Capitán (2)

Capitán (2) is a New Mexico historical marker in Lincoln County.

US 380 -- Lincoln · location approximate

Directions to the area ↗Start a road trip Historical trails

In 1950, a little bear cub, his feet badly burned, was rescued from a forest fire near here. The cub was nursed back to health and flown to Washington, D.C. to become the living symbol of "Smokey Bear”" in the U.S. Forest Service’s fire prevention program. Many incidents in the Lincoln County War, 1876-79, occurred in the area around Capitán. The promoters Charles B. Eddy and John A. Eddy platted the townsite in 1900, after building a spur of the El Paso & Northeastern Railroad from Carrizozo in order to open the Salado coal fields. The mines were abandoned in 1901.

The Historic Preservation Division notes that its marker spreadsheet may be out of date and in places inaccurate, and that it does not know where every marker now stands. These pages carry the spreadsheet’s record; a marker listed here may have moved or may no longer stand. the program’s page ↗

TodayHistorical map

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David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1876 · Territory of New Mexico (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1882 · Territory Of New Mexico. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1883 · New Mexico. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1889 · New Mexico. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1916 · New Mexico (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Territory of New Mexico, 1876, covering the location of Capitán (2), with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Territory of New Mexico, 1876, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours and the location is approximate.

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What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

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The marker isn't at this spotOur pin may be off. If you know where it stands, tell us.I couldn't find the markerWe record what the source recorded. We have not been to look.The sign reads differentlyThat would be an error, and we can pass it to the program.The historical map looks wrongThe period map behind the pin, not the marker itself.Something else

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Marker data: Official Scenic Historic Markers program, New Mexico Historic Preservation Division, Department of Cultural AffairsMarker texts come from the Division’s published marker spreadsheet, reproduced with the Division’s written permission. Where that spreadsheet records a coordinate, the pin is the Division’s own; where it records only a highway and mile marker, an address, a junction or a named place, or where its coordinate contradicts its own highway, mile and county, the pin is ours, resolved on public road and place data and marked approximate.

More markers nearby

Lincoln (2)same spot
Lincoln (3)under 1 mi
Lincoln (1)under 1 mi
Eve Ball (1890–1984), Author and Preservationist6 mi