Torrance County website. 

County Seat: Estancia

Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument in Torrance County

Area: 3,355 square miles

Population and Economy
East of the Sandia Mountains and the Manzano Mountains lies the Estancia Valley and Torrance County.

The area’s rural lifestyle has drawn Albuquerque commuters who find elbow room, a horse for the kids, and easy access to I-40. Torrance County’s three largest communities are Estancia, Moriarty and Mountainair. Despite the different jurisdictions, the communities here share history and culture.

About 70 percent of workers commute to Albuquerque and Santa Fe for work. Major local employers include The Connection (a call center), Sandia Tobacco, Tagawa Greenhouses, Central New Mexico Electric Co-op, and the Moriarty School District.

In 2006 six microbreweries relocated to Moriarty; brewers cited room to grow, easy access to I-40 and close proximity to Albuquerque as reasons for the move. The 70,000-member Single Action Shooting Society in 2007 moved its headquarters to a 500-acre ranch, which it purchased here and is expected to have a $3 million dollar annual economic impact.

Geography 
Torrance County is part of the valley known to geologists as the Great Estancia Basin. It was an ancient lakebed lying alongside the Manzano and Sandia mountains. When the lake evaporated, it left salt beds, which Indian people and Spanish colonists mined. To the east are the rolling High Plains, and to the west are the two mountain ranges.

History
Human occupation in the area began 7,000 years ago. Between 1100 and 1500, one massive pueblo was an outpost of Anasazi civilization. Residents of this busy trade center bartered salt from nearby deposits for buffalo meat and hides from plains Indians and woven cotton goods from the Rio Grande valley. The trade network extended to the Mississippi, the Pacific and Central America.

In the 1600s, Spanish priests built missions at the largest pueblos of Quarai, Abo and Gran Quivira. After years of drought, Apache attacks and epidemics, the pueblo people moved to the Rio Grande. By the late 1670s, the pueblos were deserted. The extensive pueblo and church ruins, in dramatic settings, today constitute Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument.

In 1819, Bartolome Baca petitioned the Spanish governor for a grant east of the Abó mountains, promising to establish a ranch, build a dam and set up an acequia (ditch) system for irrigation. He received a million-acre tract and ran thousands of head of livestock until Navajo raids forced him to abandon the grant. After New Mexico became part of Mexico, the Mexican government awarded additional grants in the area.

Transportation
Moriarty lies along busy I-40. NM 333, the former Route 66, parallels I-40 from Moriarty to Albuquerque. NM 41 links Moriarty with Estancia to the south and Santa Fe to the north. NM 55 ties Estancia to Mountainair, and US 60 ties Mountainair, Willard and Encino to Belen.

The Moriarty Airport, with its 7,700-foot runway and 80 hangars, is a reliever facility for Albuquerque International Sunport.

Mountainair, Willard and Encino are on the Belen-cutoff, a major east-west route of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad.

Torrance County operates a fixed-route commuter service, TOGO Transit, to Albuquerque, serving commuters from Mountainair, Willard, Estancia, Moriarty and Edgewood.

1970 Median Age (Census): 28.4
1980 Median Age (Census): 30.0
1990 Median Age (Census): 32.7
2000 Median Age (Census): 34.8

2000 Average Household Size (Census): 2.72

Median Household Income

1989 (Census): $19,619 (65% of the U.S. median)
1999 (Census): $30,446
 

Largest Employers

• Moriarty Public Schools
• Corrections Corporation of America
• Estancia Public Schools
• Rip Griffin Truck Service
• National Projects
• Torrance County