The next three days were pretty relaxing. We enjoyed a nice lunch downtown, spent some time at the casino, did a little shopping and pretty much just enjoyed each other’s company. While we were downtown we did make a stop at Ruidoso’s oldest building. It was around this building that the town grew up around. The Old Mill is 144 years old and has served many purposes including a grist mill, saw mill, bean thrasher, blacksmith shop, general store and as rumor has it, at one time a source of moonshine.
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Old Mill
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In the mid to late 1800’s it also served as the perfect backdrop for dinner parties and dances, with such notable guests as the infamous outlaw “Billy the Kid”. It was here that Billy was hid from a pursuing posse by hiding him in a flour barrel. It is unbelievable how often you see his name being used, not only in Ruidoso but most of the other towns in the area. It seems that he partied at all of them. It is pretty amazing considering he was only in the area for three years before his death. This is a classic case of being worth more dead than alive. I also wonder how Ruidoso and the surrounding towns would be today if Billy the Kid had not ventured into them. Hmmmmmmmm.
On Wednesday we make the short drive back to Capitan, this is where we ended up the other day when we did the Billy the Kid Scenic Byway. Capitan is home to the annual chain saw carving completion and you see a good many carvings around the town and surrounding area.
Capitan is also home to the “Smokey the Bear Museum”. It was a short way from here in the Capitan
Mountains that Smokey the Bear was found as a cub badly burned from a forest
fire. Originally he as called Hot Foot
Freddy but his name was changed to Smokey and the legend began to grow. The "Smokey the Bear” campaign actually
started in 1944 because forest fires were destroying much needed timber. However, campaign didn’t really take hold
until Smokey was burn in 1950. Smokey became so popular and received so many
letters that he was assigned his own zip code.
Smokey lived in a Zoo in Washington, DC until his death at
the ripe old age of 26. This would
equate to approximately 80 human years.
Upon his death his body was flown back to Capitan where it is buried in
a grave behind the Museum.
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| Grave Site of Smokey Bear |
Once we finished at the Museum we headed towards the Valley
of Fire Recreation Area and during the drive we were able to experience some
pretty nice scenery.
The Valley of Fire Recreation Area is actually a long line
of Lava that is 1500 – 2000 years old. This would quite possible be the
youngest lava flow in the continental USA.
The Lava did not occur from an eruption but actually from vents in the
earth’s crust. The lava flowed out of
these vents at a speed of 5 cubic meters per second for over 30 years. As a result the lava field covers 125 square miles,
is 44 miles long and is 160 feet deep at the centre.
There was quite a bit of vegetation growing over the lava but not what I would have expected from 1500 to 2000 years. One of the oldest Pinion Trees would be about 400 years old.
We thoroughly enjoyed our time in the lava fields but were
hoping to see some of the animals that live on the lava. Mainly in the little islands of green that
have developed over the years. The lava
fields hosts Mule Deer, Bobcats, Coyotes and a variety of small animals
including a large number of bats.
It was probably too hot for them (97 degrees) so we decided
to move on. Our next stop was the old
mining town of White Oaks. White Oaks
came into being when gold and silver was discovered in 1979. White Oaks’ gold
mines were the deepest, dry, free-milling mines in the US. They were also the purest, with 90% gold and
10% silver alloy.
At its height, the town had as many as 2,500 residents, a
hotel, four churches, a bank, clothing and general merchandise stores, a drama club,
a newspaper, and a brick schoolhouse. The
school house is still standing. The town
today has about 50 residents.
When we arrived at White Oaks it was not what I
expected. I am not sure what I expected
but definitely more that we could see.
As a result we didn’t stay very long.
Just long enough to take a few pictures.
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| School House |
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| Dry Goods Store |
We would have stay longer as we tried to have a drink in the
only bar in town. Unbelievable but they
wouldn’t let us in. I think they would
have let Kathy in but I was the drawback.
So we headed back to the RV Park via Hwy 37 which was the sight of the Little Bear Fire last year. It was sad to see the devastation of both the forest and houses that were destroyed.
We made it home in one piece and in spite of viewing the
devastation as a result of the forest fires, it was still a great day.
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