New Mexico Trivia & Tidbits - Page 4

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

The 1954 movie Salt of the Earth depicts the historic strike by a predominantly Latino union against the Empire Zinc Company in the Silver City-Bayard-Hanover mining district in 1950-51. Because the miners were forbidden to picket, their wives took to the lines and eventually won concessions on mine safety and equal pay for Latinos. The film was shot on location in Bayard (pop. 2,534) and Silver City (pop. 10,545).

first appeared: 10/21/2007

—Visitors to the Hondo Iris Farm about 25 miles east of Ruidoso (pop. 7,698) can wander among rows of exotic bearded irises, sit on the “hummingbird” porch or view a gallery of paintings, sculptures and jewelry by Hondo artist Alice Warder Seely and others. But the blooming irises, some of them antique varieties, are the main event. Alice Warder Seely, owner of the Hondo Iris Farm, is a writer, painter, sculptor and jewelry designer whose style is said to reflect her American Indian, Spanish and Anglo heritage. Her work is exhibited in stores and galleries throughout the United States.

first appeared: 10/7/2007

—Rescued cougars, wolves, bear, elk, raptors and other animals that no longer can survive in the wild are cared for by volunteers and paid staff at Wildlife West Nature Park in Edgewood (pop. 1,893). The 122-acre wildlife refuge and zoo features animals and plants that are native to the state. Chuckwagon dinners, music festivals and other events are held at the park, which was opened in 1994 as an educational project of the New Mexico Wildlife Association.

first appeared: 9/30/2007

Novelist Cormac McCarthy, the 2007 Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Road, lives in Tesuque (pop. 909) in Sante Fe County, where he spends much of his time at the Santa Fe Institute, a think tank founded by his friend, physicist Murray Gell-Mann.

first appeared: 9/30/2007

—Model trains of various gauges and sizes crisscross the Toy Train Depot in Alamogordo (pop. 35,582). Housed in an 1898 depot, the museum celebrates the region’s railroad heritage with a re-creation of Alamogordo and the surrounding area where trains chug over bridges, through tunnels and along flats. Visitors also can circle the surrounding Alameda Park and Zoo while aboard a 16-inch gauge train.

first appeared: 9/9/2007

—ABC News correspondent Sam Donaldson, actor Owen Wilson, hotelier Conrad Hilton and Football Hall of Fame member Roger Staubach are among alumni of the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell (pop. 45,293).

first appeared: 8/26/2007

—Several thousand veterans and civilians participate each spring in the Bataan Memorial Death March across high desert terrain at the White Sands Missile Range near Las Cruces. The marathon—one route is 26.2 miles and another is 15.2—began in 1989 to commemorate the soldiers who defended the Philippine Islands during World War II and were forced by their Japanese captors to undergo an arduous trek through the Philippine jungle. The Bataan Death March Memorial Monument in Las Cruces is the only federally funded monument dedicated to the victims of the march. Bataan has particular significance to New Mexico because about 1,800 New Mexicans, members of the 200th Coast Artillery of the National Guard, were in the march. Fewer than half returned home.

first appeared: 8/12/2007

—Paul Bosland, director of the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces (pop. 74,267), discovered the world’s hottest chili pepper, the Bhut Jolokia, which is native to northeastern India. Bosland tested the pepper at more than 1 million Scoville Heat Units, which is about 100 times hotter than an average jalapeno and 1,000 times hotter than a green chili. The pepper set a Guinness World Record as the world’s hottest spice.

first appeared: 7/29/2007

Minor league baseball player Joe Bauman hit 72 home runs during the 1954 season while playing in the Class-C Longhorn League for the Rockets in Roswell (pop. 45,293), where he died in 2005. He was born in Welch, Okla. (pop. 597), in 1922.

first appeared: 7/29/2007

—Visitors to the Palace Print Shop at the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe can view a working 19th-century print shop. The hand presses and movable metal type have been used to reprint handbills and newspapers originally published in territorial New Mexico, as well as small runs of handcrafted books.

first appeared: 7/15/2007

The Greer Garson Theatre Center at the College of Santa Fe was named for the 1940s and ’50s Hollywood star who won an Academy Award for her role in the 1942 film Mrs. Miniver. Garson and her husband, Texas oil millionaire E.E. Fogelson, lived on a ranch near Pecos (pop. 1,441) and were benefactors of the school.

first appeared: 7/15/2007

—Lawmakers made a fashion statement in March when they declared the bolo tie the official state neckwear. Wearing a large bolo with turquoise and other stones, Gov. Bill Richardson signed the bill into law. Twenty years ago, the Legislature passed a similar measure, but it was non-binding. Bolo ties consist of a length of cord fastened with an ornamental bar or clasp.

first appeared: 7/1/2007

—Albuquerque was ranked the fittest big city in America for 2007 in the March issue of Men’s Fitness magazine. The survey examines fast-food restaurants per capita, availability of gyms or bike paths, commute times, residents’ television-viewing habits and statistics on obesity-related injuries and illnesses.

first appeared: 6/17/2007

For the first time in more than 40 years, anglers can cast their lines for Gila trout in New Mexico starting July 1. Listed as a federal endangered species in 1966, the fish now is designated as threatened. Limited recreational fishing for Gila trout will be allowed in several southwestern streams, including Black Canyon Creek, Iron Creek, McKenna Creek and Sacaton Creek.

first appeared: 6/17/2007

—Situated below a 357-foot mesa, the Sky City Cultural Center and Haak’u Museum is the gateway to the Acoma Pueblo, one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the nation. The $15 million center was built with traditional Acoma materials and styles, including sandstone walls, T-shaped doorways and mica windows. The center showcases Acoma textiles, pottery, art and leatherworks, as well as a theater and bread-making and cooking demonstrations.

first appeared: 6/3/2007

—Rancher Roy Dean Leighton and his wife, Nancy, couldn’t bear to see the final curtain call on the 1916 Luna Theater in Clayton (pop. 2,524). In 1984, they bought the historic venue and invested $95,000 to restore the theater and reopen it to local moviegoers. The Leightons perform every job—projectionist, ticket taker and janitor—to keep the doors open in the theater.

first appeared: 5/28/2007

—The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park north of Carlsbad (pop. 25,625) preserves and displays the animals, plants and environments of the Chihuahuan Desert in southeast New Mexico. A 1.3-mile self-guided trail winds through reconstructions of a variety of desert ecosystems, including sand hills, an aviary, desert uplands, arroyo and piñon-juniper forest.

first appeared: 5/6/2007

A greenhouse displays hundreds of succulents and cacti from around the world. The Wildland Firefighter Museum in Capitan (pop. 1,443) displays antique firefighting tools and equipment, pictures and videos of fires, and descriptive plaques to educate visitors about wildfire prevention.

first appeared: 5/6/2007

—John Denver, one of the most popular recording artists of the 1970s, was born Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. on Dec. 31, 1943, in Roswell (pop. 45,293). His “Leaving on a Jet Plane” was a hit for Peter, Paul and Mary in 1969 and launched his career as one of the world’s most successful singer-songwriters with “Rocky Mountain High,” “Annie’s Song,” “Sunshine on My Shoulders,” “Back Home Again” and “Thank God I’m a Country Boy.” He died at age 53 in a plane crash.

first appeared: 4/22/2007

—Every autumn, thousands of cranes, geese and ducks make their winter home in the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Reserve near Socorro (pop. 8,877). To celebrate their arrival, the town and the reserve host a six-day celebration called The Festival of the Cranes. The 57,191-acre wildlife reserve was established in 1939 as a breeding ground for migratory birds and other wildlife.

first appeared: 4/8/2007

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