Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Dry-Land Farming, Jerry L. Williams

Homestead Geography Project - Oral Histories and Publications

Dry-land farming is a system of land use, crop management, and timing of operations that are designed to cope with the conditions of climate and rainfall of a semiarid land. Experiments began on dry-land techniques as early as the 1860s and the methods became well-known in the Great Plains by the end of the 1880s. A major component of dry farming, which is a term (along with dry-land farming) of western American origin, is the conservation of soil moisture during dry weather by special methods of tillage and plant adaptation. It is not farming without moisture, but farming where moisture …

Reasons For Vacating The Land, Jerry L. Williams

Homestead Geography Project - Oral Histories and Publications

According to interview data, the mid droughts began very early. The first was in 1908 and 1909 followed by a low rainfall period of 1910 and 1911. These mild droughts were followed by another dry period in 1925 and 1926 and later by the dust bowl period of the mid-1930s. To experience even a mild drought was sufficient to weed out the land speculators who had little interest in farming the land. There were also a number of people who intended to farm, but arrived with insufficient funds to purchase the necessary equipment to produce enough surplus to ride through …

Subdividing The Public Lands: The Apportionment And Settlement Of Northeast New Mexico, Jerry L. Williams

Homestead Geography Project - Oral Histories and Publications

The land of northeastern New Mexico, outside of the recognized title rights of the former Mexican citizens, became the public domain of the United States by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. This immediately allowed for US control over 10,000 square miles of land within the area east of the 105° meridian and north of a line roughly defined by Interstate 40 in Quay County and the boundary between San Miguel and Guadalupe counties. Portions of the northeast which were excluded from this public domain by the action of the Court of Private Land Claims between 1891 and 1904 …

Peopling The Northeast Plains, Jerry L. Williams

Homestead Geography Project - Oral Histories and Publications

During the 1880s and the early part of the 1890s the cattle companies were continuing to hire ranch hands to prove up homesteads around water holes. At the same time the early farmers began to appear in the northeast, but not in the form of the sodbusters who were to later swarm over the highland llanos during the early part of the twentieth century. The early farmers were not labeled "nesters," which was the derogatory term coined by the stockmen for the people who turned small parcels of the grassland into fields and began erecting fences over the plains. The …

Natural Elements Of Northeastern New Mexico, Jerry L. Williams

Homestead Geography Project - Oral Histories and Publications

Northeastern New Mexico is one of the most diverse natural landscapes in the state. Large volcanic vents dot the basalt flows that cap the piedmont surface, providing a very rugged horizon rather than the flat monotonous topography usually associated with the Great Plains of the United States. The dissected and rolling plains are broken by severely eroded canyons that have cut through the sandstone layers topped with caliche. In some areas where the major drainages confluence (such as the intersection of the Ute and Canadian or the Conchas and the Canadian) the narrow canyons broaden into extensive valleys characterized by …

Missouri Avenue On The Caprock, Jerry L. Williams

Homestead Geography Project - Oral Histories and Publications

Lured by reports about grama grass that was so high it tickled the belly of a horse, the settlers poured onto the high plains of New Mexico during the first decade of the twentieth century. Boom towns began to sprout up along the sidings that the single-line railroads needed for intersecting trains and for locating maintenance crews. The towns especially blossomed if the siding was next to a highland area of prairie that appeared capable of dryland farming. The railroad companies, which were provided with large blocks of land to promote settlement, and the merchants of the new railroad towns …

Interviews With Pioneers, Jerry L. Williams

Homestead Geography Project - Oral Histories and Publications

There are many first-generation pioneers still living in northeastern New Mexico. Most are over eighty years of age and several are nearing the century mark. Their recall of the era of farming is remarkable and it is fascinating to record the events which are firmly locked into their minds. Many decades have passed since their families abandoned the farm and the homestead and either migrated to urban areas for employment or remained on the land by converting to a cattle economy. When probed or reminded of events through the line of questioning, most interviewees would discourse with clear details and …

Homesteading And Public Land Law, Jerry L. Williams

Homestead Geography Project - Oral Histories and Publications

It is important to the discussion of Butcher and Wyatt as homesteaders to understand the public land laws which affected their choice of land. Consequently, a review of the history of land legislation affecting the allocation and use of the public domain is in order and particularly that legislation under which Butcher and Wyatt made entry: the Homestead Act of 1862. Through this act early settlers around Tucumcari were able to acquire, at little expense, 160 acre tracts of land. In addition, the shortcomings and beneficial aspects of other acts of Congress concerning the acquisition of public domain will be …

Elements To Assist The Farmers And Promote Immigration, Jerry L. Williams

Homestead Geography Project - Oral Histories and Publications

The purpose of this portion of the resource survey of the northeastern plains is to reconstruct the settlement phase which occurred between 1880 and 1940, the period generally referred to as the homesteading era. To reconstruct the 60 years of human settlement and resettlement required an extensive review of secondary information resources as well as a field project(?) oriented around the collection of data from primary information resources. Much of the information that was compiled was directed toward a mapping project of the northeastern plains which included the location of the places named by the settlers as well as identifying …

The Justice System Is Criminal, Raven Delfina Otero-Symphony

2020 Award Winners

No abstract provided.

Paper Presented At The National Council Of Preservation Education Conference, Samuel E. Sisneros

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Historic preservation’s principles and practices directly correlate and support the charge of librarians and archivists to provide resources for the public and contribute to scholarship and community building. This paper, presented at the National Council of Preservation Education conference in Denver, Colorado (Oct. 10-12, 2019), will discuss the research methodologies, historical context and preservation issues of a recovery project of an historic site in New Mexico.

The Armendárizes: A Transnational Family In New Mexico And Mexico, Samuel E. Sisneros

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Although the Armendáriz surname is uncommon in New Mexico today,

the Armendáriz family was important in New Mexico during the early

to mid-1800s, with key political, diplomatic, and social links to Texas; California;

Washington, D.C.; and Mexico. The lives of the Armendárizes attest

to the long and constant movement of people, trade, and politics along El

Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (the Royal Road of the Interior) and to the

formation of a binational region. From Santa Fe, New Mexico, to the El Paso/

Ciudad Juárez border and Chihuahua City to Mexico City, the Armendáriz

family legacy demonstrates that New …

“She Was Our Mother” New Mexico’S Change Of National Sovereignty And Juan Bautista Vigil Y Alarid, The Last Mexican Governor Of New Mexico., Samuel E. Sisneros

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

This chapter from the 400^th anniversary of Santa Fe anthology book All Trails Lead to Santa Fe discusses the little known history of the last New Mexican governor during the Mexican Republic’s administration in New Mexico.

El Paseño, Padre Ramón Ortiz: 1814-1896, Samuel E. Sisneros

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Padre Ramón Ortiz, born in 1814 in Santa Fe, New Mexico became an important figure in the history of El Paso and the US/Mexico border region. This article gives a chronological time-line and narrative of his life and work as a humanitarian and a diplomat.

A Collection Of Book Reviews And Essays, Samuel E. Sisneros

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Contains selected papers written by Samuel Sisneros, Masters Degree program in Borderlands History, University of Texas at El Paso. See cover page for index of papers.

Gone But Not Forgotten: The Cultural Resources Of Northeastern New Mexico, Jerry L. Williams

Homestead Geography Project - Oral Histories and Publications

No abstract provided.