In the late 1820s, Simeon Turley established on the Rio Hondo a major home, trading post, mill, and distillery that became a manufacturing hub and busy stop in northern New Mexico, tied to Santa Fe Trail commerce and wider routes into Colorado and the Texas Panhandle. Powered by a stone dam and supported by workers in several trades, the complex produced flour, meal, and the whiskey later known as Taos Lightning, helping make Turley one of the richest men in New Mexico. Its success ended in the Taos Revolt, when about 500 Mexicans and Taos Puebloans destroyed it on January 21, 1847, and killed Turley.