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…
The term Anasazi came into wide use about 70 years ago. Here is an excerpt from Dr. William Lipe's comments on the subject: "The earliest published reference was by Kidder in the mid-1930s…. J.O. Brew (1946) rails against the use of the term 'Anasazi' on the grounds that a…
