Ruidoso, New Mexico, has long offered a cool, verdant haven to the many visitors who come to escape the desert heat. Commercial development of the area was hampered by the sheer difficulty in getting there��You just picked your way through the sand dunes, following someone else�s tire tracks,� an early visitor recalled. Eventually, the first private cabins in Ruidoso were built in 1915 and a few primitive lodging facilities were added in the 1920s and 1930s. The local economy slowed during...

The Sacramento Mountains are an oasis of cool pine forests, alpine meadows, and fast-flowing streams. For more than a century, the area has been a summer haven for people living in the surrounding desert. The town of Ruidoso'a Spanish word meaning 'noisy''is named for the sound of water rushing over rocks as the Rio Ruidoso runs (and occasionally rampages) through the town. The town's first resident, Civil War veteran Paul Dowlin, built an adobe mill that harnessed the river's power. Word ...

Cowboy and drifter Frank Clifford lived a lot of lives—and raised a lot of hell—in the first quarter of his life. The number of times he changed his name—Clifford being just one of them—suggests that he often traveled just steps ahead of the law. During the 1870s and 1880s his restless spirit led him all over the Southwest, crossing the paths of many of the era’s most notorious characters, most notably Clay Allison and Billy the Kid.More than just an entertaining and informative na...

A traveler's guide to ghost towns and historic villages of Arizona and New Mexico, featuring maps, historical background, and color photos.The Southwest is home to an enticing array of ghost towns and historic villages. Once-bustling mining camps, frontier towns, and railroad towns stand today as reminders of the glory days of mining and the Wild West. Historic buildings, abandoned schoolhouses, old mills, and overgrown cemeteries offer fascinating glimpses into the...

"[The] text and photos make this . . . more than a pretty coffee-table book, Route 66 aficionados will want to add this descriptive tome to their collections." — Ruidoso News (New Mexico)Much more than a ribbon of crumbling asphalt, Route 66 is a cultural icon revered the world over for its nostalgic value—an east-west artery pointing America toward all the promise that the great West represented. But as stretches of Steinbeck's "Mother Road" were bypassed ...

New Mexico is �The Land of Enchantment,� offering a fascinating blend of Native American, Spanish Colonial, and Western American cultures. The travelers from the East knew they had arrived in the great Southwest when they entered New Mexico�the towns along Route 66 were ablaze in neon, and the motels lured travelers with Western themes, Pueblo Revival architecture, and Native American trading posts. An adventure still awaits the traveler today who takes the time to exit I-40 and leave the ...

The Panhandle�s first railroad, the Southern Kansas Railway of Texas, was constructed in 1886. Reaching Amarillo in 1889, the railway pulled cars filled with immigrant families and their belongings. The settlers were farmers from the east and south who came west to find water and cheap land. George Tyng, an adventurous fortune seeker, began leasing ranch land in 1887. A rail station was constructed, and Tyng eventually settled on the name �Pampa,� a South American word that means �plains.�...

A celebration of America's most historic highway, in words and pictures.Winding through the rugged heartland of the American West, Route 66 has resonated for generations in hardscrabble tales of hopeful seekers of new homes and new lives. It also inspired Alan and Claudia Heller, longtime residents of Duarte, a California town along Route 66, to hitch their trailer to a retirement dream and travel the road again, journeying through their home state and back to Chic...

In 1950, Ann was eighteen and Bob D twenty when he asked her to marry him and hit the road for West Texas. They packed their station wagon, left home and began a life of adventure together on Conoco's West Texas survey crew during the 1950s oil boom. Five kids, twenty-one towns and thirteen years on the road--Bob D and Ann's travels along the highways of West Texas are a portrait in a landscape of oilfields, railroads and ranches. Layering local history with family memoir, author Rebecca D...

This book is part of a series of 50 quick facts about each of the United States of America. This book covers the state of Colorado. Facts about the major cities, the history of the state, famous people linked to Colorado and many more subjects. This book contains all you will ever need to know about the Centennial state.

Elk Grove's roots go back to 1850, when the community consisted of only a stage-stop hotel. In 1876, this small farm town in the shadow of Sacramento became a crossroads along the new railroad tracks. As the railroad era progressed, it brought significant changes to Elk Grove'fields were transformed into orchards, vineyards, and eventually, residential developments. But Elk Grove remained just a part of southern Sacramento County until citizens prevailed in their attempt to establish cityh...

From the 1890s through the 1920s, the postcard was an extraordinarily popular means of communication, and many of the postcards produced during this 'golden age' can today be considered works of art. Postcard photographers traveled the length and breadth of the nation snapping photographs of busystreet scenes, documenting local landmarks, and assembling crowds of local townspeople only too happy to pose for a picture. These images, printed as postcards and sold in general stores across the...