Dixon is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

located in Rio Arriba County,

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, United States, on New Mexico State Road 75, just east of New Mexico State Road 68, in the north-central part of the state, and is approximately southwest of

Taos Taos or TAOS may refer to: Places * Taos County, New Mexico, United States ** Taos, New Mexico, a city, the county seat of Taos County, New Mexico *** Taos art colony, an art colony founded in Taos, New Mexico ** Taos Pueblo, a Native American ...

. The elevation of Dixon is above sea level. It is on the banks of the

Embudo Creek Embudo Creek, also known as Rio Embudo, is formed by the confluence of the Rio Pueblo and Santa Barbara Creek near Peñasco in Taos County, New Mexico. The Embudo (named after the Spanish word meaning “funnel”) empties into the Rio Grande n ...

, a tributary of the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...

. Embudo Creek flows into the Rio Grande downstream from Dixon. According to the 2010 Census the population is 926, with 70% of residents identifying as

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

. Many non-Hispanics have made their homes here since the mid-1960s.

History

The area was inhabited by Tiwa peoples from nearby

Picuris Pueblo Picuris Pueblo (; Tiwa: P'įwweltha ’ī̃wːēltʰà is a historic pueblo in Taos County, New Mexico, United States. The federally recognized tribe of Pueblo people inhabit the community. Picurís Pueblo is a member of the Eight Northern Pueb ...

, then settled by Spanish colonists under the 1725 Embudo Land Grant. The original name was El Puerto del Embudo de Nuestro Señor San Antonio and the grant was made in 1725, to Francisco Martín, Lázaro Córdova and Juan Márquez. The

acequia An acequia () or (, also known as síquia , all from ) is a community-operated watercourse used in Spain and former Spanish colonies in the Americas for irrigation. Acequias are found in parts of Spain, the Andes, northern Mexico, and what i ...

s (

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

canals Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow u ...

) were the first public works project of any land grant, so they were started immediately after settlement, on September 20, 1725, and there are 10 Historic Acequias with senior water rights on the Embudo River and one with junior water rights. On the Rio Grande there are two with senior rights and two with junior water rights. The ''aldea'' was known as San Antonio del Embudo until around 1900 when a post office was established and the name was changed to Dixon, reputedly to honor Collins Dixon, a school teacher who taught here in the late 19th century; one tradition has him being a

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

army deserter; his descendants live around nearby Española.

Climate and wineries

Because of the temperate climate generated by the local topography and helped by the

s (irrigation ditch system), the Embudo Valley has become a significant fruit and grape growing area and the greater Dixon area has two

wineries A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the cultivation and production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feat ...

, the La Chiripada Winery and the Vivác Winery.

Art and the Dixon Studio Tour

The substantial number of artists and craft people living in the area led to the 1982 creation of the Dixon Studio Tour which annually draws many visitors during the two days in November that it occupies. There are several galleries in the area, including: Rift Gallery, Rare Earth Gallery, Alluvial, and Metier Fine Handweaving and Craft. Annual summer stonecarving workshops are held at Southwest Stoneworks adjacent to Rift Gallery.

Points of interest

About north of the town on New Mexico State Road 75, rock and mineral collectors can visit the Harding Mine, a

pegmatite A pegmatite is an igneous rock showing a very coarse texture, with large interlocking crystals usually greater in size than and sometimes greater than . Most pegmatites are composed of quartz, feldspar, and mica, having a similar silicic c ...

mine donated to the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...

by Dr. Arthur Montgomery. Maps and release forms to visit the mine can be obtained at the University of New Mexico, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, or at the Dixon home of Gilbert Griego, mine caretaker, or at the Embudo Valley Library in Dixon.

Community

Dixon is home to the community supported Embudo Valley Library, radio station KLDK-LP and the Dixon Cooperative Market, and during the summer months the Dixon Farmers' Market. It also has a retreat center, at Mission Embudo, which offers space for workshops and retreats.

Education

It is in Española Public Schools. Dixon has one elementary school, Dixon Elementary. The comprehensive public high school is

Española Valley High School Española Valley High School (EVHS) is a Title-1 Public school (government funded), public senior high school of the Española Public Schools District, located in Española, New Mexico. Nearly 97% of the student body is made up of Minority group, ...

Demographics

Notable people

* Al Hurricane, musician often referred to as "The Godfather" of

New Mexico music The New Mexico music genre () is a genre of music that originated in the US state of New Mexico. It derives from Pueblo music in the 13th century, and with the folk music of Hispanos during the 16th to 19th centuries in Santa Fe de Nuevo Méxic ...

* Levi Romero, poet, architect, and professor at the

References

External links

Dixon Studio Tour
an annual event {{authority control Census-designated places in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico Census-designated places in New Mexico