"Clovis Man" sculpture at Clovis Community College. Article and Photo by Phyllis Eileen Banks. Courtesy of SouthernNewMexico.com

The city's history goes back thousands of years earlier to the "Clovis Culture." In 1932, A. W. Anderson of Clovis first discovered evidence of human occupation about 11,000 years ago at the Blackwater Draw site. Now the Blackwater Draw Museum presents evidence of the remarkable "fluted" points (a New World invention) and other stone and bone weapons. They occur in association with extinct Pleistocene age megafauna such as mammoth, ancient bison, horse and large turtles. Recovered bones of these mastodon are also on display. A state museum, it is under the direction of Eastern New Mexico University at Portales and is located 12 miles southwest of Clovis on U. S. Highway 70.

Clovis is at the crossroads of U. S. Highways 70, 60 and 84 on the high plains of eastern New Mexico at an elevation of 4,200 feet. An annual rainfall of 17 inches with a mean temperature of 57 degrees and 335 days of sunshine makes pleasant days and cool nights for the 37,000 people who live there.

Cannon Air Force Base, eight miles to the West, adds to the community's economy and available work force. The cultivated cropland produces corn, wheat, sorghum, cotton, hay, potatoes and other vegetables. The range land and climate make Clovis an ideal location for its nine dairies with average herds of 1,500. Other dairy related industries include implement dealers, feed mills, commodity brokers, trucking firms, weekly livestock auctions and construction companies with dairy building experience.

Clovis boasts many area attractions. Among them is the Norman Petty Studios, known worldwide as the place where Buddy Holly recorded the smash hit, "Peggy Sue," as well as 18 other hits. The Clovis Model Train Museum is in the old Clovis Santa Fe Passenger Depot, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Hillcrest Park Zoo adjacent to Hillcrest Park houses 500 animals. Most are exhibited in their natural habitat.

Ned Houk Memorial Park is 6 1/2 miles north of Clovis on State Highway 209. Covering 3,320 acres, it has large shade trees and 400 acres of mowed and irrigated grass around four stocked fish ponds. The Old Homestead Museum, created by and dedicated to H. A. "Pappy" Thornton, is also located in the park. There is a farming equipment display made prior to 1926, two typical old farm dwellings and a Model T Ford truck. The Ned Houk Motor Sports Complex is located on the Southwest corner of the park, and offers stock car (dirt) racing Saturday nights from May to late October.

Many activities keep the folks at home. There is the Curry County Fair, Pioneer Days, the Old Lyceum Theatre and its productions, Pioneer Days Rodeo and the Clovis Community Band. Clovis Community College satisfies those with a lifelong pursuit of learning.

Clovis, New Mexico welcomes the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) to their new home at Cannon Air Force Base. The community fought hard to "Keep Cannon" and you can look forward to our continued enthusiasm and support.

If you are in the market for a new home, visit the Glen Oaks subdivision of  Northeast Clovis, New Mexico. Glen Oaks is located on the northeast side of Clovis, in one of the fastest growing areas of town, where most new homes are being built and property values remain the highest. It is close to the popular elementary and junior high schools, Zia Elementary and Yucca Junior High. North Plains Mall, Lowe's, the Rib Crib, and the Super Wal-mart are a short drive away.

Along Highway 60 in Texico, NM. Photo and aricle by Phyllis Eileen Banks.

Melrose, at 4,599 elevation and a population of 877, is a viable town, 18 miles east of Tolar. However, it was known as Brownhorn in 1882 because it was located between the Brown and Horn ranches. When repair shops were built for the Santa Fe Railroad, its officials named the town Melrose - supposedly after Melrose, Ohio.

Ranching is the economic mainstay of this region, with its sprinkler farming and livestock grazing. Cannon Air Force Base, 21 miles to the east, uses the Melrose Bombing Range for practice bombing and strafing. St. Vrain is eight miles further along Route 60, and came into being in 1907. The community, though small, believes the town was named for the early guide and explorer Ceran St. Vrain. He was also a Colonel in the First New Mexico Volunteer Infantry. All that remains of Grier, five miles from St. Vrain, is a grain elevator and a few houses. Another of the farming communities that sprang up overnight when the railroad was being constructed, it had a post office from 1921 to 1956.

Portair, five more miles from Grier, a settlement that began as Blacktower because of a black water tank that could be seen for miles over the flat country side, seems to have constantly had name changes. After Blacktower, it was known as Maize for the sorghum grain grown there, and now it is Portair because of Cannon Air Force Base.

All these settlements that are still on maps remind people of the difficult time pioneers had taming the land in this part of the world.

Texico, nine miles eastof Clovis, is the oldest town in Curry County, first settled around 1900. A siding was built there in 1902 by the Pecos Valley and Northeastern Railroad, and the town grew until the railroad moved its division point to Clovis. In the old days, it was a typical Wild West town. Now it's a border entry to New Mexico and graciously distributes literature and information to entice tourists to see more of New Mexico.

Blackwater Draw Museum, Roosevelt, New Mexico. Article and Photo by Phyllis Eileen Banks.

Blackwater Draw Locality No. 1, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is one of the most important archeological sites in the New World. The Blackwater Draw Museum has wonderful displays of bones and artifacts to educate adults and children in the history of New Mexico as well as the New World.

The museum is located on U. S. Highway 70 five miles northeast of Portales, New Mexico and may easily be bypassed if you are unaware that it is there. It was opened in 1969 primarily to display artifacts discovered at the Blackwater Draw Site. Although a state museum, it is under the direction of Dr. John Montgomery of Eastern New Mexico University-Portales. The Archeological Site is five miles north of U. S. 70 on NM 467, and Dr. Joanne Dickenson is the on-site curator and archeologist there.

Much controversy has existed over the peopling of the Americas and the search for physical evidence in the form of tools and bones. Evidence was literally washed up in 1908 when torrential rains fell near the tiny town of Folsom, west of Clayton, New Mexico. The flood scoured deep channels and killed many families and livestock. George McJunkin, a ranch foreman, checking flood damage, found fossil bones sticking out of an exposed section of Wildhorse Arroyo. He knew these were not bones of cattle but thought they were of Bison.

This, and much later excavations, became the turning point in proving that the first Americans had arrived by the end of the Pleistocene period. An excavation in 1926 found a delicately made spear point with a central groove or flute among the Bison bones.

Many events led to the discovery of the numerous sediment layers, giving cultural sequences for the last 12,000 years. Ridgely Whiteman, in 1929, found a "Clovis" point and a piece of mammoth bone. He sent them with a letter to the Smithsonian Institute but there was minimal interest by those checking out the site.

In the December 2000 National Geographic magazine it lists Ridge Whiteman as the discoverer of the Clovis Man Site in its story "Hunt for the First Americans". Whiteman is mentioned on page 45. A. W. Anderson was a go-between to bring Edgar B. Howard and Whiteman together. At long last the discoverer is properly identified, thanks to Don McAlavy, historian of Curry County.

However, in 1932 during the construction of the highway between Portales and Clovis, there was a new development. The State of New Mexico had secured a portion of privately owned property as a right of way and as a location for its material pit. The sand and gravel at this spot were quarried with a horse-pulled scraper and screened by hand. Many prehistoric bones were uncovered. They were displayed in the windows of Ed J. Neer's store in Portales, according to the Portales Valley News of Thursday, October 20, 1932, but were not considered an earth-shaking event but rather a curiosity.

Enter Dr. Edgar B. Howard, who was excavating at Burnett Cave in the Guadelupe Mountains near Carlsbad. On his return to Philadelphia he stopped at the Blackwater Draw because his curiosity had been aroused by a fluted projectile point A. W. Anderson of Clovis had shown him. Dr. Howard's examination of the gravel pit area about 20 feet deep and covering several acres convinced him there was a connection between the mammoth bones and the projectile points. He determined to return the following summer.

He and Dr. John Cotter, also from Pennsylvania, were the first professional investigators. From 1932 to 1936 they excavated The Clovis Site as it was then known. (E. H. Sellards, excavating from 1948 to 1956, renamed it the Blackwater Site.) The site is famous for its sediment layers, giving a unique rain-gauge of cultural sequences for the last 12,000 years. It is unsurpassed in its cultural periods dating from the earliest Paleoindians to Ceramic times, as each level contains critically important evidence hidden in the deposits.

The cultural sequence is unique from most paleoindian sites in that it is layer upon layer, one on top of another. The dates range from 11,300 to 11,000 B.P. at the Clovis level. The Folsom level dates from 10,800-10,000 B.P. The ceramic level identified in 1996 excavations is still under analyses.

Clovis age and Archaic age wells were found indicating a climate fluctuation and variable water tables. The hand dug wells are the earliest water control system in the New World. The Clovis Type Site at Blackwater Draw is the oldest accepted culture in the New World. Their remarkable fluted points, other stone and bone weapons, tools and processing implements are found at this site. These implements are associated with extinct mammoth, ancient bison, horse and large turtles. Other Pleistocene age animals that visited the site for food and water were tapir, camel, four-prong antelope, llama, deer, dire wolf, ground sloth, short-faced bear, saber-tooth tiger, shovel-toothed mastodon, coyote, deer, armadillo and muskrat.

Human remains have not been found, even though the massive deposits of bone, tools, spear points and other evidence suggests future excavation may reveal such remains. Intact deposits on the site remain to be explored and excavated even after 63 years of sporadic scientific investigation.

Fees are very reasonable and payment at either the Museum or Site is sufficient for admission to both if receipts are kept. The fourth Sunday of each month will be a FREE DAY with no admission charge. Fees for civic and educational group tours will be arranged before arrival and will depend on the number of persons in the tour group.

 

No vanishing mirage, Oasis State Park is true to its name.

Tall cottonwoods and a shimmering pond sit among the shifting sand dunes. An abundance of birds and anglers are drawn to this watering hole, which the New Mexico State Park Division keeps stocked throughout the year.

The fishing pond may be the main attraction but with hiking trails, picnic areas, campgrounds, a ballfield, and a playground, Oasis State Park has something for everyone.

Planted in 1902 by a homesteader, the cottonwoods provide shade to the picnic tables and shelters scattered around the park after it was established in 1962. The three acre blue-green pond was created in 1972 and is sealed with a bentonite clay liner. The fishing pond is busiest November through March when it is stocked every other week with rainbow trout. In the summer the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish stock channel catfish.

For birding, the best month is May, when there is the greatest variety. April is second best for bird-lovers. Over 80 species of birds have been seen at Oasis. Visitors may see brown-headed cowbirds, western meadowlarks, Bullock’s orioles, house sparrows, mourning doves, great herons, lesser yellowlegs, scaled quail, blackchinned hummingbirds, redheaded woodpeckers, scissor-tailed flycatchers, western bluebirds, and mockingbirds, as well as ducks and geese.

Hiking trails meander through the dunes spotted with prairie grasses, cacti, desert wildflowers and yucca. A nature trail is marked with explanations of the desert ecology. While most of the trails are sandy and flat, the path from the parking area to the pond is paved and wheelchair accessible.

Electrical hook-ups, modern bathroom facilities, and heated showers also make Oasis State Park a comfortable stop for overnight camping. Each picnic or camping site contains water and a dump station is available for RV dumping.

Picnicking is allowed in designated areas while the park is open from 7 a.m. to sunset for Day Use. Any use of the park after 9 p.m. is considered overnight camping. Quiet hours are 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. No hunting, no littering, and no tunneling in the dunes is allowed. All pets must be kept on leashes less than ten feet long.

Located off Highway 70 between Clovis and Portales, New Mexico, Oasis State Park can be a good-night's sleep on a long road trip or an afternoon's diversion. This watering hole has just what you need.

Downtown Portales, 2nd Street. Article by Phyllis Eileen Banks. Photo courtesy Roosevelt County Chamber of Commerce.

Spring waters gushing from a series of caves shaped like porches across a hacienda home gave Portales its name. It is also a door to human history with the discovery of artifacts and skeletons of mastodons dating back 11,000 years. Originally it was known as "Los Portales," portals to the Southwest United States.

Established in the 1800s, irrigation has made agriculture the major industry. Peanuts are a leading crop along with cotton, wheat, corn, milo, hay and potatoes. The dairy industry is also a part of the local economy. Cannon Air Force Base is located fifteen miles north of the city.

The third largest university in the state, Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU) is located on a 400 acre campus in the southwestern quarter of Portales. The almost 4,000 students come from the region, all 50 states and 16 foreign countries. Many Cannon Air Force personnel partake in the broad curricula of the classes. Blackwater Draw Museum, under the auspices of the University and seven miles northeast of Portales, features artifacts and mastodon skeletons found in the archeological digs at the Blackwater Site, located ten miles from the Museum on State Highway 467.

Portales is on U. S. Highway 70 where State Highways 88, 167 and 235 converge. The 12,000 people who live there enjoy the 4,000 foot elevation and sunny, mild climate of 58 degree average temperature and rainfall of 18 1/4 inches per year.

The annual Peanut Valley Festival brings visitors to the city, as does its Living History Pageant. The College of Fine Arts at ENMU presents many musical and dramatic programs. A symphony orchestra provides additional culture.

Recreational activities include swimming, tennis, golf, baseball, softball, rodeos, bowling and hunting. Oasis State Park, just a short distance outside the city on State Highway 467, offers fishing, hiking, picnicking, camping and play in the sand dunes.

Portales is located 18 miles from the Texas border, 19 miles from Clovis, 90 miles from Roswell and 165 miles from the mountain community of Ruidoso, places to explore when adventure calls.

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