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A LOOK INSIDE THE ARCHIVES AT ONE OF OUR CLASSIC ISSUES FROM 91 YEARS OF NEW MEXICO MAGAZINE.
December 1942 WILD DICK, THE AVENGER Yes, sir, from Spanish or any other language, we English-speaking people not only take what we want, but also manage to fix it to suit ourselves. “Savvy” from “sabe” and “vamoose” from “vamos!” Here in bi-lingual New Mexico, of course, a good many of us feel an affection for the velvet-tone quality of the Spanish tongue which prompts us to pronounce even borrowed words as nearly right as we can. But when I mentioned to a friend in New York that the burro is getting scarce in these parts, his reaction was a complete no-savvy until I explained that I meant our native donkey. Then he said, “Oh, you mean the burrow!” But I didn’t mean burrow, dang it. I meant BOO-r-r-r-ro, including those cuckleburred r’s!
Hiking the High Country
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Winter in Holy Ghost Canyon by H.D. Walter
ew Year’s Day, 1883, saw a number of the elite of Las Vegas gathered at Hot Springs, near the Montezuma Hotel, to witness a shooting match. Some of the “best shots” of the Meadow City were on hand. The scorer lay safely behind a huge boulder near the target, but when the first shot struck his place of concealment he withdrew to a safer distance and used a telescope. One “dead shot” missed the target completely and killed a cow. Another almost shot his big toe off as he lay on his back with the barrel of his rifle between his crossed feet. All contestants had missed clean, and were somewhat chagrined, when a stranger asked if he might enter the contest. He posted his entrance fee, threw his rifle to his shoulder and was about to shoot, when someone asked his name. He turned fiercely on his questioner: “I’m Wild Dick, the Avenger, the best shot in Vermont!” he snarled. Whipping his rifle to his shoulder he let drive. The scorer yelled: “Bull’s eye! Plumb center!” The judges turned to present the prize to the winner, but “Wild Dick, the Avenger” had disappeared.
By Henry Kelly Whoever wrote the line: “I am monarch of all I survey” must have been sitting atop some such wonder spot as the Santa Barbara Divide. All about us, as far as eye could see, the precious wilderness area extended—one of the few remaining regions in the U.S. that still resists the relentless march of cities, factories, oil derricks, highways, and automobiles. We were indeed monarchs of all we surveyed, and our realm of mountains and valleys, snowdrifts, and rivers was one to be cherished by us, for our children and for generations to follow. VOLUME 92, ISSUE 12 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.
80 NEW MEXICO | DECEMBER 2014