Category: Albuquerque & New Mexico

New Mexico dumped Arizona 152 years ago today when the Arizona Territory was established. (Since 1850 New Mexico Territory had included both present-day states.)

In March 1861, following conventions in Mesilla and Tucson, the southern portion of New Mexico Territory declared its withdrawal from the Union. The Confederate congress approved and CSA President Davis proclaimed the action February 14, 1862. While all this had no legal force in the United States, it probably did influence the decision in Washington to create Arizona Territory. Congress passed a bill and President Lincoln signed it into law February 24, 1863.

The Confederate Arizona Territory consisted of the bottom half of both present-day states (dividing the two at 34ºN, just south of Socorro and Prescott). The U.S. Arizona Territory set the division along the north-south border we have today (dividing at 109º 2′ 59.25″ W).

Too bad. With the Confederate division New Mexico would have been the Grand Canyon State and Arizona would have had the Deming Duck Race.

The capital of the Confederate Arizona Territory was in Mesilla (near present-day Las Cruces). The first territorial capital of Arizona was Prescott.

Seven years ago, driving along Tramway across Sandia Pueblo, I was reminded of one of the best things about living in Albuquerque. I began to think, NewMexiKen you can live anywhere, why do you stay here?

There are a lot of ways to answer a question like that. One way is to make a list.

These aren’t the only reasons, and they aren’t in any particular order, but these are ten that came to mind.

1. The weather, except sometimes in March and April. Four seasons, all of them distinct, none of them oppressive, or too long. And September and October — amazing!
2. The food, red and green — and sopapillas with honey.
3. The Rio Grande, though we fail to do anything with it. A historic river — third longest in America — how about a river walk with cafes and shops (tastefully and environmentally correct, of course)?
4. The Plaza. Not as historic as Santa Fe, or even Taos. Still it’s always inviting and often filled with people celebrating a wedding at San Felipe de Neri. In other words, while a tourist attraction, it’s still “our” plaza.
5. Santa Fe, Taos, Chaco Culture, Pecos, Valles Caldera and more, world-class tourist venues that are day trips for us.
6. The sky, whether bluer than blue, or lit dramatically by sun or twilight, or with clouds, white or dark. Our sky is always something to behold, most gloriously at sunrise over the mountains and sunset over the volcanoes.
7. The pueblos nearby with their cultures, feasts and dances.
8. The Sandia mountains right here, rising a mile right above us (and the tram).
9. The diversity of people. It’s a community without a majority population.
10. The Indian land north and south of the city, the National Forest land (and wilderness) east of it. If it weren’t for the permanently undeveloped land that surrounds so much of Albuquerque, I fear it all would look like Phoenix.

And a few more.

• The Buckhorn, The Owl and Los Ojos, the funkiest saloons with the best green chile cheeseburgers anywhere.
• The Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge and the Festival of the Cranes.
• The Sunport.
• Living, as I do, at 6,000 feet above sea level.

And one visual aid.

New Mexico Magazine had this item for May 19th. It took place in 1893.

Clandestine leader Vicente Silva kills his wife north of Las Vegas and hires five henchmen to dispose of her body. Dissatisfied with the paltry $10 payment each, they also rob and kill Silva. Two years pass until the Silva deaths are known. Silva ran a prosperous business by day and at night he was the leader of a feared outlaw gang.

The Rio Grande Cottonwood, a welcome sight to pioneer desert caravans because it often signaled water, typically reaches 50 to 60 feet in height, with a trunk of three feet in diameter. Some of the grand old cottonwoods in the Rio Grande Valley have reached 90 feet in height, with trunks five feet across. In open areas, the tree may divide into branches near its base, producing a spreading crown. . . .

The Rio Grande Cottonwood reproduces by seeding, unlike many other flood-plain trees which regenerate by sprouting. It flowers in the spring, before it leafs out. It releases its seeds, each carried by downy white tuft, or “parachute,” in anticipation of traditional spring floods and winds, the principal mechanisms for dispersion. A mature Rio Grande Cottonwood can produce as many as 25 million seeds in a season, covering wide areas with a blanket of “cotton.”

Rio Grande Cottonwood – DesertUSA

11 things New Mexicans Have to Deal With that No One Else Has To

1. No, Albuquerque is not as hot as Phoenix, Las Vegas or Tucson. Last year the temperature rose to 100º F or more just twice. Not at all in some years. The temperature goes above 100º in Phoenix more than one hundred days a year.

2. Yes, Albuquerque is just as high above sea level as Denver. In fact, parts of Albuquerque are higher than any part of Denver. The altitude in Denver ranges from 5,130 to 5,470 feet above sea level. The altitude in Albuquerque ranges from 4,946 to 6,120 feet above sea level. Albuquerque has the highest altitude of any of the 50 largest cities.

It was 153 years ago today (1861) that Congress organized the Territory of Colorado and stole the Rio Grande headwaters, the San Luis Valley, nine fourteeners, a national park and a big chunk of plains from New Mexico. Colorado was given that part of New Mexico east of the Continental Divide between 37º (the current state line) and 38º (69 miles further north).

In the House version of the bill, the new territory was called Idaho. The Senate changed it to Colorado.

The good news is, two years later, New Mexico Territory gave up what is now Arizona.

So, lose some, win some.

Here’s an 1857 map of New Mexico.