Our ancestors…came from the north, some say Mesa Verde, and moved south and occupied the villages of Potsuwi, Sankewi, and Otowi in the high mountains of the Pajarito Plateau. Later, because of drought, they moved into the Rio Grande valley. Our ancestors were living about a mile south of…
The first settlement here was called Santa Clara by cattlemen seeking new grazing land around 1850. There is also Santa Clara Springs, an important water source, on Santa Clara Hill just to the northwest but it is impossible to know which was named first; several buildings in Wagon Mound…
According to T.M. Pearce, one of the better explanations comes from Elliott Canonge, an Oklahoma linguist, who opines that “the name is Comanche tukamukaru, ‘to lie in wait for someone or something to approach.’ According to Felix Kowena, his Comanche informant, this particular mountain was frequently used as a…
Anglo settlers were less discreet in negotiating with the Apache and their occupation of the valley in 1869 ignited an already explosive situation with the Apaches. Among the first Anglo settlers were William M. Milby and John M. Bullard, but within a year many more settlers had come to…
SOCORRO (Socorro; settlement, county seat; on US 60-85 and I-25, 72 miles south of Albuquerque on the Rio Grande; Post Office 1852-present). On June 4, 1598, Juan de Oñate gave the Spanish name Socorro, meaning "aid, help," to the Piro pueblo of Teypana, in the vicinity of the present…
"In New Mexico we have only the most rigorously necessary things for our existence, as bread and meat. There are no factories of any kind here. The majority of the inhabitants raise sheep and cattle and horses, but they get very little profit out of it. It may be…
Following the conquest of the Southwest by the United States, Archbishop Lamy became the first bishop of Santa Fe. When he arrived in the early 1850s, he found only nine priests in New Mexico. He proceeded to bring a large number of priests from France and other European countries….
On October 5, 1712, Juan Ignacio Flores Mogollon, who had been commissioned by Felipe V at Madrid, assumed the office of governor of New Mexico. His salary, which had been fixed by the king, was two thousand dollars per annum. Within the first year of the new governor's incumbency,…
In 1705, Admiral Joseph Chacon Medina Salazar y Villasenor, marques de la Penuela, received his appointment from the king. In 1709, a war was waged against the Navajos in retribution for raiding. Following an attack upon Jemez Pueblo, Governor Chacon's war constituted one of the most vigorous campaigns against…
Hidden in the mountains of northern New Mexico lies Blue Lake or Ba Whyea, an ancient sacred site for the Taos Pueblo community. After the US government appropriated Blue Lake and the surrounding area and placed it under the control of the Forest Service, the ensuing battles for Blue…
