Time to get on the road for Farmington. If you have been following our route, rest at ease, we have no rhythm or reason for our course, except to say it is steady.
Here we are on the road about 9:30a:
Yep, one lane highway due to construction, and this was the same way we got to Angel Fire; this was about three miles of glorious driving, thank goodness.
The winding road was about 17 miles from start (at beginning of construction zone) to finish.
I took Carol for a real ride passing this lake. Just about every turnout I found I pulled the rig off the road for a picture. Finally I had enough pictures, and off we went at the speed of the speed limit signs, and curvy road with all its booby-traps.
Now into the valley.
After the winding roads we got down to the lower elevation and started driving next to the Rio Grande. We were lucky on this pass of the Rio Grande, there were rafters going through the white water.
Also along this portion of the river was the first gaging station, established in 1888. It was the first Geological Survey training center for hydrographers. Those trained here were some of the first to conduct hydrological studies, later leading to stream gaging throughout the rest of the nation.
We were in for a surprise and didn't know it. We settled in on a Tuesday, Wednesday vendors began showing up for a Rock and Mineral show during the 4th of July weekend.
We were told that there wasn't much to do around the area, but Carol whipped out the information shovel and found many attractions to visit.
Our first adventure out was to Walmart and Sam's Club.
With shopping completed it was time to head back home. We got home and unpacked our treasures to find out we bought toilet paper, we really wanted paper towels... here comes another trip later.
We generally start out with the information center to see if there is any other secrets in the area.
Here in Farmington, they combine the information center and a museum, so that is where we started.
The museum is divided into three sections: Farmington and gas, Native American art, and Native American rugs.
This exhibit celebrated 100 years of oil and gas in the Four Corners region. The area had its ups and downs during that 100 years, as we shall see.
So how was gas and oil discovered in this region?
On a farm, which is now downtown Farmington. In the 1890s, Mr. Blake, a farmer was drilling a water well on his property when he hit a pocket of natural gas. He wasn't very excited about it, in fact, it ticked him off, gas was of little use in those days.
Mr. Blake and some other folks got together and formed the Farmington Oil and Gas Company in 1906.
They sold $14,000 of stock shares, but the well didn't provide good returns, and the company eventually disbanded.
There were other wells too, but nothing that produced commercial levels... until October of 1921.
Guys with a rented drilling rig headed out towards Aztec, NM. These guys donated much of their time, or received shares for their efforts. Come the 21st of October their efforts paid off. They struck gas at 1,000 feet in the Farmington sandstone, and it was estimated that the well could produce as much as 10 million cubic feet of gas... a day.
In 1921 they ran a pipeline to Farmington. This crude was so high grade, people could put it straight into their vehicles. The cost were something else too, $2.00 a barrel at the well, or 4¢ a gallon; in Farmington they paid 15¢ a gallon. One could see vehicles driving around with the slogan "This Car Burns Hogback Crude".
In the beginning they shipped their crude to Salt Lake for refining, but that changed in 1925, Continental Oil built a refinery in Farmington. I'm a little confused on this part because it appeared that Rattlesnake, near Shiprock was a refinery distilling the raw crude into liquid fractions of gas, kerosene, oil, and other products as well in the 1920s.
There were many other discoveries, such as Ute Dome, Rattlesnake, near Shiprock, and others. But it wasn't until 1924 that New Mexico saw its first millionaire in the gas and oil business. In 1923 there was a Navajo lease sale, and a gentleman purchased a lease on a well that flowed 2,000 barrels a day. Here's the rich part. In 1924 this gentleman sold half of his interest in the lease for $1,000,000.
Gas was so predominate in the region that El Paso Natural Gas Company (EPNGC) submitted an application to run a pipeline from the fields to California in 1949. The Federal Power Commission (FPC) did not initially approve the application on the grounds that EPNGC had enough reserve funds to ensure completion. EPNGC worked a deal with another oil company, this now gave them the reserve funds needed to begin the project, with FPC approval. In reality, three companies collaborated to build the pipeline.
With this project, the population in Farmington grew from a mere to 3,500 in 1950, to 23,000 in 1960.
Think of the length of train flat cars. The length of the pipes were so long that it was necessary to put a spacer flat car between the ends of the pipes.
During this boom, there were so many families with children. Because of the number of children, they were forced to go to school 1/2 day, some in the morning, some in the afternoon. In 10 years, seven new schools were built.
Another issue - housing shortage. People were renting out garages, basements, even converted chicken coops. Long-time orchards were sold, and the trees bulldozed to make room for new homes.
Still there was the issue of streets... they were not paved, still dirt. Farmington did approve plans to pave 15 miles of streets between 1952 and 1954; that was accomplished, plus some. By 1959 a little over 84 miles of streets, alleys, and roadways were paved. I think we drove some of those paved roads... not with bladder excitement. Ok, ok, they needed attention, LOTS OF ATTENTION.
The boom was alive with the sound of airplanes too. Frontier Airlines began regularly flying in carrying passengers from various oil companies.
As said before, there were up years and there were down years. Those down years were 1959 to 1972.
A slump in the economy was due to lower gas prices at the wellhead, an over supply of natural gas, and the collapse of building construction in Farmington.
What you may expect is a surplus of field equipment and pipes just sitting in the oil company yards. Welllllll, field pipes started to come up missing from various yards in 1962.
This is not an oops photo. If you look to the left and right of the boys, those pipes with the slots in them, were field pipes that allow natural gas to seep into the pipe. Where are these pipes? Ricketts Park, home of the Connie Mack Worlds Series.
SIDE NOTE: The American Amateur Baseball Commission (AABC) is based in Farmington, NM. The AABC conducts regional and national competition in seven age divisions. The divisions range from 8 and under, 10 and under, 12 and under, 14 and under, 16 and under, 18 and under, and finally unlimited age.
The AABC allows the regions to play under their own rules, but when they get to post-season, all teams and tournaments must conform to national rules.
Back to Ricketts Park. It is now home to the Connie Mack World Series.
This section of the museum is about the oil field and Farmington, so lets get back to it.
Have you ever heard of Project Gasbuggy? me neither. The project was a secret nuclear test. What the gas and oil industry was trying to do was figure out how to get the "tough" oil out of the rock. The device tested was equivalent to 26,000 tons of TNT. It was dropped underground and exploded December, 1967; it was the first attempt at fracking. It was not a success, all it did was melt the rock.
Slump To Boom - 1973 to 1982.
The Arab Oil Embargo in 1973 created a need for oil, and that came from our local oil economies. Saudi Arabia refused to sell oil to the U.S. In 1979 the price per barrel jumped from $10 a barrel to $30 a barrel. Here in Farmington it spurred a growth in wells that spiked to 4,530 wells in 1981. The city of Farmington was not hit as hard as some of the other regions.
I remember waiting in line for gas, and actually ran out while in line. When I ran out, the cars behind me just drove around me, not a one helped me push my car to the gas pump.
During this boom time Farmington grew through a construction boom itself.
1983 to 1988 - BUST.
He we go again with Saudi Arabia... they cried that they wanted a fair market share. Because of the complaining they glutted the market with oil, dropping the price per barrel from $34 to $10. We had our own problem with a recession. These two factor caused a decrease in wells in the region, and by 1986 there were only about 750 operating wells, putting people out of work. A lot of businesses went out of business, and people moved away.
Boom #4 - 1989 to 1993.
This boom came about because of Congress. in 1980 they passed the Windfall Profits Act. It allowed tax credits for tight sands and non-conventional fuel sources - such as coalbed methane. For a company to get the tax credit, they needed to drill wells by 1992.
Today the city is here and grew thanks to the men and women that worked in the oil industry, not the industry itself. The people are community oriented, now there are two Walmarts and a Sam's.
A model of the process for laying pipeline; I wish I could make it larger.
The following was part of a collection that Alan and Molly Hawkinson owned. This collection was 50 years in the making, and most of the items are from the Four Corners region. Mr. Hawkinson wanted the collection to stay in Farmington, so he donated part of the collection to the museum, the rest of the items were purchased by the museum. The gas pumps in the exhibit were personally restored by Mr. Hawkinson. Enjoy.
We now came to the end of the oil and gas exhibit, and moved to the Native American art exhibit.
Native American art has been around since their existence. It used to document personal, communal, and spiritual events. It aided in communications and access to other spiritual states.
The coming of Europeans changed the way Native American artist painted. Engaging in, and adopting the Western pictorial customs provided a way to survive during colonialism. Uncommon before the 19th century were concepts like ground lines, perspective, and naturalism. The biggest reason for incorporating these concepts in their paintings gave them a "language" in which to talk to the different demographic people. In this process the Indigenous artists also adopted forms, styles, or subjects that were interesting to colonists. Their style tended to be flat, but rich in detail, which Western collectors put in the category of "primitive" art.
In the 20th century there was a convergence between what Western collectors wanted to see in Native art, and what Native Americans wanted to show of themselves.
For those who want to know, his given birth name means, "Warrior Who Walked up to His Enemy" or "Wandering Boy".
Harrison was born in Arizona and went to the Santa Fe Indian School, and became a famous Native American painter in the United States and Europe. His fame came partially because of the Santa Fe Indian School. His subject matter tended to focus on nature and genre scenes Diné life. He was in the U.S. Army, serving in WWII. After his return home his emphasis shifted to peaceful imagery. In 1951 he co-founded Tewa Enterprises, a printing studio producing serigraphs (fine art prints created using the silkscreen printing process) of Native American art.
Santa Fe Indian School was one of the first schools to offer a formal art program. This program was known as the Studio School, founded by Dorothy Dunn, in 1932. The intention of the Studio School was to prepare the Native Americans for a successful commercial career, and become self-sufficient.
Dorothy insisted that her students paint in the "authentic Indian" way, which could be seen on pottery, petroglyphs, and baskets.
Her method had come to be known as "Studio Style" because of flat planes of color and outline with little to no regard for modeling and perspective, which resulted in a two-dimensional composition. Dunn did encourage her students to find themselves in their art.
Decades have seen Dunn's approach as paternalistic and colonialist, which contributed to a stagnant development of Native American art in the 20th century because of its narrow limitations.
What made Bacone different from the Studio School was a greater emphasis on traditional one-point perspective and a stronger attention to movement and dynamism, creating a greater sense of drama.
Unlike the first two artists, Woody did not attend the Santa Fe Indian School, he attended Wichita University, and University of Oklahoma. In 1939 he was commission to paint murals on the Department of Interior walls in Washington, D.C. too.
The next artist did not attend the Santa Fe Indian School either.
Apparently his work was pretty good, he won a fellowship to work with Norman Rockwell.
His primary occupation was an electrician, but he did sell his work on the Navajo Reservation trading posts, and at the Gallup Inter-tribal Ceremonial. His works won several awards.
A lot of his work was two-dimensional form. Some of his work featured greater modeling and an attention to three-dimensional form. Most of his art was gouache (opaque watercolor) on paper. Look closely at the paintings and you may notice the paper texture.
The mid-20th century saw a change in Native American art through a transition from the traditional to modernism. Native American artists felt constrained or suffocated with the Studio Style. Navajo artists across American began exploring other avenues in which their works could incorporate Western styles and philosophies. They experimented with abstraction, cubism, surrealism, expressionism, and impressionism, ensuring they kept indigenous perspectives.
There was a double-edged sword for the works of the modernist Native Americans. Critics either said that the work was not Indian enough, or that a Native American could not have done the work. You make up your own mind.
Our first modernist was Bobby Hicks, he was in the Southwest Indian Art Project through the University of Arizona. His earlier style was similar to the Studio Style, it changed over time, becoming more of a naturalist, sometimes impressionist by modeling color to develop more three-dimension images.
Our next artist, Jim Abeita, rose to prominence in the latter half of the 20th century, and was inspired by Norman Rockwell and Frederic Remington.
In the early 70's he befriended Johnny Cash, and they became lifelong friends. Johnny had 30 pieces of his work in his own collection. Johnny also commissioned him to design several of his album covers.
I looked at this painting and got the feeling that he somehow used Johnny as the model, lol.
Jim has been semi-retired since 2011, painting for enjoyment now, occasionally going to exhibitions.
Gilmore Scott is another contemporary artist telling the Diné heritage, both to his people and a wider audience.
Lets take a look at other contemporary artis in the exhibit.
Here in Farmington they have a festival called Totah Festival. The Navajo term is Tóta', referring to the area of Farmington. Tóta' literally means "between the waters", or "land amidst the water". The city's location is between the Animas, San Juan, and La Plata rivers.
The festival is celebrated on Labor Day weekend. It is an opportunity for Native American artisans to display and sell their works. There is a juried art competition with awards, a Navajo Rug Auction, a Cultural Expo which includes a Powwow and a Gourd Dance, a 5K fun run/walk, and a variety of artist demonstrations.
One other event that occurs is a poster competition, take a look.
Just some of the 36-year history of the festival.
Many of these artists can be found in various museums throughout the United States.
The last portion of the museum was a Navajo rug exhibit.
These rugs were fantastic, and some of them took exceptional amounts of time to create. We were fortunate to have a docent that provided some great information and stories. This is the inaugural exhibit called "Tree in a Circle", and celebrates the artisanship of all Diné weavers.
Lets start with Dibé Bíghaa', it means sheep wool. Sheep wool didn't come around until after the Spanish arrived.
I was surprised at how many patterns and styles were/are used in weaving Navajo rugs, they include: Teec Nos Pos, Classic Chief's Blanket, Germantown rugs, Two Grey Hills, Ganado, Crystal, Eye Dazzler, Wide Ruins, and Saltillo.
Before 1900 the Navajo styles were traditional designs, after 1900 the designs were influenced by Oriental rug designs, especially the Teec Nos Pos weavings.
How did this influence come about? It is believed that a man named J.B. Moore helped it along. J.B. Moore became a trader at the Crystal Trading Post in 1896, and was enthusiastic about Diné weaving early on. How influential was he? many of the Crystal designs came from his imagination and Oriental rugs available through mail order catalogs. Its believed that some of the motifs were derived from Moore's designs.
What are some of the characteristics of a Teec Nos Pos weaving: symmetrical designs, elaborately figured borders, double-cross patterns, Xs and hooked figures in a wide range of colors.
The colors come from the mountains: east is white, south is blue, west is yellow, and north is black.
It was time to take in the beauty of those woven rugs.
A lot of the rugs were woven the traditional method using home spun wool; some of the rugs were a combination of commercial and home spun wool.
To understand Diné culture regarding rug weaving we must go back to the beginning. One needs to understand the Navajo belief that there are five worlds, and we are currently living in the fifth world called, "Glittering World".
Here is their story:
The emergence from the second world to the third world, the Holy People (Diyin Dine'é) instructed Spider Woman to weave her pattern of the universe.
She was to teach the Diné to weave Hózhó (beauty), to bring harmony and beauty into their lives. She had no knowledge about how to do this. Spider Woman was observant; she watched everything in her environment, her curiosity focused on the spider weaving a web. This became her plan of how she would weave the universe.
With the basic concept of weaving, the Holy People instructed Spider Woman so that her skills would be further enhanced by prayer, songs, and ceremonial duties.
Spider Woman was told to go to the four sacred mountains to gather specific items to further advance her weaving.
From the first mountain, she got wood for Spider Man to make the loom.
From the second mountain, she harvested plants for vegetal colors for her wool.
From the fourth mountain, she got prayers and songs that are associated with all stages of weaving.
The Spider Rock formation is located in Canyon De Chelly
Look at the center of this rug and you will notice a hole in the middle of the rug, it is said this is where Spider Woman entered the fifth world.
This exhibit displays some of the work of weaver Lucy Eugene Yabney Whitehouse. She was responsible for all the very large rugs.
Our docent told us of some of the spiritual aspects to weaving a rug, showing us imperfections in Lucy's rugs. Navajo weaving culture believes that no rug can be made perfect, so weavers create imperfections, some are subtle, others more obvious.
Here is an example of one of Lucy's subtle:
The point in the left circle is smaller than the one in the right circle.
Another spiritual aspect the weaver does is creating of a "spirit Line". It is said that when a weaver is creating a rug, their soul enters the rug.
Look in the upper right corner of the bottom photo, you will see a line leading to the edge of the rug. That line is always the color of the center portion of the rug, and at the upper right sector of the rug. The purpose of the line is to allow the weavers soul to escape the rug when complete.
Before sheep arrived with the Spaniards, the Navajo used materials like fur from rabbits and other animals, even yucca fiber to make their wool.
The Spanish introduced the Diné to Churra sheep. Over the centuries the Navajo continued to acquire sheep, now referred to as Navajo Churro sheep. These sheep have two layers of wool, the outer coat is course, the inner being finer. This wool was suitable for heavy blankets and rugs in the late 1800s.
Transitioning from blankets to rugs, the weavers used a weft count (the crosswise thread on a loom over and under which other threads are passed) which required a finer grist (density of the yarn, specifically the length of yarn per unit of weight) of wool. The Navajo transitioned to another breed of sheep, the Rambouillet, or Merino for their weaving wool.
Lastly, for those who wondered how Lucy weaved her large rugs, here you go:
Some of her rugs measured almost 14 feet by 9 feet.
