Sally Rooke, Heroine of the Dry Cimarron Flood (1843–1908)

Union County · junction of NM Highway 325 and NM Highway 456 -- Capulin -- west side of Folsom Museum Capulin

On the night of August 27, 1908, while working as a telephone operator, Sally received a call that a wall of water was rushing down the Dry Cimarron River towards Folsom. She perished that stormy night at her switchboard warning of the danger, saving countless lives. Telephone operators across the country contributed 4,334 dimes to honor their colleague with a memorial.

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Marker data: Official Scenic Historic Markers program, New Mexico Historic Preservation Division, Department of Cultural AffairsMarker texts come from the Division’s published marker spreadsheet, reproduced with the Division’s written permission. Where that spreadsheet records a coordinate, the pin is the Division’s own; where it records only a highway and mile marker, an address, a junction or a named place, or where its coordinate contradicts its own highway, mile and county, the pin is ours, resolved on public road and place data and marked approximate.

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