The Nogal Mesa: A History of Kivas and Ranchers in Lincoln County

By Gary Cozzens

This book was a finalist for the New Mexico Book Co-Op History Book of the Year. Most people think of Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War when Lincoln County, New Mexico is mentioned. "Yet, the county has a rich history besides that chapter of lawlessness and violence. In writing this book I wanted to tell the story of the miners and forest rangers and the Civilian Conservation Corps and early settlers."The Jornada Mogollon culture was here over a thousand years ago but had left before Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world. "They have left pieces of their lifestyle in the form of pueblos and pottery. "A railroad was built in the basin below the Mesa, but the water there was full of alkaline and chemicals. "The Mesa had pristine mountain water and an engineering miracle was built in the form of a pipeline to get the water from the Mesa to the railroad. "A western religious revival in the form of the Ranchman's Camp continues this summer for the 71st year.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The History Press
• Release date: Sep 5, 2011
• ISBN: 9781625841018

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.

Book preview

Author

PREFACE

Named for the recently martyred president, the county of Lincoln was created by the New Mexico territorial legislature in 1869. Several years later, it was the largest county in the United States, stretching from the Texas border in the east and south to the Rio Grande in the west. Lincoln County has seen its share of colorful characters, the two most famous being Billy the Kid and Smokey Bear. It was the site of the Lincoln County War in the late 1870s.

Time has reduced the size of this county in south-central New Mexico, but fortune continues to favor it. The village of Carrizozo (2000 population 1,036; 2010 population 996) is the county seat. While not having the political clout it did when it wrestled the county seat from Lincoln in 1913, it has shown a recent resurgence, at least on a local basis. The population center in the county is the village of Ruidoso (2000 population 7,698; 2010 population 8,029), thirty-seven miles to the southeast of Carrizozo and solely a tourism mecca. It offers para-mutual horse racing at Ruidoso Downs and skiing during the winter at Ski Apache on nearby Sierra Blanca. On a good weekend, the population of the village doubles or nearly triples in size.

Located between these two villages is the Nogal Mesa, at an elevation of between 7,250 and 7,600 feet.¹ Traveling east from Carrizozo, you notice the Mesa, as it is called by locals, almost immediately between the 8,659-foot Tucson Peak on your left and 9,957-foot Nogal Peak on your right. The Mesa actually is a flat tabletop between the two mountaintops. The elevation ranges from 6,470 feet above sea level at the village of Nogal to 9,957 on Nogal Peak. Most of the area is forest; in fact, the Lincoln National Forest and Smokey Bear Ranger District occupy a large portion of this land.

While the true area occupied by the Nogal Mesa is subject to debate, within this book it encompasses the geography from Indian Divide in the north to Monjeau in the south and from Nogal Peak in the west to the settlement of Angus in the east. The village of Nogal will be included, although it sits at the base of the Mesa, as will much of the Nogal Mining District.

This area has a history-rich past though, for the most part, a far more peaceful kind than much of the remainder of the county. It is the site of an engineering miracle built in the form of a pipeline for the El Paso and Northeastern Railroad² in the last century. It is the site of a weeklong western religious revival held every year during the third week of July. It is the location of a large mining area that still sees gold found in them thar hills and was the site of a bloody murder about 125 years ago that still not has been explained today. It supported the Lincoln phase of the Jornada Mogollon culture, which disappeared before Columbus discovered the New World. More recently, it was part of the homeland of the Mescalero Apache tribe. It is the site of ranching, farming and fruit production mostly in the form of apples. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made improvements to the area during the Great Depression, and Texas Tech University held a summer geology camp here studying the rock formations and their effects on water.

This book, like any other, has evolved over time and was the work of many people. First and foremost was my paternal grandfather, Seymour McKinley Cozzens. Primo, as he was affectionately known locally, lived on the Mesa on two separate occasions and first interested me in the history of the area. To his memory this book is dedicated.

Following him are my parents, L.C. and Mary Lou Cozzens. Dad lived on the family homestead on the Mesa when he was growing up. Their love and support cannot be measured. My uncle, H.R. (Bob) Parsons, shared his knowledge of New Mexico history, and his son, Dr. Bob Parsons, shared his knowledge of mining in the area with me.

LaMoyne and Opal Jones Peters are both natives from the area and are from pioneering families. Both shared their memories and their extensive collection of historic photographs. In addition to that, they are longtime family friends. Paul Jones, Opal’s brother, also shared his knowledge of the region and the ranger station.

Bill and Beverly Thorp live on the Mesa and have a panoramic view of the Tularosa Basin below. He moved here from Roswell, where he was a biology professor at Eastern New Mexico University–Roswell, and probably knows as much of the history of the area as anyone. To find Bill and Beverly, you go south on Highway 37 from Nogal until you see the turquoise windmill.

Dick Cox, another native from pioneering families, shared memories and photographs. Retired from the U.S. Forest Service, Dick and his son, David, are now local ranchers on the Mesa. Mary Guck Crenshaw, the daughter of a Nogal Mesa forest ranger, provided information on the Nogal Mesa Ranger Station and period photographs.

The support of the Lincoln County Historical Society and many of its individual members is gratefully acknowledged. Among those members are longtime president Herb Marsh, archivists Karen Mills and Cindy Martinez, photo experts Alden Ritch and Richard T. Bryan and historian Dr. Earl Pittman. Hollis Fuchs shared his extensive knowledge of the region and helped to identify sites in old photographs. Other board members Jay Smith, Sadie Mann, Marilyn Burchett, Ray Dean, Gwen Rogers Barella and Jotyene Wright provided support and encouragement.

U.S. Forest Service archaeologists Diane Prather and Eric Dillingham provided much information on the forest service history, Mogollon culture and the Nogal Mesa Ranger Station, as well as the Monjeau lookout. Ranger Chad Stewart of the Smokey Bear Ranger District was instrumental in supporting this and other efforts. Additionally, I was allowed access to the Lincoln National Forest files, which proved very helpful, especially with information on the Nogal Mesa Ranger Station, the Parsons Mine and information on the Jornada Mogollon.

Phil Shelley and Phil Young provided advice and encouragement, as well as their archaeological expertise, for this book. Phil Young made available files not normally accessible. Dorothy Victor of the New Mexico Historical Preservation Division was also a great help.

Pat Garrett and her staff at the Capitan Public Library were able to obtain many of the works referenced in this book through interlibrary loan.

Wally Ferguson provided many of the old pictures used in this book from his family collection, while Ronda Burrows and Martha Proctor provided information on pioneering families. Janelle Skinner Foster freely provided information and photographs.

Elvis Fleming of the Southeast New Mexico Historical Society and Dean Wilkey of the Rio Grande Historical Collection at New Mexico State University Library and Archives provided period photographs included in this book.

Last but not least, I treasure my long-suffering wife, Shirley Crawford, who has traveled all over the area with me and read drafts for this and other projects—many times after a long day at Capitan Schools, where she is the superintendent of schools. Our daughter, Kristi Jo, and granddaughter, Ridley, are special, too.

Chapter 1

A TOUR OF THE NOGAL MESA

The Nogal Mesa is located on the eastern side of the Sacramento Mountains in south-central New Mexico. Sierra Blanca, which rises 12,003 feet above sea level, dominates the area. This side of the mountains gently slopes to the Pecos River in the east. To the west, Nogal Peak rises to 9,957 feet above sea level. Farther north, the elevation of Church Mountain is 8,802 feet above sea level. Southeast of those peaks are Loma Grande and Monjeau. The major watersheds in the area are the Rio Bonito and Magado Creek, both of which flow into the Pecos River by way of the Hondo River.

On the northern edge of the Nogal Mesa is Indian Divide, the highest point between Carrizozo and Capitan on U.S. Highway 380. At an elevation of 6,940 feet, it rises above the Tularosa Basin before dropping off to 6,350 feet at Capitan.

While rich in history, the area of the Nogal Mesa (including the villages of Nogal and Bonito) was not settled until the 1870s, and then only by gold miners. Many of those gold miners were soldiers being discharged from Fort Stanton who had come to New Mexico during the Civil War. Another source of settlers was Texas, especially after word of the gold discovery spread into the Lone Star State. Women started coming to the area in the late 1870s.

Traveling south on New Mexico Highway 37, you reach the village of Nogal. Nogal is located twelve miles southeast of Carrizozo at the mouth of Nogal Canyon. Nogal was first founded as Dry Gulch when gold was discovered in 1879 and then was next called Galena for the period 1880–82 for native lead sulfide also discovered here. The settlement was later renamed Nogal, which means walnut in Spanish. The first twentieth-century census, taken in 1900, showed its population as 165. The village has had a post office from 1882 to the present day. Three known newspapers have been printed here: the Republican Banner, the Nogal Nugget and the Nogal Republican. The origin of the Nogal School is unknown, but during the late 1940s, the school taught grades first through sixth. The first-grade students sat in a row on the west side of the school room, the second grade sat next to them, the third grade next to them and so on until the row of sixth-grade students on the east side of the room. The school was closed in 1951, but the building is still used today as the community church. There is a cemetery located two miles north of the village here where many of the earlier settlers are buried.

A map of the Nogal Mesa area, showing mountains, streams, roads, villages, mines, schools, churches and cultural areas. Map by Jan Underwood, Information Illustrated.

Sierra Blanca, looking west from the Nogal Mesa, circa 1910. Courtesy of the Ferguson family.

Nogal Mesa, looking east from the village of Nogal, circa 1910. Courtesy of the Ferguson family.

As you look to your right in Nogal, you will see Church Mountain, an 8,802-foot mountain located three miles west of Nogal and named for J.P. Church. When climbing the mountain in 1882, Church left his name carved on a wooden plank on top of the mountain. By 1884, maps identified the mountain as Church Mountain.

Also located to the west is Dry Gulch, where the American and Helen Rae Mines are located. The American Mine was the first gold mine in the area, discovered by William Billy Gill.

Nogal Peak is a 9,957-foot peak rising on the northwest side of the Sacramento Mountains to the west of Nogal Mesa. Towering above the nearby settlement of Nogal, for which it was named, it was the scene of much gold mining in the late 1880s.

Nogal Canyon runs to the southwest from the edge of Nogal. It is the site of mines and many homesteads before it rises to the backside of Loma Grande and crests. There it meets Tanbark Canyon, where it drops down the other side of Loma Grande to the site of the Parsons Mine and Rio Bonito.

Like Nogal Canyon and Dry Gulch, Tortolita Canyon runs northeast–southwest at the foot of Church Mountain and Nogal Peak. Some of the first settlers there were members of the Aguayo family.

Continuing south on New Mexico Highway 37 from Nogal, you will climb Nogal Hill for a distance of about two miles. When you top out on the Mesa, a road to the left leads to Nogal Lake, now dry, a natural basin that was enlarged by the railroad as a holding reservoir for its steam engines. Water was then piped from Nogal Lake to Carrizozo and points beyond. There was a water purification plant, a caretaker’s house and garage located at Nogal Lake.

Also on your left and on top of the Mesa is the Ranchman’s Camp, the site of interdenominational religious services, held continuously since 1940. The campground is located on the western edge of the Nogal Mesa between Indian Divide and Nogal Lake. The multiple-day services are held annually during the third week of July.