We took a road trip to Colorado but before we arrived, we stopped for a night at the historic and haunted St. James Hotel in Cimarron, New Mexico. We spent the night in Jesse James’ old room but as we told our daughter, we did not give the enemy a foothold (no ghosts seen).
Founded in 1872 by Henri (Henry) Lambert—a French immigrant who had previously served as personal chef to both President Abraham Lincoln and General Ulysses S. Grant—the St. James Hotel began as a simple saloon and restaurant called the Clifton House before expanding into a two-story adobe hotel.
Tucked into the Colfax County high plains along the Cimarron Cutoff of the Santa Fe Trail, the hotel stood at the volatile epicenter of the Maxwell Land Grant War. During the late 19th century, Cimarron was known as one of the wildest outposts in the American West, and Lambert’s saloon became the primary gathering place for ranchers, lawmen, miners, and notorious outlaws.
The Outlaw Crossroads: An estimated 26 men were killed in gunfights within the hotel’s walls during its wild early years. The wooden ceiling of the downstairs saloon still holds over 40 bullet holes, historically preserved beneath the tin ceiling installed during later renovations.
The Roster of Legends: The hotel’s guest register reads like an index of Western mythology: Wyatt Earp, Morgan Earp, Bat Masterson, Doc Holliday, Billy the Kid (William H. Bonney), Clay Allison, Buffalo Bill Cody, Annie Oakley, and authors like Zane Grey (who wrote portions of Fighting Caravans while staying at the hotel).
Room #5 & Jesse James: Jesse James stayed regularly at the St. James while hiding out from Missouri lawmen under the alias R. H. Howard (and local alias Dave Crowden). He consistently requested Room #5 because the window offered an unobstructed view of his horses tied outside and a clear line of sight down the main road. He reportedly negotiated the purchase of a ranch on the nearby Rayado River during his stays.
Haunted Lore & Preservation: The hotel remains largely preserved in its late-19th-century Victorian state. Paranormal reports centered on Room 18 (the room of Henri Lambert’s wife, Mary, which remains permanently locked and is said to smell of fresh roses) and Room 17 (haunted by the aggressive spirit of a gambler named T.J. Wright, who was shot after winning the hotel in a poker game) make it one of the most famous historic stays in the Southwest.
That’s all for this week. It is a fun stay if you love history and creaky, old, haunted hotels. The next blog post will be on Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve as well as Treasure Falls.
