Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1900-09-22
A Special Correspondent of the New
Mexican Writes of the Fair
at Pennington.
A GOOD EXHIBITION OF FRUIT
There Was Plenty of Sport, Including
Horse Races, Foot Races and Indian
Games-The Queens Ball Was
Success.
Special Correspondence.

| INio Las <tllHldS near WHpTe Ile San
Juan and the La Plata all unite and
+ form one large river, called the Rio San
Juan. 1t is the fruit belt of New Mexi-
co.
Each year the ranchers have a fair
for the display Of fruit; and have rae
ing. 1t was my good fortune to be pres
!, ent at their last exhibition.
+, The day opened up beautiful, and at
a. m. the country folks and Indians
began to gather in. At 10 o'clock the
queen of the fair and her two maids of
honor started to lead the procession
which consisted Of G. A. r. men next to
the maids of honors carriage They
were followed by a wagon containing
, the blacksmith shop with two boys
hammering on an anvil. They were fol-
t lowed by citizens in carriages, and they
, by two siX-horse teams. The sides of
l the wagons had in big letters, "Ranch
Products" The wagons contained corn,
oats and fruits of all kinds. And they
were followed by twenty cowboys on
+ their ponies. The rear of the procession
was brought up by 15o Navajo and
, Moqui Indians on their ponies. They
had on their war paint, with their head
dresses of eagle plumes and their bright
colored blankets. Some of the squaws
had their papooses strapped on their
backs, making a very interesting and
novel sight. After the procession had
returned to the front of the place of ex-
hibition the queen and her maids step
ped out Of the carriage and ascended
to a high platform, where seats had
been prepared for them, the stand hav-
ing been decorated with Navajo blan-
kets, with Moqui baskets filled with
fruits and flowers, the whole present
ing beautiful sight. A young man rep
resenting the alcalde, in neat speech
presented the queen with large gilded
key, virtually turning the city over to
her for the time being. She responded
in neat speech, and declared the fair
opened, and urged the people to enjoy
] thmselves to their hearts content The
majority Of the crowd Immediately
went to the race track, which was up on
: the mesa. half mile distant from the
exhibition grounds. There being no
fence around the race track, it was
, open to the whole world.
THE EXHIBITION.
The exhibition of fruits, flowers and
domestic manufactures was held in
large tent that had been brought down
for the purpose. On entering the tent,
on your left the first thing you saw was
the display of fruit; and l must confess
that I never saw finer display of ap-
pies, peaches, pears, plums, nectarines,
lapricots, grapes of all kinds, and
ounces. There were two long tables
running through the center of the tent
that contained jellies of all kinds of
fruits put up by the ladies. There was
Iquite lot of fancy work, such as Mex
lean drawn work, and all kinds of nee
die work, with here and there blankets
manufactured by the Navajo Indians,
which added beauty to the interior dec
orations.
AS you would be passing through the
tent you would meet with an Indian
Isquaw with her papoose swung on her
back, all dressed out in her finery, with
| Uedu HeChldCcSy SllNc OIdCelctS dllu
large silver earrings. They were view
ling the things with wonder and amaze
ment, like young children who never
have seen anything.
ON THE RACE TRACK.
I went from there up to the race track
to see the races. Talk about fun-you
never saw the like at fair in Ohio. The
: first was a race of ten horses, some of
them ridden by cowboys and some by
Indian boys. The cowboys were decked
! out in all their finery, with big Mexi-
e lean spurs on, and their heavy saddles.
The Indians did not have anything on
them except the breech CLOTH with
blankets strapped on their ponies. Aft
$ er a good deal of joking they started.
F, The race was only for quarter of
mile. 1t was won by a large horse that
Is used as a team horse in ranch. 1t
: was very close until the last 20 feet;
then the Indian began to whip his horse
and he forged ahead and gained the
} prize, which was $40 in gold. The next
!. race was run by the Indians themselves
, on their ponies; it was free for all.
The Indian boys that rode the ponies
Q seemed as if they were glued to their
, horses. 1t was won by very small
: pony that to look at you would not
, think had any go in him. When they
started he was in the rear. The boy
fused his Quirt on him, and seemed to
;. lift him off the ground and put speed
into him. When they came in and the
black pony was declared the victor the
Indians gathered around and wanted to
e buy that pony. The owner Of it would
= not sell it, as he knew he could get
: better price for him later on from the
e Indians.
a INDIAN SPORTS.
The next entertainment was burying
a sack of money in the ground with
j. about a quarter of an inch Of 1t stick
!. ing above the ground. Whichever one
Of the Indians could pick 1t up while
his horse was running at full speed was
!, to have it. All of the Indian men took
!. part in this, and to see them ride at full
o speed and reach and get a handful of
s. sand instead of the sack would amuse
!. Iyou. The Indians themselves would
e whoop and halloo, and seemed to en-
10y 1t as much as their white brothers.
: They ran in circle twice the size of
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