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- Santa Fe is the highest capital city in the United
States at 7,000 feet above sea level.
- The province that was once Spanish New Mexico included
all of present day New Mexico, most of Colorado and Arizona,
and slices of Utah, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Wyoming. The
Original American Territory of New Mexico that congress
created in 1850 included all of New Mexico and Arizona plus
parts of Colorado, Nevada, and Utah. The boundaries of
present day New Mexico were drawn by congress in 1863 but
New Mexico didn't become a state until 1912.
- Each October Albuquerque hosts the world's largest
international hot air balloon fiesta.
- Las Cruces makes the world's largest enchilada the first
weekend in October at the "Whole Enchilada Fiesta".
- Lakes and Rivers make up only .002% of the state's total
surface area. The lowest water-to-land ratio of all 50
states. Most of New Mexico's lakes are man-made reservoirs.
A dam on the Rio Grande formed the Elephant Butte Reservoir
the state's largest lake.
- The Rio Grande is New Mexico's longest river and runs
the entire length of New Mexico.
- The world's first Atomic Bomb was detonated on July 16,
1945 on the White Sands Testing Range near Alamogordo. North
of the impact point a small placard marks the area known as
Trinity Site. The bomb was designed and manufactured in Los
Alamos.
- White Sands National Monument is a desert, not of sand,
but of gleaming white gypsum crystals.
- Hatch is known as the "Green Chile capital of the
world".
- New Mexico is home of Philmont Scout Ranch located in
Cimarron.
- Grants was at one time known as the "Carrot capital of
the country" until the process of cellophane wrapping began
and California took over title. More recently Grants has
been known as the "Uranium capital of the world" and
produced the bulk of the nation's uranium supply during the
post-World War II and Cold War era.
- New Mexico is one of the four corner states. Bordering
at the same point with Colorado, Utah and Arizona.
- The Palace of Governors in Santa Fe, built in 1610, is
one of the oldest public buildings in America.
- More than 25,000 Anasazi sites have been identified in
New Mexico by archeologists. The Anasazi, an amazing
civilization who were the ancestors of the Pueblo, where
around for 1300 years. Their great classical period lasted
from 1100-1300 AD.
- The state of New Mexico shares an international border
with the country of Mexico.
- The leaves of the Yucca, New Mexico's state flower, can
be used to make rope, baskets and sandals.
- 1/4 of New Mexico is forested, and the state has 7
National Forests including the Nation's largest, the 3.3
million acre Gila National Forest which includes the Gila
Wilderness.
- The largest fire in the state's history was ignited on
May 4, 2000 in the National Park Service's Bandelier
National Monument, when a controlled burn meant to clear
away dry brush and prevent future wild fires leaped out of
control due to high winds. 25,000 people, including all the
residents of Los Alamos, were forced to evacuate their
homes.
- In 1950 the little cub that was to become the National
Fire Safety symbol Smokey the Bear was found trapped in a
tree when his home in Lincoln National Forest was destroyed
by fire. In 1963, in Smokey's honor, the New Mexican
legislature chose the black bear to be the official state
animal.
- The word "Pueblo" is used to describe a group of people,
a town, or an architectural style. There are 19 Pueblo
groups that speak 4 distinct languages. The Pueblo people of
the southwest have lived in the same location longer than
any other culture in the Nation.
- The Navajo, the Nation's largest Native American Group,
have a reservation that covers 14 million Acres.
- To a certain degree New Mexico's Indian Reservations
function as states within a state where tribal law may
supersede state law.
- New Mexico's State Constitution officially states that
New Mexico is a bilingual State, and 1 out of 3 families in
New Mexico speak Spanish at home.
- In some isolated villages, such as Truchas, Chimayo',
and Coyote in north-central New Mexico, some descendants of
Spanish conquistadors still speak a form of 16th century
Spanish used no where else in the world today.
- The Palace of Governors in Santa Fe is the oldest
Government Building in the United States.
- At Lake Valley, miners discovered silver in veins so
pure that the metal could be sawn off in blocks, instead of
having to be dug out by traditional methods.
- The father of modern rocketry Massachusetts scientist
Robert Goddard whom some called a crackpot, came to New
Mexico in 1930 to test rocket-ship models. From those humble
beginnings the aerospace industry became one of New Mexico's
leading industries.
- To test the latest rockets White Sands Missile Range was
created on the same land where the first atom bomb had been
exploded.
- After WWII Los Alamos and Albuquerque had many new
laboratories. Hundreds of highly educated Scientists and
Engineers moved in the state. New Mexico soon had a higher
percentage of people with Ph.D.s than any other state.
- 1 out of 4 workers in New Mexico work directly for the
Federal Government. State and local governments are also
major employers.
- Public education was almost non-existent in New Mexico
until the end of the 19th century. As late as 1888 there was
not a single public college or high school in the entire
territory.
- Two important aspects of New Mexico's economy are
scientific research such as the nuclear energy research
carried out at Sandia National Laboratories and mining of
natural resources such as oil, natural gas, uranium, potash,
copper, coal, zinc, gold and silver.
- New Mexico has far more sheep and cattle than people.
There are only about 12 people per square mile.
- Since New Mexico's climate is so dry 3/4 of the roads
are left unpaved. The roads don't wash away.
- During the height of the so-called lawless era of the
late 1100%' when Lew Wallace served as territorial Governor,
he wrote the popular historical novel Ben-Hur. First
published in 1880, it was made into a movie in 1959 starring
Charleton Heston.
- Saint Paul's United Methodist church in Las Cruces has 7
bell choirs.
- The world famous Santa Fe Opera has an open-air
(outdoor) theater situated dramatically outside of the
capital city in the foothills of the Sangre de Christo
Mountains.
- The town of Deming is known for its annual duck races.
- Cimarron was once known as the "Cowboy capital of the
world". Some of the old west's most famous names, such as
Kit Carson and "Buffalo Bill" Cody lived there. A quote from
the Las Vegas Gazette illustrates how lawless Cimarron was.
"Everything is quiet in Cimarron. Nobody has been killed in
3 days."
- Roswell the states 4th largest city was founded in 1869
when a professional gambler established a lone store on the
cattle trail.
- Moon Rocks can be found at the International Space hall
of fame that is located in Alamogordo.
- Tens of thousands of bats live in the Carlsbad Caverns.
The largest chamber of Carlsbad Caverns is more than 10
football fields long and about 22 stories high.
- Taos Pueblo is located 2 miles north of the city of
Taos. It is one of the oldest continuously occupied
communities in the United States. People still live in some
of its 900 year old buildings.
- New Mexico's largest city Albuquerque was founded in
1706 as a Spanish farming community. It was named after a
province in Spain.
- New Mexico's capital city Santa Fe is the ending point
of the 100% mile Santa Fe Trail.
- The City of Truth or Consequences was once called Hot
Springs. In 1950 the town changed its name to the title of a
popular radio quiz program.
- The town of Gallup calls itself the "Indian Capital of
the World" and serves as a trading center for more than 20
different Indian groups. Every August it is the site of the
Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial
- New Mexico was named by 16th century Spanish explorers
who hoped to find gold and wealth equal to Mexico's Aztec
treasures.
- Native Americans have been living in New Mexico for some
twenty thousand years. The Pueblo, Apache, Comanche, Navajo,
and Ute peoples were in the New Mexico region when Spanish
settlers arrived in the 1600s.
- On the same desert grounds where today's space age
missiles are tested, ten-thousand-year-old arrowheads have
been found. New Mexican history has ranged from arrows to
atoms and has embraced Indian, Spanish and Anglo cultures.
Few states can claim such a distinctive past.
Thanks to: JP Dur,
Crucesdale, Gary Harper, Derek Benjamin, Tom Bombaci, Jr.,
Darla Boyd, Beth Markley
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