Tuesday, November 25, 2008

A Hoe From The Santa Fe Trail Era?

You can click on any of the images to make them larger.

This hoe used to belong to my grandfather and probably has not seen any use since the mid 1950's.  It is my guess that someone gave it to him or he bought it from someone. It is old and of unusual manufacture. Here is what I think. I think the original hoe, represented here by the part with the hole that has been riveted to the lower part probably came from the United States during the Santa Fe Trail days. Someone used it until it wore out and then they riveted the original to a new slab of metal to make it useful again.

These hoes used to see a lot of action, mixing mud to make adobes and to break adobes to fit. They were also used on the family garden or milpa where the vegetables were grown. They would have also been used when cleaning the ditches etc. So I can see where they would have worn down. Sharpening hoes also wears them down.


The white spot on the image above is a quarter for comparison. Dimensions are 10 inches wide and 7 and 3/4 inches high.

Here you can see where the handle went and the fact that the original hoe wore down and rivets were used to attach it to a new head.  The work was probably done by a smith at a blacksmith shop. 

Here you can see the metal where the handle is broken. It has been broken since I knew of the hoe. Holes have been drilled so as to use screws/bolts/nails to hold the handle on the hoe. There is a bolt all of the way thru right now.
The inside face of the hoe head.




A view of the outside face of the hoe and a better look at the rivets. 

Friday, November 21, 2008

Los Taborette's


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This is an upside down view of one of my new ones.


This is a regular shot of one of my latest. Built this grey colored one earlier in the month.
This is a brown colored one I built late last month.

The post on October 24th has a picture of the taborette my grandfather found on the railroad tracks in the early 1900's when he worked for the AT&SF (Santa Fe) Railroad. These two here are patterned after that one. Not a replica but a reasonable facsimile in my book. These here are built out of a 2x12 shaped into an octagon for the seat, 2x4's for the legs and wrapped around a 4x4.

They seem a bit sturdier and can serve as a stool to sit on, a plant holder or something similar. Like I wrote in my other post on taborette's, the family seems to like them because my grandfather had one. The ones I have made are in Colorado, New Mexico, Minnesota and soon in Montana.

By now you probably know more about taborettes than you ever wanted to know.


Thursday, November 6, 2008

New Mexico Timeline - The Historical Period

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1536 - Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, Estevan the Moor, Andres Dorantes and Alonso Castillo de Maldonado wander through parts of Southern New Mexico before reaching Culican, Mexico.

1540 - 1542 - Francisco Vasquez de Coronado explores present day Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. A number of women are with the expedition, wives of soldiers. The first introduction of the horse and other domestic animals into the present day United States.

1581 - Augustin Rodriguez and some soldiers led by Francisco Sanchez Chamuscado leads an expedition into New Mexico.

1582 - 1583 - Bernardino Beltran and Antonio de Espejo comes to New Mexico with a small group with Antonio de Espejo naming himself as commander. 

1590 - 1591 - Gaspar Castano de Sosa leads 170 men women and children to New Mexico. The "entrada" was illegal, leaders were arrested and the colony abandoned.

1598 - don Juan de Onate, along with numerous soldier/colonists, takes possession of the area called New Mexico for the monarchs of Spain.

1680 - The Pueblo Indians revolt and expel the Spanish colonists from New Mexico. The surviving Spanish colonists retreat and establish El Paso.

1692 - don Diego de Vargas returns to New Mexico.

1693 - Colonists resettle New Mexico.

1695 - New colonists arrive in New Mexico from Zacatecas.

1720 - The Villasur expedition is launched to search for French intruders and are ambushed neat current day Columbus, Nebraska by Oto Indians and French allies.

1821 - New Mexico ceases to be a province of Spain and becomes a part of the new nation of Mexico. The Santa Fe trail officially opens.

1846 - August, Stephen Watts Kearney annexes New Mexico to the United States. Military rule is established.

1847 - The first American governor, Charles Bent is killed in Taos during an unsuccessful rebellion by New Mexicans against the United States.

1850 - Military rule ends and New Mexico becomes a territory. The area of "New Mexico" at that time included parts of Southern Colorado, Utah, Southern Nevada and Arizona.

1868 - Arizona is separated from New Mexico.

1912 - New Mexico becomes the 47th State.