The Cottonwoods of Shafter

All around Shafter yesterday, the color was YELLOW.  The community's runoff areas and little streams are home to cottonwood trees, and they're in glorious fall color.

The Shafter Mining District was active from 1883 to 1952, taking silver and related ores from the area, and once again, Shafter's seeing mining again.  Drive into town and visit the cemetery and cemetery museum to learn more about the history of this small and proud community, on Hwy 67 between Marfa and Presidio.

And unrelated to cottonwoods or mining, but still pretty interesting.....

The town was also featured in the opening scenes of the 1971 science fiction film, The Andromeda Strain, where it played a small town in New Mexico.  Shafter's lovely church, pictured in our last photo above, can be seen (if you watch for it--glimpses of it near  0:35, 0:55 and 1:05!) in the film's trailer, above.