Treasures Of History Southeast New Mexico People Places And Events

Melzer offers an impressive new book about famous New Mexico gravesites, usually the only monuments left to honor the human treasures who helped shape state, national, and often international history.

Outlaws, cattlemen and a plethora of quirky pioneers once riddled southeastern New Mexico. In November 1892, E.W. Doll and J.B. Coates ignited rumors of an eight-foot petrified man in McKittrick Cave. A massive fire and subsequent shootout led to the demise of Phenix, one of the Old West's most scandalous towns. And in August 1932, Bonnie and Clyde kidnapped Carlsbad's Deputy Sheriff Joe Johns. Authors Donna Blake Birchell and John LeMay explore these little-known tales and more that have beguiled this region for centuries.

From the days of the Cattle Kingdom, to the sheriffs who rode out after such outlaws as George Musgrave and Black Jack Ketchum, to the rocket experiments of Dr. Robert H. Goddard, TREASURES OF HISTORY IV: Historical Events of Chaves County, New Mexico relates many exciting episodes in the history of Roswell, Chaves County, and Southeast New Mexico. This is the fourth book in the Treasures of History series and the third volume consisting mostly of stories that had their origins as feature stories in the Roswell Daily Record of Vision Magazine.Some chapters deal with famous characters who had connections with Roswell, such as Frank Chisum, the former slave who became a cattleman; George Causey, the famous buffalo hunter; Charles Lindbergh, the aviation hero; Wild West Show performer Uncle Kit Carson; and Milt Mabie of "Louise Massey and the Westerners" music group. Two early doctors and three sheriffs are chronicle. Two outstanding women-Amelia Church and Annie Laurie Snorf-are featured. Other interesting and important events are recorded in the book's 26 chapers.Although each chapter is a story unto itself, they are arranged in chronological order to place them in the appropriate period in the history of Roswell and Chaves County.

As early as 1851, photographers journeyed along the arduous Santa Fe Trail on horseback and in covered wagons on a quest to capture the magnificent vistas on film. In the ever-changing light of New Mexico's landscape, they photographed the faces of the Pueblo People and helped to document their ancient, unimaginable world. They became witness to millennia of history. New Mexico's first inhabitants are believed to have descended from the Anasazi, the largely nomadic group that settled along the Colorado Plateau around 200 AD. Most likely, drought conditions brought the population centers of the Anasazi villages located in the Four Corners of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico to settle along the Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico and the Mogollon Rim of Arizona in 1300 AD.

Larger than Life offers eleven essays that touch on New Mexico's history through its people, places, and events.

Best known as the site of an alleged flying saucer crash in 1947 and the "Roswell Incident," Roswell began as a humble trading post in the late 1860s along the Goodnight-Loving Cattle Trail and eventually grew into a metropolis of southeastern New Mexico. Once a cow town and home to famous Western figures such as John Chisum, Pat Garrett, and Capt. Joseph C. Lea, Roswell is also the birthplace of the New Mexico Military Institute, the testing grounds for Robert H. Goddard's rockets in the 1930s, and the site of the Roswell Army Airfield and a German POW camp in the 1940s. Today Roswell is a popular tourist destination and home to more than 50,000 residents.

This book is a unique chronicle of the lives of over one hundred "Living Treasures;" elders honored by the Living Treasures program. These individuals from the villages, pueblos, and cities of New Mexico live with simplicity, spirit, and grace. Their quiet accomplishments are inspirations to all, and bring focus to the finest in humanity. Joanne Rijmes' sensitive portraits, richly reproduced in duotone, capture the essence of these people. The text, by award-winning authors Karen Nilsson Brandt and Sharon Niederman, provides previously unpublished oral history. Images and text create a vivid composite portrait of a civic spirited generation--valuable role models for individuals, communities and our youth.