Truth or Consequences, NM

 It was now time to play games, so we did, we headed for Truth or Consequence, NM.

TEMPORARY HOME

OUR VIEW

The park was three levels, the 30 amp people were on the bottom level. I knew this was going to be an o.k. place when we walked in and I saw this sign:

When this town was first established, it was called "Hot Springs" because of the hot springs around it. I mention that because it changed its name in 1950, why? The why involved visiting the Geronimo Springs Museum. 

Visit: https://geronimospringsmuseum.org.

Again, this is a regional museum, so there was a variety of exhibits to look at.

But lets get back to why the name was changed in 1950. How many of you out there remember a gentleman by the name of Ralph Edwards.

Back in 1940 a radio show was started called Truth of Consequence. 1950 was the 10th anniversary of the show, and an idea was thrown out to look for a town that was willing to change its name. Several cities responded besides Hot Springs, NM. Hot Springs stood out from the others because of it healing hot springs and recreation at Butte Lake.

The producer of the show visited the city and discussed the plan with the mayor, a senator, and the Chamber of Commerce manager. There was a special election held and the citizens voted to change the name.

On April 1st, the 10th anniversary broadcast of Truth or Consequence was staged in the newly named city. Ralph Edwards and his wife, his staff, radio, TV, and newspaper representatives were all present. There was a two mile long parade that celebrated the occasion, led by Ralph Edwards, in a Sierra County Sherriff's posse uniform. This event was a big deal for the area and was evident by the 10,000 onlookers.

Later in 1950 the television version of the show aired, and celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1974.

While not a resident of Truth or Consequences, Ralph and his wife Barbara were adopted by the city, and they adopted the city. He and his wife made many contributions to the welfare of this city.

The city of Truth or Consequence celebrates a fiesta annually, and back in the 1950s and 60s "Fiesta Dresses" were a big deal.

A new Fiesta dresses fell into the same category as new Easter dresses, the women had to have a new one for every fiesta. As the years went by, the dresses became more elaborate, but over the later years the idea of a new fiesta dress was just not done, whether it was because of money, or lack of time to create a dress. 

Fiestas saw many special events, like the 1964 Fiesta, which announced the opening of Butte Lake State Park. The municipal park was was dedicated in 1970, and named Ralph Edwards Park. The dedication of the park came about because of this 20 years of service to the city. In 1972, Ralph dedicated the Geronimo Springs Museum. In 1973 Ralph, and then governor Bruce King, dedicated a special education wing at the Carrie Tingley Hospital.

Moving from the T or C room, we stepped back in time some more.

This room was ECLECTIC as all git out.

How about that wool! The top photo was the grand champion for 1960. The bottom photo was "Bashful Nell" and her flat locks. Each lock had a wave across the lock.

MOHAIR FLAG

There was a story behind the mohair. A couple, Mr. and Mrs. Reid moved from California to this area in 1882 so he could work the mines, and his wife began raising Angora goats for milk for the family; the couple had six children. Unfortunately the husband died in 1892, not from a mine accident, but a disease. 

To support her family, Mrs. Reid sold goat milk and goat meat, and continued to improve her herd.

She remarried and became Mrs. Armer. Her and her new husband had three more children. Mrs. Armer began showing her goats on the nation stage, and became known as the "Angora Queen" worldwide. Her goats were of such high quality, royalty from Russia and Pakistan bought goats from her to start their own herds.

One of her sons and his wife continued the business until 1970. It is said that the mohair they produce is still the best in the United States.

I sure many of you have heard of canned lighting, and at this museum we saw the true meaning of canned lighting:

Yes, that was a regular food can on a flood light. They used them to focus the light at each bust.

The next display was a labor-of-love. 

I hope you can enlarge these photos on your phone or computer, there was a lot of work put into them. It was estimated that it took one month per figurine. It was neat that the artist didn't just create each carving, but created a book that identified and told a story for each figure.

On one of the walls visitors can find murals from a local artist. The murals represented men that were part of history of the region.

JUAN DE OÑATE

GERONIMO

EUGENE M. RHODES

Apparently I missed the fourth mural which was of Pancho Villa.

It just so happened, probably planned, that the four lit busts are of these four men.

On to the next room we passed this:

This was all the items that are not on display yet, and historical logs.

We have learned that when you visit regions with mining as a way of life, you will see a lot of rocks, and some are pretty darn beautiful.

HIDDEN BEHIND CURTAIN #1

PETRIFIED WOOD

PETRIFIED WOOD

The other finds in the southwest... Native American artifacts, and this place was crazy with them. 

Many of the arrowheads and artifacts were found on the ranches in the area.

Some of the pottery on display were new items mixed in with historical.

Walking past the pottery, visitors walked into a log cabin that was disassembled, moved, and reassembled at the museum.

Continue if you dare.

The cabin itself was moved from its original location near Chloride Lake, log by log, then re-assembled in its current location at the museum.

The museum was a fun museum and well represented the region.

This was the garden next to the museum:

SUNRISE AND RAIN

I mentioned earlier that during the Fiesta in 1964 highlighted the opening of Elephant Butte State Park... we decided to visit it.

We made it our business to check out the campground which is like most state parks in most states, it was electric and water with a dump station.

There were roads to the shoreline, but we stayed on the high ground because the campground loops were not close to the water.

The state park is situated by the 36,000 acre reservoir that accommodates boating, fishing, water skiing, camping, picnicking, and hiking, year round. Several species of fish can be caught: channel catfish, crappy, and bass. 

The lake has had its highs and lows over the century, currently New Mexico is in a draught, with a level somewhere between 2013 and 2020.

Lets look at what made the reservoir... Elephant Butte Dam.

The dam was originally to be called the Engle Dam in 1911, in honor of R.L. Engle, a Santa Fe Railroad engineer. The construction began in 1912 and was officially dedicated in 1916, though construction continued after 1916. The dam came in at: 1,274 feet end to end, with a height of 301 feet, and reported to hold 2,109,000 acre feet of water.

In 1916 there was an attempt change the name to Woodrow Wilson Dam, but the final name came from the landmark in the area:

I am still not sure how they saw this as an elephant, and I'm usually pretty open minded. Notice the current level of the reservoir, that road should be under water.

In 1938 they began the construction of the electric power plant, completing it in 1940. The plant generates 27,000 K.V.A.

Today this dam irrigates more than 178,000 acres of farmland, aids in flood control, produces electricity, and provides for recreational activities.

For those of you that care... Ted Turner bought the town of Engle and made it part of his ranch. When I say "the town" I am referring to the only building left standing,,, the schoolhouse.

Final stop was the Hamilton Veteran Museum in T or C.

The museum was named after the Hamilton Family that made many contributions; it was located next to the Veterans Home/clinic.

I didn't take a lot of pictures at this museum, but there was a lot to learn in this small museum. They also had a wall of names and a memorial walk.

Most of the exhibits in the museum were donated from locals to the area. Other displays range from Buffalo Soldier memorabilia to uniform button collections. There was one display full of German Nazi items, including a full Nazi uniform.

This was one button from one of the collections:

1ST AMERICAN REGIMENT

Why did I choose this button? 

These were colonists that were loyal to England, and fought against their fellow colonists. They were titled the "Queen's Rangers", recruited in 1776, in New York. They wore green coats with green facings, which were similar to the American Rangers that fought in the French and Indian War. The Queen's Rangers fought fellow colonists in New Jersey, New York, Virginia, and the Carolinas. In 1783 they surrendered with the British at Yorktown.

Like the Wall in DC, people come here to pay their respects and some leave gifts. 

LEFT AT THE MINI-WALL

Hopefully you will be able to zoom and read the story. This letter and totem bag were left at the Wall back in 2014 by a surviving serviceman, honoring all the fallen comrades.  The letter was addressed to Timothy McLean, a soldier he watched die in Vietnam. Here was the significant information about the totem bag, and each item attached to it:

Gold cord - represented a common thread between service members sent to fight; service members that were really just children.

Bag and marbles - represented the "marbles" the surviving service member lost over the years; there were 40 marbles.

Campaign ribbons - left in case Timothy did not receive his.

Short-Timer ribbon - given to those who completed their tour. This ribbon was on the bottle of Seagram's the survivor received; he poured a shot from the bottle and toasted Timothy and all the other fallen comrades.

Moving along. Many of you probably remember the Enola Gay dropping atomic bombs, but how many of you know an atomic bomb was dropped on us.

It was a fatal day in May of 1955 when a "nuc" was dropped on us. How did we allow it to happen... timing and weather.

During the Cold War the U.S. had planes, much like this one carrying nuclear weapons:

CONVAIR B-36 "PEACEMAKER" 

STRATEGIC BOMBER

One of these aircraft stationed at Walker AFB, in Roswell, NM was in the air on 25 May 1955. I mentioned the weather because it was a tornado that took down the B-36, and in doing so, dropped a nuclear weapon on a Texas ranch. Unfortunately all flight crew lives were lost.

Here was another lesson learned by this sailor. It pertained to the United States Army.

82ND INFANTRY DIVISION

"ALL-AMERICAN DIVISION" WWI

"All-American Division" meant that there were soldiers from every state, at that time, in the union. I didn't know that.

Another fact I didn't know pertained to our soldiers in WWI. This story started with a young soldier, Sgt. Will Bateman, reported to be the first American to kill a German soldier in WWI.

Sgt. Bateman's group was sent to the France front. One evening he saw a figure shooting star shells from a bomb crater. (Star shells were used to light the sky). He snuck up on the bomb crater with his .45 in hand and attacked the German soldier, but the German shot first with the flare gun, striking Bateman and setting him on fire. Not deterred, Bateman killed the German. 

Sgt. Bateman had to recover in the hospital for awhile. This brought me to what I didn't know. Look at the above photo and note chevrons on each sleeve. The left sleeve indicated three, six month overseas tours. It was the right sleeve that intrigued me, it had two chevrons, indicating how many times he was wounded.

If you look even closer to the jacket, notice that the rank insignia is that of a 2nd Lt., apparently Sgt. Bateman received a field promotion.

Outside the museum is a replica of the wall in DC, however the story behind it is a bit interesting. The original wall was one of the traveling metal walls. Some years later the city got money together and replaced the metal wall with marble, like D.C.

Behind the wall was a walking path in the form of a star. Each corner and point contained plaques elaborating on a special military event in American history.

The docent at the museum told us that a helicopter was going to be delivered during this year, the paint job was being completed.

After the museum and memorial park we drove back home, and prepared for our next stop.