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Colfax County, New Mexico

Colfax County, New Mexico

Colfax County is a county located in the state of New Mexico. As of 2000, the population is 14,189. Its county seat is Raton ⁶. It is the home of Philmont Scout Ranch, whose Ranger Department conducts all search-and-rescue operations in the county in return for use of the county's helicopters.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 9,759 km² (3,768 mi²). 9,730 km² (3,757 mi²) of it is land and 29 km² (11 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.30% water.

Demographics

As of the census ² of 2000, there are 14,189 people, 5,821 households, and 3,975 families residing in the county. The population density is 1/km² (4/mi²). There are 8,959 housing units at an average density of 1/km² (2/mi²). The racial makeup of the county is 81.50% White, 0.32% Black or African American, 1.47% Native American, 0.32% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 12.80% from other races, and 3.59% from two or more races. 47.49% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 5,821 households out of which 30.30% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.80% are married couples living together, 10.30% have a female householder with no husband present, and 31.70% are non-families. 27.70% of all households are made up of individuals and 11.90% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.37 and the average family size is 2.86. In the county the population is spread out with 25.10% under the age of 18, 6.90% from 18 to 24, 24.50% from 25 to 44, 26.50% from 45 to 64, and 16.90% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 41 years. For every 100 females there are 102.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 98.30 males. The median income for a household in the county is $30,744, and the median income for a family is $36,827. Males have a median income of $26,736 versus $19,644 for females. The per capita income for the county is $16,418. 14.80% of the population and 12.00% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 21.20% of those under the age of 18 and 9.00% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Cities and towns

- Angel Fire
- Cimarron
- Eagle Nest
- Maxwell
- Raton
- Springer

External links

- [http://nenewmexico.com/counties/colfax/ Colfax County information] Category:New Mexico counties

County

Originally, in continental Europe, a county was the land under the jurisdiction of a count. Counts are called "earls" in post-Celtic Britain and Ireland - the term is from Old Norse jarl and was introduced by the Vikings - but there is no correlation between "county" and "earldom." Rather, the term "county," from French comté, was simply used by the Normans after 1066 to replace the native English term scir ("sheer") or "shire," in Modern English. A shire was an administrative division of an Anglo-Saxon kingdom (Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia, etc.), usually named after its administrative centre (e.g., Gloucester > Gloucestershire, Worcester > Worcestershire, etc.). Thus, whereas the word comté denoted a sovereign jurisdiction in the original French, the English word "county" denotes a subdivision of a sovereign jurisdiction.

Overview

Australia

New South Wales

While New South Wales was divided into counties in the early days of the colony, often preceding European settlement, hundreds, parishes and counties became dead letters for most purposes other than the registration of land ownership, which, under the Torrens title system, is centralised in the state capital of Sydney. Sydney lies in the County of Cumberland. Local government is organised as municipalities for urban areas, and shires for rural areas. Large urban areas are called "cities".

Canada

shire Main article: Census division Five of Canada's ten provinces are divided into counties. In Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, these are local government units, whereas in Quebec and Prince Edward Island they are now only geographical divisions. Most counties consist of several municipalities, however there are a few that consist of a single large city. In sparsely populated northern Ontario and Quebec, these units are called districts not counties, and in densely populated areas of south-central Ontario new regional municipalities are used for local government instead of counties. See also:
- List of New Brunswick counties
- List of Nova Scotia counties
- List of Prince Edward Island counties
- List of Ontario counties
- List of Quebec counties
- List of Quebec county regional municipalities Divisions of the other provinces:
- In Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Newfoundland and Labrador, instead of counties, divisions are used. (Though Alberta has "counties," they are not equivalent to Census Divisions). See list of Alberta Census Divisions.
- In British Columbia, regional districts are used. (see List of British Columbia Regional Districts)
- The Yukon Territory is one district in itself
- The Northwest Territories and Nunavut are divided into districts. Statistics
- Census division statistics of Canada

China

Main article: County of China The word "county" is used to translate the Chinese term xiàn (县 or 縣). On Mainland China under the People's Republic of China, counties are the third level of local government, coming under both the province level and the prefecture level. On Taiwan, the streamlining of Taiwan Province has left the county the major governmental level below the Republic of China central government. The number of counties in China proper numbers about 2,000, and has remained more or less constant since the Han dynasty. The county remains one of the oldest levels of government in China and significantly predates the establishment of provinces in the Ming dynasty. The county government was particularly important in imperial China because this was the lowest layer at which the imperial government functioned. In older context, "prefecture" and "district" are alternative terms to refer to xiàn before the establishment of the Republic of China. The English nomenclature "county" was adopted following the establishment of the ROC. The head of a county is the magistrate. See also: Political divisions of China, Counties of Taiwan

Croatia

Counties have been units of regional self-government in Croatia since 1990. There are twenty counties and the city of Zagreb which has the same status. They are called županije and they are each headed by a župan (whose replacement is called a dožupan). See also: Counties of Croatia

Hungary

The administrative unit of Hungary is called megye, or in Latin: comitatus, which can be translated with the word county. Presently Hungary is subdivided into 19 "proper" counties, 22 city counties and 1 capital, Budapest. See the list of counties of Hungary. The comitatus was also the historic administrative unit in the Kingdom of Hungary, which included present-day neighboring countries of Hungary. See the list of historic counties of Hungary.

Ireland

The island of Ireland is divided into 32 counties, of which 26 later formed the Republic of Ireland and 6 made up Northern Ireland (for current status on Northern Irish counties, see under 'United Kingdom,' below). The counties are traditionally grouped into 4 provinces - Leinster (12), Munster (6) Connacht (5) and Ulster (9). Historically, the counties of Meath, West Meath and Dublin constituted the province of Meath - one of the "Five Fifths" of Ireland; but these have long since become the three northernmost counties of Leinster province. In the Republic each county is administered by an elected "county council", and the old provincial divisions are merely traditional names with no political significance. The number and boundaries of administrative counties in the Republic of Ireland were reformed in the 1990's. For example County Dublin was broken into three: Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, and South Dublin - the City of Dublin had existed for centuries before. In addition "County Tipperary" is actually two administrative counties, called North Tipperary and South Tipperary while the major urban centres Cork, Galway, Limerick, and Waterford have been separated from the town and rural areas of their counties. Thus, though sometimes called the 'twenty-six counties', the Republic of Ireland now has thirty-four 'county-level' authorities. For almost all sporting, cultural and other purposes, the traditional 32 counties and 4 provinces remain in common usage. Each county has its own flag/colours (and often a nickname too), and county allegiances are taken quite seriously. See the counties of Ireland.

Japan

"County" is one of the translations of gun (郡), which is a subdivision of prefecture. It is also translated as rural district, rural area or district. The translation "district" is not preferred, because it comes into conflict with the usual translation of "district", chome. In this encyclopedia, district is used for gun. See Japanese translation note. Presently, "counties" have no political power or administrative function. The division is mainly significant in postal services.

Lithuania

Apskritis (pl. apskritys) is the Lithuanian word for county. Since 1994 Lithuania has 10 counties; before 1950 it had 20. The only purpose with the county is an office of a state governor who shall conduct law and order in the county. See counties of Lithuania.

New Zealand

After New Zealand abolished its provinces in 1876, a system of counties similar to other countries' systems was instituted, lasting until 1989. They had chairmen, not mayors as boroughs and cities had; many legislative provisions (such as burial and land subdivision control) were different for the counties. During the second half of the 20th century, many counties received overflow population from nearby cities. The result was often a merger of the two into a "district" (eg Rotorua) or a change of name to "district' (eg Waimairi) or "city" (eg Manukau). The Local Government Act 1974 began the process of bringing urban, mixed, and rural councils into the same legislative framework. Substantial reorganisations under that Act resulted in the 1989 shake-up, which covered the country in (non-overlapping) cities and districts and abolished all the counties except for the Chatham Islands County, which survived under that name for a further 6 years but then became a "Territory" under the "Chatham Islands Council".

Norway

Norway is divided into 19 counties (sing. fylke, plur. fylker, literally "folk") as of 1972. Up to this year Bergen was a separate county, but is today a municipality in the county of Hordaland. All counties are divided into municipalities, (sing. kommune, plur. kommuner), the ones with incorporated cities being called city municipalities (sing. bykommune, plur. bykommuner). The county of Oslo is equivalent to the municipality of Oslo. Each county has its own assembly (fylkesting) whose representatives are elected every 4 years together with representatives to the municipality councils. The counties handle matters as high schools and local roads, and until recently hospitals as well. This responsibility is now transferred to the state, and there is a debate on the future of the county as an administrative entity. Some people, and parties, such as the Conservatives, Høyre, call for the abolishment of the counties once and for all, while others merely want to merger some of them into larger regions.

Poland

Polish second-level administration unit powiat is usually translated into English as county or district. See also:
- List of counties in Poland
- List of counties in Poland by voivodships

Romania

The administrative subdivisions of Romania are called judeţ (plural: judeţe), name derived from jude, a mayor and judge of a city (akin to English judge; both are derived from Latin) Presently Romania is subdivided into 40 counties and the capital, Bucharest having a separate status. See the list of counties of Romania.

Serbia and Montenegro

Subdivisions of Serbia (okrug) are sometimes translated as counties, though more often as districts. See District#Serbia and Montenegro

Sweden

The Swedish division into counties was established in 1634, and was based on an earlier division into Provinces. Sweden is today divided into 21 counties, and each county is further divided into municipalities. At the county level there is a county administrative board led by a governor appointed by the central government of Sweden, as well as an elected county council that handles a separate set of issues, notably hospitals and public transportation. The Swedish term used is län, which literally means "fief."

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is divided into a number of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties. There are also ceremonial counties and traditional counties which have no administrative function but exist as geographic areas. The metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties had replaced in 1974 a system of administrative counties which were introduced in 1889. Most non-metropolitan counties in England are run by county councils and divided into non-metropolitan districts, each with its own council. Local authorities in the UK are usually responsible for running education, emergency services, planning, transport, social services, and a number of other functions. In England, in the Anglo-Saxon period, Shires were established as areas used for the raising of taxes, and usually had a fortified town at their centre. These became known as the shire town or later the county town. In most cases, the shires were named after their shire town (for example Bedfordshire) however exceptions to this rule exist, such as Wiltshire. In several other cases, such as Devon the shire has a county town different from that which it is named after. The name 'county' was introduced by the Normans, and was derived from a Norman term for an area administered by a Count (lord). These Norman 'counties' were geographically based upon the Saxon shires, and kept their Saxon names. Several traditional counties, including Essex, Sussex and Kent, predate the unification of England by Alfred the Great, and originally existed as independent kingdoms. The thirteen traditional counties of Wales were fixed by Statute in 1539 (although counties such as Pembrokeshire date from 1138) and most of those of Scotland are of at least this age. The county boundaries of England have changed over time. In the mediæval period, a number of important cities were granted the status of counties in their own right, such as London, Bristol and Coventry, and numerous small exclaves such as Islandshire were created. The next major change occurred in 1844, when many of these exclaves were re-merged with their surrounding counties (for example Coventry was re-merged with Warwickshire). For centuries, the counties were used mainly for legal administration and tax raising. Modern local government did not come into being until 1889, when administrative counties (county councils) were created which were based upon the traditional county areas. In 1965 and 1974 a major re-organisation of local government created several new administrative counties such as Hereford and Worcester and also created several new metropolitan counties which served large urban areas as a single administrative unit. In 1986, however, the metropolitan county councils were abolished, and divided into a series of unitary authorities, although the counties still exist in name and for some administrative and ceremonial purposes. Traditionalists still refer to traditional counties for geographic purposes rather than administrative ones. Uniquely, the Isle of Wight is a unitary authority with county status. Modern local government in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and a large part of England is based on the concept of smaller unitary authorities, a system similar to that proposed for most of Britain in the 1960s. See also:
- Association of British Counties
- County Watch

United States

Main article: County (United States) County (United States) The term "county" is used in 48 of the 50 states of the United States for the tier of state government authority immediately below the statewide tier and above the township tier, in those states that sub-divided counties into civil townships. Each county contains a county seat, which is where county offices are located (this is usually, but not always, an incorporated municipality). In some states, counties are subdivided into townships, which typically provide some or all of the local government services provided by cities and towns. The State of Michigan additionally has "charter townships", which are self-governing townships that have many of the rights of a city but fewer of the responsibilities, e.g., a charter township can have its own police force but it can also opt merely to use the county sheriff's deputies; and whereas ordinary townships cannot refuse to release land that a neighbouring city wishes to annex, charter townships, by virtue of having a charter from the state, have right of refusal. In most western states, the county controls all unincorporated land within its boundaries. In states with a township tier, unincorporated land is controlled by the township. Residents of unincorporated land who are dissatisfied with county-level or township-level resource allocation decisions can incorporate as a city or village. In turn, depending on the state, the city or village government can then choose to provide all its own services, or provide only some and allow the county to provide the rest. Usually, the key difference between "city" and "village" is that a city must provide all of its own services and equivalent county authorities have no jurisdiction without the city's permision; while villages (which remain subject to township governments in those states that have them), being usually rural or semi-rural jurisdictions, are typically required to provide only those services that they can, with the rest being provided by the county or township. Lists of counties by state can be found through U.S. counties; for more comparative information on U.S. counties, see county statistics of the United States.

Exceptions in Louisiana and Alaska

Louisiana uses the term parishes and Alaska uses boroughs. The U.S. Census Bureau lists 3,141 counties or county-equivalent administrative units. The power of the county government varies widely from state to state as does the relationship between counties and incorporated municipal governments, but counties (parishes, boroughs) are always administrative divisions of the state and the power they exercise is state government power. Unlike cities, which are municipal corporations with a degree of sovereignty granted by the state, counties have no powers of their own but merely exercise powers of state government that have assigned to their jurisdiction, either by the state constitution or the state legislature.

New England

In New England, counties function primarily as judicial districts, as most local government is exercised by towns. In Connecticut and Rhode Island, they have even lost all governmental function and are solely geographic designations. Outside New England, counties typically maintain law enforcement agencies, public utilities, library systems, collect vital statistics and prepare, and/or process to the state, certificates of births, deaths, marriages, and dissolutions (divorce decrees). In some states, the county sheriff is the principal law enforcement officer in the county, usually limited to areas outside the jurisdiction of cities and towns. In parts of the U.S., counties are "policed" by sheriffs, and cities are policed by police. In other areas, county law enforcement is called "County Police" with county sheriffs providing court services.

Massachusetts

As of 2005, Massachusetts has terminated 6 of 14 County Governments and put these county governments under state control.

Independent Cities in the U.S.

In Virginia, all municipalities incorporated as cities are organized as separate political units that are not part of any county (i.e., independent cities). In Maryland, the city of Baltimore is independent of any county, and Baltimore County is a separate entity outside the city. In Missouri, the city of St Louis is independent of any county, and St Louis County is a separate entity outside the city. There are also a small number of independent cities (not part of any county) in other states. However, independent cities are the exception rather than the rule, as are metropolitan municipalities. (In addition, until November 7, 1997, the portion of Yellowstone National Park that was within Montana was not part of any county, but as of that date, that portion has been added to Gallatin County.) The City of Atlanta is planning to merge with Fulton County to become an independent city or a consolidated city.

Counties switching into Regional or Metropolitan Municipalities

Metropolitan municipalities are consolidated city and county governments, which simultaneously operate as administrative divisions of and subordinate to state power and as municipal corporations that exercise whatever degree of sovereignty the state government or constitution confers upon them. Examples are San Francisco, California, Denver, Colorado, Honolulu, Hawaii, Indianapolis, Indiana, Louisville, Kentucky, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Nashville, Tennessee. The City of Greater New York is a unique metropolitan municipality in the world, being coextensive with five counties, each with their own administrative organs but all of them subject to one, integrated citywide government. With the exception of Denver and Broomfield, Colorado, both city and county councilors are the same.

County seats overlapping two or more counties

Some cities lie within two or more counties with state approval: Houston, Texas; Chicago, Illinois; Atlanta, Georgia; Columbus, Ohio; Kansas City, Missouri.

Atlanta and Fulton County

As Atlanta has grown, its relationship with Fulton County has become more complicated. Below are several plans for reconciliation.

Secession

One solution which has come up frequently during the 2000s is for north Fulton to secede, again becoming Milton County. This time it would include Roswell, as well as its original county seat of Alpharetta, and the neighborhood incorporated as Mountain Park. Some proposals call for it to include Sandy Springs as well, though it has always been in Fulton County and not in Milton. One of those proposals is being studied by a commission set up by the Georgia General Assembly during its 2005 session. Any change in Georgia's county borders requires the consent of any county whose territory is involved, and the state legislature. In addition, any attempt to divide Fulton would require a constitutional amendment to the Georgia state constitution, in order for more than 159 counties to exist.

Municipalization

Since the 1970s, the longest-running battle has been allowing Sandy Springs to incorporate. With over 80,000 residents, it is already one of the largest cities in the state. It has not become a city however, due to the fact that it will take at least 20 million dollars away from the county every year, which will not be offset by the services the new city would take over. In 2005, the legislature finally allowed a referendum on the matter, and on June 21 Sandy Springs residents voted 94% in favor of incorporation. The new city will take over on the first day of 2006, though the county will continue to provide most services under contract through sometime in 2007. Since 2004, municipalization of the entire county is also being considered, which would incorporate every area into a city. This would esentially eliminate the county's home rule powers (granted in the 1960s) to act as a municipality in unincorporated areas, and return it to being entirely a local extension of state government. At least one proposal would create several small cities, even where there are no longer towns to base them in. If Milton were to become a county again, incorporating the relatively undeveloped northern and eastern corners of it would eliminate the need for much new government for a new county, though it would also create a need for two new city governments, possibly without a large enough tax base to support one or either of them. Incorporating the southwest of the county (formerly part of Campbell County) would be difficult, as the cities are really only smaller towns, and the unincorporated areas are quite large and not necessarily near any of them.

Other options

Other options which may be considered:
- Under current Georgia law, the city of Atlanta could merge government with Fulton County's, becoming a consolidated city-county. This could be complicated by the fact that part of Atlanta is in another county, and by the presence of other large cities in Fulton.
- Consolidation could also occur by reducing Fulton County down to only Atlanta, or to Atlanta and its immediate neighbors, leaving no unincorporated areas. This would also put the Atlanta-in-DeKalb area into Fulton, and require two new counties in the north and southwest.
- Atlanta could be made an independent city and if possible, they may change the official city name as The Corporation of Fulton County(simply as City of Fulton County), taking it out of both Fulton and DeKalb entirely. This would be difficult until more urban development can improve the city's tax base, and until the state begins to give significant support for MARTA and Grady Hospital (which serve the entire metro area but are paid for almost entirely by the city and county). Doing this would split Fulton County, requiring the remaining parts to become another two counties.
- Extraterritorial jurisdiction could be allowed, though statutory restrictions on the distance this could extend from an existing city may make it difficult to reach the far corners of the unusually-shaped and very unevenly-populated county. ETJ could also become a problem if boundaries are not organized and agreed upon at the beginning, which could spark further confusion and political discord if it becomes a first-come, first-served situation. ETJ is also mainly a zoning function, and thus may not be a complete solution.
- A different type of municipal or civil division could be created, such as a town or township. This could give independent local boards certain ETJ-like powers, but unlike a new city still allow for annexation by existing cities. This option could be politically complicated, as it would make a change which would likely have a statewide effect. The only neighboring state with townships is North Carolina, where they are considered county divisions.
- With the approval of the legislature, the far ends of the county could join other counties with their consent. The north end could rejoin Forsyth County, bringing the heavy business tax base of Alpharetta into the heavily-residential and still largely rural exurban county. The largely-undeveloped southwest end could rejoin with Douglas County, as they were originally under Campbell County. Some of those options (except the first two and last) would also require an amendment passed by two-thirds of both the state house and senate, and a statewide referendum. Most have not yet been widely discussed, though the idea of consolidation has recently been mentioned by at least one state legislator.

Notes

# [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=county&searchmode=none Etymology of the word county.]

References

Category:Subnational entities
- simple:County

New Mexico

New Mexico (Spanish: Nuevo México) is a southwestern state in the United States of America. Over its relatively long history it has also been occupied by Native American populations, part of the Spanish colony of New Spain, a province of Mexico, and a U.S. territory. New Mexico has the highest percentage of people of Hispanic ancestry of any state, some recent immigrants and others descendants of Spanish colonists. The state also has a large Native American population. As a result, the demographics and culture of the state are unique for their strong Spanish, Mexican, and American Indian cultural influences.

History

Native American Pueblos

Prehistoric Native Americans used the land and minerals of New Mexico to build an early Southwestern culture millennia ago. Prehistoric Native American ruins indicate a presence at modern Santa Fe. Caves in the Sandia Mountains near Albuquerque contain the remains of some of the earliest inhabitants of the New World. The Pueblo people built a flourishing sedentary culture in the 1200s, constructing small towns in the valley of the Rio Grande and pueblos nearby. The Spanish encountered Pueblo civilization in the 1500s. Word of the pueblos reached Cabeza de Vaca, a Spaniard who survived a shipwreck on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico while wandering across southern New Mexico with his companion Estabanico in 1528–1536. Fray Marcos de Niza enthusiastically identified the pueblos as the fabulously rich Seven Cities of Cibola, the fabled seven cities of gold. Dispatched from New Spain, conquistador Francisco Vásquez de Coronado led a full-scale expedition to find these cities in 1540–1542. Coronado camped near an excavated pueblo today preserved as Coronado State Monument in 1541. His maltreatment of the Pueblo people while exploring the upper Rio Grande valley led to hostility that impeded the Spanish conquest of New Mexico. The three largest pueblos of New Mexico are Zuni, Santo Domingo, and Laguna.

Spanish colonization

Juan de Oñate founded the San Juan colony on the Rio Grande in 1598, the first European settlement in the future state of New Mexico. Oñate pioneered El Camino Real, "The Royal Road" as a 700 mile (1100 km) lifeline from the rest of New Spain to his remote colony. Oñate was made the first governor of the new Province of New Mexico. The Native Americans at Acoma revolted against this Spanish encroachment but faced severe suppression. In 1609, Pedro de Peralta, a later governor of the Province of New Mexico, established the settlement of Santa Fe at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. As the seat of government of New Mexico since its founding, Santa Fe is the oldest capital city in the United States. Peralta built the Palace of Governors in 1610. Although the colony failed to prosper, some missions flourished. Spanish settlers arrived at the site of Albuquerque in the mid-1600s. Missionaries attempted to convert the natives to Christianity but had little success [http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/pueblo/indianpueblohistory.htm]. The Apache revolted violently in 1676, and the Pueblo uprising of 1680 drove the Spanish to abandon northern New Mexico until the campaign of Diego de Vargas Zapata reestablished Spanish control and returned Spanish colonists in 1692. While developing Santa Fe as a trade center, the returning settlers founded the old town of Albuquerque in 1706, naming for the viceroy of New Spain, the Duke of Alburquerque. Prior to its founding Albuquerque consisted of several Haciendas and communities along the lower Rio Grande. They constructed the Church of San Felipe de Nerí (1706). The thorough development of ranching and some farming in the 1700s laid the foundations for the state's still-flourishing Hispanic culture.

Mexican province

Napoleon Bonaparte of France sold the vast Louisiana Purchase, which extended into the northeastern corner of New Mexico, to the United States in 1803. As a part of New Spain, the remainder of the province of New Mexico passed to independent Mexico following the 1810-1821 Mexican War of Independence. Small trapping parties from the United States had previously reached Santa Fe, but the Spanish rulers forbade them to trade. Trader William Becknell returned to the United States in November 1821 with news that independent Mexico welcomed trade through Santa Fe. Becknell left Independence, Missouri, for Santa Fe early in 1822 with the first party of traders. Wagon caravans thereafter made the 40- to 60-day annual trek along the 780 mile (1,260 km) Santa Fe Trail, usually leaving in early summer and returning after a 4 to 5 week stay in New Mexico. The Trail divided into Mountain and Cimarron Divisions southwest of Dodge City, Kansas. The rugged Mountain Division passed over Raton Pass and rejoined the more direct Cimarron Division near Fort Union, New Mexico. The dry southern Cimmaron route offered poor short grass and little wildlife. The Santa Fe National Historic Trail follows the route of the old trail, with many sites marked or restored. American frontiersman Kit (Christopher) Carson, apprenticed to a saddler in the Santa Fe Trail outfitting point of Old Franklin, ran away from his job in 1826. He joined a caravan for Santa Fe, and made Taos, his home and headquarters as he made a living as a teamster, cook, guide, and hunter for exploring parties until 1840. The breakaway Republic of Texas claimed the territory north and east of the Rio Grande when it seceded from Mexico in 1836. New Mexico authorities captured a group of Texans who embarked an expedition to assert their claim to the province in 1841.

American territory

1841 American General Stephen W. Kearny marched down the Santa Fe Trail and entered Santa Fe without opposition in 1846 during the Mexican-American War, and his forces occupied the city, making New Mexico, which included present-day Arizona, a captive United States territory. Kearny asserted that his occupation was only of the eastern part of New Mexico (Texas, annexed by the United States in 1845, claimed all land on its side of the Rio Grande). He also protected citizens under martial law by the Kearny Code, essentially Kearny's promise that religious and legal conditions would not be disrupted by the United States. Though the reality of occupation soon included western New Mexico, the Kearny Code became one of the bases of New Mexico's legal code during its territorial period, the longest in United States history. While Kearny's entrance into New Mexico was relatively peaceful, the region did not remain that way. General Kearny continued on to California according to U.S. wartime strategy, guided by Kit Carson, but leaving an occupying force behind. After Kearny's departure, a rebellion broke out in the town and pueblo of Taos, where Taos Indians killed Governor Charles Bent and all but two Americans in the town on January 19, 1847. Retaliating quickly, a U.S. detachment under Colonel Sterling Price marched on Taos, attacked the town, and concentrated cannon fire upon the church, the center of the insurgency, resulting in the deaths of 150 insurgents and the capture of some 400 more. Six leaders were arraigned and, on February 9, hanged for their role in the Taos Revolt. A series of skirmishes between mountain-based rebels and U.S. forces continued well into 1847, with casualties totaling more than 300 rebels and thirty "Anglos," as Americans were often called. Under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848, Mexico ceded much of its northern holdings, today known as the American Southwest to the United States of America in exchange for an end to hostilities and $15 million, plus the assumption of slightly more than $3 million in outstanding Mexican debts. New Mexico, the name given to the territory between Texas and California, was to quickly become a state according to the treaty, but the U.S. Senate unilaterally amended that provision during ratification proceedings. The Senate also struck out Article X of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which assured that land grants authorized by the Mexican government would be recognized and protected by the U.S. government. The decision to strike down Article X remains a controversial one, especially in some of the region's Hispanic communities, as it eventually led to millions of acres of land, timber, and water being removed from Mexican-issued land grants and placed in the public domain. Spanish-issued land grants, including those made to the Pueblos, have survived acquisition attempts. The Compromise of 1850 halted a bid for statehood under an antislavery constitution. Texas transferred eastern New Mexico to the federal government, settling a lengthy boundary dispute. Under the compromise, the American government established the New Mexico Territory on September 9, 1850. The territory, which included Arizona and parts of Colorado, officially established its capital at Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1851. The people of New Mexico would determine whether to permit slavery under a constitution at statehood, but the status of slavery during the territorial period provoked considerable debate. Some (including Stephen A. Douglas) maintained that the territory could not restrict slavery, as under the earlier Missouri Compromise, while others (including Abraham Lincoln) insisted that older Mexican legal traditions, which forbade slavery, took precedence. Regardless of its status, slavery never took a significant hold. Native American plundering led Kit Carson to abandon his intent to retire to a sheep ranch near Taos. Carson accepted an 1853 appointment as U.S. Indian agent with a headquarters at Taos, and fought the Indians with notable success. The United States acquired the southwestern bootheel of the state and much of southern Arizona in the Gadsden Purchase of 1853. With this purchase, the United States established its sovereignty over all of the present state of New Mexico. During the American Civil War, Confederate troops from Texas first occupied southern New Mexico. Union troops re-captured the territory in early 1862. Kit Carson helped to organize and command the 1st New Mexican Volunteers to engage in campaigns against the Apache, Navajo, and Comanche in New Mexico and Texas as well as participating in the Battle of Valverde against the confederates. The Arizona Territory split as a separate entity in 1863. Confederate troops withdrew after the Battle of Glorieta Pass where Union regulars, Colorado Volunteers (The Pikes Peakers), and New Mexican Volunteers defeated them. The Roman Catholic Church established an archbishopric center in Santa Fe in 1875. The Santa Fe Railroad reached Lamy, New Mexico, 16 miles (26 km) from Santa Fe in 1879 and Santa Fe itself in 1880, replacing the storied Santa Fe Trail. The new town of Albuquerque, platted in 1880 as the Santa Fe Railroad extended westward, quickly enveloped the old town. The railway encouraged the great cattle boom of the 1880s and the development of accompanying cow towns. Cattlemen feuded between each other and with authorities, most notably in the Lincoln County War. Outlaws included Billy the Kid. The cattle kingdom could not keep out sheepherders, and eventually homesteaders and squatters overwhelmed the cattlemen by fencing in and plowing under the "sea of grass" on which the cattle fed. Conflicting land claims led to bitter quarrels among the original Spanish inhabitants, cattle ranchers, and newer homesteaders. Despite destructive overgrazing, ranching survived as a mainstay of the New Mexican economy. Conflict with the Apache and the Navajo plagued the territory until Apache chief Geronimo finally surrendered in 1886. Albuquerque, on the upper Rio Grande, incorporated in 1889.

Statehood

Congress admitted New Mexico as the 47th state in the Union on January 6, 1912. The admission of the neighboring State of Arizona on February 14, 1912 completed the contiguous 48 states. The United States government built the Los Alamos Research Center in 1943 amid the Second World War. Top-secret personnel there developed the atomic bomb, first detonated at Trinity site in the desert on the White Sands Proving Grounds vaguely near Alamogordo on July 16, 1945. Albuquerque expanded rapidly after the war. High-altitude experiments near Roswell in 1947 reputedly led to persistent claims that the government captured and concealed extraterrestrial corpses and equipment. The state quickly emerged as a leader in nuclear, solar, and geothermal energy research and development. The Sandia National Laboratories, founded in 1949, carried out nuclear research and special weapons development at Kirtland Air Force Base south of Albuquerque. The controversial Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, deep in salt formations near Carlsbad readied for storage of nuclear wastes during the 1990s.

Law and government

The capital of New Mexico is Santa Fe. The Constitution of 1912, as amended, dictates the form of government in the State. Governor Bill Richardson and Lieutenant Governor Diane Denish, both Democrats, will face re-election in 2006. Governors serve a term of four years and may seek reelection. For a list of past governors of the State of New Mexico, see List of New Mexico Governors. Other Constitutional officers, all of whose terms also expire in January 2007, include Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron, Attorney General Patricia A. Madrid, and State Treasurer Douglas Brown. Vigil-Giron and Madrid are Democrats. Brown is a Republican serving as interim State Treasurer following the indictment and resignation of his predecessor, Democrat Robert Vigil. A state house of representatives with 70 members and a state senate with 42 members comprise the state legislature. The Democratic Party generally dominates state politics, and as of 2004 50% of voters were registered Democrats, 33% were registered Republicans, and 17% did not affiliate with either of the two major parties. In national politics, however, New Mexico occupies the dead center, giving its electoral votes to all but two Presidential election winners since statehood. In these exceptions, New Mexicans supported Republican President Gerald Ford over Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter in 1976, and Democratic Vice President Al Gore over Texas Governor George W. Bush (by just 366 popular votes) in 2000. No presidential candidate has won an absolute majority here since George H. W. Bush in 1988, and no Democrat has done so since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. In the last four elections, New Mexico supported Democrats in 1992, 1996, and 2000. New Mexico was one of only two states to support Al Gore in 2000 and George Bush in 2004 (the other state was Iowa). In 2004, George W. Bush narrowly won the state's electoral votes by a margin of 0.8 percentage points with 49.8% of the vote. Democrat John Kerry won in Albuquerque, Las Cruces, two northwestern Indian counties, and by large margins in the six predominately Hispano/Spanish counties of Northern New Mexico (Santa Fe, Rio Arriba, Taos, Mora, San Miguel, and Guadalupe). New Mexico sends Democrat Jeff Bingaman to the United States Senate until January 2007 and Republican Pete V. Domenici until January 2009. Republicans Steve Pearce and Heather Wilson and Democrat Tom Udall represent the Land of Enchantment in the United States House of Representatives.

Geography

See: List of New Mexico counties List of New Mexico counties The eastern border of New Mexico lies along 103 °W with Oklahoma, and 3 miles (5 km) west of 103 °W with Texas. Texas also lies south of most of New Mexico, although the southwestern boot-heel borders the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora. The western border with Arizona runs along 109 °W. The 37 °N parallel forms the northern boundary with Colorado. The states of New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah come together at the Four Corners in the northwestern corner of New Mexico. The landscape ranges from wide, rose-colored deserts to broken mesas to high, snow-capped peaks. Despite New Mexico's arid image, heavily forested mountain wildernesses cover a significant portion of the state. Part of the Rocky Mountains, the broken, north-south oriented Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ) range flanks both sides of the Rio Grande from the rugged, pastoral north through the center of the state. Government lands include the Cibola National Forest, headquartered in Albuquerque, and the Santa Fe National Forest, headquartered in Santa Fe. Cacti, yuccas, creosote bush, sagebrush, and desert grasses cover the broad, semiarid plains that cover the southern portion of the state. The Federal government protects millions of acres of beautiful New Mexico as national forests and monuments. The natural attractions of New Mexico include Carlsbad Caverns National Park and the Aztec Ruins National Monument. Thousands of tourists annually visit the White Sands National Monument, Bandelier, Capulin Volcano National Monument, El Morro. The rich history of New Mexico also attracts visitors to such places as Fort Union, Gila Cliff Dwellings, and Salinas Pueblo Missions national monuments and Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Visitors also frequent the surviving native pueblos of New Mexico. Tourists visiting these sites bring significant monies to the state. Other areas of geographical and scenic interest include Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument and the Valles Caldera National Preserve. The Gila Wilderness lies in the southwest of the state. :See also: Delaware Basin

Interstate freeways & US highways

See also: List of New Mexico highways

Economy

The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that New Mexico's total state product in 2003 was $57 billion. Per capital personal income in 2003 was $24,995, 48^th in the nation. [http://www.bea.gov/] Cattle and dairy products top the list of major animal products of New Mexico. Cattle, sheep, and other livestock graze most of the arable land of the state throughout the year. Limited but scientifically controlled dryland farming prospers alongside cattle ranching. Major crops include hay, nursery stock, pecans, and chile peppers. Hay and sorghum top the list of major dryland crops. Farmers also produce onions, potatoes, and dairy products. New Mexico specialty crops include piñon nuts, pinto beans, and chiles. In the desert and semiarid portions of the state, the scant rainfall evaporates rapidly, generally leaving insufficient water supplies for large-scale irrigation. The Carlsbad and Fort Sumner reclamation projects on the Pecos River and the nearby Tucumcari project provide adequate water for limited irrigation in those areas. Located upstream of Las Cruces, the Elephant Butte Dam and Reservoir provides a major irrigation source for the extensive farming along the Rio Grande. Other irrigation projects use the Colorado River basin and the San Juan River. Lumber mills in Albuquerque process pinewood, the chief commercial wood of the rich timber economy of northern New Mexico. New Mexicans derive much of their income from mineral extraction. Even before European exploration, Native Americans mined turquoise for making jewelry, and later silver [http://www.americana.net/jewelry_history_article.html]. New Mexico produces uranium ore, manganese ore, potash, salt, perlite, copper ore, beryllium, and tin concentrates. Natural gas, petroleum, and coal are also found in smaller quantities. Industrial outputs, centered around Albuquerque, include electric equipment; petroleum and coal products; food processing; printing and publishing; and stone, glass, and clay products. Defense-related industries include ordnance. Important high-technology industries include lasers, data processing, and solar energy. Federal government spending is a major driver of the New Mexico economy; and provides more than a quarter of the state's jobs. Many of the federal jobs relate to the military; the state hosts three air force bases (Kirtland Air Force Base, Holloman Air Force Base, and Cannon Air Force Base), a testing range (White Sands Missile Range), an army proving ground and maneuver range (Fort Bliss Military Reservation - McGregor Range) national observatories, and the technology labs of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). SNL conducts electronic and industrial research next to Kirtland AFB, on the southeast side of Albuquerque. These installations also include the missile and spacecraft proving grounds at White Sands. In addition to the military employers, other federal agencies such as the National Park Service, the United States Forest Service, and the United States Bureau of Land Management are a big part of the states rural employment base. Tourism provides many service jobs. For top attractions see: Tourism. The private service economy in urban New Mexico has boomed in recent decades. Since the end of World War II Albuquerque has gained an ever-growing number of retirees, especially among armed forces veterans and government workers. The city is also increasingly gaining notoriety as a health conscious community, and contains many hospitals and a high per capita number of massage and alternative therapists. The warm, semiarid climate has contributed to the exploding population of Albuquerque, attracting new industries to New Mexico. By contrast, many heavily Native American and Hispanic rural communities remain economically underdeveloped. World War II
:: _{Source: State of New Mexico Department of Labor [http://www.dol.state.nm.us/]}

Largest employers

World War II (Not ranked by size)
- Northern
- College of Santa Fe
- Boy Scouts of America
- U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
- Mesa Air Group
- Navajo Nation
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
- Central
- PNM Resources and PNM Electric & Gas Services
- Presbyterian Health Plan
- Sandia National Laboratories
- Intel
- University of New Mexico
- New Mexico State Government
- Eastern
- Albertson's Supermarket
- Kmart Corporation
- U.S. Postal Service
- Wal-Mart
- Navajo Refining Company
- U.S. National Park Service (NPS)
- Allsup's Convenience Stores
- Southwestern
- Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)
- Lockheed Engineering and Sciences
- New Mexico State University
- Lovelace Healthcare
- Pepsi Cola Bottling
- NM Institute of Mining and Technology
- U.S. Army (Fort Bliss) :: _{Source: Economic Research & Analysis Bureau New Mexico Department of Labor [http://laser.state.nm.us/analyzer/]}

Demographics

According to the Census Bureau, as of 2004, the population of New Mexico was 1,903,289. The state's population had grown 388,000 (25.6%) since 1990. As of 2004, 10% of the residents of the state were foreign-born, and more than 2% of state residents were illegal aliens. Race and Ancestry
The racial makeup of New Mexico:
- 44.7% White non-Hispanic
- 42.1% Hispanic
- 9.5% Native American
- 1.9% Black
- 1.1% Asian
- 3.6% Mixed race The five largest ancestry groups in New Mexico are: Spanish/Hispano (24%), Mexican (18.1%), English) (7.6%), Native American (9.5%), and German (9.9%). The Hispanos of colonial Spanish ancestry are present in most of the state, especially northern, central, and northeastern New Mexico. Mexicans are prominent in southern part of the state. The northwestern corner of the state is primarily American Indian, of which Navajos and Pueblos are the largest tribes. New Mexico has the largest Hispanic population of any state, the second largest proportion of American Indians, and the largest percentage of residents of Spanish origin (24%). 7.2% of New Mexico's population were reported as under 5, 28% under 18, and 11.7% were 65 or older. Females make up approximately 50.8% of the population.

Lists

For a list of notable New Mexicans see: List of people from New Mexico. For a list of cities and towns, in New Mexico, with a population greater than 3,000, see: Cities & towns in New Mexico. See also: New Mexico locations by per capita income.

Religion

New Mexico has the highest percentage of Catholics of any Western state. And like many other Western states, New Mexico has a higher-than-average percentage of people who claim no religion in comparison to other U.S. states.
- Christian – 77%
- Roman Catholic – 41%
- Protestant – 35%
- Baptist – 10%
- Presbyterian – 4%
- Pentecostal – 3%
- Latter-Day Saints (Mormon) – 3%
- Other Protestant or general Protestant – 18%
- Other Christian – 1%
- Other Religions – 1%
- Non-Religious – 19%

Roman Catholicism

New Mexico belongs to the Ecclesiastical Province of Santa Fe. New Mexico has three dioceses, one of which is an archdiocese:
- Archdiocese of Santa Fe
- Diocese of Gallup
- Diocese of Las Cruces

Culture

Diocese of Las Cruces's skull hang in a market near Santa Fe.]] With a Native American population of 134,000 in 1990, New Mexico still ranks as an important center of American Indian culture. Both the Navajo and Apache share Athabaskan origin. The Apache and some Ute live on federal reservations within the state. With 16 million acres (65,000 km²), mostly in neighboring Arizona, the reservation of the Navajo Nation ranks as the largest in the United States. The prehistorically agricultural Pueblo Indians live in pueblos scattered throughout the state, many older than any European settlement. More than one-third of New Mexicans claim Hispanic origin, the vast majority of whom descend from the original Spanish colonists in the northern portion of the state. Most of the considerably fewer recent Mexican immigrants reside in the southern part of the state. At least one-third of New Mexicans are also fluent in a unique dialect of Spanish. New Mexican Spanish is rife with vocabulary often unknown to other Spanish speakers. Because of the historical isolation of New Mexico from other speakers of the Spanish language, the local dialect preserves some late medieval Castillian vocabulary considered archaic elsewhere, adopts numerous Native American words for local features, and contains much Anglicized vocabulary for American concepts and modern inventions. The tranquil climate and startling panoramas have attracted Americans seeking health and retirement. The presence of various indigenous Native American communities, the long-established Spanish and Mexican influence, and the diversity of Anglo-American settlement in the region, ranging from pioneer farmers and ranchers in the territorial period to military families in later decades, make New Mexico a particularly heterogeneous state. There are natural history and atomic museums in Albuquerque, which also hosts the famed Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. A large artistic community thrives in Santa Fe. The capital city has museums of Spanish colonial, international folk, Navajo ceremonial, modern Native American, and other modern art. Another museum honors resident Georgia O'Keeffe. Colonies for artists and writers thrive, and the small city teems with art galleries. Performing arts include the renowned Santa Fe summer opera, and the restored Lensic Theater. Writer D.H. Lawrence resided in Taos. The weekend after Labor Day boasts the burning of Zozobra, a sixty-foot marionette, and Fiesta de Santa Fe.

Tourism

New Mexico's top tourist attractions:
- Santa Fe
- Plaza of Santa Fe
- Loretto Chapel
- San Miguel Mission
- St. Francis Cathedral
- Georgia O'Keefe Museum/Gallery
- El Rancho de las Golondrinas (Spanish Colonial living history museum)
- Taos Pueblo, Taos art colony, and Ski Valley
- Carlsbad Caverns National Park
- White Sands National Monument, the Trinity Site, and Missile Range, Alamogordo
- Albuquerque:
- Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta
- Old Town Albuquerque
- Petroglyph National Monument, Albuquerque
- New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science
- Rio Grande Zoological Park
- Sandia Peak Tramway
- National Atomic Museum
- Indian Pueblo Culture Center
- Chaco Culture National Historical Park, San Juan Basin
- [http://www.cumbrestoltec.com/ The Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad], Chama
- Gila Cliff Dwellings, Silver City
- Roswell (UFO Landing Site) and the International UFO Museum, Roswell
- Billy the Kid Museum, Fort Sumner
- El Malpais National Monumant, Acoma Pueblo & Misson, and Laguna Pueblo & Misson
- Historic Lincoln, Ruidoso, and Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation
- Very Large Array (VLA), Datil The state also has a number of casinos located on Native American Indian Reservations that attract thousands of visitors each year.

Major cities and towns

Sandia Peak Tramway New Mexico's largest cities are Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Santa Fe, Rio Rancho, and Roswell. For a list of cities and towns, in New Mexico, with a population greater than 3,000 see Cities & towns in New Mexico.

Education

Colleges and universities

Miscellaneous information

Cities & towns in New Mexico Cities & towns in New Mexico

Official state symbols

(
- )The official State Question refers to a question commonly heard at restaurants, where waiters will ask customers "red or green?" in reference to which kind of chile pepper or "Chile sauce" the customers want served with their meal. This type of "chile" is usually distinct from Salsa, as the Chile sauce is much finer and thicker and more commonly served with meals. Natives are more likely to refer to the Chile sauce put on their meal as just plain "Chile", and not as any form of "salsa" (which is usually reserved by natives in English for the salsa served with chips; everything else is just "Chile"). If the diner wants both they can answer with, "Christmas" (or "Navidad" in Spanish), in reference to the two traditional colors of Christmas - Red and Green. However, most natives simply say, "both". (
- )The second USS New Mexico, SSN-779, is scheduled to be constructed.

County seat

A county seat is an administrative center for a county. In the U.S. New England states and the Canadian Maritime Provinces, the term "shire town" is also used, but officially so only in Vermont. In England, Wales and Ireland, the term county town is used. This term is probably still used colloquially in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but today neither are divided into counties - instead being divided, respectively, into regions and districts. Counties are called "parishes" in Louisiana and Alaska is divided into "boroughs" (here, meaning a very large district or region of the state). Their seats of county government are called "parish seat" and "borough seat," respectively. The Canadian province of Ontario, in addition to counties, also has territorial districts, regional muncipalities, and at least one metropolitan municipality, which are effectively different types of counties in that they perform county government functions. In America as in England and Canada, a county is an administrative division of a state which has no sovereign jurisdiction of its own, so it would not be correct to say that a county seat is equivalent to a capital city since it's just an administrative centre. (See also the article, Counties of the United States.) Counties administer state or provincial law at the local level as part of the decentralisation of state/provincial authority. In many U.S. states, state government is further decentralised by dividing counties into townships, to provide local government services to residents of the county who do not live in incorporated cities or towns. A county seat is often, but not always, an incorporated municipality. The county courthouse and county administration are usually located in the county seat, but some functions may also be conducted in other parts of the county, especially if it is geographically large. Most counties have only one county seat. However, some counties in Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Mississippi have two or more county seats, usually located on opposite sides of the county. An example is Harrison County, Mississippi, which lists both Biloxi and Gulfport as county seats. The practice of multiple county towns dates from the days when travel was difficult. There have been few efforts to eliminate the two-seat arrangement since a county seat is a source of pride (and jobs) for the towns involved. In Virginia, all cities are independent cities, which are legally distinct from the counties that surround them. An independent city interacts with the commonwealth (state) government directly whereas villages and other local government authorities do so through the county government apparatus. However, many of Virginia's independent cities act as the county seat for their neighbouring counties. For example, the City of Fairfax is separate from Fairfax County, but is still the county's seat. Uniquely, because it was formerly part of the District of Columbia, Arlington County, Virginia, which is the smallest county in the United States, has no county seat - because it has no muncipalities within its boundaries. Prior to their retrocession to Virginia during the nineteenth century, Arlington and the neighboring independent city of Arlington were, respectively, Arlington County and Alexandria County - two of the three counties of the District of Columbia. The District as currently drawn was coextensive with the County of Washington, which disappeared in the twentieth century following the amalgamation of Tenley, Anacostia and the other rural and semi-rural towns and villages of Washington County, D.C., to the City of Washington.

References

Category:Capitals Category:U.S. counties ja:郡庁所在地

Philmont Scout Ranch

Philmont Scout Ranch is the oldest of the "national high adventure bases" operated by the Boy Scouts of America, along with the Florida National High Adventure Sea Base and the Northern Tier National High Adventure Bases. It is one of the most renowned BSA facilities. Philmont is also home to the Philmont Training Center, which is the main center for BSA's national-level training for volunteers and professionals.

Location and geography

Philmont is located in the Sangre de Cristo Range of the Rocky Mountains of New Mexico. The closest town is Cimarron, New Mexico, but perhaps it is better to say that it is about 20 miles (30 km) west-northwest of Springer, New Mexico, or 35 miles southwest of Raton, New Mexico. It is shaped somewhat like the letter 'I,' with the bottom section larger than the top. It is about 12 miles across (east to west) at its widest point, and about 30 miles (50 km) long. There are no mountains to the south of Philmont, or to the east (indeed, part of the eastern fringe of the ranch is flatland) but the interior is quite mountainous.mile The lowest elevation is 6500 feet, at the southeast corner. The highest point is the peak of Mount Baldy 12,441 feet (3792 m), on the northwest boundary. The most recognizable landmark at Philmont is the Tooth of Time (9003 feet), a granite monolith protruding 500 feet (150 m) vertically from an east-west ridge. Tooth of Time Ridge, and the latitude line it sits on, mark the boundary between the central and southern sections of Philmont. The boundary between the central and northern sections is the narrowest part of the 'I'-shape, only a few miles across. U.S. Highway 64 runs through Philmont just south of this line.

History

Native Americans of the Jicarilla Apache tribe and Ute tribe once inhabited Philmont. At least one Native American archaeological site exists in the northern section, and various camps seek to preserve Philmont's Native American heritage.

Private ownership

In the mid-19th century, the Santa Fe Trail crossed the plains just southwest of Philmont. The Tooth of Time owes its name to this trail; travelers knew that once they passed it, they had only a few weeks to go until they reached Santa Fe, New Mexico. Philmont's strategic location along the trail spurred some interest in it. In 1841, Carlos Beaubien and Guadalupe Miranda obtained a large land grant from the Mexican government, including the present ranch. Soon the grant fell into the hands of Beaubien's son-in-law Lucien Maxwell, who played an important role in developing and settling it. Maxwell sold the ranch to the Maxwell Land Grant and Railroad Company, which gave up and handed it on to a Dutch development company, which decided to parcel it out to ranchers. One of the most prominent ranchers was Jesus Gil Abreu, who ran the Abreu Rayado Ranch from the 1870s to his death in 1901. Operating from the Rayado Settlement, he raised cattle, goats, sheep, as well as growing limited amounts of crops. The family owned this property until 1911, when they sold most of it off. One of the sons remained on the ranch at the site of Abreu Camp, and his homestead was preserved for years. However, the building was made from adobe and collapsed. The foundation of this building now serves as the foundation for the Abreu Cantina. The house was reconstructed by Cabin Restoration in 1998 about 100 feet uphill. The history of mining at Philmont dates back to the years immediately after the Civil War. At the time, many U.S. soldiers were stationed in the West, as the U.S. Army was driving out the American Indians. The story is that one of these soldiers befriended an Indian, who happened to give him a shiny rock. The shiny material in the rock was found to be copper. According to the story, the soldier and two of his friends went up to investigate, and found gold. However, they could not stay and mine the gold, and by the time they returned the next year, the area was overrun by miners. Scores of gold mines were excavated in Philmont, and operated into the early 20th century. A large vein of gold is said to lie under Baldy Mountain to this day, but extracting it has not been feasible. The Contention Mine, located at Cyphers Mine camp, is open to guided tours. The penultimate owner of Philmont was wealthy oil magnate and wilderness enthusiast Waite Phillips, who amassed a large part of the old land grant in the 1920s, totaling over 300,000 acres (1,200 km²). Phillips built a large residence in the lowlands of Philmont, and called it the Villa Philmonte. The ranch became a private game reserve for Phillips and his friends, and a number of hunting lodges and day-use camps were built. It would not have been beyond his means to bring electricity to those camps, but he decided not to. Some of these camps, including Fish Camp and the Hunting Lodge, have been preserved, complete with wood-burning stoves, oil lamps, and unique design features indicative of Phillips's often eccentric taste.

Boy Scout involvement

Phillips sometimes allowed others to visit his ranch, including a few Boy Scout troops. He was so impressed with the Scouts that in 1938, he donated 35,857 acres (145 km²) to the Boy Scouts of America. They initially named it the "Philturn Rockymountain Scoutcamp" [sic]. The word 'Philturn' comes from Waite Phillips's name, together with the "Good Turn" he did by donating the property. In 1941, Phillips added more Philmont property, including the Villa Philmonte, bringing the total to 127,395 acres (516 km²). (Contrary to popular belief, Phillips did not give his entire ranch to the BSA, but only those properties that would have the most recreational value. The total donation comprised about 40% of the ranch.) To help fund the upkeep of Philmont, he threw in his Philtower office building in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The ranch's name was changed at this time to the "Philmont Scout Ranch and Explorer Base". Philmont was run differently in the early years than it is now. Half a dozen "base camps" were constructed at strategic locations. A visiting group of Scouts would stay at one of these camps for a week, and day-hike to surrounding locations of interest. If the Scouts wanted to visit a different area, they would pack up their gear, hoist it onto donkeys, and hike to another base camp. Eventually, possibly due to the advent of modern lightweight metal-frame backpacks and other backpacking technology, the program was restructured to be backpacking-based. In 1963, through the generosity of Norton Clapp, vice-president of the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America, another piece of the Maxwell Land Grant was purchased and added to Philmont. This was the Baldy Mountain mining area, consisting of 10,098 acres (41 km²). In recent years, Philmont has also been able to gain use of the Valle Vidal section of the Carson National Forest. Since 1989, Philmont has had a series of five-year special-use permits from the Forest Service, allowing crews to hike and camp in the Valle Vidal as part of their Philmont treks. Philmont operates four staffed camps (Rich Cabins, Whiteman Vega, Seally Canyon, and Ring Place) and two trail camps in that part of the Valle. Those camps serve around 3,000 Philmont campers each summer. Each camper performs four hours of conservation work in the Valle on projects approved by the Forest Service.

Program and activities

Trek

The standard and most popular Philmont program is the trek. A typical Philmont trek lasts 10 days and covers anywhere from 50 to 100 miles of trail. A group of Scouts on a trek is called a crew; most crews are assembled by troops, Venturing crews, or local councils, and consist of people from the same area. A crew consists of seven to twelve people (usually ten or more), with two to four adult leaders and a crew leader. A contingent consists of one or more crews from the same council (see Boy Scouts of America: Organization), traveling together. Around 360 trekkers arrive at base camp every day of the season. A typical crew's experience is as follows: The crew arrives in base camp and meets its ranger, a trained staff member from the Ranger Department. He assists them in the various registration ("processing") procedures, which consist of verifying their itinerary with Logistics; checking out gear, such as a dining fly, bear ropes, bear bags, and water purification tablets; receiving an initial issue of food; and being shown to tents in Trailbound Tent City. The dining fly is a 12-foot-square water-retardant blue tarp with two collapsible aluminum poles, which may optionally be replaced by trekking poles to save weight. Its purpose, quite contrary to its name, is to serve as a rain cover for the crew's backpacks. It is designed to be set up as an A-frame (see tent), with two opposite sides staked down, the middle supported by the poles and a ridgeline, and the ends open. Many crews experiment with the use of trees, hiking poles, and other devices to obtain a roomier configuration so that it can be used for crew activities such as games. If crew members have not brought tents of their own, they may also check out Philmont tents, known always as "Philtents". Philtents are two-man blue A-frames which measure five feet wide by seven feet long, are supported by two poles at the front and one at the back (no ridgepole), and come with a rain fly. They are more difficult to set up than conventional dome tents, but very easy to break down. They are reputedly bulky, but in fact are not significantly heavier than most ordinary dome tents. A crew also receives several days' worth of Philmont trail food, packaged in bags which feed two people each; the exact quantity depends on the crew's itinerary and the day on which it is scheduled to reach the next commissary (see below). Philmont also provides optional cooking supplies. The crew spends its first night in Trailbound Tent City, where it has access to showerhouses and flush toilets. The trekkers sleep in tan canvas tents, each with a concrete foundation and two cots. The next morning, they eat breakfast at the dining hall and board a bus to one of the ranch's several trailheads, called "turnarounds" because they consist of a loop in the road for the bus to turn around. The crew and its ranger are now alone. The ranger verifies the trekkers' general backpacking knowledge, and teaches them specific Philmont procedures, such as bear procedure and latrine usage. Rangers stay with their crews for two days, and depart on the morning of the third day on the trail. In the next eight days the crew will hike through the Philmont wilderness, staying at various staffed camps and unstaffed "trail camps" scattered about the Ranch. On the final day, the crew returns to Base Camp, sometimes by bus, but more popularly by climbing over the "Tooth of Time", a prominent tooth-shaped peak nearby. During the final day at Base Camp, the crew cleans up, returns various Philmont issued supplies, including cookware and tents, and attends the closing campfire.

Other programs

- Cavalcades, which are similar to standard treks, but are conducted on horseback.
- Rayado, a prestigious, somewhat secretive, and very strenuous twenty-day program. Rayado crews, accompanied by two of the Ranger Department's best qualified members, are put together by Philmont staff, and consist of people from different parts of the country. A person may only be a Rayado participant once; a ranger may only be assigned to a Rayado crew once; and staff members are disqualified from participation in Rayado treks except as rangers.
- Mountain Treks, which last five days and are conducted by the Philmont Training Center for trainees' families. PTC offers a variety of other programs for younger children and spouses.
- The Roving Outdoor Conservation School (ROCS), which teaches participants about ecology, conservation techniques, and trail construction methods.
- Order of the Arrow Trail Crew, a two week program allowing OA participants to work on various conservation projects around the ranch before embarking on a self-devised, week-long trek. Various program elements are included that are mysterious.
- Autumn Adventure program
- Kanik, a winter program similar to Northern Tier's Okpik.
- Ranch Hands, during which participants work for several days with the Philmont ranching staff as wranglers and cattle handlers, before embarking on a cavalcade trek of their own design
- Guided activities such as fishing, winter camping, and skiing, are offered throughout the year.
- Philbreak, an 'alternate spring break' program started in 2003 to help restore Philmont from the devastating fires. Since 2004, the participants have been working on the Urraca Trail, which is intended as a day hike for those attending the Philmont Training Center.

Camps

Philmont now has one large base camp, 34 staffed camps, and over 50 unstaffed camps, known as "trail camps", which are generally set no more than a couple of miles apart.

Base Camp

Base Camp is the center of all Philmont administration, ingress, and egress. Most of its area is occupied by Camping Headquarters; ancillary facilities include the Seton Museum, the Philmont Training Center and Villa Philmonte, the fire response facilities, the cattle headquarters, and the administration area. Camping Headquarters is a town unto itself, and its population exceeds that of Cimarron on most nights of the summer. Its primary facilities are:
- The Welcome Center, a large pavilion containing soda machines and picnic tables. It serves as a waiting area for crews arriving at or departing from the ranch, as well as crews catching a bus to go on the trail or returning at the end of their trek. Philmont operates a free bus from the Welcome Center to Cimarron twice a day. The Welcome Center's small office offers check-in instructions and general information, and its restrooms are considered the best on the ranch.
- Camp Administration/Logistics, which manage registration and orchestrate all the ranch's operations.
- Two dining halls, one for campers and one for staff. Rarely do campers eat more than three meals during a single stay in base camp; consequently, the former has a very short meal rotation and serves food of very poor quality. The latter, since it serves the entire base camp staff and any other staff who happen to be staying in base camp, has a longer rotation and better food.
- Services, a large L-shaped building whose facilities include:
- Rental and return of gear and issuance of trail food
- A room for crews to scrub their dirty pots and dishes at the end of their trek
- Hooks and bungee cords on which crews hang their wet tents and rain flies at the end of their trek
- Lockers, where crews may store anything they have brought but do not want to take on the trail
- A post office, which dispatches mail to the backcountry if necessary
- The Health Lodge, which conducts "rechecks" of all incoming campers, and handles all the ranch's serious health-related issues. Health officers communicate with backcountry staff by radio, and can dispatch cars or helicopters to retrieve patients if necessary.
- Tooth of Time Traders, the official "trading post", which sells all manner of camping and backpacking gear as well as a large selection of souvenirs. Its Nalgene Tree, a wooden tree adorned with Nalgene-brand water bottles, is particularly well-known.
- The Snack Bar, in the same building at the trading post, which sells a variety of snack foods, beverages, and ice cream. Its tree-lined patio is a popular destination for crews and staff.
- Four chapels of four different faiths: Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Latter-Day Saints. Each chapel holds services every evening, and most incoming and some outgoing crews attend these.
- Three tent cities: Trailbound, Homebound, and Staff. Each contains several showerhouses. The staff tent city's capacity is roughly 900, though it is rarely full; Trailbound and Homebound each hold between 400 and 500 trekkers.

Trail camps

A trail camp is simply an unstaffed camp. Trail camps contain several campsites, but they are often spread out over half a mile of trail or more, so that there is no sense of crowding. Each trail camp is marked by a map, attached to a tree or the side of a latrine at every trail which passes through it. Campsites are marked by:
- A wooden sign nailed to a tree which indicates the campsite number.
- A metal fire ring. This may be used for small fires unless a fire ban is in place, which is almost always the case, given Philmont's dry climate. Campfires were permitted at the start of the 2005 season until fires broke out on the nearby Angel Fire Ski Resort in July, prompting an immediate fire ban.
- A sump. This is an L-shaped plastic pipe, with a six-foot vertical section and a seven-foot horizontal section perforated like a sieve. Most of it is underground, and the top is capped with a piece of mesh. Sumps are used to dispose of dirty dishwater.
- Several campsites share a bear cable. This is a metal cable strung between two sturdy trees at least ten feet above the ground; it is used to hang bear bags.
- Several campsites also share a latrine or toilet. These come in numerous configurations:
- The enclosed configuration, with walls and a red roof, is known for obvious reasons as a Red Roof Inn. Older Red Roof Inns contain two adjacent seats and no door, while newer models have two back-to-back seats, with a wall between and swinging doors on either side.
- The open-air style with two adjacent seats is affectionately called the "pilot to copilot" design; this results from the joking conversation which often takes place between two campers using the toilet simultaneously.
- The other configuration, called the "pilot to bombardier", is generally preferred because its two seats are back-to-back and offer somewhat more privacy than the "pilot to copilot".
- Occasionally a "single pilot" - one open-air seat - may be found. Philmont latrines of all types are known to house spiders, whose bite induces a rash. As of 2005, there are fifty-seven trail camps; see List of camps in Philmont Scout Ranch for information about each.

Staffed camps

Many camps have several live-in staff members who are in charge of the camp's "program", which consists of a wide variety of activities. Camps often carry a historical or modern theme, such as logging (Crater Lake and Pueblano), mining or blacksmithing (French Henry, Cypher's Mine, and Black Mountain), fur trapping and mountain man life (Miranda), or cowboy life (Beaubien). The program in a camp is run by staff known as Program Counselors. These Program Counselors are supposed to be trained by their supervisor, the Camp Director. Specific program activities include black powder rifle loading and shooting, shotgun shooting and reloading, trail rides on horseback, burro packing and racing, rock climbing (on artificial towers as well as actual rock faces, such as Betty's Bra at Miners Park), tomahawk throwing, branding, search and rescue training, mountain bicycling, Mexican homesteading, and a variety of campfires and evening programs. All staffed camps contain several campsites of the same sort which appear in trail camps; however, the primary distinguishing factor is the presence of one or several cabins. There is always a main cabin, on whose porch an arriving crew is given a "porch talk" by one of the present staff members. This includes information about available program, location of trash receptacles, and other timely information such as the presence of "problem bears." Most staffed camps have a swap box—a box in which crews may place unwanted food and take anything they might desire. Predictably, swap boxes tend to fill up with the sort of food which no-one likes, such as green beans or dried apples. With several exceptions, staffed camps accept trash, send and receive mail, and offer purified water. The exceptions are those camps which have no road access, such as Black Mountain or Crooked Creek; these camps receive their supply shipments by burro. All staff camps also contain radios, by which staff members can communicate with Base Camp, the Health Lodge, or each other. Aside from routine announcements such as the weather forecast or nightly Tour de France updates, the radio is used primarily for emergencies and important messages; indeed, Philmont has a large quantity of esoteric radio codes for rapid communication. Since much of Cimarron and Colfax County are accustomed to listening to the Philmont radio for entertainment, rangers and crews generally do their best to avoid situations which might merit mention on the radio, for fear of much embarrassment. As of 2005, there are thirty-three staffed camps; see List of camps in Philmont Scout Ranch for information about each.

Commissaries

A commissary is a small warehouse which is stocked with trail food for campers, real food for backcountry staff, and various other supplies, by periodic truck shipments. A small room in the warehouse holds a trading post, which sells a small variety of odds and ends, including postcards and postage. Commissaries also sell white gas for crews' stoves. A crew typically stops by a commissary every few days so that it does not have to carry a huge amount of consumables. Two backcountry junctions contain commissaries:
- Phillips Junction
- Ute Gulch Two staffed camps also contain commissaries:
- Baldy Town, an abandoned mining town at the base of Mount Baldy
- Ponil Camp

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