Tijeras, New Mexico

The village of Tijeras sits at the junction of Tijeras Canyon (which leads west between the Sandia and Manzano Mountains) and Cedro Canyon (which leads south into the Manzano Mountains). New Mexico Highway 14 (the Turquoise Trail) also heads north from Tijeras on the east side of the Sandia Mountains. Old Route 66 also runs through Tijeras but the traffic duties were transferred to Interstate 40 long ago.

The original inhabitants of the area of Tijeras were Ancient Puebloans. They left a site just outside town that has recently been excavated. Chances are good the pueblo was still occupied at the time of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado but when he and his men journeyed through central New Mexico in the early 1500's, the European diseases they brought with them decimated many of the pueblos of that time and the Tijeras Pueblo has been deserted since then.

The largest employer in the area is a cement plant that was built in the late 1950's. Many of the townspeople commute down the length of Tijeras Canyon to work in Albuquerque.