Otermín placed Fray Cristóbal 60 leagues from Santa Fé, 32 leagues from Robledo, which he gave as the beginning of the dry jornada, and seven from La Cruz de Anaya (Hackett and Shelby 1942:II, 202;II, 365;II.397). Vargas reached Fray Cristóbal traveling north on August 30, 1692. He noted that…
On 24 May 1598, the Oñate expedition traveled four leagues north of the Paraje del Perrillo without any water. They finally came to some small pools next to Piedras de Afilar where they drank and rested. They took their horses to the river, more than six leagues off to…
On May 23, 1598 the Oñate expedition traveled about four leagues, doing poorly because of the lack of water. They were traveling five or six leagues east of the Río Grande. After one of their dogs returned with muddy paws, they searched for some water holes. Captain Gaspar Pérez…
by Richard Flint and Shirley Cushing Flint The ruins of the pueblo of Cicuique, now known as Pecos Pueblo, are located on a small rock outcrop eighteen miles southeast of Santa Fe in the Pecos River Valley. The site was designated a New Mexico State Monument in 1935 and…
by Richard Flint and Shirley Cushing Flint The word "Cíbola" made its appearance for the first time in writing as a New Mexico place name in September 1539. On the second day of that month the Franciscan friar Marcos de Niza presented to Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza the written…
by Richard Flint and Shirley Cushing Flint Making the gentle climb east out of Ft. Sumner, New Mexico on US Highway 60, one hardly notices that somewhere just beyond Tolar one has gained the top of an extensive tableland known today as the Llano Estacado. It is not until…
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…
