The following is a recap of local events for this time period throughout history.
A local teenager will head to the nation’s capital in September to discuss ways to prevent underage drinking. Stefanie BlueEyes, 17, of Farmington, was selected to represent New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District at the Mothers Against Drunk Driving National Youth Summit Sept. 29-Oct. 4 in Washington. BlueEyes said she found out about the opportunity in her parenting class at Farmington High School. She wrote several essays for the application and was selected to be the delegate for the district. She hopes to learn new ways to prevent underage drinking and wants to set goals with the other delegates in attendance.
The Daily Times
Floy Martin stopped in to deliver an oral letter to the editor the first of the week to the effect that the sheep drives through Aztec are not all that well patrolled or appreciated. Seems the wooly little rascals stream across yards and nibble away flowers, bushes and anything else that gets in their pathway.
Aztec Independent Review
Farms on which no wheat was seeded for harvest in any of the years 1948, 1949 or 1950 may apply for a 1951 wheat acreage allotment, according to Rudy Ferrari, Chairman of the San Juan County Production and Marketing Administration Committee. To be considered for an allotment on a new farm the farmer must apply in writing to his county PMA Committee by June 16, 1950. The application must contain evidence that the land for which an allotment is requested is suitable for the production of wheat and that the operator will be largely dependent for his livelihood on his farming.
Aztec Independent Review
Henry Stevenson, genial proprietor of the Basin Pharmacy, is a great baseball fan and believes in outdoor activities generally. He told us, “It’s time that Farmington put on some kind of a celebration here this fall.” Not a bad idea at that.
Farmington Times-Hustler
Charles B. Smith of the United State Reclamation Service was in Aztec this week, having spent some time looking over the Colorado River and tributaries with a view of the Government putting in a reclamation project to accomplish two ends, the preventing of the floods on the lower Colorado River and the reclamation of arid lands. He was specially interested in the large irrigable area south of the San Juan River in this county. This project, which was dreamed of by Jay Turley, is considered too large for private capital, and the United States Reclamation Services the only feasible means of getting it built.
Aztec Independent
With the advent of the railroad, strawberry culture should become an important industry in these valleys. When they had to be hauled 60 miles by wagon or stage it was difficult to handle them, but with the railroad within a few miles the situation becomes vastly different. The results from proper cultivation will be highly profitable, no one who has taken the trouble to investigate can doubt. Evans Wood of Flora Vista has supplied our merchants with a considerable quantity and the price received was 25 cents per quart.
Farmington Times-Hustler
This Week in Local History is compiled by Debi Tracy Olsen, local journalist and member of the Aztec Museum Board of Directors. The stories are pulled from newspaper archives and are reprinted as they appeared, errors and all.
Leonard and Nancy Hilt and granddaughter Rains Ross, Navajo Nation, at the baby’s First Laugh Party, 1982. The First Laugh Party is a Navajo tradition.
Aztec Museum Photo Archives
