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1880 The Atchison, Topeka, and Sante Fe Railroad builds the first tracks into New Mexico
The Santa Fe's first tracks reached the Kansas/Colorado state line in 1873, and connected to Pueblo, Colorado in 1876. Although the railway was named in part for the capital of New Mexico, its main line never reached there as the terrain made it too difficult to lay the necessary tracks. [://online.nmartmuseum.org/nmhistory/opening-the-west/atchison-topeka-and-santa-fe-railroad/history-atsf.html] -
Sheriff Pat Garret kills Billy the kid,essentially ending the Lincoln County War 1881
Most accounts say that the sheriff simply wanted to teach 15-year-old Henry a lesson. Henry did learn a lesson—that he could fit his small frame through a sooty chimney flue. With the first of several incredible escapes, he hightailed it for southern Arizona, where he became known as Kid Antrim or simply “the Kid.” There he got into more trouble stealing horses from the U.S. Army, but his biggest problem was a bully named “Windy” Cahill.[https://www.americanheritage.com/node/132743] -
New Mexicans prove their loyalty to the United States by serving heroically in the Spanish American War, especially as members of cavalry unit known as the Rough Riders 1898
The Spanish-American War of 1898 was short-lived and successful for those Americans in favor of a Cuba Libre, a free Cuba. Its famous battle cry was “Remember the Maine.” The war itself, however, had antecedents in the United States’ desire to widen its control of world markets and to dominate countries considered strategic to its defense.[http://newmexicohistory.org/people/roosevelts-rough-riders-1898] -
Arizona voters reject a plan to enter the Union as a single state with New Mexico 1906
Congress only begrudgingly named it a territory in the first place, and to gain statehood -- joining the 47 others -- was too grand a gesture for this rude, crude land in the Southwestern desert filled with scoundrels and ne're-do-wells. Just ask anyone east of the Missouri River from 1856 until 1912.[http://archive.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/20120130arizona-centennial-state-fight.html] -
New Mexico achieves statehood at last 1912
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/new-mexico-joins-the-unionThe Apache and the Navaho resisted the colonial efforts of the U.S. as they had those of Spain and Mexico, and after three decades of bloodshed. In 1886. After the suppression of New Mexico’s natives, the population of New Mexico expanded considerably, and many came to participate in the ranching boom brought on by the opening of the Santa Fe Railroad in 1879. In 1912, New Mexico was granted statehood.
