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Happy 100th Birthday, New Mexico! TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2012 • w w w . R u i d o s o f R e e P R e s s . C o M • VOL. 4, NO. 1
A property of
Lincoln County at statehood
Photo courtesy of April Simpson
Winter in New Mexico – processing the harvest
What’s
happening January 4
Lincoln & Otero County Healthy Life Initiative
Community gardens strengthen community bonds by providing healthy, locally-grown produce for families, creating educational and recreational opportunities, and promoting environmental awareness. Lincoln National Forest Offi ce (Hot Shot Building), 901 Mechem Dr. (575) 336-1933. Free meeting.
January 6-7
1912 Governor McDonald Centennial Reflective
The Lincoln County Historical Society is having a program on Saturday, Jan. 7 at the old Courthouse in Lincoln at 2 p.m. Stephen Spencer, the great grandson of Governor William C. McDonald, the fi rst statehood Governor of New Mexico will be giving a talk on Governor McDonald.
New Mexico Centennial Celebration
On Fri., Jan. 6, New Mexico birthday cake plus punch and coff ee will be served at the Inn of the Mountain Gods and Casino Apache Travel Center beginning at 6 p.m. On Sat., Jan. 7 there will be entertainment in the hotel lobby beginning at 2 p.m. with Apache War Dancers performing, Fiesta Dancers at 4 p.m. and a featured country/western band at 6 p.m. Miss Mescalero and Smokey Bear will be on hand for the festivities.
It’s basketball season
Come out and support the sports at our area schools this month with dozens of girls and boys games scheduled for Ruidoso, Capitan, Hondo and Mescalero including the Smokey Bear Tournament in Capitan this weekend. Check the front page of the sports section for times.
MORE listings MORE articles MORE photos MORE sports Find MORE at www.RuidosofreePress.com
Special thanks to Gary Cozzens President, Lincoln County Historical Society Lincoln County has a rich heritage spread amongst different cultures. At the time New Mexico became a state on January 6, 1912 the county was comprised of a myriad of communities and there was no one solid theme in its participation in the statehood process. Presented here is a snapshot of the county when statehood was obtained. The village of Lincoln was the county seat in 1912 and had been since Lincoln County was established in 1869. Since its zenith in the 1870s and 80s during the Lincoln County War, the village had become less significant, and in fact, was beginning a fight to retain the county seat that it would eventually lose. Lincoln’s population continued to decline and in July 1909 the County Commission received a petition to move the County Seat to Carrizozo. Another little known fact is that the railroad bought up water rights along the Rio Bonito, which in effect ended farming in the Bonito River Valley. An election was held on August 17th and the vote was 899 to 614 to move the seat to Carrizozo. Thus began the last Lincoln County War. The citizens of Lincoln filed suit to prevent the move, but in the meantime bonds were sold to construct a new courthouse in Carrizozo. Represented by the political icon Thomas B. Catron, the Lincoln contingent lost every legal battle. The District Court was already being held in Carrizozo and the clerk and treasurer agreed to move, but were prevented doing so by a mob of over 40 people in Lincoln. The fight eventually went to the U. S. Supreme Court, which affirmed the move to Carrizozo which was finally
made in August 1913. Coal was discovered about a mile northwest of present day Capitan and the mining town of Coalora sprang up in 1900. By 1905 Coalora was closed and most of the miners and buildings were moved to Dawson in the northeast corner of the state. More importantly, the railroad spur to Carrizozo was kept open and used as a vehicle to support commerce in the area until 1944. Capitan was established in 1900 near the settlement of Gray, which was founded by Seaborn T. Gray. By 1912 Capitan had a population of over 1,000; a large settlement in New Mexico in those days. In 1905 George A. Titsworth moved to town and became a partner in the Welch Store. By 1912 Titsworth bought out Welch and was on the way to establishing an economic empire in the county that would last for another 30 years. Just to the west of Capitan was the newly established village of Carrizozo. When Charles Eddy built the El Paso and Northeastern Railroad in 1899, he needed a terminus to serve the trains in this vicinity. The citizens of White Oaks were certain the railroad would be brought through their village, but were unable to reach an agreement with Eddy over the price of the land. As a result, Eddy built the town of Carrizozo and ran a spur line to Coalora to the east for coal. The other significant occurrence during the
transition to statehood was the moving of the county seat to Carrizozo from Lincoln. The town of White Oaks was established in 1879 in response to the gold being mined there. After losing the railroad to Carrizozo the village continued to decline and by statehood was a virtual ghost town. In the northern part of the county Corona was founded in 1900 to support the railroad and by statehood was a thriving railroad community. Jicarilla was an active mining town in 1912 and Ancho was located on the railroad and supported a brick factory of national renown. It was Ancho bricks that rebuilt San Francisco after the earthquake in 1906. The Nogal Mining district had seen a mining boom in the late 1800s but by 1912 most of the mines had either closed or were producing very little ore. Bonito City was slowing withering away but the Bonito Pipeline carrying water from Bonito Creek to the railroad at Carrizozo had been installed in 1906. To lay the pipeline a path had to be cut through solid rock in places, which was an engineering feat. Several miles north of Bonito was the mining town of Nogal, which was also slowly losing its population as the mines closed. Hispanics, mostly from the Manzano area, were the first settlers in Lincoln County about 1855. They settled along the Bonito River and along the Ruidoso River and down past where the two rivers met to form the Hondo River in the Hondo Valley. The San Patricio area was a thriving community as were Glencoe and Hondo. By the time of statehood they were well established with many families who had been in the area for several generations. Ironically, one of the smallest settlesee sTATeHood, pg. 5
Lincoln County’s Wm. C. McDonald becomes New Mexico’s 1st governor By Lynda A. Sanchez Despite the wild and wooly reputation held by Lincoln County as part of New Mexico Territory – the Apache Wars, the Lincoln County War, Billy the Kid – the county stepped up to the plate in 1912 by providing New Mexico with its first governor. William Calhoun McDonald was elected as the state’s first governor that year and served until 1916. This was no doubt a grand moment for the county and for the newly admitted 47th state of the union. McDonald was originally a New Yorker who made his way west as so many young men did to Kansas. There he practiced law, yet his desire for adventure lured him further west until he made it to Lincoln County. Arriving in the raucous town of Photo courtesy of Gary Cozzens, Lincoln Co. Historical Society White Oaks in 1880, he worked as a New Mexico’s first governor, William McU.S. deputy mineral surveyor for a Donald and Almer Blazer meeting with Mescalero Apaches near Ruidoso in 1912. decade and then became manger of
the Carrizozo Cattle Company. Eventually he took over control of the ranch and also worked as county assessor from 1885-87. Politics was in the mill too as he became active in the Democratic Party, rising quickly through the party’s ranks. He was later elected as a member of the territorial House of Representatives in 1891. Today, one can visit his grave in White Oaks and wonder at the unique history he lived through during that turbulent time. Members of the family still reside in Lincoln County today. Sterling Spencer, a former county commissioner and current probate judge, has many stories about his grandfather and father as they struggled to create a ranching empire in that part of the county. Another prominent historical character also keeps the governor company and that is Susan McSween Barber, cattle queen of New Mexico. She was the widow of Alexander McSween, who was murdered during the infamous five-day battle in Lincoln during the Lincoln County War in 1878.
Carrizozo Mayor suddenly resigns; Voss takes helm By Patrick Rodriguez Reporter patrick@ruidosofreepress.com Carrizozo Mayor Dennis Vega resigned Wednesday morning, according to Town Clerk Leann Weihbrecht. Weihbrecht said that Vega stepped down for personal reasons. “He has not told us what those reasons are, he just resigned for personal reasons,” she said Thursday morning. Mayor Pro Tem Dusty Voss will assume the mayoral duties until a new mayor is named at a special meeting Jan. 11. This is the second time this year that the town has experienced the resignation of a mayor. Mike Petty stepped down in June, citing fatigue as the reason. He beat three-
time incumbent Mayor Manny Hernandez in the 2010 municipal elections. Vega was sworn in as mayor June 6. During an interview at the time he stressed that the town’s police department needed to hire a new chief and a couple more officers. Since then, the police department has installed a chief and three officers. Vega was recently the victim of home break-in. Douglas A. Whittaker, 51, was arrested on Nov. 17 after allegedly firing four shots from his vehicle at Vega’s residence, then returning to break into the house, according to a police report. Voss will appoint someone to replace Vega and then the town council will need to approve the selection. Voss has already eliminated the idea of choosing himself, H RANC
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which is what Vega had done following Petty’s resignation. “I do have somebody in mind, but I am not going to make that public yet,” Voss said Thursday afternoon. “But it will be someone who has previous experience, that’s been on the council or has served in some capacity for the town for sure, so we don’t start from scratch all over again.” Voss said that day-to-day operations in the town will not be affected. “Nothing will change that was set forth by Mr. Vega,” Voss said, referring to a meeting earlier in the day with the town’s department heads. “He did a wonderful job with these people, there are things getting done, and I told all of them that his rules apply today and they will tomorrow, too.”
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