NMPedia

Nickname for Portales New Mexico. Most of the Valencia peanuts - developed at New Mexico State University for local conditions - grown in NM are within a 100-mile radius of Portales; there are several processing plants in the area.

Land feature in the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico, twelve miles across, remnants of a supervolcano. Eruptions from this volcano over 1 million years ago covered much of northern New Mexico with deep layers of ash, now apparent as tuff. The area, noted for its natural beauty and wildlife, was made a National Preserve in 2000. Part of the Preserve agreement guarantees the area be available for public recreation, though this is on a limited basis to protect the environment; the picturesque area has been used as a filming location.
Valles Caldera National Preserve website

(1839-1926) Las Cruces. Worked as a stage coach driver for the Butterfield Overland Mail. As a Confederate officer, was involved in both the Battle of Val Verde and the Battle of Glorieta Pass. Served in many positions including as Captain in the NM Territorial Militia, county judge, justice of the peace, and Sheriff of Dona Ana County. Proponent of Pueblo rights and consultant in land disputes. Teddy Roosevelt consulted with him on the founding of the Rough Riders. Co-founder of the New Mexico State University.

Northern New Mexico, graduate of UNM. Painter, author. Noted Chicana activist. Founded the newspaper, El Grito del Norte. Pursued journalism worldwide. Author of a collection of articles, Enriqueta Vasquez and the Chicano Movement: Writings from El Grito Del Norte and The Women of La Raza: An Epic History of Chicana / Mexican-American Peoples and Cuentos & Poetry.

Born in Portales, raised in Tucumcari then Las Vegas Nevada. Actor and comedian with many credits; best known for recurring roles on the TV series Grace and Frankie and Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return. Director of the 2017 film Fatherless, where he returns to New Mexico to learn more about his biological father. Co-host of the musical sketch comedy show The New Negroes with Open Mike Eagle

920 square mile (more than 590,00 acres) parcel of land near Raton; the largest privately owned contiguous piece of land in the United States. Originally part of the Maxwell Land Grant, the Ranch includes land in Colfax and Taos counties and some land in southern Colorado and contains extensive coal and natural gas deposits. The land was purchased by Ted Turner in 1993; Turner introduced buffalo in place of cattle, and encouraged stocking of wild game. The Ranch offers nature tourism, hunting, and fishing.
Vermejo Park Ranch website

AKA: VLA. Formally, the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array. Radiotelescope array on the San Agustin Plains west of Socorro, run by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). The VLA consists of 27 round radio antennas, each 82 feet in diameter, which can be arranged out along a Y-shaped track system into various configurations across the plains -- the "very large" part of the name. A distinctive landmark, the VLA has been featured in many films. The VLA is also one part of the VLBA, the Very Long Base Array, a worldwide system of 10 radiotelescope arrays that work in concert. The NRAO office is on the New Mexico Tech campus in Socorro.
Very Large Array website

AKA: Bidu-ya, Beduiat, Apache Wolf, He Who Checks His Horse. (1825-1880) War chief of the Chiricahua Apache who had numerous clashes with U.S. Army forces 1870-1880. Originally riding with Geronimo, he was moved with his people several times to at least three different reservations, one of them the Warm Springs Reservation in Ojo Caliente New Mexico. After several times "leaving the reservation" on raids Victorio permanently withdrew in 1879, leading to "Victorio's War" which included the Alma Massacre and the attack on Fort Tularosa.

AKA: Victoria Peak, Vittorio Peak. In southern New Mexico, on land now part of the White Sands Missile Range. Named for Apache Chief Victorio. Legendarily the location of caves filled with a grand treasure. The most notable claim comes from Milton "Doc" Noss, who claimed to have found the treasure in the 1930s and removed gold and artifacts from it 1937-1949. Several groups have gained permission to search for the treasure, with no result. The treasure remains controversial, including claims that it was removed by the U.S. Army.

AKA: Victorio War, Victorio Campaign. 1879-1881. In September 1879 Chief Victorio led Apache tribespeople off of the San Carlos Indian Reservation in southeastern Arizona, fleeing poor living conditions and strife with other Apache tribes. The force waged a guerrilla war across the Southwest and northern Mexico. The Battle of Ojo Caliente resulted in the deaths of some U.S. Cavalry soldiers including Buffalo Soldiers, and military presence in the area was increased. Civilian militias were also formed in New Mexico and Arizona, and militia members were killed by Victorio's forces near Silver City. The Battle of Los Animas Canyon resulted in more military losses; three soldiers were later awarded the Medal of Honor for courage under heavy fire. After Victorio and many of his warriors were killed by the Mexican Army in October 1880, Chief Nana continued the campaign into 1881.

Outside of Angel Fire. Founded by Victor and Jeanne Westphal, whose son David was killed in Vietnam. The Peace and Brotherhood Chapel they built with David’s life insurance became the first major Vietnam memorial in the United States, and is the only state park dedicated exclusively to veterans of the Vietnam War. The Memorial features the Chapel, a visitor's center, memorial walkway, a sculpture by Taos artist Doug Scott of an infantryman on the field, and a Huey helicopter.
Vietnam Veterans Memorial website

Chacoan outlier site south of Gallup noted as an example of the development of Zuni culture, and for its petroglyphs and pictographs. Extensively excavated in 1930 by Frank H. H. Roberts, Jr. Listed on the State Register of Cultural Properties and the National Register of Historic Places.
National Geographic Village of the Great Kivas website

Rain that disappears before it reaches the ground. Most often seen as long feathery streamers or columns beneath isolated cloud masses, sometimes from high altitudes. The precipitation - ice or water droplets - sublimates or evaporates far above the land surface. Virga rain may also be associated with downward movements of air including microbursts. Virga columns are a distinctive feature of New Mexico's spectacular sunsets, often featured in landscape paintings; the idea of "rain that misses the ground" is often startling to visitors from other climates, and is in fact sometimes denied as impossible until actually witnessed.

Company within Richard Branson's Virgin Group, dedicated to developing commercial and tourist spaceflight. Virgin Galactic is one of the anchor tenants for Spaceport America in south central New Mexico. The company has taken many reservations for tourist flights, and plans to operate a fleet of vessels from the Spaceport.

Quote attributed to Georgia O'Keeffe. Sometimes quoted with slight variations.

See Los Lunas Chile Festival

See Very Large Array

New Mexico's landscape exhibits all of the known forms of volcanism, from lava flows to mega-eruptions that covered large parts of the Southwest in layers of ash. Four major volcano fields, including the one west of Albuquerque, include cinder cones and marl volcanoes; noted lava flows include the McCarty's Flow (deposited 3,000 years ago) and the Carrizozo Malpais. The Valles Caldera is one of the largest such calderas on the planet, and landscape features such as Frijoles Canyon, the Tent Rocks, and City of Rocks are formed from thick deposits of volcanic ash. Landmark Mt. Taylor is a composite volcano. Capulin Volcano in northeastern NM was designated a National Monument in 1916 and attracts thousands of visitors annually. As much of the volcanism is fueled by stresses along the active expansion zone of the Rio Grande Rift, volcanic activity in New Mexico is considered dormant rather than extinct.

(1856-1916) Adam Clark Vroman. Noted photographer of the American Southwest, especially active from the mid-1890s into 1905. Vroman's photographs are considered one of the leading chronicles of Native American life in the Southwest before European contact significantly changed the cultures. Vroman visited New Mexico several times, recording the Hopis, Zunis, Pueblos, and Navajos from 1897 to 1904. Founder of the Vroman's Bookstore chain. Noted collection of his works: Dwellers at the source; Southwestern Indian photographs of A. C. Vroman, 1895-1904.