San Luis Valley and Great Sand Dunes National Monument

The San Luis Valley is said to be the largest mountain valley in the world. It runs north-south for 125 miles between the San Juan and Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ) mountain ranges in south central Colorado. Both of these ranges have numerous peaks above 14,000 feet (4300m).

Just south of Poncha Pass, the narrower northern end of the San Luis Valley is an extraordinarily picturesque landscape — even this week without snow on the mountains. Further south the distance between the ranges widens to 65 miles and the Valley becomes broad and flat — and less picturesque. The altitude of the Valley averages near 7,500 feet.

The Rio Grande del Norte rises in the San Juan Mountains and flows generally eastward into the San Luis Valley. East of Alamosa the “Great River of the North” bends south toward New Mexico. Through centuries the river deposited sand and silt from the San Juan Mountains along its meandering, changing course across the Valley. The prevailing wind blew these deposits eastward toward the Sangre de Cristos, where they were trapped at the foot of the mountains. Today the resulting sand pile is known as the Great Sand Dunes National Monument and Preserve.

The dunes tower as high as 750 feet (230m) and cover nearly 40 square miles. They are the tallest dunes in North America. Sufficient rain and snow fall to keep the dunes stable, though the surface dries quickly and the winds sculpt and restructure the surface continuously. Here the expression “leave nothing but footprints” has little meaning as footprints will soon be gone.

Hiking in the dunes is encouraged (with the usual caveats about heat, water, lightning and not getting lost). Showers and changing rooms are provided near the parking lot — just as at a beach. Walking across the broad, sandy space between the parking lot and the first dunes and then up into the dunes I was surprised by the amount of sand stowing away in my socks and shoes. The sand makes walking more strenuous than on more solid surfaces. It also makes sliding and rolling appealing.

The Sangre de Cristos loom more than a mile above the dunes, curving around them from the north to the southeast. The Valley land to the west is being acquired by the National Park Service to prevent the mining of ground water from under the dunes. Once the acquisition is complete, the Monument will be come the 57th National Park. (See report on the legislation.)

Lileks fantasizes about the next discount store

“For all its kitschy faux-50s facades, it’s strictly modern underneath. There’s a headset jack in the shopping cart. Six channels. The cafe – which has a big aquarium filled with goldfish – is WiFi equipped, and branded like a mini foodcourt. Hebrew National Hot Dogs, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, a local pizzeria for local color, and some really old-style coffee name for kicks: BUTTER-NUT. Or MAXWELL HOUSE.”

Read the whole column.

More on presidents

The standard deviation exceeds 1.0 for five of the presidents ranked below — Clinton, Wilson, Reagan, Nixon and Lyndon Johnson. This indicates there was more disagreement over rating these than the others. There was the least disagreement over Washington’s rating.

Opinions — everybody has them

The web site Right Wing News has been polling bloggers, “right-of-center” bloggers and “left-of-center” bloggers on the greatest and worst figures of the 20th Century, American History, etc. It appears only a few of the queried bloggers responded each time, but here are the top five from some of the lists. See if you can figure out what the list is and who was polled. The number in parentheses is the number who voted for that individual.

5) Ben Franklin (28)
4) Abe Lincoln (31)
3) George Washington (35)
1) Ronald Reagan (36)
1) Thomas Jefferson (36)

5) Henry Ford (13)
3) Margaret Thatcher (16)
3) Albert Einstein (16)
2) Ronald Reagan (21)
1) Winston Churchill (26)

5) Winston Churchill (13)
4) Nelson Mandela (14)
3) Albert Einstein (15)
1) Franklin Roosevelt (20)
1) Martin Luther King Jr. (20)

3) Timothy McVeigh (16)
3) Nathan Bedford Forrest (16)
3) J. Edgar Hoover (16)
2) Richard Nixon (25)
1) Joseph McCarthy (26)

All the polls are here.

TMQ on women in college football

Near the end of this week’s column the Tuesday Morning Quarterback discusses Katie Hnida, University of New Mexico kicker who made two PATs in last week’s 72-8 blowout of Texas State-San Marcos. TMQ has some provocative arguments, including: “Fourth and finally, under the college Title IX criteria, football is classed as a men’s sport which must, in almost every case, be balanced by the school sponsoring a women’s sport. Scatter a few stunt-category women around the nation’s collegiate football teams, and some smart athletic director will assert that football is no longer a ‘men’s’ sport that must be balanced by a women’s sport. Mark TMQ’s words.”

Just imagine — what if this site were TexiKen?

From independence (1836) through annexation by the United States (1845), Texas claimed the Rio Grande as its southern and western boundary. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 confirmed the Rio Grande as the border between Mexico and the United States from the Gulf of Mexico to the 32nd parallel (just above El Paso). Texas insisted its boundary continued further along the river however, to its source in Colorado and from there north to the 42nd parallel. That is, Texas claimed 2/3rds of New Mexico including Santa Fe, much of southern and central Colorado, part of Wyoming, southwestern Kansas and the Oklahoma panhandle. See map.

As part of the Compromise of 1850 the boundaries of Texas were established as we know them (poor surveying and meandering rivers not withstanding), Texas received $10 million in compensation applied toward its debt (roughly $200 million today), and the Territories of New Mexico and Utah were established.

Speaking of boundaries

(SANTA FE, March 14, 2003) — New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands Patrick H. Lyons accepts Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson’s challenge to a duel on the New Mexico-Texas border.

“Anytime, anywhere,” said Lyons. “We’ll settle this once and for all, ’cause I never miss a shot.”

Lyons is referring to a 144-year-old land dispute involving a 3-mile wide, 320-mile long strip of land along the west Texas border that technically belongs to New Mexico. An inaccurate survey by John H. Clark in 1859 granted the land to Texas … and New Mexico has been trying to get it back since the first state legislature convened in 1912.

As recently as 1995, the New Mexico Legislature approved $100,000 in the General Appropriation Act for the attorney general “to enter into negotiations or litigation with both the state of Texas and the United States congress to reestablish and remark the proper boundary between Texas and New Mexico at its proper 103 meridian west.”

The attorney general was also authorized to negotiate a monetary settlement in lieu of the reestablishment of the boundary, if necessary. The governor vetoed the appropriation.

The time and place of the duel has yet to be determined. Assistant Commissioner Jerry King will serve as Lyons’ second.

The Arkansas River


The photo was taken about midway between Leadville and Buena Vista, Colorado. The river is the Arkansas. From 1819 until 1848, the southern bank of the Arkansas River was the boundary between the United States and Mexico from near present Dodge City, Kansas (100th Meridian), to the river’s source near Leadville. The photo was taken from the Mexican side looking across to the United States.

From the source of the Arkansas (in the mountains near Leadville) the boundary ran directly north to the 42nd Parallel (just north of today’s Interstate 80 in Wyoming); then west to the Pacific Ocean. Prior to the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819, the United States claimed the Rio Grande as the southern border of the Louisiana Purchase. This was consistent with what the French believed they sold in 1803, but not practicable as the 1819 compromise confirmed.

At 1,460 miles, the Arkansas is the fourth longest river in the United States after the Missouri, Mississippi and Rio Grande. It passes through Tulsa and Little Rock and empties into the Mississippi between Memphis and Vicksburg.

New piano player at Tabor Opera House

NewMexiKen was the first visitor of the day at the Tabor Opera House in Leadville, Colorado, Tuesday morning (about 10:30). As such, he accompanied 4½-month-old Mia and her friendly and attractive mother as they turned on the lights in the auditorium and on stage. Mia’s mother was happy to have someone along and even happier to see that the piano used in Sunday’s production of “Baby Doe” had been removed. One previous time she told me, when her colleague was locking up, the colleague heard the piano playing on stage. Thinking she was about to lock some unsuspecting tourist in the building, the curator returned to the auditorium. As soon as she switched on the lights the playing stopped — and no one was there.

Evelyn Furman, who has owned and operated the Tabor Opera House since 1955 (that’s 48 years!), remains active. She wasn’t present Tuesday morning but she had been there over the weekend to celebrate her 90th birthday. To quote the previous posting about Ms. Furman, written in 1997, “This lady was delightful…. After I bought 50 cents worth of postcards she kept hustling me for other 25 cent items. When she said something about getting too old, I mentioned my grandmother living to 95 and she lit up and said she guessed she had time for lots more stuff then. What a pleasure to see anyone, of any age, so totally absorbed in loving life and what they were doing.”

Mia’s mother is from Costa Rica and has been in Colorado just three years where she met and married Mia’s father. She didn’t think much of Leadville’s winters — “too long.” And too many ghosts.

The Top Ten Reasons to read NewMexiKen every day

By Lee

#10 So far no terrorist threats to blogs.
#9 Two words: Cutting Edge.
#8 It’s cheaper than subscribing to USA Today.
#7 No big-hair weather bimbos.
#6 It’s the blog by the blogger that got all us bloggers blogging.
#5 A fair and balanced approach to blogging.
#4 Links to all the news that’s fit to blog.
#3 A real shot in the arm to the New Mexico Tourism agency.
#2 He’s family.
And the number one reason to read NewMexiKen every day:
It will make it easier for Ashcroft to keep track of you.

Teddy Ballgame

Ted Williams is 85 today. He’s planning to spend the day hanging out and just chillin’.

Not counting games when he only pinch hit (i.e., only one at bat), there were just eight instances in Williams’s career that he went consecutive games without getting on base — seven times he failed to get on for two games, once it was for three.

Oops!

“An out-of-court settlement has been reached in the case of a North Texas man who woke up from bladder surgery only to find that doctors had amputated his penis without permission….” Yahoo! News

“Moonlight” Graham

Those who have seen Field of Dreams or read the book on which it was based, Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella, will remember the character “Moonlight” Graham, played by Burt Lancaster in the film. Archibald Wright Graham (1876-1965) was an actual player, and a doctor.

Graham played in one game for the New York Giants in June 1905; in the movie it was the last game of the season in 1929. Graham played two innings in the field but never batted in the major leagues; he was on deck when his one game ended.