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Tres Ritos was first settled by the Jornada Mogollon in AD 900, and these ancient farmers left their presence in the form of more than twenty-one thousand petroglyphs along a mile-long ridge. The valley was visited by Spanish explorers in the 1600s and became the homeland of the Mescalero Apaches about that same time. Patrick Coghlan, the "Cattle King of Tularosa," built a major ranch here with his cattle being rustled and sold to him by none other than Billy the Kid. Susan McSween Barber, the widow of Alexander McSween of Lincoln County War fame, prospered here as the "Cattle Queen of New Mexico." Albert Fall, infamous for his participation in the Teapot Dome Scandal, owned Coghlan's ranch and much more. Join local historian Gary Cozzens as he tells the story of Tres Ritos--a small but intriguing place in New Mexico history.

In early May 1950 a massive forest fire spread through the Capitan Gap in the Capitan Mountains. A young black bear cub was found clinging to a tree with his paws singed and his mother nowhere in sight. That cub, later named Smokey Bear, was doctored and eventually sent to Washington, D. C. where he became the living symbol of fire prevention. Without a doubt, Smokey Bear is the most famous resident of Capitan, NM, but he is not the sole history of the area. In addition to a comprehensive chapter on Smokey Bear, Cozzens's history of Capitan will cover everything from the significant coal mining and ranching history of the area (Block Ranch was the largest in the country at the turn of the century), US Forest Service's involvement in the area, Civilian Conservation Corps history (one of the few CCC camps for women was located here), and the story of one of Capitan's most famous, but not so well-covered, citizens, George A. Titsworth.