parent group
Mt. Chalchihuitl is the largest known prehistoric turquoise mine in North America, with turquoise artifacts found from the site dating from around 1000 AD. Native miners excavated thousands of tons of waste rock at Mt. Chalchihuitl before Spanish invasion in the 16th century. Archeologists have recovered cultural materials at…
By Rick Hendricks In The El Paso Salt War of 1877, C.L. Sonnichsen, described what he called the Salt Ring as being made up of W.W. Mills, A.J. Fountain, Louis Cardis, and Father Antonio Borrajo, the parish priest of San Elizario, Texas. Sonnichsen went on to describe Father Borrajo…
Cathy Williams or William Cathay? Source: St. Louis Daily Times, January 2, 1876 "My Father was a freeman, but my mother a slave, belonging to William Johnson, a wealthy farmer who lived at the time I was born near Independence, Jackson county, Missouri. While I was a small girl…
Senator Dennis Chavez and J. C. Morgan The moment he clasped the firm handshake and locked eyes with the intense and confident gaze of the stocky, bowlegged Navajo in the three-piece suit, Senator Dennis Chavez sensed that this man was the connection he had been looking for. It was…
By Miguél A. Torrez The years following the 1846 Mexican-American War brought New Mexicans adversity through the loss of land and political exploitation by Anglo Americans. Many struggled to adapt to American ways. For others, it proved extremely challenging. The descendants of Nicolas de Espinosa were a Nuevomexicano family…
By Mark Thompson As the comprehensive bibliography in the Rio Grande Historical Collection of the New Mexico State University Archives shows, the 19th Century Shalam religious colony near Doña Ana is the subject of many fascinating stories. Less often told, perhaps, is the story of litigation involving the…
by Robert Torrez The 1700s were a period of extraordinary change for New Mexico. From the time New Mexico was settled by the Spanish in 1598, the colony was essentially a government-subsidized Franciscan mission for the Pueblo Indians. Following the Pueblo Revolt and Reconquest, the authority of the Church…
By Richard Flint and Shirley Cushing Flint As the modern traveler approaches Zuni Pueblo from the west along State Highway 53, one sees a massive cream-colored mesa as a backdrop for the pueblo itself. This mesa is called Dowa Yalanne, meaning Corn (Dowa) Mountain (Yalanne). The mesa is indicated…
In the Four Corners region of the state, the traditional houses of the Diné (Navajo) dot the landscape. While styles vary across time periods and are influenced by available materials, a hogan almost always opens to the East to greet the sun, and is most commonly a one-room circular…
Although many people believe Vivian Vance to be a native of Albuquerque, Vivian Roberta Jones was actually born in Cherryvale, Kansas. The beloved character, Ethel Mertz, whom Vance played on the I Love Lucy television show, claimed Albuquerque as home and the association stuck. That and her (Vivian Vance’s)…
