HOUSE MEMORIAL 5 55TH LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEWMEXICO - FIRST SESSION 2021 INTRODUCED BY Jack Chatfield 6 8 10 A MEMORIAL DECLARING MARCH 4, 2021 "HARDING COUNTY DAY" IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND CELEBRATING HARDING COUNTY'S ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY.

156 WHEREAS, with vast plains and mesas, grasslands and rivers, Harding county is as unique as it is beautiful;

and e t 17 WHEREAS, when the railroads opened up settlement of the w l n d 18 west, homesteaders settled in what is now remote Harding county = = 19 a l and southern Union county until the great depression and the i a e r 20 dust bowl impeded progress;

and a t m m 21 WHEREAS, although small in terms of population, Harding d r e 22 county is rich in history and geography;

and c e s k 23 WHEREAS, Harding county was created by the state e a n b 24 legislature on March 4, 1921, with Governor Merritt C.

Mechem u [ conferring official status to Harding county;

and .218901.1 WHEREAS, Harding county is named for United States President Warren G.

and HM 5 Page 1 WHEREAS, Harding county has a total area of two thousand one hundred twenty-six square miles and is divided between high prairie to the northwest and a lower semi-desert rangeland to the southeast;

and WHEREAS, Harding county is bounded on the west by the Canadian river canyon, one of the most striking features in eastern New Mexico, with soaring cliffs, diverse flora and e t 17 fauna, wild rivers, striking rock formations and historic w l n d 18 ruins;

and = = 19 a l WHEREAS, the Kiowa national grasslands is located in the i a e r 20 northern section of Harding county and is part of a national a t m m 21 grasslands system that covers two hundred sixty-three thousand d r e 22 nine hundred fifty-four acres scattered throughout New Mexico, c e s k 23 Texas and Oklahoma;

and e a n b 24 WHEREAS, dinosaur tracks start at Mosquero creek and u [ stretch northward through New Mexico and southeastern Colorado;

.218901.1 - 2 - and WHEREAS, Harding county is home to cowboys and cowgirls and colorful characters like Bob Wills, who was a barber in a Roy barbershop in his pre-Texas Playboys music days;

and WHEREAS, Harding county boasts blue skies with three HM 5 Page 2 hundred sixty days of sunshine per year;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF e t 17 REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the great w l n d 18 people and great places of Harding county be recognized on its = = 19 a l one hundredth birthday;

and i a e r 20 BE IT RESOLVED that March 4, 2021 be declared "Harding a t m m 21 County Day" in the house of representatives;

and d r e 22 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be c e s k 23 transmitted to the members of the board of county commissioners e a n b 24 of Harding county.

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