By Juan Estevan Arellano With the colonization of the Americas by Spanish settlers, New Mexico was introduced to new peoples including assorted Europeans, Tlaxcalteca Indians and mestizos from Nueva España or Mexico. In addition, New Mexico saw the introduction of different fruits and vegetables never before seen in this…
By Estevan Arellano In terms of water, Ibn Bassal, writing in 1075, identified four sources of water: 1) water from rivers that is then channeled into a network of acequias, 2) water from norias, anora in Arabic, or wells, 3) spring water and 4) rainfall. And the “water way”…
Hon. Benjamin Franklin Pankey, state senator and ranchman, whose efforts along political as well as business lines have been an element in the progress, prosperity, and up building of the new State, was born in Harrisburg, Illinois, in 1861. He comes of French ancestry and his parents were William…
By J. Mark Sublette Farming in this high desert climate was always a challenge. Shortly after founding Santa Fe in 1610, the Spanish built an irrigation canal above the River, parallel to Canyon Road. Still in use, this Acequia Madre, or "mother ditch," brought precious water out of the…
By José A. Rivera, University of New Mexico and Thomas F. Glick, Boston University The American Southwest encompasses a vast territory rich in natural and mineral resources but short on water supply. When Spanish conquistadores first entered the region, known to them as Nueva España, they immediately realized that…
5 16 1894 by Michael Ann Sullivan Fabiola Cabeza de Baca was born 16 May 1894 in Las Vegas, New Mexico to Graciano Cabeza de Baca and Indalecia Delgado. The Cabeza de Bacas trace their ancestry back to Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca who explored New Mexico in the…
By Linda Tigges Immigrants from the Basque country that lies between France and Spain have come to New Mexico in a tradition that extends at least as far back as Onate in the 1600s and Anza in the 1700s. Two Basque settlers who arrived in the United States around…
Lower Pecos Valley, outside Carlsbad Carlsbad Irrigation Project Carlsbad Irrigation District Carlsbad Vicinity, Eddy County National Register of Historic Places, SRCP #408 Statehood period of significance: c.1890-1912 Associated themes: Agriculture; Irrigation; Federal Government Images: 1) color image of Pecos River Flume, HPD files Developed before and after statehood, the…
By Rick Hendricks Ohio native Thomas Casad arrived in southern New Mexico around Christmastime in the year 1874. He and his wife, Sarah Van Winkle Casad, and their numerous children settled in Mesilla. In a very short time Thomas's fellow mesilleros recognized him as one of the leading…
By Denise Holladay Damico The Albuquerque Land and Irrigation Company, incorporated on December 31, 1897, and dissolved in 1921, was only one of many irrigation corporations which sprang up in New Mexico Territory in the 1880s and 1890s. Like most of the others, this company’s leaders had grandiose schemes…
