This year is steeped in history, legend and myth and Leyendas — the first in our four-part Tradiciones publications — is our modest attempt to tell a few of these stories.
As always, the challenge is to narrow down which stories to tell. Sometimes the internet, that proverbial rabbit hole of information, leads the way. I was intrigued by Elliott Barker, the renown conservationist who figured so prominently in New Mexico’s 20th Century history.
In reading about Barker’s role in turning a little bear cub into Smokey Bear, I learned Taos Pueblo firefighters — the Snowballs — first found the little guy amid
the charred remains of the Capitan Gap Fire. This led directly to a piece former Tempo editor Rick Romancito had written for the Taos News in 2022. You’ll find
that story here along with my piece about Barker and his amazing contributions to New Mexico’s wildlife.
Also in our 26th Leyendas, Cindy Brown writes about the legendary Taoseño, DoughBelly Price, a cowboy, chuckwagon cook, bootlegger, write
