New Mexico Enchants! Vicky Ramakka

 I am glad to have an opportunity to write about New Mexico, specifically San Juan County in the northwest corner, part of the Four Corners region. San Juan County is tucked up against Arizona on the west and Colorado on the north. It covers more square miles than Delaware and Rhode Island combined, plus another Delaware. From my home just 10 miles from the Colorado border, on a clear day I can see mountains in Colorado to the north and in Arizona to the west. Utah is out of sight range, but only a two-hour drive away. 

Archeological research indicates this area has been occupied for thousands of years by indigenous cultures. Spanish explorers passed through here in the 1600s, with Hispanic homesteader settlements flourishing by the early 1800s. Farmington, the largest town in San Juan County, was largely settled by Mormons migrating from Utah, drawn to the agricultural prospects offered by good river bottom land. The San Juan River, the Animas River and the La Plata River, all originating in Colorado's mountains, flow through San Juan County. Farmington is sometimes called Totah, a Navajo word for where three rivers meet.

Early farmers recognized this potential farmland and named their new settlements Farmington, Fruitland, and Waterflow. Tons of apples and other fruits were shipped by rail to all parts of the country. Few of those orchards remain due to an almost complete shift from agriculture to oil and gas production. Oil and natural gas resources brought a significant wave of growth from the 1930s through 1950s. The early wildcatters and well drilling hands came mainly from Oklahoma and Texas. These settlement patterns give San Juan County a hard-working, blue-collar, get-the-job done reputation.

The Navajo Nation takes up nearly two-thirds of western San Juan County. On the opposite side of the county, lies part of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal reservation, which extends into Colorado. A notable feature on the Navajo Reservation is Ship Rock, the remaining pinnacle of a long-ago eroded volcano. Nearby is the town of Shiprock. While writing my novel, The Cactus Plot, I learned to differentiate the spelling of Ship Rock, the geological feature, from the town's name, Shiprock. This is the value of careful research and asking knowledgeable friends to review a manuscript.


In the Navajo language, Ship Rock is known as Tsé Bitʼaʼí’ meaning "rock with wings." Mystery readers will recognize this expression as the title of Anne Hillerman's second book, Rock With Wings. This five-book series (soon to be six with Stargazer to be released in 2021) carries on the wonderful novels written by her father, Tony Hillerman. Like her father, Anne is a down-to-earth, gracious person who generously supports beginning authors. I can attest to that in bringing my first novel into fruition.

One of my favorite events is the Totah Festival held each year in Farmington, over the Labor Day weekend. This two-day celebration of Native American culture includes pow-

wow dances, art and crafts show and sale, and a woven rug auction. I enjoy munching on roast turkey legs and fry bread and admit that my wallet is sometimes much thinner after the rug auction.

Two world heritage sites, Chaco Culture National Historical Park and Aztec Ruins National Monument, are located in San Juan County. In addition to these well-known sites, there are hundreds of archeological sites to explore in the back county of northwest New Mexico. I am a volunteer Site Steward for a significant rock art site in Largo Canyon that I have visited nearly twenty times. While the intent of the Site Steward program is to monitor and deter vandalism, I just thoroughly enjoy standing before a cliff face covered with petroglyphs and surrendering to wonder—who made these, what were they communicating, why this spot, what was their world like at the time?

Like myself, the heroine of my novel grew up on the East coast. Also like many folks that have adopted New Mexico as their forever home, she replaces initial perceptions that New Mexico is a barren desert with a fascination for its unique high desert environment and falls in love with its sunsets. My motto is, Life is too short to miss even one New Mexico sunset.

Vicky Ramakka is the author of The Cactus Plot, an environmental mystery with a botanist

heroine who uses knowledge of plant ecology to solve two murders. The story is an entertaining

mystery with the underlying theme of protecting endangered species on public lands. Read

more at Artemesia Publishing http://apbooks.net/cactus.html Message Vicky at

Facebook.com/vrwriting.

"This is a delicious, layered Cozy Mystery/Women Sleuth paperback. …it's an informed cultural

and ecological immersion rolled up in a mystery."—Phaedra Greenwood, enchantment

Magazine

Vicky Ramakka

Aztec, New Mexico

You cannot perceive beauty but with a serene mind.  Henry David Thoreau

(All info provided and released by author)