Clayton, New Mexico

Clayton, NM has been a crossroads ever since time began.  About 100 million years ago it was a dinosaur track way on the edge of an ancient sea, and dinosaur tracks and bones are found through out the area. There were over 500 tracks documented at Clayton Lake State Park. 

The twin peaks of Rabbit Ears Mountain have always been an important landmark to travelers and were particularly noted by Santa Fe Trail caravans which passed through the area from 1821 through the 1870’s.

Clayton eventually became a shipping point for cattle and later became a ranching and farming community.  One of the early visitors to the area was Tom “Black Jack” Ketchum who came to Clayton as a cowboy with the trail herds.  He and his brother later became outlaws and robbed the train near Folsom, west of Clayton. Ketchum was hung in Clayton in 1901 and is buried in the Clayton cemetery.

The historic Eklund Hotel was established in 1892 and has been a landmark for travelers of the southwest since the 1890’s. The Eklund was the only first-class hotel between Trinidad, Colorado and Fort Worth, Texas for many years, and has long had a reputation for good food and drink.

Services Provided

HELP-New Mexico has had a presence in Clayton since 2001, although HELP-New Mexico, Inc. has been in existence for 40 years it is a relative newcomer to this portion of the Northeastern Area. This office provides Workforce Investment Act Services for youth and has ties with several local agencies and governments to assist in providing services to the area youth.

Services provided

Work Experience:
This activity can be paid or unpaid and are planned, structured learning experiences that take place in a workplace setting for a limited period of time.

Classroom Training:
This activity is paid and is designed to help the participant who is lacking in basic education skills to gain basic educational skills.

Leadership Development:
This activity is designed to help the participant expose themselves to post secondary educational opportunities, community and service learning projects, peer mentoring and tutoring projects.

Adult Mentoring:
This activity is designed to help the participant with the day to day activities in the program. This could result in referring to other agencies for additional services.