LINCOLN COUNTY, NEW MEXICO

County and City History

LINCOLN COUNTY Area, 4, 659 square miles; population 7,500; assessed valuation in 1905, $1,044,535.  It is bounded on the north by Valencia, Torrance, and Guadalupe, on the east by Chaves, on the south by Chaves and Otero, and on the west by Otero and Socorro counties.  It is one of the oldes counties, and out of its original area have been cut all teh other southeastern counties.  Its post-offices are Alto, Analla, Ancho, Arabela, Angus, Bonito, Capitan, Carrizozo, Corona, Fort Stanton, Glencoe, Hondo, Jicarilla, Lincoln, Meek, Nogal, Oscuro, Parsons, Picacho, Richardson, Ruidoso, San Patricio, and Whiteoaks.  Comprising an area larger than that of the State of Connecticut, Lincoln County on July 1, 1905, still had 1,955,260 acres subject to entry under the United States land laws, 88,687 acres being unsurveyed.  It lies within the drainage area of the Pecos River, although only the head-waters of several of its tributaries are within its lines.  The Rio Hondo, one of its tributaries is the largest stream and has as its tributaries streams of clear, cool water known as the Bonito, Eagle, the Little Eagle, and Ruidoso creeks.  The headwaters of the Rio Felix and the Rio Salado are also in the county.  Nogal Creek and a number of independent water courses on the west side of the White Mountains, often dry during severl months in the year, flow toward the Rio Grande, but their waters are lost in the the sands before reaching that river.  Storage reserviors, to supplement the present primitive irrigation systems, would increase the cultivated area to 100,000 acres, but until new sources of water supply are discovered the greater part of the county will be given up to stock ranges and mining operations. The principal mountain ranges are teh Sierra Blanca, rising to an elevation of 11,900 feet; the Capitan, which in Capitan Peak rises to 10,023 feet; the Gallinas, culminating in Gallinas Peak, 9,798 feet; Carizo, 9,390 feet; the Jicarillas, the Tecolotes, and the Tres Cerros mountains.  Climate and soil are very suitable for the raising of fruit and grain.  The orchards on the Bonito, the Ruidoso, and other streams produce as fine fruit as can be raised in the United States.  Good crops of oats, wheat, and barley are raised withouth irrigation on some of the mesas south of Nogal.  Even alfalfa is thus grown.  Wheat yields 30 bushels to the acre; cabbage, 30,000 pounds; beans 4,000 pounds; apples and pears, 25,000 pounds, and grapes, 9,000 pounds to the acre.  There are in the county 200,000 sheep, 85,000 cattle, 1,000 goats, and 3,000 horses.  Naturally, it is a fine stock country.  It is rich in coal as well as in the precious and base metals.  The coal production of the Capitan mines, lately closed down, has been as high as 100,000 tons a year.  Producing coal mines are also located at Whiteoaks.  There are extensive undeveloped coal fields and iron-ore deposits, which presage future industrial prominence.  Fine timber covers the mountain sides, and the Lincoln Forest Reserve, covering 500,000 acres, is situated in Lincoln County.  There are two sawmills, one flour mill, and a number of reduction and cement works.  At Fort Stanton the United States Marine-Hospital Service maintains a sanitarium for consumptives, thus giving convincing official testimony to the superiority of the climate of that part of New Mexico.  The Fort Stanton Reservation has an area of 28,221 acres.  Part of the Mescalero Indian Reservation having an area of 449,280 acres, is in the county.  In the White Mountain mining district the Sierra Blanca lode was located as early as 1868, its principal values being gold.  Placer prospecting is carried on in this district.  The Nogal district has been a producer and lies on the slopes of the Nogal Peak, 9,983 feet high. The American mine has produced $85,000 in gold; the Rockford, $8,000; the Helen Rae, more than $15,000.  Another good property is the Ibex.  In the Bonito district is included the mining district of Parsons.  The Parsons mine has been a big producer of gold.  Other properties are the Etta, Bismark No. 1 and No. 2, Lady Francis, Jennie Lind, George Washington, and the Crow and Raven groups.  A few miles southeast of the Bonito district ar the Eagle Creek and Rio Ruidoso districts.  Copper and silver predominate, but gold and lead ores are also found.  The principal prospects are the Modoc, Chance, Return, Comanche, and Virginia.  The White Oaks district is known for beyond the bounds of New Mexico.  The North Homestake is the oldest mine and has produced $400,000 in gold.  The  Old Abe is the deepest mine in New Mexico, over 1,300 feet, and has produced $900,000 in gold.  Other important properties are the Little Mack, which has produced $50,000; the South Homestake, which has produced $600,000; the Lady Godiva, the Boston Boy, the Compromise, the Rita, Henry Clay, Little Homestake, Comstock, Rip Van Winkle, Bristol, Thunderer, and Little Nell.  The district has five mills and has produced almost $3,000,000 in gold.  On Patos Peak, near Whiteoaks, is a coal mine that has been supplying the local demand.  Other coal and extensive iron deposits have been located in the district.  Fine building stone is found near the camp.  The Jicarilla district has both lode and placer properties.  Its elevation is 7,475 feet. On Jack Mountain in this district is an extensive iron deposit.  Placer mining was conducted as early as 1850 in this district, and the American Placer Company has installed a dredge, which is idle at present.  W. A. McIvers is erecting a mill in the district for the treatment of ores.  The principal claims are the Iron King, Geneva, Mountain Boy, Comery, Ready Relief, Admiral Dewey, Belmont, Good Luck, Belle of Memphis, Belle of New Mexico, Summit, Old Comrade, Little Giant, Eureka, Zulu, Richmond, Central, Revenue, Exit, Annex, Prince Albert, Dark Cloud, Queen Victoria, Jicarilla, Placer, Knickerbocker, Democrat, Cleveland, Hawkeye, Juana Gulch, January, and Jane Anderson.  The Red Cloud district is located in the Gallinas Mountains.  The principal locations are the Red Cloud, Tenderfoot, Deadwood, Old Hickory, Hoosier, Sunbeam, Buckhorse, and Last Call.  Copper and lead are the principal ores, while large iron deposits are found, especially on the Harris group.  At Ancho are prosperous cement works.

Lincoln (Town) The county seat is Lincoln, a quaint old town with court-house, school building, and a number of stores.  The population of the precinct is 1,200.  Rich farming land surrounds the settlement, which is on the Rio Hondo, and is 12 miles from Capitan, the nearest railroad point.

Capitan Fort Stanton, with its marine hospital for consumptives, is midway between Lincoln and Capitan.  This town nestles in a spot surrounded on every side by rugged hills, which rise on one side into the majestic Capitans and terminate on the other in the snow-capped Sierra Blanca, the Pikes Peak of New Mexico.  These rugged hills, rising in broken line to meet the blue arch of heaven, furnish everchanging scenery for the eye, as every glance reveals some new beauty to them.  The ethereal blueness of the sky and the verdant hills in summer or the brown and somber of winter form a contrast of colors more beautiful than Sierra Blanca, the Pikes Peak of New Mexico.  These rugged hills, rising in broken line to meet the blue arch of heaven, furnish everchanging scenery for the eye, as every glance reveals some new beauty to them.  The ethereal blueness of the sky and the verdant hills in summer or the brown and somber of winter form a contrast of colors more beautiful than every portrayed on canvas.  The census of 1900 gave the precinct in which Capitan is located a population of 670.  To-day Capitan and North Capitan, or Coalora, which has been founded since the census year, the latter being the coal-mining town, have a population of almost 1,000.  It is the location of the New Mexico Fuel Company's coal mines, where several hundred men were employed and which had a pay roll of nearly $10,000 a month, but which closed down in the summer of 1904.  The fertile surrounding valleys produce crops of fruit, grain, and vegetables; the range keeps thousands of head of cattle sleek and fat the year round, while the mountains contain riches of gold, silver, lead, copper, and iron.  Capitan is situated practically in the geographical center of Lincoln County, and can be reached by a direct rout from all parts of the county.  Being thus favorably located, it is the supply point for the surrounding country, the headquarters for mining companies operating in that section, and the trading point for farmers and stockmen.  It is also a railroad point, being the terminus of the Capitan branch of the El Paso and Southwestern Railway, and freighting point for a large territory.  Wagon after wagon loaded with hay, grain, wool, hides, etc., may be seen coming into the town daily, which return loaded with supplies for For (Fort?) Stanton, Lincoln, Bonito, Ruidoso, Picacho, Hondo, and other points.  Capitan has a $12,000 brick public school building.  It has several churches and a weekly newspaper, The Capitan News.

White Oaks This is the best-known town of Lincoln County, with a population, according to the census, of 804.  It was located in 1880, and its fame rests upon its gold mines, principally the Old Abe and North and South Homestake.  It is 6 miles from the El Paso and Southwestern Railway and 12 miles from Carrizozo, on the same railroad, from whence a stage coach runs to the town once a day.  It has three churches and a $3,000 schoolhouse, with good public schools.  The elevation is 6,400 feet above the sea level.  There are two hotels and a planing mill.  Good water is secured from near-by springs.  It is located in a beautiful valley, or natural amphitheater, in the White Oaks Range of mountains, surrounded on all sides by high peaks covered with evergreen pine, cedar, and juniper.  While several large cattle, sheep, and goat ranches are located in its immediate vicinity, from which it derives an extensive and profitable trade, the principal sources of the town's business, those which induced its establishment at this point, are mining operations.  Something more than twenty-two years ago quartz veins carrying visible gold in large quantities were discovered in what are now known as the North and South Homestake mines, and out of these discoveries and the "boom" created thereby grew the necessity for a trade center, and Whiteoaks was the result.  It is inhabited by an enterprising class of citizens, who believe in good schools, churches, and respectable society.  One weekly newspaper, The Outlook, is published here.  The business houses would be creditable anywhere to a town of 1,000 or 2,000 people.  No place can boast of a better climate.  [Source:  Governor of New Mexico to the Secretary of Interior 1904 - Washington Government Printing Office-Transcribed by C. Anthony]

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