New Mexico Cliff Dwellings |
New Mexico was one of my
late husband’s favorite vacation spots. Every time he visited he found
surprising new worlds to explore for personal enjoyment and research. Such a
rich depth of varied cultures can be discovered embedded in this southwestern
state, America’s 47th.
Prehistoric Indians date
from as early as 25,000 B.C. when the Sandia people left the earliest evidence
of human existence. The phenomenal Anasazi basket makers and weavers existed circa 1 A.D. to 1300. The Pueblo
Indian villages dotted the Rio Grande region during the 1200s
to 1500s. Then there are the nomadic Indians, the Spanish and Mexicans. The traders and
cowboys. The prospectors and frontier military.
New Mexico Taos Pueblo Indians |
The railroad era started
full-scale trade and migration from east to mid-west in 1878. Prospectors plied their luck and enticed big mining interests. Homesteaders and their stories vied with infamous outlaws. Farmers at one time were the mainstay and much later alongside came the
atomic energy and computer chip industries. The world’s first atomic bomb
detonated in 1945 in southern New Mexico after development at Los Alamos.
New Mexico Native American Pottery |
After WWII trickles and then swarms of artists
brought art from around the globe for the benefit of locals and the growing,
huge tourist trade.
In some places, there are
only a few blocks separating the culture segments providing rich specimens of
artifacts and a wide scope of archaeology. Another spot in the world that
possesses similar layers of different cultures stacked one upon the other is in
Rome, Italy.
The capital city,
Albuquerque, was founded in 1706 with eighteen families but not incorporated
until 1891. The economic base has been in constant flux. From agriculture to
transportation, From healthcare to technology.
Before the railroad in
1880, sheepherders ruled. When mining made it a boom
town with its saloons as
well as a horse-drawn streetcar system, immigrants of all descents landed in
droves. The main groups included Pueblo Indians, Hispanics, Europeans, African
Americans and Chinese. The climate especially drew them. Albuquerque provided a
dry, sun-filled refuge touted by many as healing. At one time many of its citizens
included those suffering with tuberculosis and other respiratory problems and
their caregivers. A dozen sanitariums were established.
New Mexico Nuclear Waste |
In the 1920s, Albuquerque
was a transcontinental air route stop. Route 66 brought transcontinental
motorists through the city. A rural and urban mix congregate here in a
cacophony of languages, races, and proud family histories.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Janet Chester Bly |
Janet Chester Bly authored 31 nonfiction and fiction books, 19
she co-authored with Christy Award winning western author Stephen Bly. Titles
include The Hidden West Series, The Carson City Chronicles, Hope Lives Here,
and The Heart of a Runaway. She resides at 4200 ft. elev. on the Idaho Nez Perce
Indian Reservation in north-central Idaho. Find at more at website:
www.BlyBooks.com
Stephen Bly’s Cowboy For A
Rainy Afternoon took place in Albuquerque in 1954. The whole story spans one
afternoon. On that day, a ten-year-old boy goes with his grandfather to an old
hotel to visit five old cowboy friends. They play cribbage in the lobby and
talk about the old days. The eldest of the crew was born during the Civil War.
All of them rode the range from the late 1880s until the 1940s. They tell first-hand
stories of what the West was truly like. Meanwhile, a drama unfolds that
propels the old men and the lad to make one last cowboy stand.
Find it here eBook or Hardback: http://www.blybooks.com/books/western-cowboy-novel/
“For me," Stephen Bly once write, "history is not
the story of grand ideas, or
broad sweeps describing movements, events or
social progress. History is the story of individual people. Not all are famous,
but all do help define who we are today, and why we think and act the way we
do.”
Cowboy For A Rainy Afternoon |
We traveled through New Mexico last August and stopped in Taos, but it was so busy with a festival so we didn't stay long. I had planned a visit to the
ReplyDeleteTaos Pueblo but didn't make it on that visit. Something else for my bucket list. sm wileygreen1(at)yahoo(dot)com