Guadalupe County, New MexicoGuadalupe County is situated east of the central portion of New Mexico, and the legislative act setting the territory to form it aside from San Miguel was passed in 1891, but was not signed by the governor. In 1893 a supplementary act was passed, confirming the former, which received the executive approval, and Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico, was thus given a place on the territorial map. As then constituted, the county had an area of 3,125,160 acres, was sixty miles wide from north to south and no miles long, from east to west, being a perfect parallelogram with the exception of a little square of nine townships in the northwest corner, which was added so as to include the town of Anton Chico. In its reduction to its present dimensions, Roosevelt and portions of Quay. Lincoln and Chaves counties were carved from the Guadalupe County of 1891-3. In 1902, by legislative enactment, the name of the county was changed to Leonard Wood, but in 1904 the legislature granted the demands of the majority of the citizens of the county, and restored the original name of Guadalupe, changing the location of the county seat from Puerto de Luna to Santa Rosa. County Officers The Board of County Commissioners was organized and held its first meeting May 4, 1891 its members being as follows: Ramon Dodge (chairman), Matilde Chaves, Placidio Baca y Baca; the last named was also probate clerk, the body serving through 1891 and 1892. The officials since have been as below:
Natural Features and Towns The county lies chiefly in the valley of the Pecos River, which, with numerous small lakes and living springs, is its principal source of water supply. A few unimportant streams flow from the northeastern portion of the county toward the Canadian. The climate of this section is mild and the altitude about 4.000 feet above the sea, making it a desirable locality for the fanner, the fruit grower and the stock raiser. All along the Pecos are great flocks of sheep, most of them of the improved breeds, and there is no section of the Territory where this industry has been more successful than in Guadalupe County. It is also developing very rapidly as a fruit country, which is the cause of much of the late prosperity of Puerto de Luna, the old county seat, and Santa Rosa, the new. With the formation of the new counties to the east and south, Puerto de Luna was too far south of the center of the county. Therefore the change was made. Santa Rosa is growing into a substantial town, and its orchards are an important source of the fruit supply of Las Vegas. The orchards of Don Lorenzo Dabadie and Don Celso Baca are to be particularly mentioned, the proprietors being progressive natives of the Territory, who showed great enterprise years ago in planting these beautiful and valuable grounds. The apples from their orchards have earned especial praise and taken many premiums. Guadalupe County Biographies
Source: History of New Mexico, Its Resources and People, Volume II, Pacific States Publishing Co., 1907.
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