Main Streets in Raton and Clovis, New Mexico

Raton means rat or mouse in Spanish. I'm not sure why anyone would want to name a town after a rodent, and this doesn't even look like a place where rats would want to be (no harbor!). What a main street though! It doesn't look quite as lively today, though some of the old buildings are still standing. Raton currently has a population of about 7,200.

And here we have Clovis, another New Mexico town with a great main street. The Hotel Clovis, on the left-hand side, is still standing. And while I don't know how Raton got its name, I can tell you how Clovis was named. The town was originally called Riley's Switch, because it was a Santa Fe railroad town and it must have been the place where Riley controlled the railroad switch.

The name of the current town reportedly came from the station master's daughter who was studying Clovis, King of the Franks at the time. Isn't that sweet? - a schoolgirl gets to name a town (current population of approximately 38,000) after something she's interested in. It ended up going far beyond that though. Years later, when Indian artifacts were unearthed near Clovis, researchers named the pre-historic Paleo Indian culture after the nearby town. When you hear of the Clovis culture or the Clovis Indians (thought to be the first human inhabitants of the new world), think of that little girl. Had she been studying Napoleon at the time, they might have been called the Napoleon Indians. Had she been reading Flaubert or Emily Bronte, they might have had yet another name.

Here are the backs of the cards in the same order.

Acoma Pueblo - New Mexico

The Acoma Pueblo is one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the United States. It  was built upon a sandstone mesa back in the 12th century, which proved to be effective for the defense of the pueblo. Unfortunately, it was not as effective in keeping out the Spanish conquistadors in 1598. There were nearly 2,000 inhabitants before the arrival of the Spaniards, but only about 250 survived the attacks. Miraculously, the pueblo traditions have survived and are still practiced by today's pueblo inhabitants.

A House Bargain For You!

Here we have one of the first houses to go up in the Valley of the Estancia Ranchettes. Haven't you always wanted to be a rancher, I mean...ranchetter?

What would you say if I told you you could get a house like this for less than the price advertised on this old postcard? Yes, I hear that there were some shenanigans and some real estate people ended up in jail over this project. I also understand that water is a little hard to come by in this area outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and if you drill a well you may find that it fills with saltwater. Just remember the saying: If life gives you saltwater, make saltwater taffy.

Anyway, I'm not suggesting you live in the house. No, this is a movie set, a movie set with great potential for unlimited sequels. You could get rich!

I know you can come up with better movie ideas than I can, but here are a few to get you started:
1. Murder at the Estancia Ranchette
2. Valley of the Estancia Ranchette Dolls
3. Day of the Estancia Triffids
4. Alien Invasion in Estancia
5. Tumbleweeds Ate My Cat