A Journey to Three Corners - Where New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma Meet

hey everyone welcome to Sidetrack Adventures this is Steve right now we're in tukum Cary New Mexico and we're going to be doing something a little bit different today I think most people have heard of Four Corners where four different states meet up well we're going to be doing one worse than that we're going to try to head to the spot where three different states meet up New Mexico Texas and Oklahoma and of course we'll see what there is to see along the way as we travel through Northeastern New Mexico so let's hit the road and visit the the three corners or the Tri-State boundary I'm not even sure what it's called but let's go we're starting our journey here on Route 66 tukum car is a great Route 66 Town with a few iconic spots but really the only reason this is our starting point today is because we slept here last night [Music] now that we're on the road it should take about 2 hours to get from here to Northeastern New Mexico where the three states meet up well it's going to take us longer because I'm sure we're going to make a few stops along the way I doubt many people take the back roads to venture to the spot where these three states meet up and I'm not sure there's much of anything there but I'm looking forward to seen a seldom visited part of New Mexico and also a little slice of Texas and Oklahoma too [Music] we're now in the town of narava and there's an old gas station across the street and then over here there's another old building I'm not sure what this one was this building that looks like a house has Cafe painted on it unfortunately it's all marked no trespassing here so we just have to take a look at it from the sidewalk here's an old Motor Court it doesn't look like anything in this town has been open in quite some time its Glory Days ended over 60 years ago its School shut down in the 1960s this building was apparently being used as an antique store at some point but like everything else in the town it looks like it's been closed for quite some time here's another old gas station this town got it start in the early 1900s due to the railroad in fact the railroad Depot was the first building to be built in town the railroad still comes through here but no longer stops but the railroad bypassing the town was only one nail in the coffin the town never really recovered from the Great Depression and the dust bow of the 1930s to illustrate how long this station has been closed you have a pump for unlet and you have a pump for regular there's actually a couple of cars in the garage here but it's time for us to head back on the road and try to make it to three [Music] corners there were quite a few cars on the road between tukum Cary and narra Visa but now it feels like we're practically alone out here I know it probably doesn't come off well on the camera but off in the distance those Mountains they're volcanoes that were active several million years [Music] ago so we've made it to the town of Clayton and the drive here from Nara Visa didn't have much traffic at all we counted and only four cars passed us in the other direction over the 60m drive but anyways here at Clayton it's a pretty cool and historic town and it's been voted the most haunted town in New Mexico so we're going to take a look around and who knows maybe we'll see a ghost this old church is now the herstein museum the local history museum for the area we'll start out here and maybe we could find out where the ghosts are there have been dinosaur footprints found in the area and I suspect that's the reason for this dinosaur I personally don't believe in ghosts but apparently this museum is one of the places in town that is is haunted the person running the museum even told us she has experienced some Supernatural events here herself I always recommend checking out local museums and I highly recommend this place if you find yourself in Clayton they are incredibly knowledgeable and super friendly here they were pretty surprised to hear that we drove all the way out here to find the place where the three states meet I had to laugh because they've seen ghosts but think that I'm [Music] crazy we've left the museum and this is a pretty cool old town we'll walk over to Main Street and check out some of the historic sites real quick here's Main Street this town was founded in 1887 and was hit hard by the dust bowl of the 1930s for anyone who doesn't know the Dust Bowl was a series of dust storms that devastated the plains in the 1930s and this area was right near the epicenter of it it absolutely destroyed farms and the economy of the area and a lot of people just up and left the Isaac's hardware company was one of the oldest hardware stores in the country having opened in 1898 but it just closed last year after 125 years in business here's the Eckland Hotel supposedly one of the most haunted places in town the part of the building that is the saloon opened in 1892 and the building was expanded in phases into the early 1900s it said that a maid named Irene haunts room 30 7 and Creeks the floorboards and makes faces in the wallpaper it's only open on the weekend so we can't look inside today unfortunately I guess even ghosts need their day [Music] off just at a quick glance you could tell this was a JC Penny at one point and yep it's still written on the entrance here's an old movie theater the Luna theater and its Marquee is incredible and also I find it hilarious that they're playing Ghostbusters I'd love to see this lit up at night this theater opened in 1915 and at the Museum they told us the basement of the theater used to be a bowling alley probably the most famous person in Clayton's history since they've made movies about him was Tom blackjack catch him and he apparently haunts the courthouse Blackjack was a notorious Outlaw who was hung here in 1901 for a train robbery the execution was botched though and during the hanging his head came off so you could see why he might want to haunt the town there's a lot to see in Clayton and I wish I would have planned things out to have more time here I definitely want to get back to this town and explore more of its history but we're only a few miles from our destination so it's time to get back on the [Music] road we've made it to the Northwestern most corner of Texas that's actually Texas behind me but due to a weird quirk in New Mexico's geography Oklahoma's about 2 and 1/2 miles away down this dirt road if you've ever wondered what's at the Northwestern most corner of Texas well here it is it's that little block of cement in front of us here's a closer look at the survey marker showing this is the northeast corner of Texas but we didn't come here for two states we came here for three states so let's head about 2 and 1/2 miles to the east I don't think a lot of people realize that New Mexico borders Texas to the north in the 1800s when they surveyed the border between Texas and the New Mexico territory they made a mistake and put the border with Texas too far to the West it wasn't noticed until the early 1900s and New Mexico had to accept the Border as part of getting statehood the border with Oklahoma is where the Western border of Texas and New Mexico should have been we've made it there's New Mexico there's Oklahoma and here's Texas I know you're probably watching this shocked that this place doesn't get many visitors but there's actually a marker right over there so let's go check that out we'll have to walk into Oklahoma here Let's cross this cattle guard they don't want any Texas or Oklahoma cows getting into New Mexico I guess or maybe it's New Mexico cows getting into Texas and Oklahoma but I believe we should be in Texas now maybe not as impressive as the four corners monument but then again how many people could say they've been here how many people could say they wanted to be here I guess but here it is where the three states meet you can't really stand on it to be in all three states at the same time so we'll just make [Music] do only about 30 Mi north of here almost on the border with New Mexico is the highest point in Oklahoma maybe it was a little crazy driving 4 hours out of the way for this but for me the journey to get here made it all worth it so that's our journey to the spot where New Mexico Texas and Oklahoma meat thank you so much for watching if you enjoyed the video please give it a thumbs up consider subscribing and we'll see you next week

Channel: Sidetrack Adventures

Views: 220,984

Keywords: Three Corners, Nara Visa, Clayton New Mexico, New Mexico backroads, haunted New Mexico, Texas border, Oklahoma border, Texas New Mexico Border

Id: GZd_7iu5wf0

Length: 11min 24sec (684 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 17 2024