New Mexico Trivia & Tidbits - Page 7

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

Eight galloping bronze horses balance on only nine hooves in Dave McGary’s sculpture "Free Spirits at Noisy Water" at the Hubbard Museum of the American West in Ruidoso Downs (pop. 1,824). The artwork is 255 feet long and one of the world’s largest equine sculptures. It includes seven American breeds: Thoroughbred, quarter horse, Appaloosa, Arabian, Morgan, standardbred and paint mare with foal.

first appeared: 2/26/2006

Raised on a cattle ranch in Cody, Wyo. (pop. 8,835), sculptor Dave McGary specializes in the American West, particularly historical American Indian figures. He studied anatomy and bronze-making in Italy as a teenager, and now has a studio in Ruidoso (pop. 7,698). His work appears at the Houston Astrodome and New Mexico’s Capitol building in Santa Fe.

first appeared: 2/26/2006

Born in Roswell (pop. 45,293) in 1904, artist Peter Hurd studied for 10 years under N.C. Wyeth in Pennsylvania. In 1929, he married Wyeth’s oldest daughter, Henriette, also an artist. Drawn to New Mexico’s landscape and light, the couple settled in the 1930s in San Patricio. The ranch where they lived now includes the Hurd La Rinconada Gallery, featuring artwork from both the Wyeths and the Hurds.

first appeared: 2/12/2006

Actor Val Kilmer has called New Mexico—including Tesuque (pop. 909) and Pecos (pop. 1,441)—home for more than 20 years. His career includes several Western movies, including director Ron Howard’s The Missing in 2003, which was set in the state. He also starred as Doc Holliday in 1993’s Tombstone, and as William Bonney in 1989’s TV film Billy the Kid.

first appeared: 1/29/2006

Kilmer supports a number of charitable causes, including The Wildlife Center near Española (pop. 9,688). The 20-acre wildlife rehabilitation facility has cared for more than 25,000 wild animals since its founding in 1986, beginning with raptors and expanding to include larger animals such as bobcats and bears.

first appeared: 1/29/2006

Golfer Ronnie Black was born May 26, 1958, in Lovington (pop. 9,471). After proving himself an outstanding player in high school, he began playing golf professionally in 1981, and joined the PGA Tour the following year. His two first-place finishes on the tour were at the Southern Open in 1983 and the Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic in 1984.

first appeared: 1/15/2006

MISS NEW MEXICO 2006—Ane Cristal Romero, a graduate student and teacher’s assistant at New Mexico Highlands University, is deeply involved in a serious cause: youth suicide prevention. Disturbed by statistics showing suicide is one of the leading causes of death among young people today—and having learned that New Mexico’s suicide rate is among the nation’s highest—Romero created a platform called Breaking the Silence: Youth Suicide Prevention in an effort to raise awareness about the problem. She also has been involved with lobbying New Mexico educators and legislators to improve the state’s suicide-prevention efforts.

first appeared: 1/8/2006

Founded in April 1706, Albuquerque, also known as "Duke City", celebrates its tricentennial this year. The city was named by colonial governor Francisco Cuervo y Valdez to honor the Duke of Alburquerque (the extra letter "r" was dropped over time), a Spanish royal.

first appeared: 1/1/2006

Albuquerque native Cathy Carr became New Mexico’s first Olympic gold medal swimmer when she won two events during the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. Carr set a world record for the 100-meter breaststroke, completing the course in less than 1 minute 14 seconds, and also earned gold in the medley relay. She was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1988.

first appeared: 1/1/2006

U.S. Marine Corps Pfc. Robert Lopez, from Albuquerque—who was listed as missing in action after a gun battle on May 9, 1968, in South Vietnam—was buried Oct. 7, along with the remains of six of his comrades in a single coffin at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The U.S. Department of Defense located the soldiers’ remains in the late 1990s; DNA analysis has since helped identify them.

first appeared: 12/18/2005

Everett Bowman, originally from Hope (pop. 107), was the world all-around rodeo champion in 1935 and 1937 and won another eight championship titles between 1929 and 1938 in calf roping, steer roping and bulldogging. He also helped to found the Cowboy Turtles Association, forerunner to the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, which established professional standards in the 1930s for rodeo prize money and rules.

first appeared: 12/18/2005

When early travelers on the Santa Fe Trail noticed a brown bird running along the trail’s wagon ruts, they nicknamed it the "roadrunner." Also called the chaparral bird, the roadrunner does not fly well but can run at up to 15 mph. A member of the cuckoo family, the roadrunner was adopted as the state’s official bird in 1949.

first appeared: 12/4/2005

Founded in 1973, the NRA Whittington Center in Raton (pop. 7,282) is one of the nation’s most comprehensive shooting facilities. Located on more than 50 square miles, the center includes ranges for small-bore rifle, high-power rifle, black powder, skeet, trap, clay and pistol shooting, along with organized hunts for wild game.

first appeared: 11/20/2005

In Santa Fe, Barrio de Analco, meaning "district of the other side of the water," is home to one of the nation’s oldest churches, the San Miguel Chapel, located on De Vargas Street. Originally built in 1626, the church was destroyed by fire during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 and rebuilt by 1710. Today, the chapel features Spanish Colonial-era and American Indian artwork.

first appeared: 11/20/2005

El Malpais National Monument and Conservation Area near Grants (pop. 8,806) covers more than 114,000 acres. Malpais, Spanish for "badlands," refers to the landscape of lava tubes, caves and ridges. The monument is home to one of the state’s largest natural arches, La Ventana, in the 500-foot-high sandstone cliffs on the lava’s eastern edge.

first appeared: 11/6/2005

A 6,700-acre kipuka, or "island," named Hole-in-the-Wall lies within the 39,400-acre West Malpais Wilderness. This area of ponderosa pine forest and rangeland was completely surrounded as recently as 2,000 years ago by lava flows: Hoya de Cibola to the west; Bandera to the north; and McCarty’s to the east.

first appeared: 11/6/2005

Charmayne James, from Clayton (pop. 2,524), earned 10 consecutive world championships in barrel racing between 1984 and 1993 and an 11th world championship in 2002. She won her first world title at age 14. Her horse, Scamper, was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1996.

first appeared: 10/23/2005

Built on the original 1841 Beaubien-Miranda Land Grant, the town of Cimarron (pop. 917) was established officially in 1861, taking its name from the Spanish word for "wild."

first appeared: 10/23/2005

The state’s second-largest lake, Ute Lake is almost 13 miles long and a mile wide. Created in 1963 when the 148-foot-high Ute Dam was built on the Canadian River, the lake, near Logan (pop. 1,094), is favored by fishermen for its abundance of bass, bluegill, catfish, crappie and walleye.

first appeared: 10/9/2005

Reported to be the nation’s largest single mountain, Sierra Grande—located near the Capulin Volcano National Monument and Folsom (pop. 75)—measures 40 miles around its base and encompasses an area of 50 square miles. The 8,720-foot mountain is what’s left of a dormant volcano dating back a million years.

first appeared: 9/25/2005

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