Albuquerque, New Mexico

“ ALBUQUERQUE BIOLOGICAL PARK, NEW MEXICO, TITLE CLARIFICATION. (a) Purpose— The purpose of this section is to direct the Secretary of the Interior to issue a quitclaim deed conveying any right, title, and interest the United States may have in and to Tingley Beach, San Gabriel Park, or the BioPark Parcels to the City, thereby removing a potential cloud on the City's title to these lands. (b) Definitions— In this section: (1) CITY— The term `City' means the City of Albuquerque, New Mexico. ”

“ East-central New Mexico, like the northeast, is an area of plains and mountains. Here the buffalo roamed, and in their place, cattle now utilize the hardy and nutritious grasses of the High Plains. Mountains are the Manzano, southeast of Albuquerque, and Sierra Blanca, near Carrizozo, as well as numerous minor ranges. Also in this region is some harsh and desolate country, seared by the southwestern sun and lacking in rainfall, but supporting the exotic plants and wildlife typical of the Sonoran desert regions. ”

“ Towns.—This stripe of country, which borders the Rio del Norte, is thinly peopled; the town of Santa Fe containing 4000 inhabitants; Albuquerque, 6000; and Taos, 9000, comprise almost one-half of the population. The other half consists of poor colonists, whose scattered hamlets are frequently ravaged by the powerful tribes of Indians who surround them, and overrun the province. It is true that the soil is amongst the finest and most fertile of Spanish America. ”

“ But ancient Indians hold no monopoly on this vast region. Today many of the Indians of New Mexico still find homes here. The Navajo Reservation lies between Gallup and the Colorado line. Part of the Ute Reservation lies along the northern edge of New Mexico, and the Jicarilla Reservation is in the eastern part of this region. Many of the pueblo people are found between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. At Gallup each year, the famed Indian Ceremonials bring together peoples from many of the tribes in the United States. ”

“ Twenty years afterward two hundred and fifty Spaniards dwelt there, including soldiers; and when the Indians rose and drove out the whites in 1680, the whole district contained not more than one thousand Europeans, about half of whom lived in Santa Fé.
All the other towns in New Mexico, the Indian villages excepted, are of much later origin than Santa Fé. Albuquerque, for example, dates from 1701, Las Vegas from 1835, Bernalillo from 1701, Socorro—the old pueblo was destroyed in 1681—from 1817. ”

“ In 1850 the territory of New Mexico was organized and in 1863 it was
reduced to its present limits with an area of 122,000 square miles. The
population of New Mexico in 1900 was 195,310 and in 1910 was 327,301 an
increase of 67.6 per cent. Albuquerque, with a population of 11,020, and
Rosewell with 6,172 were the two largest cities. Like Arizona, New
Mexico possesses great wealth in mines and forests, but the foundation
for her future industrial progress lies in her farms. In 1910 New Mexico
possessed 500,000 acres of irrigated land. ”

“ The second cities in the province are Albuquerque and Passo [El Paso] del Norte. The latter is the most southern city of the province, as Tons [Taos] is the most northern. Between the village of Sibilleta and the Passo there is a wilderness of near 200 miles [including the Jornada del Muerto] .
Trade and Commerce. New Mexico carries on a trade direct with Mexico through Biscay [Nueva Viscaya] , also with Senora [Sonora] and Sinaloa; it sends out about 30,000 sheep annually, tobacco, dressed deer and cabrie skins, some furs, buffalo robes, salt, and wrought copper vessels of a superior quality. ”

“ That upon said right of way so located through the city of Albuquerque, in said county, were definitely located necessary grounds for station buildings, workshops, depots, machine shops, side tracks, turntables, and water stations; and there were also located upon said right of way at the Atlantic and Pacific Junction, at Chaves or Mitchell, at Coolidge, at Wingate, at Gallup, and at Manuelito, necessary grounds for station buildings, work shops, depots, machine shops, switches, side tracks, turntables, and water stations. ”

“ And winding its way slowly from the foot of the mountain, comes a train of black-eyed, barefooted Pueblo Indian women, bearing on their heads home-made baskets filled to overflowing with well-displayed fruit—melons, peaches, grapes—in such perfection, and with such rich, ripe coloring, as are seldom found away from Mexico.
Of historical interest, too, there is much in Albuquerque. The daughter of a Spanish lady belonging to the old family of the Bacas, was married to an officer in our army, and with her I visited the house of General Armijo. ”

“ Alburquerque is a town as large as Santa Fé, stretched for several miles along the left bank of the Rio Grande, and if not a handsomer, is at least not a worse looking place than the capital.
The population of New Mexico, owing to the insecure tenure of life on a frontier which is constantly liable to the ravages of wild Indians, has always clustered together in towns and villages. ”

“ He maintained strict military discipline, was active, humane, respected, feared by his neighbors, and beloved by his subjects. Notwithstanding his valuable services, Albuquerque did not escape the envy of the courtiers and the suspicions of King Emanuel, who appointed Lopez Soarez, a personal enemy of Albuquerque, to supersede him as viceroy. This ingratitude affected him deeply. Ishmael, the Shah of Persia, offered his assistance to resist the arbitrary decree of the Portuguese court, but Albuquerque would not violate his allegiance. ”

“ One interesting proceeding of Albuquerque was his establishment of a new coinage, both at Goa and at Malacca. After the first capture of the future capital of Portuguese India, Timoja, whom he had made governor of the island, came with the principal inhabitants of the city and begged Albuquerque to strike some new money. The Governor replied, after holding a council of his captains, that he could not venture to assume one of the chief prerogatives of royalty without first obtaining the permission of the King of Portugal. ”

“ Loaded with specimens of gold ore, I started this morning to join the caravan again, which expected to reach Albuquerque within four days. The road from here to Albuquerque leads at first through a cañon in a SSE. direction, because a chain of granitic mountains to the west does not allow a more direct course. Tall pines, cedars, and sometimes a small oak tree, grow in the narrow valley, and all over the surrounding mountains. After having travelled six miles, I passed by a small Indian village or pueblo; they cultivate some fields by way of irrigation, but look exceedingly poor. ”

“ Thus the Rájá of Cochin was the declared enemy of the Zamorin of Calicut, and the Muhammadan kings of the Deccan were too busy in fighting over the disruption of the great Báhmani kingdom to make a general effort against the new-comers. The existence of local jealousies and rivalries enabled Albuquerque, like later European rulers of India, to make good the position of his countrymen.
The special causes of the success of the Portuguese are to be found in the superiority of their ships, their artillery, and their soldiers. ”

“ Perhaps nowhere in the world is the natural setting nobler than in New Mexico—more beautiful with spacious desert, sky, mountain; more varied in rich, energizing climate, more dramatic in its human procession, more mellow with age-old charm. Endowed with sunshine that stimulates, and winter chill that toughens; with silence and majestic desert color that offer a spiritual companionship, it has enough. Here, if anywhere is air, earth, sky fit to constitute a gracious homeland, not alone for those who study and create, but as well for those who play, for those who sit still to brood and dream. ”

“ Albuquerque knew how eagerly King Emmanuel expected his merchant-ships, and, like Warren Hastings in later times, he was forced to subordinate his political aims to the commercial objects of his employer. He therefore sailed to Cochin, where he invested a new Rájá in the place of his deceased uncle and got ready the cargo for Portugal. But, though he yielded to Sequeira's representations, he insisted upon being accompanied to Goa by the squadrons of Diogo Mendes and João Serrão. ”

“ It is not without interest to examine the history of the family, for it illustrates in a remarkable manner the origin of the most noble houses of the Peninsula. It is besides always of interest to study the ancestry of a great man, for the qualities which distinguished him are generally to be perceived also in former members of his family.
The family of Albuquerque derived its origin from Dom Affonso Sanches, an illegitimate son of King Diniz or Denis, The Labourer, and a beautiful Gallician lady, Dona Aldonsa de Sousa. ”

“ Its residents are almost entirely Eastern capitalists, who are living here that they may keep an eye on their possessions, mines, ranches, and the things of this world in general. However largely they have laid up their treasures in heaven, they have a goodly amount also on earth, over which they perhaps keep closer watch and ward than over their more immaterial possessions. At all events, Albuquerque is a sort of Newport of the West, where people drive and dance and dine from one week to another, and the women are so stylish as to suggest some occult affinities with the Rue de la Paix. ”

“ But even at its best, modern civilization, with its push and bustle, ill becomes the happy-go-lucky native Mexican sunning himself in lazy content against the adobe of his shiftily built dwelling.
In a land of well-nigh perpetual blue sky, why need mortal man scramble to make hay while the sun shines? ”

“ This point, as I have intimated, is in the midst of the civilization of northern New Mexico. Twenty-five miles up the Chama stands the large town of Abiquiu, an important place in old times; nearer by another plaza, Cuchillo, is a farming center. Not far away, in the Rio Grande valley, are San Juan, Santa Cruz and Española, the latter on the western bank of the river and the present terminus of the railway line southward, whence stages depart regularly for Santa Fe.
A Mexican farmhouse or “ranch” looks like a small fort, and makes a very pleasing picture, as you may observe in our sketch. ”

“ There were one or two high-minded and able men among the successors of the splendid Albuquerque, but they did not attempt to rival his deeds or carry out his ideas. The romance of Portuguese history in the East is no longer bound up with the growth of the power of the nation, but is to be found rather in the careers of daring adventurers such as Fernão Mendes Pinto and Sebastião Gonzales. The complete attainment of commercial prosperity seems to have destroyed the dream of Empire. ”

“ And there is such a dreamy languor in the air; such a soft tint in the blue of the heavens; such a wooing, balmy breeze, that seems to float down from the mountain yonder. There is no necessity for keeping one's eyes fixed on the sand-hill that hid Albuquerque from us at first. Look over again to the mountain. Could artist with brush and pencil create anything more perfect than the gentle rise away off there, over which houses and vineyards are scattered, and which climbs up steeper and higher, till the faintest shadow of a passing cloud seems resting on the blue-green peak? ”

“ In 1540, when the train of soldiers in the company of Coronado’s Spanish Expedition entered the unknown lands later called New Mexico, four groups of native Americans were established residents in the area. Along the arable valley of the Rio Grande and its tributaries, and in several outlying areas were the adobe and stone apartment-house villages of the Pueblo Indians, whose livelihood was based largely on agriculture. ”

“ But though he did not make missionary effort a main aim of his policy, like some of his successors, Albuquerque was unfeignedly pious. He built churches at Goa, at Malacca, and in the island of Socotra, and he granted in these instances the whole of the property which had belonged to the Muhammadan mosques to the new foundations. The first Portuguese adventurers in India were too delighted to find Christians at all in India to have time to examine into the difference of their ritual from their own. They were overjoyed to find a cross in digging foundations for a church in Goa. ”

“ Let it be known for certain that as long as you may be powerful at sea, you will hold India as yours; and if you do not possess this power, little will avail you a fortress on shore; and as to expelling the Moors (Muhammadans) from the country, I have found the right way to do it, but it is a long story, and it will be done when the Lord pleases and will thus be served.'
CHAPTER II
THE EARLY CAREER OF ALBUQUERQUE
The name of Albuquerque was already famous in the history of Castile and of Portugal before the birth of the great man who increased its lustre. ”

“ The Indian as a rule is not stalwart, and decidedly not picturesque. Having had the gentle arts of civilization thrust upon him, and being naturally of a lazy disposition, he is content to loaf around chewing shag and disfiguring the landscape generally with his presence.
As Albuquerque was approached, things looked more flourishing. The land was cultivated where possible, and in places corn and wheat appeared.
It is very strange to find a prospering city in the midst of such desolate surroundings as Albuquerque has. ”

“ Some of the Catholic clergy objected, in spite of his making baptism a preliminary to marriage, and Diogo Mendes, when Captain of Goa, did all he could to discourage the married men. Albuquerque dwells at length on this subject in the long despatch which he wrote to the king on April 1st, 1512, after his return from Malacca.2 It was one of his favourite schemes, and was well suited to the inclinations of the Portuguese people. Possibly no other nation is so willing to intermarry with alien races as the Portuguese. ”