Why New Mexico has all the good chiles

The things you learn when you can't sleep. I now know why New Mexico has a stronger Hispanic heritage than Arizona, although both states were settled by the Spanish.

It's a question I never thought to ask ... until I saw the excerpt from Clay Thompson's column for The Arizona Republic on arizonaoddities.com.

Thomspon noted that the Spanish weren't completely stupid. They looked at the overflowing rivers, like the Rio Grande, and the peaceable Pueblo Indians in New Mexico, and they looked at the dry rivers in Arizona, also home to the “crabby” Apaches, and they moved into New Mexico.

The columnist noted that it wasn't until around the 1850s and 1860s, when miners and railroads started moving into Arizona, that the population, mostly Anglo, started to grow in this lovely state.

And that's why, as Thompson pointed out, all the good chiles come from New Mexico.

That wacky Thompson!