Evelina Zuni Lucero (Isleta Pueblo) writes about the influence and importance of writer and poet Simon Ortiz (Acoma Pueblo). By Evelina Zuni Lucero Summer 1978. I was a young journalist, in love with words, thriving on deadlines and adrenaline rushes, disbelieving that I actually got paid to meet and…
Just as dawn was breaking one August day in 1824, three horsemen, who spearheaded a long wagon train, reined in under an enormous cottonwood tree. They gazed up at the purplish peaks of what is now Mt. Franklin. From the heights on the northeastern side of the middle peak,…
Home to a large military presence engaged in top-secret projects, it’s perhaps not surprising that New Mexico has a reputation as a spawning ground for conspiracy theories and news of the weird. Among the most famous of these are the unproven claims of Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) sightings and…
By Don J. Usner Two hundred years ago, Gervacio Ortega, my fourth great-grandfather, returned to Chimayó from a trip out to the eastern plains to hunt bison, only to find that his father, Manuel Ortega, had died in his absence. Furthermore, Gervacio’s stepmother had claimed Manuel’s property for herself…
Following the conquest of the Southwest by the United States, Archbishop Lamy became the first bishop of Santa Fe. When he arrived in the early 1850s, he found only nine priests in New Mexico. He proceeded to bring a large number of priests from France and other European countries….
La Llorona "The Weeping Woman" By Joe Hayes This is a story that the old ones have been telling to children for hundreds of years. It is a sad tale, but it lives strong in the memories of the people, and there are many who swear that it is…
Farming for Feathers By John P. Wilson Las Cruces, NM If it had been called “ranching,” there would be shelves of books about it. But because it was considered agricultural, ostrich farming is now nearly forgotten. We’re referring to the rosy prospects that Arizona farmers saw in raising…
By John P. Wilson Las Cruces, NM In 1851 it cost only three cents per half-ounce to send a letter up to 3,000 miles. Twelve years later the same three cents carried this letter anywhere in the U.S. While first-class letter rates have increased sixteen-fold since then, a recent…
It was in 1881 that the small town of Alamitos started its upward trend. During this year the railroad was built through this place, and since Alamitos was about midway between Albuquerque and Gallup the railroad company decided upon Alamitos as their coaling-station, which led to the building of…
Doña Tomasa, the Witch Nurse Margarita was very sick and in pain enough to die. Her baby would not come. For two days Quiteria, the partera, had been wringing her hands and weeping. She had done all she knew to do. Narciso, Margarita’s husband, haggard and worried, stood by…
