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A LOOK INSIDE THE ARCHIVES AT ONE OF OUR CLASSIC ISSUES FROM 91 YEARS OF NEW MEXICO MAGAZINE.
June 1953
ZUNI SALT LAKE
Where Whisper The Rocks “Which state is your favorite?” the man asked. “New Mexico … ” Sharp-clipped the answer came, and positive. “Which part?” “The Southern part, the desert.” As sharp the syllables, as positive as before. “I love it. The Northern part, too— That stretch, now, from Santa Fe to Taos, The Sangre de Cristos, the Cimarrons— There’s beauty and grandeur there— But the desert … That part from El Paso to Lordsburg, And up to Santa Rita where Prays the Kneeling Nun at nature’s rocky altar … I’ve never known Wherein lies its allure Except that it takes hold of a man Like the spirit of the one woman he cannot do without. A strange beauty the desert has And a harshness that’s soft as love itself To the heart that feels it … Yes, I’ll take the desert, friend, And I’ll take it in New Mexico Where whisper the rocks themselves: ‘Vaya con Dios, amigo.’” —Sam Lesky
Las Vegas Girl Is ‘Garden’ Rodeo Queen Diana Sandefer, whose picture appears on the cover of this issue, has been publicizing New Mexico in past months as one of the Madison Square Garden Rodeo queens representing New Mexico. A senior at Mt. Vernon Junior College, her summer home is at Dead Horse Ranch, near Las Vegas. Last year she was Miss New Mexico at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, and in August was Queen of Rough Riders and Cowboys’ Reunion Rodeo in Las Vegas. An expert rider, she also twirls a lariat.
To the Pueblos and the Navajos, early summer is journey-for-salt-time. It is then when Minacoya, the Salt Mother, gives up her salt lying in that briny lake deep within a black volcanic crater. So, in trucks and covered wagons, the Indians come to harvest salt just 25 miles from Quemado. For centuries, they have come here each year to make this unusual harvest. But before any salt is taken, the Indians must honor Old Salt Mother. There is praying and singing, racing and dancing at the edge of the lake.
BEATTY’S CABIN: Adventuring in the Pecos High Country, by Elliott S. Barker, University of New Mexico Press, $4.50. Barker tells of fishing trips across the mountain from his home as early as 1903, with the nostalgic flavor of boyhood remembrances. There are stirring adventures [and] accounts of early mountain residents, such as Don Juan Climaco Maestas, who was known as quite a man, or “muy hombrote.”
VOLUME 92, ISSUE 6 New Mexico Magazine (ISSN 0028-6249) is published monthly by the New Mexico Tourism Department at 495 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, NM 87501-2750. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE: $25.95 per year, $45.95 outside the United States. Periodicals postage paid at Santa Fe, NM, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to New Mexico Magazine, PO Box 433148, Palm Coast, FL 32143-9881. Copyright © 2014 by New Mexico Magazine. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. The magazine is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, or artwork.
72 NEW MEXICO | JUNE 2014