began building through in 1878, and the town was founded in 1880.

Unlike most Western ghost towns, Steins was a railroad town first. There were mining claims in the hills, but the steady work was a quarry and, from 1905, a rock crusher making ballast for the tracks. The place had no water of its own, and the railroad hauled in every drop. When the railroad shut the quarry and stopped the water in 1944, most people took its offer of a free ride out, and the post office closed.

Larry and Linda Link bought the empty town in 1988 and showed visitors around until they retired in 2008, then by appointment for a few more years. Larry Link was shot and killed in June 2011. His family reopened the town in May 2012, but in June 2013 announced it would no longer open to the public regularly. In 2016 a family member was taking appointments. A visitor in a video posted in March 2026 said the town had closed down.

Timeline

Stage stop to closed gate

1. 1856Army Major Enoch Steen camps near the pass while exploring the new Gadsden Purchase lands. The pass takes his name.
2. 1857A stop on the Birch stage line is set up here.
3. 1878The Southern Pacific starts blasting its line through the pass.
4. 1880The railroad is finished through the area, and the town is formally founded. Gold, silver and copper claims in the hills help it grow, and a quarry opens.
5. Jan 1888A post office opens at Steins Pass.
6. 1902Steins has 35 registered voters and many more residents.
7. 1905A rock-crushing plant starts making ballast for the railroad. With no water of its own, the town gets all of it by train.
8. 1944The railroad ends quarrying and its water deliveries. Most residents take a free ride out, and the post office closes. A later fire burns much of what is left.
9. 1988Larry and Linda Link buy the townsite and begin giving ghost town tours.
10. 2008The Links retire. Tours carry on by appointment for a few more years.
11. Jun 2011Larry Link is shot and killed, and the town closes.
12. May 2012The AP reports that his family plans to reopen the town the following week. A July travel story says it reopened in May. A visitor that year looked at the town from outside the fence, with no tours offered.
13. Jun 2013The family announces it will no longer open the town to the public regularly.
14. 2016Legends of America notes that a family member takes appointments but doesn't open the town regularly.
15. Mar 2026A visitor filming the cemetery across from the town says in a video that the town has closed down.

Site and access

What you can see from the road

An undated listing names many original buildings, says the town is sometimes closed without notice, and now calls it permanently closed. A 2012 visitor drove around the fence line and looked at the buildings from outside it. A 2015 photo shows them behind a wire fence across a gravel lot. Steins Pass is sometimes confused with Doubtful Canyon near Steins Peak, the site of a Butterfield Overland Mail station and the Battle of Doubtful Canyon. That is a different place.

• Original town buildings (behind a fence)
• Railroad line through the pass

Historic maps

Steins on USGS maps, 1954–1981

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

19541:250,00019651:24,00019811:100,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Steins is right off I-10, about 20 minutes west of Lordsburg. Take the Steins exit (exit 3, per a 2018 account) and follow Summit Road a short way. The town is private and not open regularly. Look from the road and stay outside the fence.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

Photos

Steins from outside its wire fence, October 2015The 1965 USGS Steins sheetThe 1954 Silver City sheet

Visitor reports

Been to Steins?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

Thanks. Your report reached us, and we'll read it before it goes on the page.

Railroad and road

More railroad, road and fort ghost towns

The nearest in New Mexico.

Guide

Glorieta

35.58, -105.77

Santa Fe County, New Mexico

A railroad and sawmill village at the summit of Glorieta Pass, on the first Route 66. It lost its mills, its stores and the highway, and about 500…

Living village · 511 people (2020)Railroad and roadRoute 66

Guide

Cuervo

35.03, -104.41

Guadalupe County, New Mexico

A railroad and ranch town that Route 66 kept alive and Interstate 40 cut in two. A handful of people still live here among dozens of empty stone and…

Ruins · Oct 2026 videoRailroad and roadRoute 66

All 120 railroad, road and fort ghost towns →

Nearby

Other sites near Steins

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our New Mexico index.

• Shakespeare16.1 mi NE · Hidalgo
• Separ33.2 mi E · Grant
• Playas34.4 mi SE · Hidalgo
• Old Hachita39.2 mi SE · Grant
• Hachita44.5 mi SE · Grant
• Tyrone52.0 mi NE · Grant
• Gage52.8 mi E · Luna
• Cloverdale56.2 mi S · Hidalgo

Sources

Sources and credits

1. ghosttowns.com, "Steins": fact sheet fields (road, climate, best time, remains, post office dates, 1902 voters, closure notes).
2. Wikipedia, "Steins, New Mexico", retrieved October 2026: Major Steen, stage line, railroad, quarry and crusher, water by train, 1944 abandonment, the Links, 2011 murder, Doubtful Canyon.
3. Legends of America, "Steins, New Mexico", retrieved October 2026: exit 3, 19 miles from Lordsburg, January 1888 post office, the Links' 2008 retirement, the June 2011 murder, the June 2013 announcement and the 2016 note on appointments.
4. Gribble Nation, "Ghost Town Tuesday: Steins, NM," January 2018: exit 3, a 2012 visit from outside the fence with no tours.
5. KRWG / AP, May 3, 2012: the family's plan to reopen the town the following week.
6. Gadling, "Steins, New Mexico: The Ultimate American Ghost Town," July 31, 2012: the town reopened in May 2012.
7. DOR872 Adventures, "Steins Ghost Town Cemetery", YouTube, posted March 7, 2026: the cemetery on the hill across from the town, and the visitor's statement that the town has closed down.
8. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits

• Steins from outside its wire fence, October 2015: Gen. Quon, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
• The 1965 USGS Steins sheet: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain
• The 1954 Silver City sheet: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain
• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Silver City 1954, 1:250,000; Steins 1965, 1:24,000; Lordsburg 1981, 1:100,000.