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Many incidents in the Lincoln County War, 1876-1879, occurred in the area around Capitán. Promoters Charles B. 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, but the mines were abandoned in 1901. In 1950, a little bear cub with badly burned feet was rescued from a forest fire near here, 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.
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Capitan, New Mexico · United States
