the outlaw, fire bear, lava field roundup

yesterday i headed north out of alamogordo, aiming for a few small towns. first i went to lincoln, nm, a town that was just as wild as deadwood back in the day. like deadwood, the town has been well-restored; unlike deadwood, it was not really touristy, just historic. i started off in the visitor's center, of course, which doubles as a small museum. from there i headed into the wortley hotel in the middle of town to get some lunch. since i had been veggie-deprived, i splurged and got a delicious southwest garden salad, complete with green chile, pecans, and cilantro-lime dressing. yum. oh, and that is the san juan-baptiste mission in lincoln at the top of this post.

the town and county of lincoln are most famous for being the adopted home of billy the kid; like so many outlaws, he was actually an easterner. anyway, the story of lincoln goes something like this. before 1876, there was one store in town, founded by murphy and dolan, and they gouged out their customers good. this building was their storehouse, as well as the courthouse and make-shift jail at this time. then in 1876, an englishman named tunstall decided to establish a rival store. he hired billy the kid, who he also became friends with. as time went on, both factions organized supporters--everyone from business men to criminals. the murphy-dolan faction had the sheriff and the jesse evans gang, while tunstall had his own gang called the lincoln county regulators, as well as a constable. for a few months in 1878, havoc reigned in lincoln, beginning with the killing of tunstall. there were probably about 22 people killed, and several more wounded. you were liable to be shot in the streets just for supporting the wrong side.

one of those killed was sheriff brady, who billy the kid was accused of killing. by this time, billy's factions was losing, and he and his gang were on the run. when the opposing side tracked him down, finally, he had a $500 bounty on his head. whether he actually killed brady or not, he was convicted of murder and scheduled to hang. then, two weeks before he was set to be executed, he broke out of his 'prison,' (remember, this was actually just an upper room in the general store), killing the two deputies in the progress. traditionally, this hole in the wall, opposite from the stairs, was left by a bullet he fired. a few months later he was tracked down again near fort sumner, a few hours to the north, and shot. thus goes the story of billy the kid in lincoln.from lincoln i headed to capitan, about 12 miles away. now, there is only one reason to go to this tiny town, and that is to see the smokey the bear national museum. while many of the displays were about fire prevention, firefighters, etc., the portions about the history of smokey the bear were fascinating. fire prevention programs in earnest date back to wwii, when there was a scary uncle sam telling you that it's 'your forest--your fault' if it burns. from there, a series of smaller forest animals were put on posters, including bambi for a brief time around its release in 1942. then in 1944, the forest service decided that they needed an animal that looked like it could actually take care of a fire, like a bear?, to be its spokesperson, and smokey the bear was born. he was immediately popular, appearing on posters, radio, and eventually television. of course, now is slogans are very well know, and pretty much all americans will recognize him.

BUT, did you know that there was an actual smokey the bear? in 1950, after a terrible fire in the lincoln national forest here in new mexico, some people found a little bear cub up a tree with badly burned paws. eventually he made his way to the forest service and from there to washington, dc, where he became the live symbol of the forest service's message. in 1975 at the age of 25 (that's 70 in human years, mandatory retirement age at the time for the forest service), smokey retired, and a year later he died. soon after they found another abandoned black bear cub in the lincoln forest, who became the next smokey. that's the original's grave up above.

from capitan i headed a little further west, a few miles out of carrizozo, to the malpais valley of fires recreation area. this is a valley of hardened lava about 5000 years old, one of the newest in the continental u.s. they have two types of lava here, in a couple of different colors, and a great walk with explains the lava, as well as the plants and animals that live there. while it was quite hot, it was a neat walk, and i learned a lot. i won't bore you with all of that though--i think i've given you enough of a history lesson today. it was really cool to see this lava field in the middle of new mexico, and i though it was ironic that it was so close to the smokey the bear site. today i am finally leaving alamogordo, heading east.