Carpenter Mesa is a landform in northeastern New Mexico in San Miguel County, northeast of Tucumcari, along the north bank of the Canadian River where it roughly parallels Highway 104. The name's origin is uncertain. It may relate to Henry Carpenter, who ran a large ranch in the Juan Tomás area of Bernalillo County in the 1880s, or to Frank Carpenter, a California-born cattle raiser recorded in San Miguel County in 1880 with his wife Victoria. Beyond this possible connection to ranching settlement, little else is firmly established.