New Mexico

New Mexico (Spanish: Nuevo México [ˈnweβo ˈmexiko]; Navajo: Yootó Hahoodzo [jo:tó haho:dzo]) is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It was admitted to the union as the 47th state on January 6, 1912. It is usually considered one of the Mountain States. New Mexico is the fifth-most extensive, the 36th-most populous, and the sixth-least densely populated of the 50 United States.

Inhabited by indigenous peoples of the Americas for many centuries before European exploration, New Mexico was subsequently part of the Imperial Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain. Later, it was part of Mexico before becoming a U.S. territory and eventually a U.S. state. Among U.S. states, New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanics, including descendants of Spanish colonists who have lived in the area for more than 400 years. It also has the second-highest percentage of Native Americans after Alaska, and the fourth-highest total number of Native Americans after California, Oklahoma, and Arizona. The nations in the state consist of mostly Navajo, Pueblo, and Apache peoples. As a result, the demographics and culture of the state are unique for their strong Hispanic and Native American influences, both of which are reflected in the state flag. The scarlet and gold colors of the New Mexico flag are taken from the royal standards of Spain, along with the ancient sun symbol of the Zia, a Pueblo-related tribe.

U.S. Route 66 in New Mexico

The historic U.S. Route 66 (US 66, Route 66) ran east–west across the central part of the state of New Mexico, along the path now taken by Interstate 40 (I-40). However, until 1937, it took a longer route via Los Lunas, Albuquerque, and Santa Fe, now roughly New Mexico State Road 6 (NM 6), I-25, and US 84. Large portions of the old road parallel to I-40 have been designated NM 118, NM 122, NM 124, NM 333, three separate loops of I-40 Business, and state-maintained frontage roads.

It is one of the roads on the Trails of the Ancients Byway, one of the designated New Mexico Scenic Byways.

History

Route 66 in New Mexico was marked over portions of two auto trails — the National Old Trails Road from Arizona via Albuquerque and Santa Fe to just shy of Las Vegas, and one of the main routes of the Ozark Trails network from that point into Texas. The state had taken over maintenance of these roads under several numbers: NM 6 from Arizona to Los Lunas, part of NM 1 through Albuquerque and Santa Fe to near Las Vegas, NM 56 to Santa Rosa, the short NM 104 to Cuervo, and part of NM 3 to Texas. While NM 56 and NM 104 were completely absorbed by US 66, NM 6 was reassigned to a route splitting from US 66 (old NM 6) at Laguna and heading straight east through Albuquerque, Moriarty, and Palma to US 66 at Santa Rosa. Except between Albuquerque and Moriarty, where it formed part of US 470, this was an unimproved road.

New Mexico State Road 14

New Mexico State Road 14 (NM 14) is a 54-mile-long (87 km) state road located in northern New Mexico. The highway connects Albuquerque to Santa Fe and comprises most of the Turquoise Trail, a National Scenic Byway which also includes NM 536 (Sandia Crest Scenic Byway).

Route description

NM 14 begins at the intersection with NM 333 in Tijeras, which is also the center of the Tijeras interchange along Interstate 40 (I-40). NM 14 heads north through Bernalillo County, passing through the community of Cedar Crest, to San Antonito, where it intersects NM 536.

The highway continues northeast and briefly cuts through Sandoval County by entering from the south and leaving from the east. Now in Santa Fe County, NM 14 turns to the north. It intersects NM 344 west of Oro Quay Peak, both of which are located south of the ghost town of Golden.

History

State Road 10 (NM 10) had been established before 1927 between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. By 1927, part of NM 10 was replaced by US 470 from Tijeras to Albuquerque, but the northern terminus remained at US 85 in Santa Fe. By 1930, the end of NM 10 was at US 66. In 1935, NM 10 was extended south to NM 15 near Tajique. NM 15 was later absorbed into a further southern extension of NM 10 to US 54 in Carrizozo. By 1949, this highway was mostly paved.

Tucumcari, New Mexico

Tucumcari is a city in and the county seat of Quay County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 5,363 at the 2010 census. Tucumcari was founded in 1901, two years before Quay County was founded.

History

In 1901, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad built a construction camp in the western portion of modern-day Quay County. Originally called Ragtown, the camp became known as Six Shooter Siding, due to numerous gunfights. Its first formal name, Douglas, was used only for a short time. After it grew into a permanent settlement, it was renamed Tucumcari in 1908. The name was taken from Tucumcari Mountain, which is situated near the community. Where the mountain got its name is uncertain. It may have come from the Comanche word tʉkamʉkarʉ, which means 'ambush'. A 1777 burial record mentions a Comanche woman and her child captured in a battle at Cuchuncari, which is believed to be an early version of the name Tucumcari.

In December 1951, a water storage tank collapsed in the city. Four were killed and numerous buildings were destroyed.

New Mexico wine

New Mexico has a long history of wine production in the United States. In 1629, Franciscan friar García de Zúñiga and a Capuchín monk named Antonio de Arteaga planted the first wine grapes in the Río Grande valley of southern New Mexico. Viticulture took hold in the valley, and by the year 1880, grapes were grown on over 3,000 acres (12 km²), and wineries produced over 1,000,000 US gallons (3,800,000 L) of wine. The editor of the Socorro bulletin predicted in 1880 that "We see in the present attention given to grape culture, an important and growing industry which, in a few years, will assume proportions of no ordinary nature."

The wine industry in New Mexico declined in the latter decades of the nineteenth century in part due to flooding of the Río Grande. Prohibition in the United States forced many wineries to close, while others remained operational providing sacramental wine to primarily Catholic as well as other Christian churches. The modern New Mexico wine industry received significant support in 1978 when a government-sponsored study encouraged winegrowers to plant French hybrid grape varieties.

New Mexico (film)

New Mexico is a 1951 American western film directed by Irving Reis, starring Lew Ayres and shot in Ansco Color.

Plot

Abraham Lincoln himself comes to New Mexico to discuss living together in peace with Acoma, a feared and respective Indian chief. He presents the chief with a cane as a gift and symbol of their friendship.

Lt. Hunt is promoted due to his personal assistance to Lincoln in arranging the truce. Unhappily, a bigoted superior officer, Col. McComb, and the dastardly Judge Wilcox are opposed to any such treaty, and when Hunt states his objection, McComb has him placed under arrest alongside Acoma and a number of Indian braves, also breaking the cane.

Other members of the tribe break them out of jail, killing McComb and others in the process. Hunt takes command and cancels all travel in the region, angering a woman named Cherry who is planning a trip to Nevada. She arrogantly elects to leave anyway, as does Judge Wilcox, so a company of men led by Hunt goes along as escorts.

The Deadly Companions

The Deadly Companions is a 1961 American Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring Maureen O'Hara, Brian Keith, Steve Cochran, and Chill Wills. Based on the novel of the same name by A. S. Fleischman, the film is about an ex-army officer who accidentally kills a woman's son, and tries to make up for it by escorting the funeral procession through dangerous Indian territory.The Deadly Companions was Sam Peckinpah's motion picture directorial debut.

Plot

After her young son is killed in a bank robbery, Kit Tilden (Maureen O'Hara) is determined to bury him beside his father in Siringo, now deserted and located in Apache territory. Yellowleg (Brian Keith), the ex-army sergeant who accidentally killed her son, decides to help take the body across the desert to be buried, whether Kit wants help or not.

Cast

Production

After the cancellation of his 1960 television series The Westerner, Brian Keith was cast as the male lead in The Deadly Companions. He suggested Sam Peckinpah (the producer and director of The Westerner) as the director for this film, and producer Charles B. Fitzsimons accepted the idea. By most accounts, the low-budget film shot on location in Arizona was a learning process for Peckinpah. Unable to rewrite the screenplay or edit the picture, Peckinpah vowed to never again direct a film unless he had script control. The Deadly Companions passed largely without notice and is the least known of Peckinpah's films.