We got on the road fairly early, about 9a. Heading south from Bernalillo, a suburb of Albuquerque, the terrain got drier and flatter, though mountains were off in the distance in nearly every direction. Albuquerque, or ABQ, has a light rail system which is really neat — wish we had one of those at home. We got off the highway at one point and spotted a route 66 marker.
Historic Route 66 marker
Shortly after Socorro, about an hour south of Albuquerque, we turned on to route 380. While beautiful, it was very desolate, though crossing the swollen Rio Grande was a bit of a surprise — I wonder how much longer the route would be passable. As we drove east along the northern border of White Sands Missile Range the scrub turned to desert with small cacti strewn about. Near the town of Carrizozo we saw terrain much like we saw in Idaho back in 2010 — a lava flow. The flow occurred about 5000 years ago and is thought to be the youngest flow in the United States. Valley of the Fires encompasses the 44 mile long, 4 to 6 mile wide, 160 foot deep flow. Unlike Idaho’s Craters of the Moon, however, this flow had loads of cool cacti growing all over the jagged asphalt-like rocks.
Scrub land in New Mexico
The Rio Grande, swollen from recent rains in northern New Mexico
Even the scrub gave way the further east we went
Beginning of the lava flow in Valley of Fires
After Carrizozo the road started a stead climb up into the hills and the vegetation became much more hospitable. We passed Capitan, the town that gave birth to the Smokey the Bear icon. Smokey was a bear cub that survived a fire near Capitan with only singed paws in the 1950s. He became a symbol for the dangers of forest fires, still in use today. The town had a museum about him and it seemed that every business referred to him (Smokey’s this, Smokey’s that…). We didn’t stop, however, as our destination of Lincoln wasn’t far off at all.
Once in Lincoln we immediately stopped at the Dolan House as we had read that they served a decent lunch. The house was built in the 1880s by James Dolan, of Lincoln County War fame. More on him in a little bit. We had a good lunch, Michelle and I the pulled pork sandwich, Genetta a frittata, and Addison beef tacos. We also had some dessert, myself the pecan pie with a little bit of vanilla ice cream. In addition to the restaurant they had a gift shop where we picked up some magnets. Hanging on the wall hung some artifacts excavated during remodeling including combs, bottles, and the like. The menu also had interesting information on James Dolan and the Lincoln County War.
Dolan House, Lincoln, New Mexico
I won’t go crazy describing the ins and outs of the war but instead distill it down. Basically Dolan and a guy named Murphy had most of the business of Lincoln sewed up, including valuable beef contracts with nearby Fort Stanton. An Englishman in his early 20s, Tunstall, came to New Mexico hoping to make his fortune. He found allies in McSween, a local lawyer that wanted somebody to challenge Murphy and Dolan’s stranglehold on the town, and Chisum, a rancher that wanted in on the beef contracts. Rather than try and compete honestly, Dolan and Murphy took the dirty route and murdered Tunstall and rustled his cattle, sparking the Lincoln County War.
McSween formed the Regulators, which included Billy the Kid in their number, to avenge the killing of his ally Tunstall. They killed a couple of Dolan’s men then on April 1st, 1878, murdered Sheriff Baker and a deputy in front of Tunstall’s store as they had a hand in killing Tunstall. In the fight Billy the Kid was shot and hid under the floorboards of a bedroom in the store. Finally, in July 1878 forces from Fort Stanton arrived and backed Murphy and Dolan (shocker, that) — setting fire to the McSween’s home where McSween and the Regulators had holed up. While Billy the Kid escaped, McSween tried to surrender but was killed.
The governor of New Mexico was replaced with Lew Wallace (who wrote Ben Hur about that time). It was decided that the lawlessness in New Mexico must stop if it was to ever become a state and that Billy the Kid was a liability. Billy was eventually captured and held in the Lincoln Courthouse. One day he shot and killed one of his guards, deputy Bell, and then cut down the other deputy, Robert Olinger, with a shotgun from a second story window as he was rushing to the Courthouse to see what happened. Billy supposedly cut the shackles that bound him with a pick axe and left Lincoln. New Sheriff Pat Garrett caught up with Billy about three months later and killed him. As a result of the war Dolan was bankrupted but, unlike Tunstall and McSween, he lived to see another day.
What is extraordinary is how much of the town is preserved as it was in the 1870s and 80s. Luckily for modern tourists, Lincoln declined very shortly after the Lincoln County War. The county seat moved to Carrizozo and it and Roswell ended up getting much of the growth in the area. Some of the buildings were in ruins (and still are), and some buildings like McSween’s home were never rebuilt, but it mostly looks like it did in the 1880s. After leaving the Dolan House we went to the Courthouse and saw an excellent video that summarized much of what I wrote above. We learned that Lincoln County is the largest county in the United States and is larger than Ireland! It is no wonder that there was so much lawlessness given that that entire area was policed by only a single sheriff.
Historical home in Lincoln, New Mexico
Lincoln County Courthouse where Billy the Kid was held
The Courthouse had some neat artifacts like guns and a bank vault. We saw the bullet hole supposedly left in the wall during Billy the Kid’s murder of deputy Bell as well as the place where Bell died. Upstairs we saw the shackles that Billy wore as well as the window from which he shot deputy Olinger. One of the rooms was also a Masonic Lodge and we learned about many of the symbols of Freemasonry. Fascinating.
Bullet hole supposedly left during Billy the Kid's exchange with Deputy Bell
Billy the Kid's shackles
Place where Deputy Bell died after leaving the courthouse
We went back out to the street and passed the hotel where Olinger emerged from to be gunned down by Billy the Kid. Next up was the empty plot that once contained McSween’s home (burned during the conflict) and the adjacent Tunstall’s store. The store was really neat, containing many items from when it was last in operation in the early 1900s. We saw buttons, violin strings, toys, ladies’ wear like silk gloves and corsets, ammunition, etc. Particularly neat was this chest-like thing that could sort out the exact amount of ammunition needed for a given caliber. Adjacent to the store’s main room was the bedroom where Billy supposedly hid and evaded capture after being wounded during his ambush of Sheriff Brady. Finally yet another room contained an antique fire engine, a wagon, and a postal service wagon.
Tunstall's store, Lincoln, New Mexico
Merchandise in Tunstall's store
Billy the Kid's hiding place in Tunstall's store
Fire wagon on display in Tunstall's store
Next we saw the oldest structure in Lincoln, the Torreon. It was a circular brick two-story tower meant to protect Spanish-Americans against the Apaches. During the Lincoln County War Dolan and Murphy stationed sharpshooters there. We then went into another museum where we learned about Apaches and a cave that was discovered to contain hundreds of artifacts in the 1960s not far from town. There were also exhibits on Buffalo Soldiers and Fort Stanton, as well as the Lincoln County War of course. We wrapped up our stay in Lincoln with a visit to the town’s church.
Torreon, oldest structure in Lincoln, protected settlers from Apaches
Slide-A-Scale on display at the museum
Church in Lincoln, New Mexico
Headed out on route 380 before hooking back to the west on route 70. About forty-five minutes later we emerged from the mountains and could see the white sands that are adjacent to our destination for the night, Alamogordo, in the distance. Arrived in Alamogordo about 6p. While the temperature in Lincoln had been a comfortable 80F or so it was nearly 100F in Alamogordo. The town doesn’t have much in the way of eats, we ended up setting for Johnny Carino’s Italian restaurant and had spaghetti and meatballs. Headed back to the room and watched TV and blogged.
Route for Monday, July 29th, 2013