CENTENNIAL SUNDAYS
Three NM icons: A fruit, a road and a bear
Editor鈥檚 Note: Today鈥檚 Centennial Sundays package focuses on three favorite icons of New Mexico and how the Journal covered them through the years. The series is in commemoration of the Pepperday/Lang family鈥檚 100 years of ownership of the Journal.
State鈥檚 most popular question: Red or green?
It鈥檚 August. That means the aroma of roasting green chiles wafts across much of Albuquerque and New Mexico.
Probably nothing says New Mexico more than the pepper crucial to delicious New Mexican cuisine. Everything from cookies to candy to libations gets infused with a touch of red or green chile heat, as well.
Because it is such a vital ingredient, the Journal publishes stories and photos on the status of the year鈥檚 crop each summer, like clockwork. Will it be a bumper crop with lower prices or a lean crop due to various factors?
In July 2019, green chile made the front page when politicians got involved.
鈥淏efore the first pepper of the season had been picked, a chile war of words erupted on Twitter between the governors in New Mexico and Colorado,鈥� read the lead of the Journal鈥檚 Page 1 story.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis kicked it off when he bragged on Facebook that Whole Foods in Colorado would begin stocking Colorado Pueblo chiles. He added that New Mexico stores would continue to sell 鈥渋nferior New Mexico chili.鈥�
Lujan Grisham responded that Hatch green chile 鈥渨ill always be the greatest in the world.鈥�
When Polis challenged Lujan Grisham to a taste-off, she didn鈥檛 accept, instead mocking Polis on social media for his misspelling of the word chile.
鈥淐hili 鈥� Are we in Texas? We don鈥檛 just spell it right, we do it better!鈥� she wrote.
While it鈥檚 no surprise New Mexicans are passionate about the state鈥檚 best known crop, the story reported that many of the Colorado residents responding to a Twitter poll by a Denver television station also favored New Mexico chile.
鈥淚 feel like a traitor,鈥� said one. 鈥淚 love Hatch chiles.鈥� Another responded: 鈥淚鈥檓 a Colorado girl through and through, but 鈥� Hatch is the only green chile. Sorry.鈥�
Get your kicks on Route 66
When Route 66 was announced in 1926 as a cross-country highway from Chicago to Los Angeles, it was mostly a gravel 鈥� and sometimes dirt 鈥� road that was narrow and involved winding curves.
This was true particularly in New Mexico. Its circuitous route took travelers from Santa Rosa northwest almost to Las Vegas, before heading south through Santa Fe, down La Bajada, into Albuquerque and Los Lunas, and then, finally west to Arizona.
In fact, a 1933 story in the Journal quoted a highway report that said, 鈥淭he US Highway through El Paso is getting the bulk of the transcontinental traffic although it is longer than Route 66 due to criticism of the condition of the New Mexico portion of US 66, especially that between Santa Rosa and the cities of Las Vegas, Santa Fe and Albuquerque.鈥�
Many first-time travelers said they would never take the route through New Mexico again, according to the report.
Highway officials and others had already been touting a straighter route through New Mexico by cutting off 100 miles and creating a direct path from Santa Rosa to Albuquerque. Then-Highway Superintendent Clyde Tingley, who later became governor, was among the first to suggest the shorter route.
Even that plan, which cut out much of northern New Mexico and Santa Fe, had plenty of critics.
A letter to the editor in 1931 read: 鈥淎lbuquerque should be satisfied with its inclusion on the main north-south route across the state and allow the route of Highway 66 to remain as it is. 鈥� Changing the route of 66 will not be fair to Santa Fe, nor Las Vegas.鈥�
Tingley and his group ended up winning the battle, with the new route completed and paved in 1937.
Interestingly, coverage at the time did not stress the convenience of a cross-country paved highway from Chicago to Los Angeles. Instead, the stories mainly described the benefits of the tourist dollars the highway would bring.
In fact, for the next several years, the Journal was full of stories about various commissions and groups created to market Route 66, touting such towns as Albuquerque, Gallup and Winslow, Arizona.
Today, as Route 66 celebrates its centennial birthday, communities along it, including Albuquerque, have once again increased marketing and planned celebrations to lure tourists. Apparently, it has worked. Tourism officials say hotel stays and tourism dollars have increased, with international travelers making up a significant portion.
The Journal joined in celebrating the historical route this year by sending reporters and photographers on road trips covering all 535 miles across the state.
On Aug. 2, the Journal reported: 鈥淚t was a summer to remember 鈥� the characters, sights and sounds from across New Mexico were worth every mile.鈥�
NM cub becomes face of national campaign
In May 1950, two fires in the Lincoln National Forest converged and quickly grew as 70 mph winds fed the flames.
On May 9, a fire crew found a frightened and badly singed bear cub clinging tenaciously to the side of a burnt pine tree. The crew brought the cub to the fire camp, where he was flown by Game Warden Ray Bell to a Santa Fe veterinarian. Bell then took in the cub 鈥� at this point named 鈥淗otfoot鈥� 鈥� home to recuperate. Once recovered, the cub was flown to Washington, D.C., where he 鈥渂ecame the living symbol of Smokey Bear and spent his life promoting fire prevention from the National Zoo of Washington, D.C,鈥� according to a story written by Journal Arts Editor Adrian Gomez in 2019. The year marked the 75th anniversary of the creation of the Smokey Bear campaign.
鈥淭o this day, the Forest Service uses the bear鈥檚 likeness and its campaigns, and Smokey remains a cherished national icon,鈥� wrote Gomez.
Upon his death in 1976, Smokey was flown to Capitan, and buried in what is now Smokey Bear Historical Park.
鈥淪mokey鈥檚 message is relevant to everyone everywhere,鈥� a Forest Service education specialist told Gomez. 鈥溾�極nly you can prevent forest fires鈥� 鈥� it鈥檚 a simple message,鈥� he said.
It鈥檚 one that endures today.
Karen Moses is a former Journal editor and can be reached at kmoses@abqjournal.com.
Coming Aug. 23: How arts and culture help define the Land of Enchantment: an interview with Dan Herrera, whose leadership roles at the Journal included stints as arts editor, Editorial Page editor and managing editor.
