Ancient Chaco\' s New History by Stephen H. Lekson Chaco is an arid, barren, sandstone canyon in the middle of nowhere. But a millennium ago, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries A.D., ancient peoples not only survived there, they thrived and created an amazing city. Chaco\'s ruins awe us…
Roswell, Rio Hondo, Van C. Smith By David Kammer Designated in 1873 as Roswell, the name of the father of Van C. Smith, the settlement’s first postmaster, the town began to grow in the 1890s as a result of the discovery of artesian water and the coming of the…
1120 Nambe, which means "People of the Round Earth", is the traditional name for Nambe Pueblo.
The Church of San Geronimo that is currently standing in the Pueblo Plaza is the third manifestation of the original church which was completed in 1619. It was then rebuilt following its destruction first during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 and second during the war with Mexico in…
Isleta Pueblo is located 13 miles south of Albuquerque and has an area of 211,002 acres and a population of over 3,000. The reservation includes the Manzano Mountains and the Rio Grande Valley. Isleta means “Little Island” in Spanish while the pueblo’s traditional Tiwa name is “Tue-I.”…
It is situated 24 miles north of Santa Fe. Kha'p'oo Owinge (Valley of the Wild Roses) is the traditional name for Santa Clara Pueblo. It is situated 24 miles north of Santa Fe. The large Santa Clara Pueblo reservation is home to the historic cliff dwellings of Puye,…
Pojoaque Pueblo Po-suwae-ge, "water drinking or gathering place" is the traditional Tewa name for Pojoaque Pueblo. Pojaque Pueblo was first inhabited as early as 500 AD, but its population reached its peak in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. With the arrival of the Spanish,…
Seventeen miles west of the Texas border, Lovington, the Queen City of the Plains, got its start and soul from the Lone Star state. Like many of his Texas compatriots, Robert Florence Love (1870-1942) first experienced the New Mexico territory during the waning years of open-range ranching, driving cattle…
Farmington Main Street, Farmington By Claudia Smith Farmington is located sixty-one miles southeast of the point where New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah meet, known as the Four Corners region. Long before the first Anglo-American settler arrived in the region, the San Juan Valley was occupied by groups of…
Juan Candelaria recalled Los Padillas being settled in 1710 (Armijo 1929:280-281). It appeared in the 1802 census (Olmsted 1981:142-143). Wislizenus mentioned this as a hacienda south of Alburquerque on 19 July 1846. He was on the east side of the Río Grande, and noted that the more verdant west…
