NMPedia

AKA: Taos Artists' Colony. Name given to a loose coalition of artists centered around Taos; the first wave began in 1915 with the founding of the Taos Society of Artists, with a significant wave of abstract artists arriving in the 1950s. While the Art Colony is most noted for the output of the painters in the group, the Colony also represented a multicultural and multidisciplinary fusion reflecting the Native American, Hispanic, and landscape influences of the area. Under the patronage of heiress Mabel Dodge Luhan, who operated a classic "salon", writers and other intellectuals were also drawn to the Taos area. Famous members of the Colony include Andrew Dasburg, Nicolai Fechin, Georgia O'Keeffe, D.H. Lawrence, and Ansel Adams. Intermixing, exchanges, and some "friendly rivalry" occurred with the Santa Fe Art Colony.

Former home and studio in Taos of artist Nicolai Fechin housing over 300 works by area artists; especially noted for representing members of the Taos Society of Artists. The site is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Taos Art Museum / Fechin House website

Association of private and public galleries exhibiting Taos arts and artists. Member institutions include the Millicent Rogers Museum, the Harwood Museum of Art, the Taos Art Museum at Fechin House, and the Kit Carson Home and Museum.
Taos Gallery Association website

Low-frequency buzzing or rumbling noise reported since 1992 in the vicinity of Taos, especially west of Taos near Tres Orejas. A survey of area residents suggests that up to 2 percent of the people in the area can hear "The Hum", sometimes to the point of distraction. While there are a wide range of theories as to the cause, studies by the University of New Mexico and Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories have failed to find a source for the sound, though the studies have concluded that "hearers" report basically the same sound. Similar hums are reported in England, Scotland, and Australia.

Legendary liquor produced in the Taos area, in the Wild Old West days. It is unclear how much of its reputation was contemporary and how much grew after the fact, or whether the term was even used at the time, but it has come down in history as a desirable "brand" of the Old West. It is known that spirits were produced in the Taos area, likely wheat-based aguardiente; a distiller in Alcalde New Mexico now offers "Taos Lightning" bourbon and rye whiskey.

AKA: Taos Rebellion, Taos Insurrection, Taos Uprising, Pueblo Revolt of 1847. January, 1847. Mexican and Native American resistance against American occupation of northern New Mexico during the Mexican-American War. In Taos, insurgents killed Governor Charles Bent and other officials, then moved against Arroyo Hondo and Mora. A force of Army and militia from Santa Fe moved against the insurgents, forcing a large group to take refuge in the church at Taos Pueblo. The Army forces surrounded the church, the "Siege of Taos", and with cannon killed many and captured over 400. Another force moved against the insurgents at Mora, in The First Battle of Mora and The Second Battle of Mora. Three other actions occurred in following months, the Battle of Red River Canyon, the Battle of Las Vegas, and the Battle of Cienega Creek.
State Historian webpage on the Taos Revolt

See Taos Art Colony

The founding members of the Taos Society of Artists: Joseph Henry Sharp, Ernest L. Blumenschein, W. Herbert Dunton, E. Irving Couse, Bert Geer Phillips, and Oscar E. Berninghaus.

Cooperative marketing association of visual artists founded in 1915 by Joseph Henry Sharp, Ernest L. Blumenschein, W. Herbert Dunton, E. Irving Couse, Bert Geer Phillips, and Oscar E. Berninghaus, the "Taos Six". Later members included Julius Rolshoven, E. Martin Hennings, Walter Ufer, and Victor Higgins. The Society sent touring shows of their works around the country, and their efforts helped establish the reputation of New Mexico and the Taos Art Colony worldwide as a destination for artists and intellectuals. The Society disbanded in 1927.

Taos New Mexico. Since 1983, areawide events March into June, organized by the Taos Gallery Association. Numerous public and private venues feature exhibits celebrating all foms of art. Participating institutions include The Harwood Museum of Art, Taos Municipal Schools, and UNM-Taos.
Taos Spring Arts website

During the Spanish Colonial period trade fairs were held, usually annually, at locations around New Spain (which area included modern-day New Mexico). At first held generally, then later aimed at specific tribes, these fairs sold and bartered Spanish goods to the tribal peoples. The largest and most famous of these in New Mexico was the Taos Trade Fair, which became focused upon the wealthy and powerful Comanche. In 1723 a Spanish royal decree standardized the practice, with the event held in July and August. A similar fair was held in Pecos.

See Los Lunas Mystery Stone

AKA: Tentrocks. Distinctive cone-shaped formations, caused by erosion through ancient layers of volcanic ash. The structures range from bright white to buff gray, and mixed within the ash may be found small nodules of obsidian (black volcanic glass, sometimes called "Apache Tears"). The eroded cones are often topped with balanced rocks, to form "hoodoos". There are several areas of tent rocks in northern New Mexico; the most extensive and noted is now encompassed by the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, near Cochiti Pueblo land.

Event held each September between 1882 and New Mexico's statehood in 1912, outside of Old Town Albuquerque. The 20-acre site featured a racetrack and grandstand; tents held exhibits of produce and products, and baseball exhibitions and races of various sorts were held. The theme of the first fair, which opened October 31 1881, was “Civilization of the 19th Century and Civilization of Prehistoric Times.” In its history the Fair hosted many events including re-enactments of battles, and balloon and airplane flights. An important event occurred in 1908, when the Territorial Fair and the Irrigation Congress joined to host the 16th annual National Irrigation Congress and Interstate Industrial Exposition. The Exposition gained national attention which helped pave the way to New Mexico's statehood.
Albuquerque Historical Society page on the Territorial Fair

20-acre site in Albuquerque, at what is now W. Central Avenue and Rio Grande Boulevard, which hosted the annual Territorial Fair from 1882 to statehood in 1912.

Established under House Bill No. 186, Feb. 28 1889, by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of New Mexico, to fund the newly-established University of New Mexico, the School of Mines (now New Mexico Tech), the Agricultural College and Agricultural Experiment Station (now New Mexico State University), and the Insane Asylum (New Mexico State Hospital). The Fund was filled by taxation across the Territory, that taxation established within the same bill.

Largely volunteer forces, though with the potential of being swelled by conscription during emergencies, serving as defense and peacekeeping forces in New Mexico after the Territory was declared in 1850. While a single Militia is often discussed, there were various units scattered about the Territory, with structure and distinctions sometimes unclear. Volunteer terms were typically three months, though that might be extended during crisis times. Militiamen served during the Civil War events in New Mexico. The Territorial Militia weakened with the creation of the National Guard system in 1903, and ended with New Mexico's statehood in 1912.

Name given to members of a group, amounting to a political party, who resisted New Mexico becoming a state. Territorialists felt that statehood might not be in New Mexico's best interests, and presented a powerful political lobby well into the 1900s. Their political opponents were the Statehooders (sometimes, "Statists".)

AKA: Arizona Territory. Created in 1863 from the southwestern part of the Territory of New Mexico. Existed until 1948 when it was added into the Union as the 48th state.

New Mexico Territory saw several boundary changes; the splitting off of Arizona, with its mineral wealth, as its own Territory was keenly felt by many politicians and businessmen. Several attempts were made to re-structure the Territory; one such was a proposal in 1863 to form the Territory of Montezuma out of southern New Mexico and northwestern Texas.

AKA: New Mexico Territory. Formed in September 1850, after the Mexican-American War. Disputes over the temporary boundaries established earlier led to the Compromise of 1850, which ceded some of the disputed lands to Texas and also established the Territory of Utah. The boundaries were periodically challenged, and statehood was convulsively pursued, especially as the Civil War raised issues of whether the area would be under Union or Confederate control and the Territory was a route to California. The southwestern area of the Territory was split off in 1863 to become the Territory of Arizona. The remainder of New Mexico Territory was added to the Union as the 47th state in 1912, making it the longest-lived organized incorporated territory of the United States at 62 years.

The huge areas of land gained by the Gadsen Purchase were almost immediately addressed for division into new Territories. One proposal in January 1855 called for the southern part of New Mexico to be separated as the Territory of Pimeria. This and similar proposals failed, and eventually a large section was separated as the Territory of Arizona.

AKA: Tertio-Millennium Exposition, Tertio-Millennial Expo, Tertio-Millennial Celebration. Event held in July of 1883 to celebrate the 333rd anniversary, "One Third of a Millennium", of the believed date of the founding of Santa Fe. The event, held on exposition grounds north of the Santa Fe Plaza, included parades and historical pageants representing New Mexico history. More than 1,000 Native Americans also took part in the exposition. A purpose-built exhibit hall presented Native American crafts, historical objects, minerals and agricultural products.

AKA: King's Day. Celebrated worldwide on January 6 as Epiphany; in New Mexico it is the day many of the Pueblos install new Governors and officers. Typically the canes of office are given to the new officers of the Pueblo, and then a dance is held in observance of the transfer of powers.

50-acre, BLM-controlled site in eastern New Mexico. More than 21,000 petroglyphs have been recorded in the area, believed to have been created by the Jornada Mogollon culture. The site offers self-guided trails among the petroglyphs, hiking, camping, and picnicking.
Three Rivers Petroglyph Site website

The 45th Infantry Division of the United States Army, that began life as a unit of the Oklahoma National Guard created in 1923 and federalized into the Army in 1941. The Thunderbirds were comprised of men from Oklahoma, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico; the original shoulder patch of the Division was a swastika in recognition of the large Native American populations in their home states, but with the Nazi adoption of that ancient symbol the patch was changed to a thunderbird. The Thunderbirds fought in many of the major European conflicts of WWII, including the invasion of Sicily and the combat at Anzio. After service in Korea, the Division reverted to National Guard status in 1954.

AKA: Jemez Mountain Trail. Nickname given to a portion of the Jemez Mountain Trail National Scenic Byway. The route leads from Bernalillo to Los Alamos and Santa Fe on the west side of the Rio Grande, a rough mirror image of the Turquoise Trail on the east side of the Sandias. The route heads west along NM 550, then north at San Ysidro to follow NM 4. The scenic route passes Santa Ana and Zia Pueblos, then Jemez Pueblo as it climbs through the Jemez Valley (Canon de San Diego). After climbing through the narrow valley, the route turns east to the Valles Caldera, Los Alamos, Bandelier National Monument, and eventually Santa Fe. The nickname comes from the seeming form of a large bird with outstretched wings on the side of Redondo Peak. The Thunderbird Trail gives a cross-section of the transition into northern New Mexico, rising from the Rio Grande basin through the canyons, and summiting out in the tall ponderosa forests.

June 5 1967 event, wherein members of the Alianza Federal de Mercedes captured and held the town and courthouse at Tierra Amarilla for several hours. The incident was designed to draw attention to debates over land grant rights in northern New Mexico. During the Raid hostages were taken and two police officers wounded; afterwards the members of the Alianza fled to the mountains, and the Lieutenant Governor called in the National Guard to help track them down and arrest them. Included in those taken was lead organizer Reies Lopez Tijerina, whose court trial gained national attention as he served as his own lawyer and was acquitted.

(1926-2015) Sometimes as "Tixerina"; AKA: El Tigre, King Tiger. Leader of the Alianza Federal de Mercedes, a group that in the 1960s and 1970s strove to draw attention to legal issues surrounding land grant rights in New Mexico. A dynamic spokesperson and activist, Tijerina led the group in two events that drew much public attention: the occupation of part of the Kit Carson National Forest to proclaim the Republic of San Joaquin, and the armed raid on the Tierra Amarilla Courthouse as a result of which the National Guard were called in. After his arrest for involvement in the raid, Tijerina acted as his own lawyer and was acquitted.
State Historian materials on Reies Lopez Tijerina

(1877-1961) Moved to New Mexico in 1910 with soon-husband Clyde Tingley seeking relief from her tuberculosis. Once she recovered she dedicated herself to improving health care, especially for children. In 1937 the Tingleys established in Hot Springs (now Truth or Consequences) the Carrie Tingley Hospital for Crippled Children, for children with polio and tuberculosis. The Carrie Tingley Hospital moved to Albuquerque in 1981 and ultimately became part of the Universtity of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, the UNM Carrie Tingley Hospital. The Carrie Tingley Hospital Foundation is named in her honor.

(1882-1960) Eleventh governor of New Mexico, first to serve two consecutive terms, 1934 and 1936. Before serving as governor he held several public offices in Albuquerque, and after serving as governor he was elected chairman of the Albuquerque City Commission (1940-1953), the position later known as Mayor. Tingley is remembered for his widespread introduction of the Siberian Elm to Albuquerque, renovation of the New Mexico State Fairgrounds, and the development of more than a dozen hospitals around the state. Tingley Coliseum and Tingley Beach in Albuquerque are named in his honor. He came to New Mexico in 1910 with his later-wife Carrie Tingley to deal with her tuberculosis; together, they developed the Carrie Tingley Hospital.
State Historian webpage on Clyde Tingley

(Sometimes erroneously as "Tinkertoy".) Folk art exhibit and museum on the east side of the Sandias, in Sandia Park on the road to Sandia Crest. The rambling eccentric structure is constructed from glass bottles and salvaged/found materials, and is itself an attraction. Artist and proprietor Ross Ward, from a background as a carnival artist, carved hundreds of miniature figures, displaying them in dioramas. Ward's motto: "I did all this while you were watching TV." The Museum also houses a circus exhibit and a wide and eclectic range of materials including dolls, Western memorabilia, coin-operated machines, and a boat that survived a voyage around the world. Ward died in 2002; the Museum remains open to the public April through October.
Tinkertown Museum website

(1909-1958) Theater and Hollywood film producer who died in the crash of his private plane "Lucky Liz" near Grants on March 22, 1958. At the time of his death, he was married to actress Elizabeth Taylor.

November 30 1944. A freight train carrying war materiel and supplies derailed, resulting in a fire that detonated 165 500-lb bombs. The explosion devastated much of the village of Tolar, with sound and effects felt dozens of miles away. One resident was killed; tradition has it that most of the residents were in nearby Clovis to see Gone With the Wind.

(1906-1997) After working at the White Sands Missile Range in the 1950s, became a teacher at the New Mexico State University, a position he held from 1955 to 1973. Best remembered as the discoverer of (the then planet, later redesignated as the dwarf planet) Pluto, he also discovered over 800 asteroids. Some of Tombaugh's ashes are on the New Horizons space probe. The main observatories at NMSU are named for him.

AKA: Turtle Races, Turtle Derby, San Juan Turtle Race. Annual event since 1988, in late June, held in the village of Tortugas (part of Las Cruces). As part of the Fiesta de San Juan festivities, a Turtle Derby is held in front of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, with up to 100 turtles ("tortugas", in Spanish) participating.

Alamogordo. Railroad museum and memorabilia shop. Home to the America's Park Ride Train Museum, featuring the Alamogordo/Alameda Park Narrow Gauge Railway offering scale railroad rides through the park.
Toy Train Depot website

One of the great New Mexico treasure tales. According to the lore a consortium of Mexican businessmen, led by millionaire Leon Trabuco, flew a large quantity of gold into New Mexico in 1933. They intended to have the gold (estimates vary between 16 and 20 tons in weight) stashed in the US so that it could be sold when the price went up. However, soon afterward private ownership of gold was made illegal in the US. The lore suggests the gold was landed atop a mesa near Farmington and hidden nearby.

One of the 15 routes designated by the NM Dept of Transportation as Scenic Byways. The Trail forms a "lasso loop" south from the Gila Cliff Dwellings Natl. Monument to Silver City, then east to the Mimbres Valley, then up the Valley to rejoin the route at the edge of the Gila Wilderness. The Trail encompasses rugged mountain scenery and passes by numerous former mining towns.

Sometimes, Trans-Continental; AKA: TAT. Airline company developed in 1929 by Charles Lindbergh to reduce the transit time coast-to-coast. An airfield was built at Clovis; people were transported from Los Angeles to Clovis by plane, then continued by train to Oklahoma where another plane took them to a train stop in Ohio and then on to New York. In 1930 the company merged with Madux Airlines, Standard Airlines, and Western Air Express; the new company was named Transcontinental and Western Air Inc. or TWA.

AKA: Navajo Treaty of 1868, Diné Treaty. After the forced movement of the Navajos from their homelands in 1864 and their subsequent internment at Bosque Redondo, it became evident even to the nation at large that the conditions of their incarceration were miserable and that the relocation "experiment" was a failure. However, it was not until June 1 1868 that the Treaty of Bosque Redondo was signed. The Treaty returned to the Navajos their lands in the Four Corners area, and promised to provide livestock and provisions to enable their return. (In accordance with the massive corruption of the Indian Agency at the time, few of these provisions actually reached the Navajo, though each tribal member did receive two animals.) In exchange for this the Navajos promised to never again make war upon the United States, or to raid among the other tribes; to not oppose the building of roads or railroads across their land; and for their children to attend schools and learn English.

Formally, "Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits, and Settlement Between the United States of America and the United Mexican States". Signed February 2, 1848. The Treaty brought an end to the Mexican-American War and detailed the terms of boundaries; the border of Texas was established as being along the Rio Grande, and the U.S. gained the land comprising California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado. Mexico was to receive $15 million for the land, with the U.S. paying off claims by citizens against Mexico. Mexicans resident in the areas had the option of returning to Mexico or becoming U.S. citizens. The boundary for New Mexico was later adjusted with the Gadsden Purchase.
State Historian webpage - text of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Popular nickname for an installation of the Scientology-affiliated Church of Spiritual Technology near Trementina New Mexico. Reported by the Church as housing the archives of the writings of L. Ron Hubbard, the site is the subject of speculation and rumor due to much of the facility being underground and the presence of a large land glyph (the CST logo) which may be seen in aerial photographs. There are at least two other such archives, in Petrolia and Creston California.

Artificially-triggered lightning, by means of rockets or lasers, allowing for more control of conditions for lightning research. The Langmuir Laboratory near Socorro has long been a leader in triggered lightning research, using rockets that trail wires to serve as conductors for the lightning discharge.

Name given to the fused-earth material that resulted from the first atomic detonation at Trinity Site July 1945. The surface of the material is generally green, ranging from a pale foam green to a forest green; the surface texture ranges from grainy to glassy. Pieces of Trinitite were for several years sold as souvenirs but concerns about lingering radioactivity led to the end of such distribution, though vintage pieces (and fakes) sometimes turn up for sale. The original Trinity Site crater, covered with the material, was bulldozed over; a section of the original surface was retained and may be viewed through skylights in a low shed built over it.

AKA: Trinity National Historic Landmark. Ground zero for the detonation of the first atomic weapon, July 16 1945. The site is within the White Sands Missile Range in south central New Mexico. The heat from the blast fused the earth into a substance dubbed "trinitite"; most of that material was buried by bulldozing, but a sample of the original surface is maintained and may be viewed through skylights in a low shed. A monument to the event is at ground zero, and nearby is part of the "Jumbo" casing, a huge steel shell designed to capture radioactive materials during tests. Nearby is the McDonald Ranch house, where final assembly on "the gadget" was performed. The Site has traditionally been open to the public twice a year, April and October; as of 2013 only the April open house is available. A National Historic Landmark.
State Historian webpage on the Trinity Site

AKA: TB, Consumption, White Plague, Wasting Disease. The climate in New Mexico was thought to be salutary for tuberculosis patients, and between 1880 and 1940 thousands of "lungers" came to the state seeking a cure, especially after railroads opened up access. By 1920 health seekers comprised an estimated 20 percent of New Mexico's population, staying at one of the sixty sanatoriums, hospitals, or camps that had arisen around the state. The Well Country Camp in the mountains east of Albuquerque became a world-famous destination for TB patients, and many of New Mexico's large hospitals started out as TB sanatoriums. Some of the people who "came for the cure" stayed on in the state, including such notables as William R. Lovelace (founder of the Lovelace Clinic) and later-Senator Clinton P. Anderson.
State Historian webpage on tuberculosis

AKA: Tufa. Pumice-like material composed of volcanic ash. Large deposits are evident in the Jemez Mountains and throughout the Bandelier National Monument. Since tuff is easily carved, Native Americans sometimes dug recesses into tuffaceous canyon walls as part of their dwellings.

AKA: Dona Tules, Dona Tula, Tules, Trudy, Maria Toulous, Senora Toulous, The Dona of Tome, Madam T, Madame Barcelo. (1880-1852) Maria Gertrudis Barcelo; "Tules" is a diminutive of "Gertrudis". Famous saloon owner, entrepreneur, and gambler in New Mexico Territory who settled in Santa Fe. She became a noted and influential local figure, enjoying freedoms which would have been unlikely for a woman of the time in the States; in the East, newspapers played up her image as the "Mexican Queen of Sin". Said to have loaned money to Stephen W. Kearny to pay his troops and helped finance Alexander Doniphan's expedition; famously gave a large sum of money toward Archbishop Lamy's church construction fund, for which donation Tules was buried in the church (which would not otherwise have happened, given her reputation). Ruth Laughlin made La Tules the main character in her 1948 novel The Wind Leaves No Shadow.
State Historian materials on La Tules

See San Juan - Chama Project

(1853-1878) Born in London, came to New Mexico by way of Canada. In 1876 partnered with rancher Alexander McSween in ranching and mercantile. Their operations were in conflict with the established Murphy/Dolan combine, who had powerful political friends; strife resulted which led to violence. Tunstall and others were killed, an action that is widely considered to be the start of the Lincoln County War.

See Shroud Exhibit and Museum

Media mogul and businessman, pioneer in cable television and founder of the CNN news network. One of the largest private landowners in the United States including large ranches in New Mexico; his Vermejo Park Ranch near Raton (originally part of the Maxwell Land Grant) is the largest privately owned contiguous parcel of land in the United States. Turner is noted for introducing buffalo to the Ranch; the ranch also hosts nature tourism, fishing, and hunting of wild game.

State Gem of New Mexico. A compound of copper and aluminum, turquoise ranges in color from a pale green to a deep sky blue. Turquoise has been treasured and mined in the Southwest from prehistoric times; in New Mexico the mines near Cerrillos, Mt. Chalchihuitl, are believed to be some of the oldest mines in North America, worked since 1000 A.D. Turquoise may also include other compounds and substances resulting in a variety of textures and patterns and "spiderwebbing"; turquoise including silver inclusions is particularly prized. Although New Mexico was the leading producer of turquoise prior to 1920, most of the veins have played out and Arizona is now the leading producer in the U.S., with substantial amounts being imported from China. A fairly soft material, turquoise is often treated, "stabilized", to reduce water absorption and increase its hardness; such "treatments", including dyeing, may also affect the color and are sometimes used to deceive the buyer.
State Historian webpage on turquoise mining in NM

The "back road" between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, running on the east side of the Sandias and along the Ortiz and San Pedro mountain chains. The term "Turquoise Trail", used informally by locals and for tourist advertising, was formally accepted as a National Scenic Byway in 2000 after the Turquoise Trail Association applied for that status. The Trail includes the towns of Tijeras, Cedar Crest, Sandia Park and the mining towns of Golden, Madrid, and Cerrillos (home to the turquoise mines that gave the Trail its name), then past San Marcos/Lone Butte and on to Santa Fe.
TurquoiseTrail.org website

See Tortugas San Juan Turtle Fest