New Mexico Trivia & Tidbits - Page 9

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

Norman Petty established a recording studio in his hometown of Clovis (pop. 32,667) in 1954, and his Norman Petty Trio recorded the Duke Ellington song Mood Indigo, which hit the top 20 charts, that year. The most famous songs recorded at Petty’s studio include several Buddy Holly tunes and LeAnn Rimes’ Blue (1996).

first appeared: 3/27/2005

In northwestern New Mexico, arch-shaped natural sandstone formations, sporting names such as Anasazi, Arch, Octopus, Outcrop, Peephole, Petroglyph, Pillar and Alien, can be found near Aztec (pop. 6,378).

first appeared: 3/13/2005

Between 1937 and 1941, Frank C. Hibben led archaeological digs in the Sandia Cave near Placitas (pop. 3,452). The stone spear points and mammoth and bison bones he found revealed that prehistoric hunters used the cave up to 25,000 years ago.

first appeared: 2/27/2005

In the 1930s, Christmas light displays in the coalmining town of Madrid (pop. 149) were so well known that airlines re-routed their planes over the community at night so their passengers could see them. Attracting thousands of visitors, the displays, created by local miners from the Albuquerque and Cerrillos Coal Co., used 50,000 lights and 500,000 kilowatt-hours of coal-generated electricity.

first appeared: 2/13/2005

Although his term as territorial governor from 1878 to 1881 was plagued by lawlessness and attempts by special interests to wrest political control, Lew Wallace found time to complete his historical novel Ben Hur: A Tale of Christ (1880). The former Civil War general spent seven years researching the book, which later became motion pictures in 1907, 1925 and 1959.

first appeared: 1/16/2005

Lillian Redman, the best-known proprietor of Route 66's 1939 Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari (pop. 5,989), ran the motel for almost 40 years after receiving it as an engagement present in 1958. The inn's motor court garages were added in 1948.

first appeared: 1/2/2005

Radium Springs (pop. 1,518) earned its name in the 1920s after water from the local mineral hot springs was found to contain trace amounts of radium. American Indians, Spanish settlers, U.S. soldiers from a nearby fort and travelers all used the springs for their healing properties.

first appeared: 12/19/2004

After being shipwrecked on the coast of Texas in 1528, Spanish explorer Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and three other survivors first lived among the Indians of eastern Texas and then wandered through the area, passing through New Mexico and ending up in the Mexican province of Sinaola in 1536.

first appeared: 12/5/2004

Opened in 1995 by a fourth-generation cheesemaker from Wisconsin, the Tucumcari Mountain Cheese Factory in Tucumcari (pop. 5,989) has turned a former Coca-Cola bottling factory into a facility that produces some 10,000 pounds of cheese every week. Specialties include feta and New Mexico-style Jack and cheddar flavored with green chili peppers.

first appeared: 11/21/2004

Albuquerque is home to auto racing’s Unser family. In 1958, Jerry became the first Unser to enter the Indianapolis 500. His brother, Bobby, won the Indy 500 in 1968, 1975 and 1981; brother Al Sr. won in 1970, 1971, 1978 and 1987; and nephew Al Jr. followed suit in 1992 and 1994.

first appeared: 11/7/2004

Swedish immigrant Hugo Seaberg opened the 12-room Hotel Seaberg in Raton (pop. 7,282) in 1903. By 1928, he had expanded it to 400 rooms, making it one of the state’s largest hotels. The hotel—renamed the El Portal in 1938—still features murals, painted in the 1930s, in its lobby and hallways.

first appeared: 10/24/2004

Golfer Kathy Whitworth, who grew up in Jal (pop. 1,996), made history with 88 LGPA career wins—more than any other professional player, male or female—between 1962 and 1985. In 1981, she became the first woman golfer to hit the $1 million mark in career earnings.

first appeared: 10/10/2004

The town of Jal took its name from the JAL cattle ranch, established by the Cowden family on Monument Draw in 1886. After oil and gas were discovered in the area, the town was incorporated in 1928 and adopted the motto, “The Natural Gas Capital of the World.”

first appeared: 10/10/2004

The reed grass that provided feed for the cattle ranches in the late 1800s near Carrizozo (pop. 1,036) gave the town its name: carrizo is the Spanish name for the grass, while the extra “zo” was added by a ranch foreman who wanted to show its abundance in the area.

first appeared: 10/3/2004

The world’s most powerful X-ray generator—the Z Accelerator at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque—creates a pulse that lasts less than 10 billionths of a second, but carries 1,000 times the electrical current of a lightning bolt. The X-ray energy can produce gases similar to those in the outermost layers of stars, allowing scientists to better understand how distant stars behave.

first appeared: 9/19/2004

Sugarite Canyon State Park, which protects about 4,000 acres near Raton (pop. 7,282), gets its name from the Comanche Indian word chicorica, which means “place of many birds.” Sugarite also is known for its butterflies, which include local subspecies such as the Prairie Arctic, the Front Range type of Hobomok skipper and a local version of the Northwestern fritillary.

first appeared: 9/12/2004

The major geographical feature in Sugarite Canyon State Park is an extended cliff of rock columns called “caprock.” They were formed about 12 million years ago, when broad sheets of molten lava flowed from a nearby volcano and formed basalt rock layers 10 to 100 feet thick.

first appeared: 9/12/2004

Since 1977, thousands have visited Lake Arthur (pop. 432)—often bringing photos and prayers of loved ones in need of healing—to see a shrine that Maria Rubio created after a flour tortilla she cooked revealed skillet burns that resembled the face of Jesus Christ.

first appeared: 9/5/2004

The town of Tucumcari (pop. 5,989) shares its name with a U.S. Navy hydrofoil gunboat that was launched in 1967. A fast, highly maneuverable craft, it saw service with the Pacific and Atlantic fleets and in Vietnam before being transferred from active service after running aground on a reef near Puerto Rico in 1972. Tucumcari comes from the American Indian word tukamukaru, which means “to lie in wait.”

first appeared: 8/29/2004

El Llano Estacado, a vast plateau covering more than 50,000 square miles, lies partly within eastern New Mexico. Also known as the High Plains, El Llano Estacado is Spanish for “staked plains,” a name that reportedly comes from the stockaded appearance of the escarpment edges, the stake-like stalks of its yucca plants, or the stakes that guided pioneers between water holes.

first appeared: 8/22/2004

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