New Mexico Trivia & Tidbits - Page 17

Looking for New Mexico trivia? Try our list New Mexico little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

The town of Portales (pop. 11,131) gets its name from the Spanish word for porch—portales. At nearby Portales Springs, fresh water flows from caves similar in shape to the porches in front of adobes, giving the community its name.

first appeared: 5/26/2002

New Mexico’s state insect is the tarantula hawk wasp, which preys on tarantulas to feed its young. The wasp was named the state’s insect in 1989.

first appeared: 5/19/2002

Truth or Consequences (pop. 7,289) has built a museum in honor of one of the area’s many visitors drawn to the area by its abundant hot pools. Geronimo Springs Museum is named after the Apache leader, who used the pools as a gathering place for his men. The museum features displays of relics and artifacts from U.S. Army forts and mining camps, as well as a large collection of Mimbres pottery.

first appeared: 5/12/2002

A dam on the Jemez River was created by nature, not man. Soda Dam near Jemez Springs (pop. 375) was formed by minerals deposited by a hot springs feeding into the river. The resulting 300-foot wall crosses most of the canyon, with the river making its way through a hole in the mineral deposit.

first appeared: 5/5/2002

The first archaeological evidence of one of America’s earliest inhabitants was found at Clovis (pop. 32,667). Artifacts of the Clovis people, believed to be the first widespread group of humans to inhabit the New World, were discovered here in 1932. Some of those artifacts, including unique, fluted spear points used to hunt game such as wooly mammoths about 11,000 years ago, are on display at the Blackwater Draw Museum near Clovis.

first appeared: 4/28/2002

A handshake by Stephen Elkins is blamed for costing New Mexico statehood in the 1870s. Elkins, the New Mexico Territory’s delegate to Congress, missed the beginning of a 1876 speech by a colleague in favor of guaranteeing civil rights for freed slaves. When Elkins entered the House at the end of the speech, unaware of its content, he stepped up to congratulate his fellow delegate. Some Southern congressmen, angered by the speech, refused to vote for New Mexico statehood. The territory became a state 36 years later in 1912.

first appeared: 4/21/2002

A broken wagon wheel helped send Taos (pop. 4,700) on the road to becoming an artist colony. Artists Bert Phillips and Ernest Blumenschein were heading to Mexico in 1898 when they stopped in Taos to get a broken wagon wheel fixed. By the time the wheel was fixed, the two had fallen in love with Taos and decided to stay. They were the first in a long line of artists who immigrated to Taos, including painter Georgia O’Keefe and photographer Ansel Adams.

first appeared: 4/14/2002

The All American Futurity horse race held each September in Ruidoso (pop. 7,698) is the richest quarter horse race in the world—featuring a purse of more than $2 million.

first appeared: 4/7/2002

The town of Lincoln (pop. 150) has a whole street identified as a National Historic Landmark. The buildings on either side of Lincoln’s main street have been preserved and restored so they look much like they did in 1878.

first appeared: 4/7/2002

The stylized sun symbol on the state flag, with rays reaching four directions, was based on a pottery design from the Zia pueblo, which existed long before non-native settlers arrived.

first appeared: 3/31/2002

Most people believe the West’s gold rush started in California. But the first discovery of gold west of the Mississippi was in 1825 in Golden. The town near Madrid (pop. 149) is now a ghost town.

first appeared: 3/31/2002

Rock Hound State Park near Deming (pop. 14,116) invites visitors to search for geodes, jasper, agate, and quartz and to take their stones home.

first appeared: 3/24/2002

The Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument near Mountainair (pop. 1,116) holds the remains of three Pueblo Indian communities abandoned in the 1670s after raids by Apaches. These cities of Abo, Gran Quivira, and Quarai are sometimes called “the cities that died of fear.”

first appeared: 3/24/2002

The Elephant Butte Dam was the largest dam in the country when it was completed in 1916, part of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s efforts to dam the Rio Grande River and create a reliable source of water for farmers. The structure near Truth or Consequences (pop. 7,289) is 306 feet tall and 1,674 feet long.

first appeared: 3/17/2002

The Meteorite Museum at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque displays many meteorites from around the world, including a 1,600-pound space rock on loan from a Chicago museum. The museum also has samples of more than 550 meteorites available for study by researchers.

first appeared: 3/10/2002

The Sangre de Cristo Mountains were named for the reddish color they turn as the day’s light wanes. The name means “blood of Christ” in Spanish.

first appeared: 3/3/2002

The Lightning Field, an artistic work created by Walter De Maria in 1977, consists of 400 stainless steel poles set in the ground in a rectangle that is about one mile long and more than half a mile wide. The poles’ tips all form a perfectly flat plane. Visits to the work near Quemado are limited to individuals and small groups and are scheduled by the Dia Center for the Arts.

first appeared: 2/24/2002

During the Civil War, New Mexico briefly had two capitals—one in Santa Fe and a Confederate capital in Mesilla (pop. 2,180). In July 1861, a Confederate officer from Texas entered Mesilla and declared it the capital of the “territory of Arizona,” the portions of the territories of New Mexico and Arizona below the 34th parallel. Confederate forces withdrew from the area less than one year later.

first appeared: 2/24/2002

More than 900 buildings in Las Vegas (pop. 14,565) are on the National Register of Historic Places. Most of the historic structures in the 1835 town were constructed during a building frenzy after the Santa Fe Railroad came to town in 1879.

first appeared: 2/17/2002

The American Indians living in the Zuni Pueblo (pop. 6,367) are believed to be descended from the Anasazi and have a language unlike any other known on earth.

first appeared: 2/10/2002

jump to page: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22

newspaper partner login create account

Recent

Popular

Recipes

Below are the most recent American Profile articles:

Below are the most recent, highest rated American Profile articles:

Below are the most recent, highest rated American Profile recipes:

Relish

Spry

Below are the most recent articles from our Relish sister site. Click on the "Spry" tab above to see the most recent articles from our other sister site.

Below are the most recent articles from our Spry sister site. Click on the "Relish" tab above to see the most recent articles from our other sister site.