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Rio Hondo (Northern New Mexico)

river in Taos County, New Mexico, United States

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 5, 2026
Entity authorityQ7335259 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Rio Hondo is a river in northern New Mexico. A left tributary of the Rio Grande, it flows approximately 20 miles (32 km) from its headwaters high in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Wheeler Peak and the Taos Ski Valley to its discharge in the Rio Grande Gorge just west of the community of Arroyo Hondo. Portions of the Rio Hondo are prized as prime spots for bird-watching and fishing. The river was the subject of a 2005 study by the New Mexico Environment Department Surface Water Quality Bureau into the effects of wastewater from Taos Ski Valley, which is discharged from the Village of Taos Ski Valley Waste Water Treatment Plant.

In Spanish, Río Hondo means "deep river".

Editorial summary

“Rio Hondo (Northern New Mexico)” enters the record as river in Taos County, New Mexico, United States. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Hondo, Northern and Mexico can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA valuable geographic starting point for tracing changing names, boundaries, uses and administrative responsibility. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2005—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Hondo, Northern and Mexico.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Rio Hondo (Northern New Mexico)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Hondo, Northern and Mexico provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7335259. Authority coordinates are 36.536, -105.660. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2005.

Critical limits

A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Rio Hondo (Northern New Mexico)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Rio Hondo (Northern New Mexico) primary sources, Rio Hondo (Northern New Mexico) archive and Hondo research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Rio Hondo (Northern New Mexico)”?
  2. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Rio Hondo (Northern New Mexico)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.