Between 1850 and 1912, the year New Mexico was granted statehood,
the Territory of New Mexico was a wild and dangerous place.
Homesteaders, cowboys, ranchers, sheepherders, buffalo hunters,
prospectors, treasure hunters and railroad men pushing the borders
of the western frontier met with resistance from man and animal
alike. Native Americans, who had lived on the land defending their
boundaries and way of life for centuries, reacted to the wave of
outsiders in various ways. The agrarian Pueblo peoples along the
Rio Grande largely kept to themselves. Apache, Navajo and Ute
tribes sometimes attempted to co-exist with the newcomers but most
often they fought against encroachment. Anglo and Mexican outlaws
ran roughshod across the frontier and there was no shortage of
bears, wolves, mountain lions, blizzards and bad water to unsettle
the newcomers. This collection of frontier stories vividly
illustrates the range of struggles, triumphs and catastrophes faced
by settlers who hoped to tame the land and inhabitants of
Territorial New Mexico. Between 1936 and 1940, field workers in the
Federal Writers' Project (a branch of the government-funded Works
Progress Administration, or WPA, later called Work Projects
Administration) recorded authentic accounts of life in the early
days of New Mexico. These original documents, published here as a
story collection for the first time, reflect the conditions of the
New Mexico Territory as played out in dynamic clashes between
individuals and groups competing for control of the land and
resources. "Frontier Stories," the second in the New Mexico Federal
Writers' Project Book Series, features informative background and
historic photographs. Forthcoming books in the series include
collections on mining and buried treasure, Hispano folk life, and
cattle trails and ranching. Ann Lacy, co-editor of the New Mexico
Federal Writers' Project Book series, has lived in New Mexico since
1979. She has been an Artist-in-Residence in the New Mexico
Artists-in-the-Schools Program and a studio artist exhibiting her
work in museums and galleries. She has worked as a researcher and
writer for Project Crossroads, specializing in New Mexico history
and culture, since 1987. She received a City of Santa Fe 2000
Heritage Preservation Award. Anne Valley-Fox, co-editor of the New
Mexico Federal Writers' Project Book series, is a poet and writer
who has worked for two decades as a writer/researcher for Project
Crossroads. Her publications include "Your Mythic Journey: Finding
Meaning in Your Life through Writing and Storytelling," "Sending
the Body Out," "Fish Drum 15" and "Point of No Return." "How
Shadows Are Bundled" is her latest collection of poems.
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