Capitan, New Mexico: From the Coalora Coal Mines to Smokey Bear

By Gary Cozzens

In early May 1950 a massive forest fire spread through the Capitan Gap in the Capitan Mountains. A young black bear cub was found clinging to a tree with his paws singed and his mother nowhere in sight. That cub, later named Smokey Bear, was doctored and eventually sent to Washington, D. C. where he became the living symbol of fire prevention. Without a doubt, Smokey Bear is the most famous resident of Capitan, NM, but he is not the sole history of the area. In addition to a comprehensive chapter on Smokey Bear, Cozzens's history of Capitan will cover everything from the significant coal mining and ranching history of the area (Block Ranch was the largest in the country at the turn of the century), US Forest Service's involvement in the area, Civilian Conservation Corps history (one of the few CCC camps for women was located here), and the story of one of Capitan's most famous, but not so well-covered, citizens, George A. Titsworth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The History Press
• Release date: Apr 8, 2012
• ISBN: 9781614238270

Gary Cozzens

A native New Mexican, Gary Cozzens graduated from Eastern New Mexico University, earning a double major in history and political science. He is a member of the Lincoln County Historical Society, the Museum of New Mexico Foundation, the Historical Society of New Mexico and the Friends of Historic Lincoln. He is the author of The Nogal Mesa and Capitan, New Mexico, also published by The History Press. Cozzens is currently the Manager of the Lincoln Historic Site in Lincoln.

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Author

PREFACE

Over forty million years ago, the Sierra Blanca region of south central New Mexico experienced significant volcanic activity that lasted more than twenty million years. The result produced abundant mineral resources still being discovered and mined today. The mineral field was deposited around the shoreline of a large lake during the Mesozoic era, and volcanic activity and coal seams continued to form, especially in the Capitan area.

The resulting coal is a low-quality C bituminous coal. Mining the coal is often hampered by intrusive dikes of igneous rocks, numerous structural faults and gravel terraces that conceal any trace of the underlying coal fields.¹

Coal was first discovered in the area in 1884, and the earliest mine was the Linderman Mine, located two miles west of Capitan. This mine supported activities at Fort Stanton beginning in 1885 and continued later when the fort became a tuberculosis sanitarium. In 1899, the New Mexico Fuel Company began large-scale coal mining, resulting in the rapid growth of both Coalora and Capitan.

The Salado Creek flows east through the Salado Flats from high ground to the west until joining the Bonito River between Capitan and Lincoln. It was near Salado Flats that Jose Padilla and his extended family, along with four laborers, had settled before 1870, as documented in the U.S. census from that year. This is the first recorded settlement of the area. Jose sold milk and butter to Fort Stanton.

Ten years later, the census shows much more settlement at Salado Flats, with fifty-seven people living in the area. Most of the people were still laborers and farmers, but now there were also blacksmiths, dairymen, carpenters and matchmakers. Among those inhabitants were Teofilo and Estanislada Lalonde,² who had moved to the area known as Cienaga Magado, thought to have been on the Magado Creek just south of Capitan. Estanislada Lada LaLonde was the daughter of Jose Padilla. About 1885, the LaLondes sold their eighty-acre ranch and moved to the Nogal area.³

Salado Flats, where Capitan is now located, was once a beautiful meadow producing gamma grass due to a low water table. Manuel Aguilar, a milker, lived at the Juan Andre Silva ranch at this time.⁴

INTRODUCTION

Without a doubt, the most famous resident of Capitan was a brown bear cub. Smokey Bear was found with badly burnt paws clinging to a tree during a forest fire in May 1950. In shock and near death from his burns and dehydration, the cub quickly became the national living symbol for fire prevention. While other historical events occurred in the area during the past millennium, it was Smokey Bear who put Capitan on the map.

As with all books, many people are responsible for providing support to make this book possible. First and foremost are my parents, L.C. and Mary Lou Cooper Cozzens. Dad talked about the history of the area—that of happenings other than Smokey Bear and Billy the Kid. He spoke of Titsworth and Pfingsten and the Nogal Mesa. Moreover, he has lived ninety years of Capitan history from his time in school here, where he was a standout athlete earning twelve letters between 1937 and 1940 before attending the University of New Mexico on a basketball scholarship. He became a school administrator and ended his career as superintendent of the Capitan Schools. Mom was an elementary school teacher, and she, too, ended her career at the Capitan Schools. Both parents encouraged me to read and to learn. To them I am eternally grateful.

My paternal grandfather, Seymour Primo Cozzens, was also a teacher of local history, as were my uncles Wayne Cozzens, Bob Parsons and Doyle Cozzens.

It is hard to talk about the history of the Capitan area without mentioning the name of Herbert Lee Traylor. Herbert Lee was the dean of local historians. Also writing about the history of the Capitan area was Dorothy Guck, who holds the distinction of being the only reporter to cover the fire in which Smokey Bear was found. Following Dorothy is Roberta Key Haldane, a copious note taker who supplied much of the background material for this book and, most importantly, helped to edit it into a much better book. More recently, in 2000, Lionel W. (Lonnie) Lippman and Virginia Watson Jones published a book on the centennial of Capitan.

Hollis Cummins provided much of this history along with many historic photographs in this book. LaMoyne and Opal Peters once again shared their knowledge of the area and historic photographs, as did Wally Ferguson, Fred Kendall and Ellis and Sheryl Vickers. Barbara Jeanne Reily-Branum, a descendant of early settlers, provided detailed information and photographs. Richard Bryant once again worked wonders with the old pictures. Preston and Willa Stone, ranchers from north of the Capitan Mountains, were major contributors. Nancy Hasbrouck and her daughter, Donna Ikard, provided family photographs and a previously unpublished interview with Monroe Howard. Pam Allen helped to get pictures, and Rich Eastwood provided information on the early settlement. Carlton Britton provided information on the Block Ranch. Dick Cox, Garth Hyde, Paul Jones, Agatha Long and Gerald Dean all provided oral history of the area. Thank you to Becky LeJeune and The History Press team.

U.S. Forest Service archaeologists Diane Prather and Eric Dillingham provided much information on the Forest Service history. Additionally, I was allowed access to the Lincoln National Forest files, which proved very helpful. David Cunningham and Rebecca Judd from the Smokey Bear State Park provided information and photographs on Smokey Bear and forest activities around Capitan.

Pat Garrett and Raynene Greer at the Capitan Public Library were able to obtain books through interlibrary loan. More importantly, Ms. Garrett, along with Tiffany Menix, produced an oral history in 2006 in which elementary students collected information and interviewed locals to produce that book.

Elvis Fleming and John Lemay of the Southeast New Mexico Historical Society provided period photographs included in this book.

Finally, my greatest supporter continues to be my wife, Shirley Crawford. She is my blessing, as are our daughter, Kristi; our granddaughter, Ridley; and my mother-in-law, Erma.

CHAPTER 1

GRAY, COALORA AND THE EL PASO AND NORTHEASTERN RAILROAD

GRAY

Seaborn Gray, the founder of Capitan, was born in Coosa County, Alabama, on October 31, 1851, and was raised in Louisiana. In 1873, he married Sarah Glenn, and the couple had six children. Coming to New Mexico in 1884 at the urging of his cousin Pat Garrett, Gray worked with former Lincoln County sheriff Pat Garrett on the VV Ranch, twelve miles south of Capitan. In 1887, he moved to the Salado Flats and continued his dealings in cattle.

In 1897, he opened the first store on his ranch and was successful in establishing a post office, which he named Gray after himself. He was also instrumental in securing a railroad line, first to Coalora and then to Capitan. He owned a livery stable in 1890 and engaged in mining.⁵

Gray had been in bad health for a number of years and had previously had at least three distinct strokes. He passed away quietly one Sunday morning in 1916 with his family present and was buried in the Capitan cemetery.⁶

One of Gray’s daughters, Nellie, married William Reily of Capitan, who owned a large amount of land on the north side of the village.

On September 28, 1892, Gray applied for a land patent in the area known as Salado Flats. He quickly purchased the land from the Salado Creek to the Bonito River, naming the settlement around his home Gray, and thus became the founding father of the village later called Capitan.⁷

Founded in 1894, the early settlement of Gray is sometimes erroneously called the original name for Capitan, but in fact, this small settlement was located about a mile south of the current village. Gray’s ranch included a store and the post office. Gray’s residence was located on this spot, but his barn and stables were where Smokey’s Country Market in Capitan is located today. It was in these livery stables that the famous racehorse Steamboat was quartered for a time. Later on, Tom Key, Hart Hale and then Mosa Maryfield lived in Gray’s original house. Gray was active until about 1900, when the village of Capitan was established north of the Gray site.⁸

Seaborn T. Gray, founder of Capitan, circa 1910. Photograph courtesy of Barbara Jean Reily-Branum.

Tom Key, from Lipan, Texas, married Ellen Green and moved to the Sacramento Mountains to homestead. In 1917, Ellen insisted the couple move to Capitan for better schooling for their children, Ernest and Hilda, and they bought the Seaborn Gray ranch south of town, owning it for the next thirty years.

Tom became a small rancher and jack-of-all-trades, including a farmer, carpenter, blacksmith, veterinarian, shoe repairman and mechanic. It was Tom Key who built the bridge over the Magado Creek where the fairgrounds are located on the old road to Nogal. Ellen tended a flock of some two thousand White Leghorn chickens and made butter from the cream of the cows on the ranch, which Tom shipped to El Paso every week with twelve-gallon kegs of cream.

Tom passed away in 1941, and Ellen lived on the ranch until about 1947 before selling it and moving into Capitan, where she died in 1966.

Their daughter Hilda married Jack Young and was a schoolteacher in Capitan for a number of years. Son Ernest went to George Washington University before returning to Lincoln County, where he served as county clerk in the 1930s. Ernest married Janie Haldeman, who had come to Capitan to teach school. Their children, Jack, Roberta and Beverly, all live in the mountains east of Albuquerque today.

Seaborn Gray homestead south of Capitan, circa 1990. Some of the original buildings are in the photograph. Photograph courtesy of Barbara Jean Reily-Branum.

The 1900 U.S. census showed a combined population for the area of 670, probably with most coming from Coalora. Coal continued to be mined in the area with the nearest site known as the Magado Creek Mine, operated by the New Mexico Fuel Company from about 1898 to about 1907.⁹

In 1901, the Capitan Progress reported:

The unusually large number of prairie schooners that came to anchor in this port within the past few months show plainly which way the tide of immigration is flowing and no better evidence is needed to prove that Lincoln County and Capitan are largely forging rapidly to the front. The most of these people are men with small means who are looking for a place where they can secure land cheap and build houses. As a result the countryside is becoming dotted with farms and small ranches. It is the permanent settler who makes the country and furnishes the backbone for towns, hence the future for Capitan and Lincoln County grows brighter and brighter every day.¹⁰

COALORA

When coal was discovered here in 1884, the site was called Sierra Blanca Coal Field and then the Capitan Coal Field before it was named Coalora. In 1898, the Coalora coalmines were opened and by 1900 were producing two hundred thousand tons of coal a year with a monthly payroll of $10,000. Large coalfields were discovered in the Salado Flats, and the Akers mines were opened in 1899. Beginning in 1905, over six hundred thousand tons of coal were mined over the next decade. The coal was in two seams with the Akers Mines on the west and the Ayers Mines on the east. These mines were managed by the New Mexico Fuel Company, which ran three shifts.¹¹

In 1900, the El Paso and Northeastern Railroad built a spur line from Carrizozo to Coalora to supply coal for its expanding operations. By 1902, about two thousand people resided here, mainly five hundred coal miners from Pennsylvania. At one time, the company town had a railroad station, large company store, offices, the ever-present saloon, residences for the manager and technical men, shacks for the miners and their families, a hospital, a school, a post office (1903–1905) and a doctor’s office. The first boardinghouse was operated by Waverly Johnson and his wife.¹²

Because Coalora was a company town, it always had supplies but was constantly short of cash. Ethel Keathley remembers:

"We had much to thank the coal company for. They provided a payroll, also a good market for chicken eggs, dairy products and garden truck. I wrote a letter home that said ‘everything green except myself, was saleable.’ I’ve even seen small boys sell lambs quarter, an edible weed.

One drawback was that the Coalora boys were always short of ready cash—they never seemed to have a dime on them. They were eager to buy, but the stock question was: ‘Will you take script?’

It was the queerest medium of exchange I have ever seen. Just about everyone had some of it in their pockets and purses. I sewed a lot for miners’ women folks, but was always paid in script."¹³

In September 1900, the Southwestern Mercantile Company hosted a ball for the ladies of Capitan