Chloride

Chloride is a ghost town and unincorporated community in Sierra County, New Mexico, tucked into the eastern flanks of the Black Range where Chloride Creek meets Mineral Creek. Its founding around 1880 traces directly to the discovery of silver chloride near the town site, and at its height the community swelled to nearly 3,000 residents. The old mine workings that drove that growth lie mostly to the west, following Chloride Creek upstream. Winston, a fellow ghost town, sits roughly three miles to the east.

Visitors today come for the remnants of a once-thriving silver boomtown set against rugged high-desert terrain. The setting alone — a creek confluence framed by the Black Range — rewards photographers and anyone drawn to the quiet atmosphere of a place that boomed and faded within a generation. Access is rural; come prepared with a full tank, water, and realistic expectations for unpaved roads, particularly outside the warmer months.