National Park Service 

U.S. Department of the Interior 

Cultural Resource Management 

Intermountain Region 

CAPULIN VOLCANO NATIONAL MONUMENT 

An Administrative History

By Jon Hunner and Shirley G. Lael 

Intermountain Cultural Resource Management 

Professional Paper No. 67 
ii

Cover: Capulin Volcano cinder cone by Shirley Lael, 2002. 
iii

Intermountain Cultural Resources Management 

Professional Paper No. 67 

Capulin Volcano National Monument 

An Administrative History 

by 

Jon Huner and Shirley Lael 

Of New Mexico State University 

Cultural Resources Division 

Intermountain Region 

National Park Service 

U. S. Department of the Interior 

Santa Fe, 2003 
iv
v

To Homer Farr and Leonard Farr 
vi
vii

CONTENTS 

Illustrations, Photographs and Maps ix 

Acknowledgments xiii 

Chapter 1 Early Regional Overview 1 

 1.1 Geology ................................................. 1 

 1.2 Human Inhabitants ..................................... 4 

 1.3 Native Hunters .................................... 7 

 1.4 Spanish Explorers .................................... 10 

 1.5 The Santa Fe Trail .................................... 12 

 1.6 Military and Homesteading ........................ 14 

Chapter 2 Population Changes & Area Settlement 17 

 2.1 Sheep Herding Mid-1800s ........................ 17 

 2.2 The Goodnight & Loving Trail 

 & the Beginnings of Cattle Ranching ............ 20 

 2.3 Early Towns ................................................ 22 

 2.4 The Railroad ................................................ 25 

 2.5 Large Scale Ranching .................................... 27 

 

Chapter 3 Establishment of the Monument 29 

 3.1 Local Groups ................................................ 29 

 3.2 National Park Service Act ........................ 32 

 3.3 Creation & Founders .................................... 36 

 3.4 Homer Farr ................................................ 39 

Chapter 4 Development and Management 41 

 

 4.1 The NPS & Tourism .................................... 41 

 4.2 Early Funding & the Road ........................ 43 

 4.3 Civil Works Project .................................... 46 

 4.4 Monument Infrastructure ........................ 48 

 

Chapter 5 Early Resource Management 53 

 5.1 Resource Management ........................ 53 

 5.2 A General Plan .................................... 57 

 5.3 Photographers & Naturalists ........................ 64 

 5.4 Natt Dodge ................................................ 66 
viii

Chapter 6 Visitor Facilities Planning 69 

 6.1 Visitor Center Development ........................ 69 

 6.2 Park Amenities .................................... 73 

 6.3 Mission 66 ................................................ 76 

 6.4 Cecil Doty ................................................ 77 

 

Chapter 7 Change & Growth 79 

 7.1 Homer Farr Retires .................................... 79 

 7.2 Crater Rim Exhibit Shelter ........................ 80 

 7.3 New Infrastructure & Management ............ 86 

 7.4 Initial Mission 66 Construction ............ 88 

 

Chapter 8 Interactions with the Community 105 

 

 8.1 The Visitor Center ................................... 105

 8.2 Exhibits & Visitor Programs ....................... 108 

 8.4 Boundary Issues ................................... 116 

 

Conclusion 119 

Bibliography 121 
ix

Illustrations, Photographs and Maps 

Figure Page 

1.1 Capulin Volcano .................................................................. 1 

1.2 Map of Northeastern New Mexico .......................................... 2 

1.3 Map of Capulin Lava Flows ...................................................... 3 

1.4 Lava Squeeze Up or Tumuli ...................................................... 4 

1.5 Folsom Spear Point with Bison Ribs .......................................... 5 

1.6 Folsom Spear Points .............................................................................. 6 

1.7 Spanish map from 1760 .................................................................. 7 

1.8 Comanche Spear Point and Folsom Point .......................................... 9 

1.9 Comanche Woman .............................................................................. 9 

1.10 Comanche Head Dress .................................................................. 9 

1.11 Early Spanish Explorer Routes, Map .......................................... 10 

1.12 The Santa Fe Trail .............................................................................. 12 

1.13 The Santa Fe Trail, Granada to Fort Union Section .............................. 13 

2.1 Territory of New Mexico, 1879 G. L. O. map detail ............................ 16 

2.2 Candido Archuleta I. .................................................................. 17 

2.3 Choke Cherry or Capulin ...................................................... 18 

2.4 Teofilio and Josefita Rael ...................................................... 20 

2.5 The Goodnight Loving Trail, Capulin Branch Map .................. 21 

2.6 William Newkirk .................................................................. 24 

2.7 Railroads near Capulin Volcano, Map .............................. 27 

3.1 Folsom Land Advertisement ...................................................... 29 

3.2 Folsom Hotel 1888 .................................................................. 30 

3.3 The Big Hotel or Capulin Hotel .......................................... 31 

3.4 Capulin Volcano, view of mining pit .......................................... 33 

3.5 Presidential Proclamation ...................................................... 34 

3.6 Capulin Early Boundary Map ...................................................... 35 

3.7 Modern cattle grazing near Capulin Volcano .............................. 36 

3.8 Jack and Capulin Mountain, 1889 Map .............................. 37 

3.9 Cattle herding crew or “Dutch Outfit” .............................. 38 

4.1 1892 Map, Gulf Division railroad with Capulin ............................. 40 

4.2 Grand Canyon advertisement ...................................................... 41 

4.3 Homer Farr .............................................................................. 43 

4.4 Aerial View of Capulin Mountain National Monument ................... 44 

4.5 Capulin Mountain ................................................................... 45 

4.6 Homer Farr’s Letter to Superintendent Pinckley Regarding CWP .......... 47 

4.7 Blueprint of Capulin Mountain ........................................... 49 

4.8 Map of Capulin Mountain ....................................................... 49 

4.9 Capulin Mountain Work Crew ........................................... 51 

4.10 Capulin Mountain Parking Area ........................................... 52 

5.1 Crater Trail Guide Numbered View Map ............................... 54 

5.2 Incorporating a Telescope, Hugh Miller, to the Custodian of Capulin .... 55 

5.3 Homer Farr on the monument road, pre-retaining walls ................... 56 
x

5.4 Homer Farr on the monument road, pre-retaining walls ................... 56 

5.5 Capulin Mountain Culvert ....................................................... 57 

5.6 Homer and dog at a Capulin picnic area ............................... 58 

5.7 Crater Trail Guide Depiction of a Porcupine Eating Pinyon Bark ...... 59 

5.8 Visitor Shelter or Cabin ...................................................... 61 

5.9 Homer Farr’s Cabin Proposal ...................................................... 62 

5.10 Enlarged Blueprint of Capulin Mountain .............................. 62 

5.11 Capulin Mountain .................................................................. 63 

5.12 Capulin Mountain Postcard ...................................................... 63 

5.13 Capulin Mountain .................................................................. 64 

5.14 Capulin Mountain, Aerial ...................................................... 65 

5.15 Capulin Mountain from the West .......................................... 66 

5.16 Capulin Mountain Leaflet Signed by Homer Farr .................. 67 

5.17 Homer Farr, Typed Letter ...................................................... 68 

6.1 Certificate of War Necessity ....................................................... 69 

6.2 Exhibit Plans ............................................................................... 70 

6.3 Exhibit Plans ............................................................................... 71 

6.4 Exhibit Plans ............................................................................... 71 

6.5 Three New Signs ................................................................... 72 

6.6 Three New Signs ................................................................... 72 

6.7 Three New Signs ................................................................... 72 

6.8 Capulin Mountain Sign on Highway 64 ............................... 74 

6.9 Farr Motor Company ................................................................... 74 

6.10 Farr Family Business ................................................................... 75 

6.11 Donkey near the Farr Family Business ............................... 75 

6.12 Cecil John Doty ................................................................... 78 

7.1 Homer Farr, with visitor J.N. McNeany .............................. 79 

7.2 Department of Interior Certificate of Honor .............................. 80 

7.3 Exhibit Shelter at the Volcano Rim .......................................... 82 

7.4 Exhibit Shelter Stairs at the Volcano Rim .............................. 83 

7.5 Exhibit Shelter and Stairs looking towards the rim parking ...... 83 

7.6 Interpretive Sign, The Story of Capulin Mountain .................. 84 

7.7 Entrance Sign .............................................................................. 85 

7.8 State Highway Sign .................................................................. 85 

7.9 One of Two New Crater Rim Pit Toilets .............................. 86 

7.10 Picnic Area Pit Toilet .................................................................. 86
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

xi

7.11 Visitor Center Plan. Merritt Johnston and Natt Dodge ...... 87 

7.12 Crater Ascent Road Before Retaining Wall Construction .................. 89 

7.13 Crater Ascent Road Construction .......................................... 89 

7.14 Crater Ascent Road Construction .......................................... 90 

7.15 Crater Ascent Road After Retaining Wall Construction ...... 90 

7.16 Completed Retaining Wall ...................................................... 91 

7.17 Crater Rim Area Before Retaining Wall .............................. 92 

7.18 Crater Rim Area Before Retaining Wall .............................. 92 

7.19 Crater Rim Excavation for Retaining Wall .............................. 93 

7.20 Completed Crater Rim Retaining Wall .............................. 93 

7.21 Excavation for Additional Crater Road Retaining Wall ...... 94 

7.22 Completed Retaining Wall ...................................................... 94 

7.23 Pre Deer Ladder .................................................................. 95 

7.24 Completed Deer Ladder and Wall .......................................... 95 

7.25 Original Trail before Resurfacing .......................................... 96 

7.26 Trail Reconstruction and Resurfacing .............................. 97 

7.27 Trail Reconstruction and Resurfacing .............................. 97 

7.28 Completed Trail .................................................................. 98 

7.29 Original and Relocated Shelter Trail .......................................... 99 

7.30 Original and Relocated Shelter Trail .......................................... 99 

7.31 Putting up Poles and Stringing Wire .......................................... 100 

7.32 Pole with Wooden Cattle Guard .......................................... 101 

7.33 Visitor Center Parking and Residence Spur .............................. 101 

7.34 New Entrance, Before ...................................................... 102 

7.35 New Entrance, After .................................................................. 102 

7.36 New Entrance Sign Construction .......................................... 103 

7.37 New Entrance Sign Construction .......................................... 103 

7.38 New Entrance Sign .................................................................. 104 

7.39 Crater Trail Interpretive Sign ...................................................... 104 

8.1 Construction of Visitor Center North Wall .............................. 105 

8.2 Construction of Visitor Center West & South Walls .................. 106 

8.3 Capulin Mountain Visitor Center .......................................... 106 

8.4 Two Residences and the Visitor Center .............................. 107 

8.5 Capulin Mountain Visitor Center .......................................... 107 

8.6 Capulin Mountain Visitor Center .......................................... 108 

8.7 Exhibit Sketch “Rock Born of Fire” .......................................... 109 

8.8 Exhibit Sketch “When did Capulin Erupt” .............................. 109 

8.9 Exhibit Sketch “Capulin’s Explosive Past” .............................. 110 

8.10 Exhibit Sketch “Your NPS” ...................................................... 110 

8.11 Exhibit Sketch “Famous Trails” .......................................... 111 

8.12 Final Exhibits .............................................................................. 111 

8.13 Final Exhibits .............................................................................. 111 

8.14 Visitor Center and Visitors ...................................................... 112 

8.15 Path from Visitor Center to 10 Minute Nature Trail .................. 113 

8.16 Nature Trail Marker Describing a Lava Squeeze Up .................. 114 

8.17 Lava Squeeze Up on the Visitor Center Nature Trail .................. 114 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

xii

8.18 Crater Rim Trail Booklet ...................................................... 115 

8.19 Trail Booklet Sample Text ...................................................... 115 

8.20 Visitor Center Auditorium ...................................................... 116 

8.21 Capulin Volcano Entrance Sign .......................................... 117 

8.22 Capulin Volcano vicinity map .......................................... 118 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

xiii

Acknowledgments 

 I owe countless people gratitude for their support and unending assistance as I 

researched and wrote this administrative history. Many thanks to the National Park 

Service for funding this historical project, and allowing me to be a small part of their 

important conservation effort. Special thanks to Dr. Robert Spude, Dr. Cathy Spude, 

Superintendent Maggie Johnston, Abbie Reaves, Thomas DuRant, Eric Bittner, David 

Nathanson, Leonard Farr, Barbara Stanislawski, Mary Alice Owensby, Jill Morrow, 

Louis Trujillo, Doug Enders, Brian Quigley, Dietmar Schneider-Hector, the New 

Mexico State University History Department, and the entire Capulin Volcano National 

Monument Staff for their patience and support. Boundless gratitude is also extended 

to historians, Richard Sellars, Michael Malone, and Richard Etulain, whose works 

served as guideposts throughout. The Centennial Book Committee, and the people of 

Capulin, Des Moines, and the Folsom Valley are responsible for the wonderful local 

history Folsom Then and Now which I referenced extensively and I am very thankful 

for. Although I mentioned her previously, I can not thank Abbie Reaves enough for 

her insight, historical knowledge, and enthusiasm, thank you Abbie. Thank you again 

Leonard Farr for sharing your family history and your sense of humor. Last but not 

least, thank you to Dr. Jon Hunner, who asked me to become a part of this project and 

who researched, mentored, edited, and revised and continually supported my research 

and writing, you are a wonderful teacher and a true guiding light. To my ever patient 

and supportive husband Brian Lail, thank you. 

 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

xiv
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

1

Chapter 1 Early Regional Overview 

The region surrounding Capulin Volcano National Monument (Fig. 1.1) has an 

extensive history of cooperation, conflict, and adaptation. Research reveals Capulin’s 

story of geologic formation, human habitation fluxes, and numerous demographic 

 Fig. 1.1: Capulin Volcano , Photograph by Lail, 2002. 

changes. In 1916, the volcano was awarded the status of a National Monument, an 

honor meriting public support. The delicate and often controversial balance between 

preservation and visitor use would start immediately for Capulin and continue into 

present day park management issues. How can visitors enjoy the monument without 

literally trampling it to the ground? Whose welfare should the National Park Service 

take into account when making decisions regarding Capulin and the surrounding area? 

There are many facets to these seemingly simple questions. Throughout all, the 

volcano remains intact, a reminder of the past and a monument to critical conservation 

efforts in the face of change. 

 

1.1 Geology 

 Located in northeastern New Mexico, approximately thirty miles east of the 

town of Raton, Capulin sits in the middle of a volcanic field on the Great Plains 

surface (Fig. 1.2). The Great Plains surface is a geologic area spreading eastward 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

2

 Fig. 1.2: Map of Northeastern New Mexico, Map by Lail, 2002. 

from the Rocky Mountains. The volcanic field, referred to as the Raton-Clayton 

volcanic field, includes a large area between the towns of Raton and Clayton, where 

evidence of volcanic activity is visible far and wide. This volcanic field boasts not 

only Capulin Volcano, but also the largest freestanding volcano in the world, Sierra 

Grande. Other lesser volcanoes and evidence of volcanic activity exist throughout this 

field. 

 Capulin Volcano is a cinder cone volcano that formed “as fragments of foamy 

lava, hurled into the air from a volcanic vent, fell back to the ground.”1

 The slopes of 

the volcano are made up of these loose basaltic pellets of lava or cinder, giving these 

types of volcanoes their name, cinder cones. Cinders are pieces of gas filled lava 

which become pumice like after being spewed from the vent of the volcano. This 

presence of gas and the absence of water is what basically differentiates cinder from 

flowing lava. Cinder cones are one “of the most common volcanic landforms on 

Earth.”2

 The cinders are expelled, landing in a cone shaped pile around the volcano 

vent, thereby forming a small steep mountain. Capulin Volcano is one of these steep 

cinder cones, rising 8,182 feet above sea level, and 1,300 feet above the surrounding 

plain. It is estimated to be approximately 56,000 to 62,000 years old.3

 Small cinders are not the only thing that erupted from the Capulin Volcano 

vent. Larger lava clumps, spewed high into the air by the volcano, took on the shape 

of oblongs as the projectiles fell back to earth. These hardened projectiles are called 

 

1

 Halka Chronic, Roadside Geology of New Mexico (Missoula: Mountain Press Publishing 

Company, 1987) , 191. 

2

 Richard Fisher, Grant Heiken, and Jeffrey Hulen, Volcanoes, Crucibles of Change 

(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), 47. 

3

 National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Capulin Volcano National 

Monument, New Mexico, Official Map and Guide (Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 

1998). 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

3

volcanic bombs and are about the size and shape of large footballs. These bombs can 

be found around the volcano and the surrounding ranch lands. Another unusual 

geologic factor is the slightly higher northeast side of the volcano resulting from 

predominately southwest winds which wear down the southwest side of Capulin. 

These southwest winds are also believed to have affected the actual drift and 

settlement of the original cinders.4

 This “downwind blanket of cinders over basalt”5 is 

visible from an airplane and somewhat visible from the top of the volcano. New 

vegetation, deterioration of the cinders, and changes in water flow influence the 

visibility of the volcano’s original developmental features. 

 Most important to the presently well preserved volcano are the dynamics of the 

Capulin lava flows (Fig. 1.3). The flows did not emerge from the top of the volcano. 

 

Fig. 1.3: Map of Capulin Lava Flows, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the 

 Interior, Capulin Volcano National Monument, New Mexico, Official Map and Guide, 

 National Monument (Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1998). 

Fluid magma squeezed through cracks at the base of the volcano and the released lava 

traveled through channels or bocas spreading across the plains. This break through of 

magma at the base, instead of a lava flow from the vent, preserved the volcano vent at 

the top of Capulin, allowing it to remain one of the most perfectly preserved cinder 

cones in the world. Many volcanoes emit lava from the top vent which eventually 

changes the shape of the volcano. The higher ground to the west of Capulin, visible to 

the left of the volcano in Fig. 1.1, is the area where lava emerged at the greatest 

 

4

 Halka, Roadside, 223. 

5

 Spencer Lucas, and Adrian Hunt, ed., New Mexico Geological Society Thirty-eighth Annual 

Field Conference, Northeastern New Mexico, (Albuquerque: New Mexico Geologic Society, 

University of New Mexico Printing, 1987), 45. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

4

frequency from the main boca. The remnants of Capulin’s four major lava flows can 

still be seen from the top of the volcano as well as from nearby plateaus and aerial 

photography. As the main lava flows hardened, other magma squeezed up through 

cracks and fissures forming lumps and clumps around the volcano, referred to 

appropriately as squeeze ups or tumuli. These squeeze ups are visible on the volcano 

and the surrounding countryside (Fig. 1.4). 

Fig. 1.4: Lava Squeeze Up or Tumuli at Capulin Volcano National Monument, 

 Photograph by Lail, 2002. 

 Capulin has been compared to Paricutin, a recently formed cinder volcano in 

Mexico which shares many similarities with the older Capulin. Paricutin started from 

a hole in the ground which farmer Dionisio “Pulido had been trying to fill for years.”6 

In February of 1943, the hole started spewing ash and smoke as Dionisio watched in 

disbelief. By the next day, a ten meter high volcano stood in his once prosperous corn 

field. Over the next nine years, the volcano would rise to over four hundred meters 

before resorting back to inactivity. Although volcanic ash and lava create rich soil for 

generations of the future, lava cannot be plowed and ash is only useful immediately 

for farming in small plowable amounts. Paricutin wrought devastating, long lasting 

effects on the surrounding people. The study of this recent volcano has helped 

geologists to determine the nature of cinder cones and the possible geologic history of 

Capulin Volcano. 

1.2 Human Inhabitants 

 Who were the first peoples to see Capulin? This question is difficult, if not 

impossible, to answer. The lack of written history for the region leaves scientists 

merely theorizing. Fortunately, early humans who inhabited the area left some 

substantial clues about their existence. In the fall of 1908, George McJunkin, foreman 

of the Crowfoot Ranch, found the fossil remains of a large animal near Folsom, New 

 

6

 Fisher, Volcanoes, 233. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

5

Mexico.7 McJunkin told several people about his interesting find. Several years 

passed before Museum Director, Jesse Figgins, found out about and took an interest in 

the fossil remains. Figgins served as director of the Colorado Museum of Natural 

History and was in search of a bison skeleton for his museum. Little did he know that 

a group of men would bring the location of that skeleton to him, along with a very 

important archeological discovery. 

 Many years after the original find, and shortly after George McJunkin’s death, 

several men from Raton also took interest in the remains. They traveled to the bone 

pit, having unprecedented time off work because of a local union strike. There, 

approximately twelve miles from Capulin Volcano, the men dug out several bones and 

put them into a bag.8

 The group consisted of the local blacksmith Carl Schwachheim, 

banker Fred Howarth, taxidermist James Campbell, Catholic priest Father Roger Aull, 

and bricklayer Charles Bonahoom. Howarth and Schwachheim later took the bones 

with them on a business trip to Denver. They went to see Figgins at the Colorado 

Museum of Natural History. Prompted by the fossils the men showed him, Figgins 

became interested in the site. 

 In 1926, Figgins sent a crew to the Folsom site to excavate. This crew, made 

up mainly of local residents, uncovered not only bison bones, but a spear point.9

 The 

crew was not aware of the controversy the find would cause. Careful archeological 

technique was not practiced. The spear point was removed from its provenience 

among the bison bones without any pictures being taken, nor were any archeological 

experts present. This lack of experts and evidence left both Figgins and the Museum’s 

paleontologist Harold Cook in need of another intact find. The fossils would have to 

be left in place along side the artifact to prove that the site was not a hoax. They 

ordered the digging to continue. 

Fig. 1.5: Folsom Spear Point with Bison Ribs, Photograph property of the Denver 

 Museum of Natural History, (Denver: Photo Archives). 

 

7

 Franklin Folsom, The Life and Legend of George McJunkin: Black Cowboy (Nashville: 

Thomas Nelson Inc, 1973), 11. 

8

 National Park Service Intermountain Support Office, U.S. Department of the Interior, Draft 

of the General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement for Capulin Volcano National 

Monument (Santa Fe: NPS Intermountain Support Office, 2001), 54. 

9

 David Meltzer, Search for the First Americans (Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Books, 

1993), 51. 

 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

6

The presence of a finely manufactured spear point lying in provenience with a 

dateable bison fossil would shake the archeological world. More excavations in 1927 

revealed another point. Figgins and Cook finally had the proof they needed, an intact 

archeological find (Fig. 1.5). The Folsom spear points pushed the known presence of 

humans in North America back to the Pleistocene, approximately ten thousand years 

before present. Anthropologist Michael Waters clarifies the importance of the find by 

stating that “Prior to 1927, most archaeologists believed humans had been in the 

Americas for only about 4,000 to 5,000 years. This perception was forever 

changed.”10 Similarly manufactured spear points were found later at the Folsom 

Quarry and at other sites near Capulin (Fig. 1.6). With the help of this archeological 

record, it can be determined that the first humans known to have occupied the region 

around Capulin Volcano were these bison hunters of the late Pleistocene. 

Fig. 1.6: Folsom Spear Points, Photograph property of the National Park Service, U.S. 

 Department of the Interior, Folsom Points (Charles Town: Historic Photographic 

 Collections).

The hunters of the late Pleistocene did not leave enough evidence to prove that 

they inhabited the area around Capulin Volcano for long periods of time. The 

evidence they did leave shows the hunters to be of a more nomadic existence, 

frequenting the area only to hunt big game, such as the bison, but not to form 

settlements. These hunting nomads traveled light and their “passage is marked mainly 

by the debris of stone chips left from their tool-making.”11 They traveled in small 

family groups, stopping only if the surrounding area was rich in game.12 Where these 

early hunters went, or whether they are the ancestors of the current native populations 

of the southwest, is unknown. 

 

10 Michael Waters, “Proving Pre-Clovis, Criteria for Confirming Human Antiquity in the New 

World,” Discovering Archaeology, Vol. 2, no. 1, February 2000, 47-49. 

11 Rose Houk, Anasazi, Prehistoric Cultures of the Southwest (Tucson: Southwest Parks and 

Monuments Association, 1992), 4. 

12 Meltzer, Search, 125. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

7

1.3 Native Hunters 

 Following the presence of the Paleo-Indians, the next Native American group 

to inhabit northeastern New Mexico is difficult to determine. The area was arid and 

did not provide enough water to attract predominately agricultural groups. However, 

the region did provide good game hunting and was apparently used by several Indian 

cultures for this purpose. Unfortunately the lack of permanent Native Amercian 

housing structures or material Indian artifacts for northeastern New Mexico leaves a 

huge time gap for determining Indian habitation. It is impossible to know exactly 

which cultures were present near or around Capulin until the Spanish Entrada. The 

Native American presence in New Mexico was recorded on several early Spanish 

exploration maps. During Spanish exploration, many maps depicted the Pueblo 

cultures along the Rio Grande River. The area which is presently far northeastern 

New Mexico was left unmapped. 

 

 Fig. 1.7: Spanish map from 1760 depicting Indian territories, Map Courtesy of 

 Direccion General de Geografia y Meterologia, Tacubaya, D.F. Mexico, copied from 

John Kessell’s, Kiva, Cross, and Crown, the Pecos Indians and New Mexico 1540-1840 

(Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1979), 166. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

8

 An early map from 1602, sketched by Enrique Martinez, depicts Onate’s 

explorations and the Pueblo cultures of north central New Mexico. Northeastern New 

Mexico is left blank on this particular map regarding habitants.13 A later map from 

1760 shows the “Tierra de Cumanchis” or Land of the Comanches, in the upper right 

corner (Fig. 1.7). Although not depicted on the map, this is near the Capulin Volcano 

site. Also shown is a region just east of the Rocky Mountains. This region is labeled 

“Xicarilla,” apparently referring to the Jicarilla Apache. The same map has an inset 

drawing, in the lower center, labeled “Cumanchis” and shows a depiction of a person 

in what is supposed to represent Comanche dress, a buffalo hide cape and fringed hide 

clothing. 

 The arid plains were once thought to be uninhabitable by early European 

settlers. This seems to hold true for the early Indian groups of the region as well. It 

was a good place to hunt, but not to settle. Early Spanish explorers mention a variety 

of plains Indian tribes. Among them were the Ute, Comanche, Kiowa, KiowaApache, and Jicarilla Apache, as well as other Apache tribes.14 The environment 

shaped the living habits of these cultures and created subsistence patterns that relied 

heavily on following game. The plains region and the Southwest suffered a series of 

droughts from the 1200s to the 1300s.15 These droughts left the plains largely 

uninhabited as people were forced to seek food elsewhere. 

 Around 1300 A.D., Indian groups began to drift back onto the plains in 

response to population pressures and drought elsewhere, as well as other factors. The 

plains groups survived by hunting game that roamed on the open range. This meant a 

lifestyle of frequent moving in order to follow bison and game herds, as well as the 

necessity to travel very light. Dogs and people were used to haul goods, and homes 

consisted largely of easily moved structures made from stretching animal hide over 

wooden frames.16 The cultural native materials found around Capulin Volcano have 

consisted mainly of animal bones and stone implements, the only artifacts to survive 

the harsh environment (Fig. 1.8). Little is known about pre-contact peoples of the 

region since the inhabitants did not possess a written language and relied heavily on 

oral history to convey culture. Over fifteen million native inhabitants of North 

America would eventually fall victim to disease, brought unknowingly by the 

European explorers. The native population would be devastated, recovering to the 

present day numbers of only 2.3 million.17 Early photographs give clues to what the 

Indian cultures, such as the Comanche, might have been like (Fig. 1.9 – 1.10).18

 

13 John Kessell, Kiva, Cross, and Crown, the Pecos Indians and New Mexico 1540-1840 

(Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1979), 91. 

14 Thomas Chavez, Quest for Quivira, Spanish Explorers on the Great Plains 1540-1821 

(Tucson: Southwest Parks and Monuments Association, 1992), 28. 

15 James Henretta, W. Elliot Brownlee, David Brody, Susan Ware, and Marilynn Johnson, 

America’s History, Volume 1 to 1877 (New York: Worth Publishers, 1997), 7. 

16 Ernest Wallace & Adamson Hoebel, The Comanches, Lords of the South Plains (Norman: 

University of Oklahoma Press, 1986), 35. 

17 United States Census Bureau Public Information Office, Census Facts for Native American 

Month, Webpage (Washington D.C.: United States Census Bureau, 1997). 

18 Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of the American Indian, Treasures of the 

National Museum of the American Indian (New York: Abbeville Publishing, 1996), 34, 266. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

9

Fig. 1.8: Comanche Spear Point (left) and Folsom Point, found near Capulin Volcano, 

 Photograph property of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 

Comanche and Folsom Points (Charles Town: Historic Photographic Collections). 

Fig. 1.9: Comanche Woman 

Photographs property of the National 

Museum of the American Indian, 

Smithsonian Institution Minnie Black Star & 

Comanche Head Dress 

Fig. 1.10: Comanche Head Dress 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

10

1.4 Spanish Explorers 

 Capulin Volcano is situated along several of the earliest European exploration 

routes into the interior of the New World. Seeking riches and regions to conquer, the 

Spanish pushed northward along the Rio Grande River and through what is now 

northeastern New Mexico (Fig. 1.11). Vasquez de Coronado and Juan de Padilla 

Fig. 1.11: Early Spanish Explorer Routes, Map from Quest for Quivira, Spanish 

 Explorers on the Great Plains 1540-1821 (Tucson: Southwest Parks and Monuments 

 Association, 1992), 54. 

both traveled near Capulin Volcano in 1541, bringing with them Spanish culture, 

material goods, and namesakes. As the first Spanish explorers traversed across the 

New World in the 1500s, they brought with them, among other things, their horses. 

The horse spread gradually throughout the Indian communities, as did the 

aforementioned European diseases. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado brought one 

thousand horses with him when he traveled through northeastern New Mexico to 

Kansas in April of 1541.19 With this new animal in their midst, Indian cultures would 

be drastically impacted and changed forever. The horse gave the Indians the ability to 

travel great distances in a shorter amount of time, taking part in farther reaching trade, 

and substantial cultural exchange. The horse was also a great boon to hunting game 

and fighting adversaries. 

 

19 David Lavender, De Soto, Coronado, Cabrillo, Explorers of the Northern Mystery 

(Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1992), 81. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

11

 Northeastern New Mexico was not very important to the first Spanish 

explorers. Once they had traveled through, there is little evidence that the region was 

considered a good place to settle or that any settlement was attempted. Lack of water 

and threatening tribes made the area very inhospitable. The region was merely a 

pathway to rumored gold and riches in the north and east, mythic treasures that were 

never found. The Spanish would learn many lessons as they colonized New Mexico 

and tried to force the indigenous peoples of the area to accept their foreign cultures. 

One successful attempt at peaceful coexistence and acculturation was the trade fair 

which was “the prime focus of economic activity in New Mexico during later colonial 

times.”20 Although trade existed before the Spanish presence, these new fairs brought 

the Jicarilla Apache, the Comanche, and several other groups into a somewhat 

codependent trade relationship with the Spanish, the Pueblos, and each other, thus 

reducing hostilities. 

 The Comanche, however, continued to attack and kill their old enemies, the 

people of the Galisteo and Pecos Pueblos.21 The Spanish would have to bring the 

Comanche under control in order to have peace. In 1779, Governor Anza traversed 

through northern New Mexico and into Colorado. Here he successfully attacked the 

renegade Comanche leader, Cuerno Verde, setting the stage for the later long-lasting 

peace agreement of 1786. This would enable safer settlement in, and passage through, 

New Mexico for the Spanish and Pueblo Indians for the next one hundred years.22

 

The Comanche also agreed to fight against the Plains Apache, when called upon to do 

so. With the Comanche’s help, the Spanish managed to continue trading with the 

friendly Jicarilla Apaches, while holding reign over the raiding Plains Apaches, who 

were known by many names. The reoccurring outbreak of smallpox, measles, and 

other diseases between 1700 and 1800 brought many of the tribes to their knees. This 

unfortunate occurrence, however, aided the Spanish domination over New Mexico. 

 Although common in New Mexico during the Spanish Colonial times, no land 

grants were issued for the region immediately surrounding Capulin Volcano. This 

does not mean that there were not Spanish ranchers or settlers in this area, only that 

the land was not formally granted to anyone. Very few Europeans from the East chose 

to settle in the region while it was under Spanish control. Spain did not want trade to 

occur between its colony to the north and the eastern traders of the United States. This 

unwanted trade could threaten Spain’s monopoly. A state of panic came about when 

France decided to sell the Louisiana Territory to the United States. The exact borders 

between Spanish and French territories were unknown, and now the U.S. would 

assume these unknown boundaries. Lieutenant Zebulon Pike was sent to explore the 

southwestern boundaries of the Louisiana Purchase. He was captured by the Spanish 

in Northern New Mexico, and brought to Santa Fe where he was questioned about his 

activities in their territory. After his escorted release, Pike quickly reported what he 

had seen, and his stories spread throughout the United States. His forced visit inside 

 

20 Marc Simmons, Spanish Pathways, Readings in the History of Hispanic New Mexico 

(Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2001), 11. 

21 Kessell, Kiva, 357. 

22 Marc Simmons, New Mexico, An Interpretive History (Albuquerque: University of New 

Mexico Press: 1998), 91. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

12

Spanish territory set the stage for a whirlwind of traders from the East. The area was 

in need of goods since the only materials allowed in at the time had to come up the 

Camino Real from Mexico City, and the trade goods were priced outrageously.23

 

1.5 The Santa Fe Trail 

 In August of 1821, Mexico declared independence from Spain, but the news 

took a while to reach Northern New Mexico. The Spanish colonial trade barriers for 

New Mexico were finally gone and the once isolated territory was now open for 

business with the East. In September of 1821, William Becknell headed west from 

Missouri to trade. Approximately nine hundred miles later, Becknell and his group of 

associates arrived in Santa Fe, New Mexico and “There he quickly sold out his small 

stock at a considerable profit and started back for Missouri.”24 He was not the first 

trader from the East to venture into New Mexico territory, but he became the first 

legal trader. The story of his adventure and profit proliferated across the United 

States. His successful example started a push westward along the Santa Fe Trail that 

would be followed by thousands over the next sixty years. The general route was 

fairly treacherous (Fig. 1.12 ). Unfriendly tribes, lack of water, and polluted water 

sources made the trip exhausting and dangerous.

Fig. 1.12: The Santa Fe Trail, National Park Service. 

 

23 Simmons, New Mexico, 99. 

24 Mark Gardner, Santa Fe Trail, National Historic Trail (Tucson: Southwest Parks and 

Monuments Association, 1993), 4. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

13

Several routes were traversed over the years and each one held its own specific pros 

and cons. One way would have more water, but also more Indians. A shorter route, 

such as the Cimarron, lacked in water sources. The Cimarron Route of the Santa Fe 

Trail was about one hundred miles shorter in distance, traveling between Missouri and 

New Mexico. This section of the Trail passed very close to Capulin, approximately 

9.5 miles south of Sierra Grande.25 A lesser known route passed directly by the south 

and east base of Capulin Volcano. This route was called the “Granada to Fort Union” 

section of the Santa Fe Trail (Fig. 1.13). 

 Fig. 1.13: The Santa Fe Trail, Granada to Fort Union Section, Marc Simmons and Hal 

 Jackson, Following the Santa Fe Trail, A Guide for Modern Travelers (Santa Fe: 

 Ancient City Press, 2001), 157. 

 

25 National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Santa Fe National Historic Trail, 

Map Supplement for the Comprehensive Management and Use Plan (Washington D.C.: Government 

Printing Office, 1990), Map 70. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

14

 Historians John and Nancy Riddle also mention the route near Capulin which 

appears to take approximately the same path to the southeast of Capulin Volcano, 

passing between the Volcano and the town of Des Moines.26

1.6 Military and Homesteading 

 Other factors, besides the Santa Fe Trail, brought new settlers to the region. 

Mexico wanted to populate Texas, and therefore offered land for only ten cents an acre 

to colonists. The plan worked well and brought the immigrant population of Texas 

from roughly seven thousand in 1800, to twelve thousand by 1827. By that time, the 

immigrants outnumbered Mexican families in Texas nearly two to one. Cultural 

tensions became a problem as well as the fact that the United States appeared to be 

working towards securing Texas as their own. In 1846, the United States went to war 

with Mexico over political and territorial issues.27 Santa Fe was quickly and easily 

occupied by U.S. Colonel Stephen Kearny who promised to respect and protect the 

inhabitants. The war with Mexico finally ended in 1848 with the signing of the Treaty 

of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The treaty ceded California and New Mexico to the United 

States and recognized the Rio Grande River as the border between the U.S. and 

Mexico. New Mexico was changed forever. 

 The Santa Fe Trail brought more traders and settlers, who no longer had to fear 

the Mexican government. Trappers and miners, as well as new traders and business 

entrepreneurs came to start a new life. The California gold rush of 1848-49 brought 

many travelers through, some who would return to the region later to settle. By 1850, 

New Mexico was an official territory of the United States. In 1854, the U.S. bought 

more property along the border from Mexico with the Gadsden Purchase. This land 

purchase was to make room for a railroad system. Texans moved across the plains 

into northeastern New Mexico squatting on small claims. The area around Capulin 

was still considered under Indian threat, and there were few settlers or squatters. The 

Indian threat made it difficult to travel into the region, so more troops were brought in 

and “by 1851 almost 1,300 soldiers served in the Territory of New Mexico.”28

 By the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, more troops came to New Mexico 

followed by suppliers and a few cattle ranchers. The Homestead Act was passed in 

1862 and promised 160 acres of land to each settler who stayed on the land for five 

years or paid $1.25 an acre and stayed on the land for six months. The acreage, 

however, was not enough land for dry climate farming or ranching around Capulin and 

across the plains. Early Spanish settlers had managed to raise sheep and small crops, 

but the farmers from the East were not use to the arid climate or crops. Many who 

did come to New Mexico to farm the plains, gave up after crop failure and sold their 

 

26 John Riddle, and Nancy Riddle Madden, Records and Maps of the Old Santa Fe Trail 

(Stuart: Southeastern Printing Co., 1963), map, sheet 5. 

27 Michael Meyer, William Sherman, and Susan Deeds, The Course of Mexican History (New 

York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 324. 

28 Robert Utley, Fort Union National Monument (Washington D.C.: Government Printing 

Office, 1962), 9. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

15

land.29 Military troops brought in more business and settlers to New Mexico than the 

failing Homestead Act. With the lack of local supplies, the needy troops kept 

merchants busy bringing in supplies from the East. Cattle were not common in the 

region as of yet. The main livestock for New Mexico were sheep, which were 

accustomed to the arid lands and did quite well on regional grasses.30 The later 

internment of Navajos and Apaches at the inhospitable Bosque Redondo, later to 

become Fort Sumner, forced new drastic changes upon the area.31 In response to these 

changes, cattle drivers soon took the place of sheep herders. 

 

29 Rena Larranaga, “Personal Stories Tell New Mexico’s Agricultural History,” New Mexico 

Resources, College of Agriculture and Home Economics, NMSU, Spring 1998, 21.

30 Joseph McCoy, Historic Sketches of the Cattle Trade of the West and Southwest (Kansas 

City: Ramsey, Millett & Hudson, 1874), 374. 

31 Simmons, New Mexico, 150. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

16

Fig. 2.1: “Territory of New Mexico,” General Land Office map, 1879. Detail showing 

“Capulin Extinct Volcano” and nearby “Mexican Town.” Note Spanish place names. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

17

Chapter 2 Population Changes & Area Settlement 

2.1 Sheep Herding Mid-1800s 

The area around Capulin Volcano was sparsely populated by Spanish settlers 

in the early 1800s. Predominately Hispanic families had small plots of farm land for 

growing crops, and they commonly herded sheep for their livelihood. One example, 

the Archuleta family, came to the Capulin, New Mexico region from the San Luis 

Valley of present day Colorado in the 1830s lead by Candido Archuleta I (Fig. 2.2).32

 

 Fig. 2.2: Candido Archuleta I. Photograph courtesy of Folsom Centennial Book 

 Committee, Folsom Then and Now, 1888-1988 (Folsom: Centennial Book 

 Committee, 1988), 156. 

 According to Candido Archuleta II, his ancestors moved large herds of sheep 

from the San Luis Valley to a region near La Mesa de Tatagua, now called Johnson 

Mesa, about fifteen miles northwest of Capulin Volcano. The move was prompted by 

a Native American, Chief Amarillo, who told the Archuleta brothers of good land in 

the region.33 The tribal affiliation for Chief Amarillo is unknown. The Archuleta 

brothers might have also been pressured to leave the San Luis Valley because of the 

constant Ute and Navajo Indian threat. Indian attacks prevented many settlement 

 

32 Folsom Centennial Book Committee, Folsom Then and Now, 1888-1988 (Folsom: 

Centennial Book Committee, 1988), 156. 

33 Folsom Then and Now, 156.
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

18

attempts of the Southwest Colorado area and forced grant holding settlers to seek out 

safer lands.34

 

 The San Luis Valley is approximately one hundred and twenty miles northwest 

of Capulin, New Mexico and surprisingly is home to the small town of Capulin, 

Colorado, established around 1867. The Colorado town site was moved from the 

original place, settled approximately ten years earlier. This original town site was a 

few miles north of the present day Colorado town. The area around the town came to 

be known as the Capulin District.35 A similar movement of the town site of Capulin, 

New Mexico also took place where the town site was renamed, and possibly moved a 

short distance on several occasions. This movement will be discussed in detail later in 

the chapter. Capulin is the Spanish name for chokecherry (Fig. 2.3). This shrub or 

small tree is the apparent namesake fruit of Capulin Volcano and the small town at its 

base. The cherry grows well in the region and is present on the volcano. Perhaps the 

Archuletas, or other early settlers, brought the name with them when they came to the 

region in the 1830s. 

Fig. 2.3: Choke Cherry or Capulin, Photograph courtesy of Linda Kershaw, 

 Andy MacKinnon, and Jim Pojar, Plants of the Rocky Mountain,. Edmonton: 

 Lone Pine Publishing, 1998. 

 Another possible explanation for the use of the chokecherry as a place name is 

that it has Native American origins. The Tewa called the chokecherry plant ave’iwe, a 

name also used to refer to a Tewa ancestral region near Albuquerque. Many Pueblan 

tribes were known to venture into the northeastern region of New Mexico for hunting 

and trading and could have named the volcano or region after the plant. The Tewa 

ancestral region near Albuquerque was renamed Capulin by early Spanish settlers, and 

both names, Capulin and Ave’iwe, are still used for the same region, depending on the 

source.36 Spanish settlers, or earlier Native American inhabitants, could have 

 

34 Virginia Simmons, The San Luis Valley, Land of the Six-Armed Cross (Niwot: The 

University of Colorado Press, 1999), 78. 

35 David Lantis, “The San Luis Valley, Colorado: Sequent Rural Occupance in an 

Intermontane Basin” Ph.D. diss., Ohio State University, 1950, 150. 

36 Jerry Williams, New Mexico in Maps, Second Edition (Albuquerque: University of New 

Mexico Press, 1986), 311. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

19

similarly named or renamed Capulin Volcano. Or, as explained earlier, the name 

might have been transplanted from another region. Unfortunately, records do not 

show how the name came about, so the absolute origin of Capulin Volcano’s name, or 

the name of the small town at its base, is unknown. The cherries of the plant were 

very important to regional tribes and probably to early settlers as well. After the first 

frost, the fruit was picked in large quantities, pulverized, and dried into patties as a 

winter staple item.37 The cherry contains a substantial amount of sugar and vitamin C, 

which were difficult to come by for the herders and tribes of the arid region. 

 Although berries added a little variety to the daily diet, sheep provided milk, 

meat, and cheese for the main nutritional needs of the herder.38 The Archuletas 

operated a fairly large scale sheep herding business, however, the average herder 

owned smaller flocks, or managed flocks for wealthier owners. During the mid-1800s, 

there were apparently “two distinct classes socially – sheep owners and sheep 

tenders.”39 Sheep tenders or herders lived a humble lifestyle in the harsh 

environment. Modest rock houses and corrals, located along Corrumpa Creek, east of 

Capulin Volcano, were believed to have belonged to Spanish sheep herders who 

inhabited the region during the mid-1800s. Their buildings were unfortunately torn 

down before an historic survey could be completed.40 Many early sheep herders came 

to the Capulin Volcano region from the Santa Fe and Taos areas as they migrated 

towards the northeast looking for open land.41 Sheep would be driven hundreds of 

miles onto the plains for grazing, only to be driven back to various watering holes 

every few days. Wealthy owners, or Ricos, would entrust the sheep to herders for a 

minimal fee. The herders, indebted to the wealthy owners, would try to establish their 

own flock while making a meager living off the land. The Capulin region served as a 

large common grazing ground and public use area, which was a widespread practice 

for many Hispanic farming communities of the time, at least up until U.S. 

intervention.42

 

 Another early family of the Capulin region were the Raels. Manuel Rael lived 

with his family approximately fifteen miles north of present day Capulin Volcano in 

the town of Los Alamos, which is Spanish for the Cottonwoods. The town, which no 

longer exists, was one of the first documented settlements near the volcano. Manuel 

Rael and his wife had six children, one of which was son Teofilio Rael, born on 

January 18, 1863 in Los Alamos.43 In 1895, Teo married Josefita Tafoya (Fig. 2.4). 

 

37 Linda Kershaw, Andy MacKinnon, and Jim Pojar, Plants of the Rocky Mountains 

(Edmonton: Lone Pine Publishing, 1998), 65. 

38 Edward Wentworth, America’s Sheep Trails, History, Personalities (Ames: The Iowa State 

College Press, 1948), 113. 

39 Ibid, 115. 

40 Carolyn D. Hertz, Affects of the Homestead Act of 1862 on Settlement in the Capulin-Des 

Moines – Folsom Area 1862-1891 for Department of Interior, NPS, Capulin Volcano National 

Monument (Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1994), 12. 

41 Richard Nostrand, The Hispano Homeland (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press: 1992), 

82. 

42 Roxanne Dunbar, “Land Tenure in Northern New Mexico: An Historical Perspective” Ph.D. 

diss., University of California, 1974, 12. 

43 Folsom Then and Now, 220. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

20

 Fig. 2.4: Teofilio and Josefita Rael. Photograph courtesy of Folsom 

 Centennial Book Committee, Folsom Then and Now, 1888-1988 (Folsom: 

 Centennial Book Committee, 1988), 220. 

The Union County Census of 1900 shows Teofilio Rael and his brother Juan Pablo as 

sheep raisers, a common occupation for this region according to the census.44 

Although several families left the area after the Mexican-American war and the United 

States acquisition of the territory, many descendants of the early Spanish settlers still 

reside in this region. 

 

2.2 The Goodnight & Loving Trail & the Beginnings of 

 Cattle Ranching 

During the 1860s, new livelihoods, such as ranching, began to replace 

regionally traditional sheepherding. In 1864, seizing the opportunity to regain lands 

and sheep while the United States fought internally, the Navajos and Mescalero 

Apaches raided farms and ranches pushing settlers off their lands. The revolt was 

dealt with sharply by the United States government and resulted in five years of 

internment for the Navajos and Mescaleros, two traditionally adversarial tribes, in a 

prison camp at Bosque Redondo, later to be named Fort Sumner. This imprisonment 

would have a long lasting influence over the future of New Mexico. Kit Carson 

captured “approximately 9,000 Navajos and 400 Apaches who were on the reservation 

by the end of summer.”45 Food was scarce, water resources were polluted, and many 

starved or died from disease. The food shortage was not cruel purposeful punishment, 

however, there was, unfortunately, no food available in the region for the fort to 

purchase. Navajo sheep were slaughtered to feed both the captives and the soldiers. 

 

44 United States Bureau of the Census, 12th Census of Population 1900, New Mexico Vol. 9, 

Union County, Valencia County (Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1900) Pre no 2, June 

20th. 

45 Raymond Locke, The Book of the Navajo (Los Angeles: Mankind Publishing Company, 

1992), 367. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

21

This source of food did not last long. The War Department finally issued 

advertisements for emergency cattle and supplies. The dynamics of the war made 

prices for cattle very high in the northern states, and incredibly low in Texas. The 

War Department offered good prices to anyone who could get cattle to Fort Sumner. 

Two Texas cattle dealers, Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving saw the ads and 

decided to take the risks and try to make some money by forging a trail from Texas, 

through New Mexico to Ft. Sumner. 

 In 1866, Goodnight and Loving, plus a third investor, George Reynold, drove 

cattle north on what came to be known as the Goodnight Loving Trail. The trail was 

dangerous for many reasons. It passed through sparsely populated regions with even 

sparser legal protections. The region was known to be an “every man for himself” 

kind of place. Not only was it fairly lawless, but it was also very dry. Treacherous as 

it was, it would quickly bring the men great wealth. They would receive almost ten 

times the amount for their cattle in northeastern New Mexico and Colorado as they 

could get in Texas. This was an irresistible business opportunity, despite the dangers 

and hardships. They started in west Texas and traveled up through the southeastern 

portion of what is now New Mexico. Cattle were taken directly to Ft. Sumner to feed 

the starving inmates and soldiers. The cattle that were not sold at Ft. Sumner were 

driven north, past the southeast base of Capulin Volcano, and up into Colorado to 

market (Fig. 2.5).46 This was the beginning of cattle as big business in New Mexico. 

Fig. 2.5: The Goodnight Loving Trail, Capulin Branch, Map drawn by A. C. Loveless 

 for, Cattle Trails of the Old West, appendices. 

 

46 Jack Potter, Laura Krehbiel, ed., Cattle Trails of the Old West (Clayton: Laura R. Krehbiel, 

1939), 13 and Map. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

22

 Cattle marketed with the help of the Goodnight Loving Trail brought in almost 

one million dollars for the cattle dealers over the next five years. With the new 

military markets, New Mexico ranching grew steadily. Lucien Maxwell also began 

selling off pieces of the Maxwell land grant in 1867. The land was located in what is 

now northeast and northcentral New Mexico, as well as southern Colorado. The sales 

brought in more hopeful farmers and ranchers such as the Chase family. The Chases 

came in on a wagon from Colorado to settle in Cimarron. They would eventually be 

involved with the Chase- Eno Sheep Company, and the Currumpaw Sheep Company 

just southeast of Capulin.47 The Chases became a groundbreaking ranch family, but 

had to diversify in order to survive the tough climate. They raised sheep, cattle, and a 

variety of crops. 

 Other families slowly moved into the region bringing different forms of 

commerce with them. Cattle gradually played a more important role in the local 

economy, which was predominately a sheep driven economy before the introduction 

of large scale cattle trailing. In 1868, the Hall brothers, Nathan, Jim, and William, 

drove a herd of cattle up the Goodnight Loving Trail from Texas and across the land 

approximately thirty miles northeast of Capulin. The brothers, originally from 

Tennessee, decided to return to the wide open grasslands and settle in the area, 

eventually establishing the Cross L Ranch, one of the largest ranches in New 

Mexico.48

 

 That same year, George McJunkin, a former African American slave who took 

his last name from McJunkin’s Ranch in Texas, joined a cattle drive headed for the 

Cimarron River and Capulin Mountain.49 McJunkin would later go to work for Dr. 

Thomas Owens, who settled northwest of Capulin and established the Pitchfork 

Ranch. George McJunkin lived the rest of his life in the region, and was later credited 

with spotting the Folsom archeological site, mentioned earlier in the text in Chapter 

One. The XYZ Ranch was established approximately ten miles northwest of Capulin 

by William (Bill) H. Jack and his wife Jessie. The ranch would eventually turn into 

the Crow Foot Ranch. Mrs. William H. Jack later served the important roll as the first 

custodian of Capulin Volcano.50

2.3 Early Towns 

The Santa Fe Trail, gold and silver strikes, military campaigns, as well as the 

opportunity to homestead and ranch, brought sporadic population growth to the 

Capulin Volcano region. Within a radius of fifteen miles from the volcano, the first 

towns mentioned in the records for the area are Los Alamos and Ojo. In fact, two 

small town sites were named Ojo, one north and one southeast of Capulin Volcano. 

 

47 Ruth Armstrong, The Chases of Cimarron (Albuquerque: New Mexico Stockman, 1981), 

139 & 169. 

48 Folsom Then and Now, 3. 

49 Barbara Richardson, Black Directory of New Mexico, Bicentennial Edition 1716-1976, Black 

Pioneers of New Mexico, A Documentary and Pictorial History (Rio Rancho: Panorama Press, 1976), 

65. 

50 Iris M. Boggs, “Capulin Mountain National Monument,” (Capulin, National Park Service, 

Intermountain Support Office Archives) 7.
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

23

The northern site was approximately twelve miles north of the volcano and, according 

to Francis Stanley, later took the name Madison after early settler Madison Emery. 

The town had a small adobe chapel which was visited by a priest when possible.51 Los 

Alamos, mentioned earlier in the text, was a small sheep herding community located 

approximately ten miles north of Capulin Volcano. Los Alamos was established some 

time prior to January of 1863, since, according to census records, Teofilio Rael was 

born in the small community.52 The settlement was called by many names and was 

perhaps the first site of Capulin Plaza or Cottonwood Plaza. By 1879, the town was 

called Mexican Town on a General Land Office map.53 The first recorded postal 

office near Capulin Volcano was Madison. According to postal records, Madison was 

established on February 24, 1874 by Alvaro F. Gleason. The town was approximately 

eleven miles northeast of Capulin Volcano. Madison was named after Madison Emery 

who came to the area with his wife Susan Sumpter in 1867.54 Susan was a widow and 

had a son, William, before she met and married Madison Emery. The newly married 

Emery family came through the San Luis Valley in Colorado, as did several early 

families, such as the Archuletas. Emery Gap and Emery Peak also bear Madison 

Emery’s name. The Madison post office closed on May 18, 1888 with a notation to 

send the mail to Capulien.55 Families, of course, existed in the area around Capulin 

Volcano before the establishment of the first post offices. The post offices are used 

here only as a date marker. 

 Bazil Bill Metcalf, a runaway from Rich Hill, Missouri, worked for the Hall 

brothers on their ranch sometime in the early 1870s. He later established a toll gate 

approximately twelve miles north of Capulin Volcano, just below Emery Gap. The 

toll road was opened by 1873 providing passage into New Mexico and giving the 

surrounding area the name of “Toll Gate Canyon.” Metcalf also opened a store and 

saloon near the toll gate.56 The Record family came to Oak Canyon, located 

approximately twelve miles north of the volcano, in 1876. According to Clara 

Toombs Harvey, the family came to the region from Joplin, Missouri in a covered 

wagon, as did many of the early pre-railroad settlers of the region.57 William Newkirk 

also came to the area in 1876 (Fig. 2.6). He traded his business in Denver for a mine 

site near Elizabethtown, a small mining community located in the mountains west of 

Capulin Volcano and present day Raton. When the mine failed, he moved to Madison 

and established a ranch in Oak Canyon.58

 

 

51 Francis Stanley, The Folsom (New Mexico) Story, (Nazareth Texas: 1964), 5. 

52 United States Bureau of the Census, 12th Census of Population 1900, New Mexico Vol. 9, 

Union County, Valencia County (Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1900) Pre no 2, June 

20th. 

53 J.A. Williamson, Territory of New Mexico, Map (Washington D.C.: Department of the 

Interior General Land Office, 1879). 

54 Folsom Then and Now, 177. 

55 Sheldon Dike, “The Territorial Post Offices of New Mexico,” New Mexico Historical 

Review No 4 (October 1958): 322. 

56 Morris Taylor, Basil (Bill Metcalf) and His Toll Gate, Now in Union County, New Mexico 

Formerly in Colfax County, New Mexico 1872-1885 (Trinidad: Trinidad State Junior College), 2. 

57 Clara Toombs-Harvey, Not So Wild, The Old West, A Collection of Facts, Fables and Fun 

(Denver: Golden Bell Press, 1961), 155. 

58 Ibid, 154. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

24

 Fig. 2.6: William Newkirk, Photograph courtesy of Folsom Centennial Book 

 Committee, Folsom Then and Now, 1888-1988 (Folsom: Centennial Book 

 Committee, 1988), 211. 

 The Kiowa post office was the next official post office established in the area. 

It was opened in 1877 with Jacob Taylor as the postmaster.59 Kiowa appears on 

several maps approximately eleven miles southwest of Capulin Volcano.60 The 

Troyburg postal office was established in 1878 by Daniel Troy. References to the 

cowboy town of Troyburg also appear in newspapers from the time. 

 The first Capulin post office was established in 1879 by John Stuyvesant. A 

map from that time shows Capulin Ext. Vol. labeled, and a small circle denoting a 

town is barely visible on the northwest edge of the volcano.61 Whether or not this is 

the town of Capulin is difficult to decipher. Early maps were often incomplete and 

inaccurate. Four years later, in 1883, another post office named Capulien was 

established by Fairchild Drew. Records are unclear as to where and when the actual 

town of Capulien was established. Family histories claim that Cottonwood Plaza 

underwent a name change to Capulien.62 According to Paul Drew, the original town 

 

59 Dike, “The Territorial” Apr, 1959. 

60 Williamson, Territory of New Mexico, Map.

61 Ibid. 

62 Folsom Then and Now, 175. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

25

of Capulin was just north of the volcano. It was a small “Spanish-American plaza 

known as Capulin.”63 Later the town was renamed Cottonwood Plaza. Drew also 

claims that the town of Dedman is actually the original name for that particular site. 

The Capulin post office was moved to Dedman later, and the town renamed. 

 Unfortunately, it was not entirely uncommon for a post office to move location 

without changing its name. Post offices of the time also changed names without 

moving to a new location. The records help to clarify absolute dates of occupation for 

the region, but do not identify exactly where Capulien or Capulin existed before the 

coming of the railroad. Postal records show that the post office called Capulien, 

underwent a name change to Folsom on July 20, 1888.64 Perhaps near or on the 

present town site of Folsom, just eight miles north of the volcano, was the true original 

site of the first town of Capulin or Capulien. The name, however it was to be spelled, 

would not disappear and survives today as Capulin, a town and a National Monument. 

Many more towns would spring up around the volcano through the later years, 

displacing the earlier towns, and often completely disappearing themselves after a 

short time. Population changes continued to occur in the northeastern plains 

especially after the introduction of the railroad into New Mexico. 

2.4 The Railroad 

The first railroad car came into New Mexico in 1878.65 The line was the 

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad and was built from Colorado through Raton 

Pass and eventually down to Santa Fe. This rail line transformed New Mexico by 

bringing in new people, merchandise, and building materials. It also paved the way 

for new industries such as tourism, large scale livestock transportation, mining and it 

changed how agricultural was conducted. By 1880, the sheep industry would be 

somewhat overtaken by the cattle industry, with over 160,000 head of cattle grazing 

the region. This number would increase to approximately one million head of cattle 

by 1900.66 Sheep, however, still played an important role in the economy. The 

Capulin Volcano region was impacted greatly by the overwhelming changes. New 

people moving into the region created conflict for the earlier settlers and brought both 

wanted and unwanted new commerce. 

 Stories about the area around the volcano appeared in local papers of the late 

1800s. Some of these stories depicted the unsavory treatment of local Hispanic New 

Mexicans near Capulin by the cowboys and rustlers moving to the region. A 

republished letter from the New Mexico Livestock Journal of March 13, 1885, reported 

thieves stealing from the locals of Capulin followed by the interference of self 

assigned law enforcement who sought out and abused the victims further. The letter 

asks, “Have we laws only in favor of Americans who can do with the (New) Mexican 

 

63 Toombs-Harvey, Not So Wild, 159.

64 Dike, “The Territorial” Jan, 1959. 

65 David Myrick, New Mexico’s Railroads, A Historical Survey (Albuquerque: University of 

New Mexico Press, 1999), 4. 

66 Rena Larranaga, “Personal Stories Tell New Mexico’s Agricultural History” New Mexico 

Resources, College of Agriculture and Home Economics, NMSU,Spring 1998, 15. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

26

settlers as they please?”67 The previously predominate Hispanic surnames of Pena, 

Lujan, Garcia, and Archuleta gradually disappeared from the newspapers of the time 

and the fairly infrequent pre-1888 land records of the Capulin Volcano region. New 

families brought business and money with them and soon the older families of the 

region were impacted by the more stringent capitalist economy. Some of the older 

sheep herding families and subsistence farmers became indebted to the more business 

oriented newcomers. This debt resulted in giving up the only assets available to them, 

land and livestock, to pay off their debts. 

 Plans for the railroad, which was to pass near Capulin, are recorded on early 

maps of the area.68 The Denver, Texas and Fort Worth Railroad Company laid track 

out of Trinidad, Colorado, heading south towards Capulin Volcano. In the mean time, 

the Fort Worth Denver City Railway laid track out of Texas, heading northwest 

towards Capulin. The two rails met and the last spike was driven on March 14, of 

1888, just north of Capulin. The meeting point was named Union Park, but the name 

did not stick and disappeared from all maps and records within the year.69 The town 

of Capulin was supposedly renamed Dedman, after a railroad financier E. J. 

Dedman.70 It is more likely, according to records and family histories, that Capulin 

did not exist at that particular site, but was instead originally established 

approximately nine miles north of Capulin Volcano. The town of Dedman would 

eventually take the name Capulin in 1922. 

 Folsom sprang up just eight miles north and east of Capulin Volcano on March 

31st, 1888.71 The town might have been the sight of an earlier Capulin, Los Alamos, 

or Cottonwood Plaza, however records and maps are unclear regarding the 

establishment of the town. Folsom was named after Frances Folsom, President 

Cleveland’s beautiful young wife. The first sale of lots in the newly established 

Folsom took place in early April of 1888 with the arrival of the second passenger train 

on the new railroad.72 Capulin Volcano was at the center of the triangle of towns, 

Folsom, Capulin (or Dedman), and Des Moines. Another railroad track was laid 

between Des Moines and Raton in response to mining in the region. This track was 

used for several years, then eventually abandoned in the early 1900s (Fig 2.7). 

 

67 Francis Stanley, The Capulin (New Mexico) Story, (Nazareth Texas: 1970), 5. 

68 H.D. Rogers and A. Keith Johnston, Territory of New Mexico, Map (Boston: Clerks Office, 

District Court of Massachusetts, 1857). 

69 Myrick, New Mexico’s Railroads, 134. 

70 Stanley, Capulin, 7. 

71 Colfax County Clerks Office, Map of the Town of Folsom New Mexico 1888 (Raton: Colfax 

County Clerks Office, 2002). 

72 Folsom Then and Now, 1. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

27

Fig. 2.7: Railroads near Capulin Volcano, Map courtesy of David Myrick’s, 

New Mexico’s Railroads, A Historical Survey, 158. 

 The railroads changed hands and names many times over the next ten years, 

depending on the financiers. Many people came by railroad to New Mexico, seeking 

their own fortune in cattle, mining, farming, business, and other enterprises. The 

biggest change was the exchange of people and products made possible by the 

railroad. The previously somewhat isolated region was now open for business. 

Investors rushed in to take advantage of the new market and to find products for 

resale. Capulin Volcano would eventually be seen as a money making tourist 

attraction along the newly opened line. Others viewed the volcano as needing 

protection from the new onslaught of settlers and entrepreneurs. 

2.5 Large Scale Ranching 

The coming of the railroad changed life around the volcano. People came 

from around the country to try their hand at cattle ranching, homesteading, and 

business. By 1889, maps of the region show several new towns around the volcano. 

Capulin also was depicted as Capulin Mt. instead of the previous name of Capulin 

Volcano or Capulin Extinct Volcano on an 1889 regional map.73 Within a fifteen mile 

radius of the volcano, new towns included Alps, Sumpter, Des Moines, Folsom, 

Owens, Hack, Greigo, Jack, Spring, Trincherita Plaza, Newkirk, Young, Black Plaza, 

 

73 Maxwell Land Grant Company, Sectional Map of Colfax and Mora Counties. New Mexico 

1889 (Santa Fe: Maxwell Land Grant Company, 1889). 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

28

Drew, Dougherty, Graiz, Darling, Keisher, Eller, Garylord, Johnson, Devoys, and 

Stuyvesant. Ojo changed to Ojo Panavido Martinez. Madison, Kiowa, and Troyburg 

remained on the maps, but slowly lost what little population they had to the pull of the 

new railroad towns. Many of the families who started these town sites had been in the 

region for a while. The railroad made it possible for several of these families to 

increase their cattle and sheep stock and become fairly large scale ranchers. 

 The towns of Johnson, Owens, and Jack were established west and slightly 

north of Capulin Volcano. All of these towns were given family names, and almost all 

of the families were ranching families. The Jacks owned the XYZ Ranch and 

eventually the Crowfoot Ranch. The Owens had the Pitchfork Ranch. Elijah Johnson 

ran cattle at the base of Johnson Mesa. Approximately ten miles north of Capulin 

Volcano, William Newkirk established the town of Newkirk and the Newkirk Ranch.74

With the new railroad, cattle and sheep could be brought in and loaded near Folsom, 

then transported to just about anywhere in the country. Des Moines and Folsom were 

known to have the largest livestock holding pen on the railroad running between Texas 

and Colorado. 

 To the southwest of Capulin Volcano, near the current town site of Capulin, 

the Prairie Cattle Company had an outpost. The Scottish based company acquired 

over three hundred square miles of open range in the early 1880s. They bought out the 

Hill brothers’ Cross L Ranch, located approximately thirty miles northeast of Capulin 

Volcano. The Prairie Cattle Company was one of the biggest cattle companies in New 

Mexico history, overshadowing much of the smaller ranchers of the region, while 

bringing in commerce to the area. Early regional family histories often include a few 

stories about working for or with the Prairie Cattle Company. They were also known 

for their extravagant holiday parties and buying practices. Several families did not sell 

their ranches or cattle to the large company which sought to own and monopolize the 

livestock industry of the region. Ranching, however, was not the only industry in the 

region. Other investors would soon arrive to try their hand at drawing in the traveler 

and tourist. This new business required an attraction of some sort, and Capulin 

Volcano fit the bill. 

 

74 Folsom Then and Now, 211. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

29

Chapter 3 Establishment of the Monument 

3.1 Local Groups 

 As discussed in Chapter Two, investors came to the Capulin region around 

1888, with the establishment of the new railroad. Community leaders hoped to attract 

big business ventures with the possibility of huge profits. The community was 

convinced that it could become the next Colorado Springs, with a booming economy 

and plenty of money for everyone. All that was needed were more settlers and 

tourists. Hotels and mineral springs would attract these needed tourists, and Capulin 

Mountain would bring excitement seekers as well. Investors easily acquired lands by 

buying out failed farms and ranches. Drought and small farm plots had made the arid 

region difficult to live in. Several ranches had also failed because of the livestock 

price crash of the late 1880s. Too many cattle on the market made cattle ranching a 

difficult and barely profitable business for the small rancher.75

 

 The region had potential for the entrepreneur willing to take the risk of 

investing in the community. Land speculators sought to promote the area and thereby 

ensure a profit for themselves. Lands around Capulin were bought at a minimal price 

and Folsom was marketed as a future boom town. Ads claimed that all that Folsom 

needed were industrious men! With the opening of a U.S. Land Office in Folsom, the 

following ad, as well as other similar ads, were printed in newspapers nationwide (Fig. 

3.1). 

 Fig. 3.1 Folsom Land Advertisement, Ad courtesy of Folsom Centennial Book 

 Committee, Folsom Then and Now, 1888-1988 (Folsom: Centennial Book 

 Committee, 1988), 1. 

 

75 Terry Jordan, North American Cattle-Ranching Frontiers, Origin, Diffusion, and 

Differentiation (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1993), 239. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

30

 According to The Folsom, New Mexico Story, a publication written and 

compiled by Marie Laurine Owen-Doherty and Emma Hardesty-Adams (members of 

Folsom’s early pioneering families), building a health resort was at the top of the local 

investor’s list. John and Jim Ryan, two wealthy brothers from Dallas, Texas, 

“dreamed of erecting a fine hotel on the Cimarron and making Folsom a health resort 

as the climate was conducive to the alleviation of tuberculosis, asthma, respiratory, 

kidney and malarial diseases.”76 In 1888, approximately eight miles north of the 

volcano, the Folsom Hotel was opened for business. It is not clear however if the 

Ryan brothers were backing this hotel, or if a different investment group was 

responsible for the original Folsom Hotel. The Ryan brothers were responsible for a 

hotel, built approximately a year later, near Cimarron Falls. The original builder of 

the Folsom Hotel is unknown, but is most likely one of the investors who came to the 

region with the railroad. 

 According to an ad in the 1889 Folsom Idea, the town newspaper, the Folsom 

Hotel was for sale and interested parties were directed to contact C.C. Goodale of 

Lamar, Colorado.77 Charles Clement Goodale, who the article is most likely referring 

to, was one of the original Folsom founders and investors who came to the region to 

capitalize on the newly established railroad town. He, along with several others, 

started the Folsom Town and Land Investment Company, incorporated solely to 

develop a prosperous rail town.78 Goodale most likely held an initial interest or 

investment in the Folsom Hotel. A later news article in the Folsom Idea advertised 

rooms for two dollars a day and stated that Thompson & Humphry were the current 

proprietors of the hotel (Fig. 3.2).79

 

 Fig. 3.2 Folsom Hotel 1888, Photograph courtesy of Mary Owen-Doherty and Emma 

 Hardesty-Adams, The Folsom, New Mexico Story and a Pictorial Review (Folsom: No 

 Publisher Listed, June, 1976), 7. 

 

76 Mary Owen-Doherty and Emma Hardesty-Adams, The Folsom, New Mexico Story and a 

Pictorial Review (Folsom: No Publisher Listed, June, 1976), 3. 

77 Folsom Then and Now, 89.

78 Ibid, 1. 

79 Owen-Doherty, The Folsom, New Mexico Story, 7. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

31

 The hotel, although moderately profitable, did not bring in the throngs of new 

settlers, guests, and money that the original investors had hoped for and within a year 

of being built, the hotel was for sale. No records are available showing how many, if 

any, visitors came to the region to see the volcano. Dreams of tourism and a health 

resort were not forgotten however. The region had much more to offer and the 

community was determined to bring people to the area. As discussed later in the 

chapter, in his 1890 letter to the General Land Office, W.D. Harlan stated that the 

citizens of Folsom have the desire to establish a health resort, and had already built a 

fine hotel. He also states that the citizens wished to attract tourists to the natural 

curiosity by building a road to the top of the volcano.80 The exact hotel Inspector 

Harlan was referring to is unclear. Regardless, the town had made their wishes known 

that tourism was a commercial endeavor worth pursuing. 

 By 1889, a large resort hotel had been erected by the Ryan brothers near 

Cimarron Falls, also called Folsom Falls. The brothers were developers from Dallas, 

Texas and were rumored to be millionaires. The hotel was quite spectacular (Fig. 3.3). 

 

Fig. 3.3 The Big Hotel or Capulin Hotel Photograph courtesy of Mary Owen-Doherty 

 and Emma Hardesty-Adams, The Folsom, New Mexico Story and a Pictorial Review 

 (Folsom: No Publisher Listed, June, 1976), 15. 

 The Capulin Hotel was to have the modern amenities of a health and vacation 

resort, which would hopefully attract both tourists and health seekers. The Cimarron 

River was damned to provide a lake for water recreation such as boating, swimming, 

 

80 Inspector W.D. Harlan, to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, 14 December 

1890. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

32

and fishing. Unfortunately, the grand hotel never opened its doors for business. The 

contractor, D.Y. Tamlinson, reportedly took his family and left for his hometown of 

Fort Worth, Texas. After some use as a hall for local social events, and a few short 

term tenants, the hotel was abandoned and eventually dismantled and used in other 

building projects.81 The reason behind the hotel’s failure is unknown. The project 

probably lacked the funding for completion, or had fallen prey to the economic 

precursors of what historians Malone and Etulain call “the deadening effects” of the 

Panic of 1893.82

 

 Economic stresses of the time prevented the region from developing into a 

prosperous destination. Local dreams of becoming the next Colorado Springs were 

out of reach for the small community. Without a fancy resort hotel to attract rich 

tourists and health seekers, it looked as though Capulin Mountain would never receive 

the attention and respect befitting what Yale Professor Dr. Dana noted as “the most 

perfect specimen of extinct Volcanoes in North America.”83 Capulin Mountain would 

spend the next several years in obscurity, providing the local community with grazing 

land, wood, pinons, berries, and cinders, and awaiting the 1916 Presidential 

Proclamation declaring the volcano a National Monument. 

3.2 National Park Service Act 

 

 The late 1800s were a time of change for public lands in the United States. 

Vast acquired lands, held by the U.S., underwent various transactions to re-establish 

them as private lands with private owners.84 As with the Capulin Volcano region, 

homesteading, railroad acquisitions, and various commercial endeavors were common 

privatization methods throughout the United States. Mining, drilling, logging, and 

other resource exploitations left many once pristine environments damaged and 

unusable. Resources were being wasted and beautiful landscapes destroyed. Capulin 

was not immune to these problems. A large hole or pit, from early cinder mining, is 

visible at the base of Capulin Volcano in this pre-1930s photo (Fig. 3.4). 

 These drastic changes in the one time seemingly endless frontier did not go 

unnoticed. Early environmentalists, such as John Wesley Powell and John Muir, 

advocated to set aside and preserve areas of public land, thereby preventing any 

further exploitation of these reserved lands. Other progressive conservationists, such 

as Gifford Pinchot and President Theodore Roosevelt, advocated managed use and 

protection of special public lands.85 Despite their somewhat opposing stances of 

protection with managed use versus protection with no use, conservationists worked 

together to withdraw some public lands from the realms of misuse and outright 

exploitation. These acquisitions, although offering no real protection, prevented 

 

81 Folsom Then and Now, 30.

82 The American West,12. 

83 Inspector W.D. Harlan, to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, 14 December 

1890. 

84 Michael Bean and Melanie Roland, The Evolution of National Wildlife Law (Westport: 

Praeger Publishers, 1997) 340. 

85 Michael Malone and Richard Etulain, The American West, A Twentieth Century History 

(Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990), 67-69. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

33

 Fig. 3.4 Capulin Volcano, view of mining pit, Photograph property of the National 

 Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, CAMO (Charles Town: Historic 

 Photographic Collections). 

settlers and private industry from claiming lands until further conservation efforts 

could be made. The conservation and withdrawal of lands around Capulin Volcano 

focused on saving a natural wonder and promoting tourism. 

 The withdrawals served as big news for the small communities surrounding 

Capulin. Inspector W.D. Harlan of the General Land Office made the local 

newspapers when he visited the volcano in December of 1890.86 Approximately 1,900 

acres in the region were being considered for withdrawal from public entry. In his 

letter to the General Land Office, Harlan stated that “Prof. Dana of Yale College, who 

is regarded as the best authority in this country on Volcanoes says that “Capulin” is 

the most perfect specimen of extinct Volcanoes in North America.”87 Harlan further 

explained in his letter that citizens of Folsom have the desire to establish a health 

resort, have already built a fine hotel, and wish to attract tourists to the natural 

curiosity by building a road to the top of the volcano.88 John Noble, the Secretary of 

the Department of the Interior, agreed with Harlan’s wishes and endorsed the land 

withdrawal to take place. He also requested that the appropriate local records be 

updated to reflect the decision. On January 16, 1891, the area considered important to 

the integrity of Capulin Mountain was withdrawn from “settlement, entry or other 

disposition under any of the public land laws until such time as Congress may see fit,” 

by the General Land Office, Department of the Interior.89 A misfortunate mistake 

prevented the withdrawal from being recorded locally, a problem that would later 

effect the amount of acreage preserved.90 This land withdrawal did not protect 

Capulin from exploitation, but it did clear the way for future preservation efforts. 

 

86 Folsom Centennial Book Committee, Folsom Then and Now, 1888-1988 (Folsom: 

Centennial Book Committee, 1988), 113.

87 Inspector W.D. Harlan, to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, 14 December 

1890. Typed Letter. Capulin Volcano National Monument Administrative Records, File H1415. 

88 Ibid. 

89 Secretary John Noble, to Commissioner of the General Land Office, 16 January 1891. 

Typed Letter. Capulin Volcano National Monument Administrative Records, File H1415. 

90 Commissioner Clay Tallman, to the Secretary of the Interior, 26 October 1918. Typed 

Letter. National Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 335. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

34

 In 1906, the Antiquities Act passed with the help and sponsorship of 

Representative John Lacey. This milestone legislation gave the President the power to 

set aside and protect any federal lands deemed historically or scientifically 

important.91 The President no longer needed approval to safeguard lands, only a 

Presidential Proclamation. The Act did not provide for how the withdrawn land would 

be protected from illegal exploitation. Regardless, it was a great step towards 

conservation. By 1909, President Roosevelt had “removed more than 100 million 

acres from the public domain .... His land withdrawals also established five new 

national parks, sixteen national monuments, fifty-one wildlife sanctuaries, and fifty 

million acres of coal lands.”92 Later, President Woodrow Wilson also took advantage 

of the “Act for the Preservation of American Antiquities,” and on August 9, 1916, he 

declared Capulin Mountain a National Monument (Fig. 3.5 & 3.6).93

 

 

 Fig. 3.5 Presidential Proclamation, Capulin, National Park Service, Intermountain 

 Support Office Archives. 

 

91 William Everhart, The National Park Service (NewYork: Praeger Publishers, 1972), 12. 

92 Ibid, 69. 

93 President, Proclamation, “Capulin Mountain National Monument, Proclamation 1340,” 

(Aug. 9, 1916) Capulin, National Park Service, Intermountain Support Office Archives. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

35

 Fig. 3.6 Capulin Early Boundary Map, Capulin, National Park Service, 

 Intermountain Support Office Archives. 

 Although these areas were declared to be restricted to non-exploitive uses, they 

needed protection; simply setting them aside was not enough to prevent logging, 

grazing, mining, looting, hunting, and other misuses. How could the average citizen 

of the United States be convinced that preservation was important? More importantly, 

how could the huge and powerful resource extracting corporations be convinced that 

supporting preservation laws or a parks bureau was an economically sound business 

move? A strong, well managed parks department was needed, but how could the 

nation be convinced to support it? 

 Luckily for the emergent parks organization, the United States had developed 

an expansive system of railroads and was quickly moving into the age of the mass 

produced automobile. Tourism for health and entertainment, although up to now a 

pastime of the rich, was becoming more possible for the average person, and profitable 

for the tourism vendors who invested in it. According to early parks promoter, Robert 

Sterling Yard, conservation, coupled with tourism, proved to be an extremely 

profitable business for the Swiss and the Canadians, and he suggested that the United 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

36

States should immediately follow their example.94 Referring to Yard’s important 

article “Making a Business of Scenery,” historian Richard Sellars points out that one 

of the winning and driving forces behind the parks effort was economics. 

 Preservation for profit served as the key motivator that conservationists of the 

time needed in order to gain public support. Using this commercial approach to their 

advantage, J. Horace McFarland, Frederick L. Olmstead, Stephan T. Mather, and 

Horace M. Albright along with several others, led the aggressive effort to establish a 

national parks bureau.95 Only a week after the proclamation declaring Capulin 

Mountain a National Monument, they succeeded in reaching their important and 

ground breaking goal. At approximately 9:00 on the evening of August 16, 1916, 

President Wilson signed the organic act, establishing the National Park Service.96

 

National protection was now provided for parks across the country. Capulin no longer 

existed in the obscurity and uncertainty of its past or under the unguided direction of 

its early custodians. The volcano was now under new guardianship. 

3.3 Creation and Founders 

 

 Before its establishment as a monument, Capulin Volcano and the area 

surrounding the volcano attracted the attention of many people for a variety of 

reasons. Besides being a geologic curiosity, the volcano possessed natural resources 

as well as commercial possibilities for the surrounding community. Wood, pinon 

nuts, berries, open grazing land, and diverse wildlife populations provided locals with 

needed resources. Local ranchers regularly used the volcano and vicinity to graze 

their cattle (Fig. 3.7). 

 

 Fig. 3.7 Modern cattle grazing near Capulin Volcano, Photograph by Lail, 2002.

 

94 Richard W. Sellars, Preserving Nature in the National Parks, A History (New Haven: Yale 

University Press, 1997), 28. 

95 Ibid, 28-32. 

96 Horace Albright and Marian Albright Schenck, Creating the National Park Service, The 

Missing Years (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999), 148. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

37

 One local who took a special interest in the volcano was Mrs. William H. Jack 

of the Crow Foot Cattle Ranch. The Crow Foot Ranch was not a small operation, and 

the Jacks were considered important enough to merit the printing of their name on a 

1889 map of the region. This was not an uncommon practice for the sparsely 

populated area. Jack can be seen on the left side of the map, northwest of Capulin 

Mountain, located on the lower portion of the 1889 map (Fig. 3.8). 

 Fig. 3.8 Jack and Capulin Mountain, 1889 Map of Mora and Colfax Counties, NM, 

 Maxwell Land Grant Company, Sectional Map of Colfax and Mora Counties. New 

 Mexico 1889 (Santa Fe: Maxwell Land Grant Company, 1889). 

 Mrs. Jack eventually became the first part time custodian of the volcano, 

beginning in 1916 and ending, unofficially, in 1921, when she asked Homer Farr to 

take her place.97 Her husband William, also called Will or Bill, was well liked in the 

community and made his living herding and selling cattle for the Crow Foot. His 

cattle ranch kept many people in the region working. One of his more famous ranch 

 

97 Iris M. Boggs, “Capulin Mountain National Monument,” Historical Binder, (Capulin, 

National Park Service, Intermountain Support Office Archives, Santa Fe) 7.
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

38

supervisors was George McJunkin, who discovered the Folsom site mentioned earlier 

in the text. The common herding method of the time was to put together a “Dutch 

Crew” of herders who would individually help carry the expenses of the job in order to 

receive a share of the profits once the herded cattle were sold. The region around 

Capulin was an important stopping point and grazing area for many of the cattle that 

Will Jack and his crew herded to market. 

 In an article written about his family history, Carlos Cornay reveals the 

importance of the grazing area around Capulin to the Jacks, as well as to others 

dependent on the cattle industry. Cornay explains that his grandfather, also named 

Carlos, ran cattle with Mr. Jack. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Cornay and Jack 

went to Mexico by way of El Paso and put together herds of cattle to bring back to the 

Crow Foot Ranch. The return journey could take over six months. The cattle were 

kept in the Capulin Mountain region, usually throughout the summer, to fatten them 

up. Then they were driven to rail lines in Kansas. The coming of the railroad ended 

the need for cattle drives to a Kansas depot; instead, the cattle could be kept in the 

Folsom stockyards and shipped from the new Folsom depot north of Capulin.98 An 

early herding crew photo shows Carlos Cornay and Will Jack, as well as several others 

(Fig. 3.9). 

Fig. 3.9 Cattle herding crew or “Dutch Outfit” including left to right; 

 (back row) John Sigwalt, Carlos Cornay, Will Jack, Frank Walter, Candido Archuleta, 

 (second row) Jack Miller, Levi Tabor, R. Oldham, B. Martin, 

 (front row), T.B. Hack, Henry Young, Tom Aguilar, and Tom Thacher. 

 Photograph courtesy of Folsom Centennial Book Committee, Folsom Then and Now, 

 1888-1988 (Folsom: Centennial Book Committee, 1988), 9. 

 

98 Folsom Then and Now, 168.
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

39

 Cattle were often sold by head at an estimated weight, so the more grazing 

lands available to the cattle, the fatter the cattle could become, bringing a better price 

at market. Capulin Mountain offered a valuable open grazing range. According to 

historian Dietmar Schneider-Hector, Mrs. Jessie Jack was primarily interested in the 

Capulin Volcano region in order to maintain access to these important grazing rights.99

 

Grazing right issues would eventually play a large role for the monument, however, 

the people of Folsom had other plans for the volcano and surrounding region.100 

3.4 Homer Farr 

 In 1907, twenty-two year old Homer Farr, born in Kansas in 1885, came to the 

town of Des Moines, N.M. His brother-in-law asked him to come out and help him 

run his Des Moines store. Homer eventually bought one hundred and sixty acres 

located where the town of Capulin currently exists.101 He greatly admired Capulin 

Volcano and decided that he would work to preserve the volcano as well as use it to 

bring in tourists and settlers to the community. He hoped to sell his land to settlers 

and profit while building a new community. Homer proved to be quite an 

entrepreneur, starting businesses, bringing in new residents, and promoting Capulin 

Mountain as a must see tourist attraction. Farr started a lumber business, served as 

post master, ran a newspaper, speculated in land sales, and generally promoted the 

town of Capulin. According to historian, Francis Stanley, he ultimately became the 

“one man Chamber of Commerce” for the town of Capulin.102

 

 Because of his interest in the volcano, Mrs. Jack eventually asked Mr. Farr if 

he would like to look after the monument once she resigned her position as custodian. 

In 1921, she asked Mr. Farr to unofficially take over her position.103 Homer Farr 

accepted the unofficial position and would later, in 1923, become an official custodian 

of Capulin Mountain. Farr took great interest in the volcano for he saw the monument 

as a profitable park and tourist attraction. Farr officially served the National Park 

Service and Capulin Mountain National Monument, later to be renamed Capulin 

Volcano National Monument, from 1923 to 1955. His honorable thirty-two year effort 

to manage the monument unfolds in the following chapter, covering the parks early 

development and management. 

 

99 Dietmar Schneider-Hector, Jessie Foote Jack, “A Capable and Worthy Woman,” The 

Origins of Capulin Volcano National Monument (Las Cruces: Dietmar Schneider-Hector, 2002), 16. 

100 Harlan, to General Land Office, 14 December 1890. 

101 Homer Farr, transcribed interview, 16 March 1971, (National Park Service, Capulin 

Volcano National Monument Library, 2002) 7-8. 

102 Francis Stanley, The Capulin (New Mexico) Story, (Nazareth Texas: 1970), 7. 

103 Iris M. Boggs, “Capulin Mountain National Monument,” Historical Binder, (Capulin, 

National Park Service, Intermountain Support Office Archives, Santa Fe) 7.
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

40

Fig. 4.1 1892 Map of Gulf Division, Union Pacific Railroad (formerly Denver, Texas & Ft. 

Worth railroad branch) included a cut of Capulin Volcano. Courtesy James Jones, Denver & 

New Orleans (Denver: Sundance Publications, 1997). 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

41

Chapter 4 Development and Management 

4.1 The National Park Service & Tourism 

 Capulin Mountain, like many parks in the early 1900s, faced great monetary 

pressures. The need for supervised patrols, visitor concessions, and general 

maintenance was common for all national parks and monuments, and Capulin did not 

differ in these needs. Custodians were often part time and under paid. Few parks 

could afford the changes they needed for basic upkeep. Visitor concessions, although 

justified, were repeatedly difficult to fund. Custodians faced the problem of 

maintaining their parks, while still making a living wage and attracting visitors. Parks 

and monuments suffered without appropriate support. The answer to funding 

problems for the National Park Service seemed to lie in the promotion of large scale 

tourism. The question again emerged -- preservation or use? 

 

 Fig. 4.2 Grand Canyon advertisement, sponsored by the ATSF Railroad, Photograph 

 property of Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company, courtesy of the 

 National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, (Charles Town: Historic 

 Photographic Collections). 

 Historian Alfred Runte described the preservationist’s view as one of 

“recognition that, in the final analysis, the survival of the reserves clearly hinged on 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

42

the number of people who claimed direct benefits from scenic preservation.”104 If no 

one knew or cared about the parks and their well being, the parks would eventually 

cease to exist, thereby undoing any previous preservation efforts. How could the 

National Park Service promote interest in their parks? NPS Director Stephen Mathers 

had the answer. He approached railroad companies and asked for their help. Huge 

tourism campaigns coupling railroads with national parks dominated the new National 

Park Service’s promotion efforts. Railroad financiers backed the building of resorts 

and funded the forming of tourism programs, promoting not only parks, but of course, 

railroad travel. The winning alliance benefited both sides, and allowed people to visit 

parks and preserves that might have otherwise been ignored or seen as unreachable by 

the public. With the help of railroad financiers, and under the guidance of Mathers, 

millions of tourists visited national parks between 1916 and 1929.105 One 

advertisement, shown here, from the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad 

Company, promoted visitation to the Grand Canyon in the early 1900s (Fig. 4.2). 

 The community surrounding the volcano realized the substantial profitability 

of tourism. Early ads from the local newspaper, The Actual Settler, describe Capulin 

Mountain as “an extinct volcano, rising majestically above the town,” and continue on 

to describe the region as “impregnated with life and health for the invalid.”106

 The 

1899 Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper also advertised the health benefits of visiting 

or moving to a better climate, citing an “Illinois Physician’s Opinion on Pulmonary 

Tuberculosis.”107 In the article, Dr. J.B. Denham recommends that a permanent 

climate change is helpful for those who can afford it. A much later article from the 

same newspaper supports bringing in healthseekers as permanent residents, as opposed 

to just bringing in tourists or short term residents. The healthseekers are reported, in 

this article, to add greatly to the community in many ways, one contribution being that 

“tens of thousands of dollars are poured into circulation.”108

 Investors tried to capitalize on the popular search for a healthy climate to visit 

or move to. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, over eighty health spas and health 

seeker facilities were located in New Mexico.109 Unfortunately, the small towns of 

Folsom, Capulin, and Des Moines had mistimed their attempts to lure the tourist trade. 

Hindered by poor economics, fly by night investors, and a ranching community that 

wished to save the local lands for cattle, the early attempts to build a prosperous health 

spa or resort had failed to bring people and profit to the region. The failure of the 

Capulin Hotel left the community with little reason to trust big investors or outsiders 

with their future. 

 The volcano needed a booster of sorts, someone locally based who could 

market, not exploit, the region. Homer Farr was the promoter Capulin needed. Farr, 

as mentioned in Chapter Three, was not a local at first, but he was also not a 

 

104 Alfred Runte, “Pragmatic Alliance, Western Railroads and the National Parks” National 

Parks and Conservation Magazine April 1974, 15. 

105 “Pragmatic Alliance,” 18. 

106 The Actual Settler (Folsom), 20 May 1899. 

107 The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe), 12 July 1899. 

108 The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe), 22 Sept 1915 

109 Jerry Williams, New Mexico in Maps, Second Edition. (Albuquerque: University of New 

Mexico Press, 1986), 130. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

43

disconnected investor from afar. He came to the region, devoted his time and money, 

and made it his home. Farr had the energy and foresight to realize Capulin 

Mountain’s potential. His official appointment in 1923 as Custodian for Capulin 

Mountain, brought numerous changes to the volcano and the region. His enthusiasm 

and local involvement gave the volcano a voice in the community, as well as a voice 

in Washington D.C., where he made his funding problems known. 

4.2 Early Funding & the Road 

 The fledgling monument of Capulin Mountain needed amenities for visitors 

and funding for caretaking. Mr. Farr believed that better access to the top of the 

volcano would bring more tourists to the monument while boosting the local economy. 

He did not, however, have the support he needed from the Park Service. For many 

years, early visitors to the volcano would park their wagons at the base of the 

mountain and hike up to the top.110 This strenuous hike was difficult for many, and 

impossible for some. In 1925, Farr asked Congressman John Morrow if he would 

plead his case in Washington and get him the money he needed to build a road. 

Morrow acquired two thousand dollars for Farr to use at the monument. The money 

was deposited in the Raton National Bank, and according to Homer Farr, Morrow’s 

only request was that Farr keep track of how he spent the money.111 Farr used mules 

to drag weighted boards up the volcano in a spiraled path to the top. On December 25, 

1925, the road was finished and Mr. Farr drove the first car to the top (Fig. 4.2).112

Fig. 4.3 Homer Farr with the first car to drive to the top of Capulin Mountain, Dec 25, 1925.

 

 Homer surveyed and built the road himself. He was, however, immediately 

chastised by someone in Washington D.C. for building what they considered a 

precarious a dangerous road. Years later Mr. Farr defends his actions by stating that 

millions of visitors had been to the top of the volcano on the road, and there had 

 

110 Capulin Volcano National Monument Administrative Records, Area and Service History 

File H1417, 3. 

111 Homer Farr, transcribed interview, 16 March 1971, (National Park Service, Capulin 

Volcano National Monument Library, 2002) 5-6. 

112 Homer Farr, to the Superintendent of Southwestern National Monuments, 17 March 1972. 

Hand Written Letter, Capulin Volcano National Monument Administrative Records, File H2017. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

44

“never been a single accident or car rolled.”113 The road was certainly a spectacular 

accomplishment and quite industrious, especially considering Mr. Farr’s status as a 

part-time custodian. The path of the road is clearly seen in a photo taken by the 

National Park Service in the late 1950s (Fig. 4.4). 

Fig. 4.4 Aerial View of Capulin Mountain National Monument, Photograph by Fred Mang Jr. 

Property of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Negative 148-819 

(Charles Town: Historic Photographic Collections).

 The road to the top of Capulin Mountain National Monument brought Farr a 

whole new set of funding problems. In order to keep the road open, retaining walls, 

drainage ditches, and other basic road maintenance funds were needed. The steep 

slope of the volcano caused continual cinder slides and threatened the integrity of the 

volcano. Farr worked relentlessly to maintain the road and to keep it clear for passage. 

He continually requested funding from the Superintendent of Southwest National 

Monuments, Frank Pinkley. Farr’s persistent letters and monthly reports to Pinkley 

petitioned the Superintendent for his opinions on everything from safety walls to new 

trails.114 Farr received no support because there was not any money to give him. The 

disastrous economic times of the Great Depression spread across the nation leaving no 

one unaffected. During the 1920s and 30s, the National Park Service faced enormous 

 

113 Farr, transcribed interview, 6. 

114 Homer Farr, to the Superintendent of Southwestern National Monuments, Various. Typed 

Letters. National Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 57. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

45

cuts to an already tightly budgeted existence. Thanks to President Roosevelt’s New 

Deal, some relief was just around the bend for the volcano. 

 

Fig. 4.5 Capulin Mountain, 1931, Photograph by Roger Toll, 1931. Property of the National 

Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Negative WASO.H-145 (Charles Town: 

Historic Photographic Collections).

 Roosevelt devised an emergency economic plan supporting nation-wide 

federally funded work programs that he called the New Deal. The program not only 

created jobs for the unemployed but supported worthwhile national projects. The New 

Deal drew national support from a destitute nation, and the Capulin Mountain region 

was no different. In March of 1933, Homer Farr wrote to the Director of the National 

Park Service, Horace M. Albright, requesting that Capulin Mountain National 

Monument be considered as a project for relief work under President Roosevelt’s 

program. Farr explained that “There are thirty heads of families and ten single men 

who desire and really need relief and are more than willing to work for as little as 

$1.00 per day and their food or even less.”115 Farr’s request for funding reflected not 

only the facility needs, but his feeling of responsibility for the community surrounding 

Capulin Mountain. 

 In a later letter to Superintendent Pinkley, Farr again explains the destitute 

situation of the vicinity and the need for work, now more than ever. The region was 

suffering. In his letter, Farr pleads with Pinkley to come through with some money, at 

least until the short crop can be gathered.116 In a letter responding to Farr, 

Superintendent Pinkley explains that there are no funds for improvements, and no 

funds for maintenance, a 25% cut in funding has left them without support. Pinkley 

then explains that he is requesting, in addition to Farr’s earlier request, that the 

 

115 Homer Farr, to the Director of the National Park Service, 23 March 1933. Typed Letter. 

National Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 57. 

116 Homer Farr, to the Superintendent of Southwestern National Monuments, 12 July 1933. 

Typed Letter. National Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 57. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

46

Director of the Park Service consider them for emergency worker relief.117 Farr, 

undoubtedly suffering from the hard economic times and needing relief work as well, 

headed north in August of 1933 to obtain temporary work putting in a mining road. 

His letter to Pinkley, which started out “Dear Boss,” explained why he was 

temporarily gone from Capulin Mountain. Farr’s letters to Pinkley were usually 

upbeat and optimistic; however, this letter was uncharacteristically sarcastic and 

showed Farr’s frustration with the current economic situation, as well as with the Park 

Service.118 Much to Homer Farr’s delight and surprise, within a few months of his 

frustrated letter to Pinkley, the continual correspondence back and forth between 

Washington D.C., Farr, and Pinkley, finally paid off, and Capulin Mountain was 

funded for a federally supported relief work program. 

4.3 Civil Works Project 

 By November of 1933, a Civil Works Project was approved for Capulin 

Mountain, and Homer Farr needed only to obtain permission to hire men from the 

county unemployment rolls. The project, resulting from Farr’s persistence, brought 

needed funds to the monument and work to several families of the region. Surveying 

and work began December 16, 1933. Park Engineer Mr. Walter Atwell, along with 

Mr. Smoke Lyke, Mr. Stuart, and Mr. Williams, surveyed the mountain for a trail. 

The trail started at the bottom of the volcano, spiraled up to the rim, and then 

continued around the rim. Atwell’s assistant from out of town, Lyke, reportedly 

almost passed out on the job from the elevation change. After the surveying crew 

finished their job, Homer Farr had twenty five men hired and ready to work, including 

himself. Farr, knowing the maintenance needs of the road better than anyone else, 

served as the crew foreman and as a laborer on the road. His great enthusiasm is more 

than apparent in this excerpt from his letter dated December 23, 1933 (Fig. 4.6). 

The project employed Homer Farr as foreman and twenty four other men. The 

workers were Harry Hotchken, Dewey Murden, Enrique Garcia, Elio Mondragon, 

Elias Gonzales, Daniel Trujillo, Elmer Newton, Robert White, Conrad Montoya, Bert 

Hay, J. H. Owens, Joe Garcia, W. K. Mock, Fritz Willougsby, W.E. Orlow, H. A. 

Wilhelm, G.W. Gordon, Henry Fleming, Simon Chavez, Charles Hill, W.F. Rogue, 

Salomon Montoya, B.E. Wallace, and W.E. Altman.119 The men worked together to 

repair the road winding up Capulin Mountain, and to widen the parking area at the top. 

Farr’s persistence brought much needed money to the community and helped to fund 

the work needed for a more stable road up the volcano. His willingness to stick his 

neck out for the good of the volcano and the community would soon work to save his 

own job, in the face of allegations arising from an unhappy and unemployed worker. 

 

 

117 Frank Pinkley, to the Custodian of Capulin Mountain National Monument, 9 August 1933. 

Typed Letter. National Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 57. 

118 Homer Farr, to the Superintendent of Southwestern National Monuments, 26 August 1933. 

Typed Letter. National Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 57 

119 Homer Farr, to the State Civil Works Administration, 12 February 1934. Typed Letter. 

National Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 57. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

47

 

Fig. 4.6 Homer Farr’s Letter to Superintendent Pinckley Regarding CWP, Homer Farr, to the 

Superintendent of Southwestern National Monuments, 23 December 1933. Typed Letter. 

National Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 57. 

 In January of 1934, an angry worker claimed that he was not hired for the 

Capulin Mountain project because he would not buy land from Farr. The allegation 

came from a Mr. Ledoux, who also convinced his friend, Elio Mondragon to file a 

complaint. The two men swore that Homer Farr had tried to take advantage of them. 

Assistant Superintendent Robert H. Rose was sent to investigate the allegations. He 

visited Mr. H. H. Errett, Chairman of the Reemployment Committee for Union 

County, in order to establish what normal hiring procedures were for the county. Mr. 

Errett explained that he and his committee cleared men for employment based on their 

previous employment history. Farr only hired men who were cleared. Ledoux had not 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

48

been cleared because of a poor work record and he was, consequentially, very 

angry.

120 Farr did not hire him because he was not on the list, nothing more. Rose 

also discovered that although Mondragon and another worker, Daniel Trujillo, had 

purchased lots from Farr, the purchases were made well before the project. 

 The community, as well as worker Daniel Trujillo, came to Farr’s defense, 

stating that he would never be involved in any such business and that he was an 

upstanding and caring citizen who was trying to help his neighbors, not take advantage 

of them. In land sale documents brought forth in Farr’s defense, Farr did not even 

require that the land be paid for if the buyer was not working, although he did ask for 

half of the buyer’s pay if the person was working, which could be considered quite 

steep. Regardless, Mondragon eventually admitted that no wrong doing had taken 

place. He even brought forth paperwork clearing Farr’s name and stating almost the 

exact same agreement that Trujillo had with Farr. The community, as well as the 

workers, stood behind Homer Farr and he was eventually cleared of the unfortunate 

allegations.121

 

 The set back did not detour Farr from his mission to improve the monument 

and bring funding to the region. He continued to pursue federal assistance for the 

upkeep and development of the monument. The next projects on Homer Farr’s list 

were the much needed retaining walls to prevent rock slides as well as a perimeter 

fence to keep out cattle. In December of 1933, Custodian Farr wrote to 

Superintendent Pinkley asking for approval of these projects and requesting help 

acquiring funds. Farr boldly requested a regular salary as well in order that he might 

buy his wife a new dress for Christmas.122 Farr would get his Christmas wish the 

following year. New Civil Works Projects and the beginnings of a viable 

infrastructure had just begun for Capulin Mountain National Monument. 

4.4 Monument Infrastructure 

 

 The 1933 Civil Works Project for Capulin Mountain National Monument 

established the beginnings of the monument’s first, and much needed, solid 

infrastructure. This first undertaking also showed that Farr was capable of managing 

and completing a federally funded project. With the main access issues taken care of, 

specifically the road being cleared, several other problems could be addressed. By 

March of 1934, Farr reported accomplishing the graveling of the road below the cabin, 

clearing new road to the four camp grounds, the beginnings of outdoor fireplaces with 

stone heads, and creating a new cut off within park boundaries which eliminated three 

hundred feet of road.123 From early photographs, it appears that the old road 

apparently cut directly southwest from the south side of the mountain, (once a vehicle 

left the spiraling road), and traveled across non-monument property to the main road. 

 

120 Robert Rose, to the State Civil Works Administration, 20 February 1934. Typed Letter. 

National Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 57. 

121 Ibid. 

122 Homer Farr, to the Superintendent of Southwestern National Monuments, 23 December 

1933. Typed Letter. National Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 57. 

123 Homer Farr, to the Superintendent of Southwestern National Monuments, March 1934. Retyped Letter. Historical Binder, (Capulin, National Park Service, Intermountain Support Office 

Archives, Santa Fe), 13.
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

49

An early Capulin blueprint from July of 1934 shows the location of this early road and 

the location of the house or cabin built in approximately 1926 (Fig. 4.7). A 2001 

Union County Assessor’s map shows the more recent location of the road (Fig. 4.8). 

The new road traveled roughly west, staying on monument property, until it reached 

SR 325. This is the road presently used by the monument. 

 Fig. 4.7 Blueprint of Capulin Mountain, Drawn by Stewart, July 1934. Property of 

 Leonard Farr, Private Collection. 

 Fig. 4.8 Map of Capulin Mountain, February 2001. Union County Assessor, State of 

 New Mexico (Clayton: Union County Courthouse). 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

50

The improvement work at the monument also resulted in an unexpected archeological 

find near the new road. A metate, pottery sherds, arrow points, and animal bones were 

found in a cave near the base of the volcano, which Farr also describes in his March 

report. The cavern or cave is located across from the present day visitor center. 

 April 12, 1934, was the last day of Capulin Mountain’s first CWA project. In 

a letter to Superintendent Pinkley, Farr explained that the workers “have built roads, 

trails, public out-of-door fireplaces, improved camp grounds, erected new signs, and 

accomplished many other things much needed for the monument.”124 The monument 

was given the short lived means to make needed changes and basic infrastructure 

improvements, but more funding was needed. In response to Farr’s requests to 

Pinkley in December of 1933, Chief Engineer for the National Park Service, F.A. 

Kittredge, visited the volcano the following April. 

 Kittredge recommended that the director of the National Park Service fund 

road betterment, parking improvements, and fencing. He cited the previous visitor 

statistics of 25,000 visitors in 1932, and 14,000 in 1933, and suggested that the road 

be widened to the standard roadway size of sixteen feet in order to safely 

accommodate these large numbers of visitors. Because of inaccessibility above 400 

feet, Kittredge unfortunately did not recommend a well or water development, which 

Farr mentioned were needed on several occasions. He did see that Farr had done quite 

a bit with the small amount of funding given to the monument. Kittredge gave Farr a 

well deserved shining review and stated that “Custodian Homer Farr has accomplished 

fine results with his very meager CWA funds.”125 The estimate for this proposed 

improvement project totaled $19,000. 

 The improvement project was approved over the next few months, and Farr 

again hired and directed a crew of workers to get the project completed. In his August 

24, 1934 report to Superintendent Pinkley, Farr stated that the base of the retaining 

wall around the parking area was nearing completion, and that the next step would be 

the installation of two hundred and ninety feet of guard rail. The Federal Emergency 

Relief Administration (FERA) Project crew consisted of approximately ten men who 

worked on the road, parking area, and trails (Fig. 4.9). 

 A later photo shows the upper parking lot in the mid-1930s (Fig. 4.10). In the 

same report to Pinkley, Farr also stated that “This Monument is now completely 

fenced cattle proof with the exception of one half miles yet to be constructed and the 

cattle guard to be finished.”126 The monument was fenced in response to dangers 

presented when tourists tried to drive up the volcano and pass cattle on the road. 

Cattle also caused damage by overgrazing the slopes of the volcano.127 With the 

 

124 Homer Farr, to the Superintendent of Southwestern National Monuments, April 1934. Retyped Letter. Historical Binder, (Capulin, National Park Service, Intermountain Support Office 

Archives, Santa Fe), 15.

125 F.A. Kittredge, to the Director of the National Park Service, 20 April 1934. Typed Letter. 

National Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 57. 

126 Homer Farr, to the Superintendent of Southwestern National Monuments, 24 August 1934. 

Typed Letter. National Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 57. 

127 F.A. Kittredge, to the Director of the National Park Service, 20 April 1934. Typed Letter. 

National Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 57. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

51

conclusion of these initial federally funded projects, Capulin Mountain National 

Monument had finally established a needed fundamental infrastructure. 

 Fig. 4.9 Capulin Mountain Work Crew, August 1934. Homer Farr stands at the far 

 left of the picture. Property of Leonard Farr, Private Collection. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

52

 Fig. 4.10 Capulin Mountain Parking Area, Photographer Unknown c. 1938. Property 

 of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, (Charles Town: 

 Historic Photographic Collections). 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

53

Chapter 5 Early Resource Management 

5.1 Resource Management 

The late 1930s and early 1940s were very busy times for Capulin, however, 

important resource identification and management planning had just begun for the 

monument and the park service in general. Although limited in funding, Homer Farr 

continued to look for new ways to improve and manage the monument. Farr’s letters 

over the years to the Superintendent of the Southwestern National Monuments 

repeatedly pointed out what Farr considered the volcano’s two most important 

resources; the volcano itself, and the view from the top of the volcano. The 

spectacular view from the top of Capulin Mountain is most likely what lead Farr to 

build the spiraling road up the volcano in the first place. Farr found the view of the 

surrounding region such an asset, and of such great interest, that he even proposed that 

a telescope of some kind should be mounted at the top of the volcano for visitors to 

use. He offered to take the telescope down every night and replace it every morning to 

prevent vandalism. 

 Both Superintendent Frank Pinkley and later, Superintendent Hugh Miller, 

agreed with Farr that the view was incredible, and that a telescope would be a 

wonderful added feature. The cost and security of such a feature, however, prevented 

Farr’s wishes from being granted immediately. For years, Farr handed his binoculars 

over to the curious tourists and visitors, in order that they might look out over the 

incredible country. Later, brochures for the monument described the possible “view 

of five states” visible from the top of the volcano on a clear day. Eventually a 

numbered guide map was made available so that the visitor could decipher the 

different features visible from the volcano’s rim. The viewing map’s key, depicted in 

the following figure (Fig. 5.1) was numbered from 1 to 24 and read as follows; 

 

1. West Spanish Peak 13,610’ 

2. Greenhorn Mountain 12,349’ 

3. Towndraw Peak 8,609’ 

4. Red Mountain 8,445’ 

5. Culebra Range of the Sangre de Cristos (72 miles) 

6. Jose Butte 7,330’, 7. Mud Hill 7,200’ 

8. Baby Capulin 6,900 

9. Twin Mountain 6,800 

10. Gaylord Mountain 6,900’ 

11. Robinson Butte 8,185’ 

12. Green Mesa 7,900’ 

13. Larga Mesa 7,600’ 

14. Horseshoe Mountain 7,810’ 

15. Sierra Grande 8,720’ 

16. Rabbit Ears Mountain 5,940’ (44 miles) 

17. Tinaga peak 7,810 

18. Laughlin Peak 8,820’ 

19. 8,150 (name not listed) 

20. Pine Butte 8,400’ 

21. Timber Butte 8,400’ 

22. Palo Blanco 8,385’ 

23. Malpie Mountain 7,440’ 

24. 7,060 (name not listed) 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

54

Fig. 5.1 Crater Trail Guide Numbered View Map, Circ. 1967. Property of the National 

Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, in Cooperation with Southwestern Monuments 

Association, Globe: Arizona (Harpers Ferry: Harpers Ferry Center Reference Services). 

 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

55

 Fig. 5.2 Incorporating a Telescope, Hugh Miller, to the Custodian of Capulin 

 Mountain National Monument, 12 August 1940. Typed Letter. National Archives and 

 Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 57. 

In August of 1940, Superintendent Hugh Miller responded to another of Farr’s 

requests for a telescope with the following hopeful letter (Fig. 5.2). 

 Farr was undoubtedly happy with this response from Miller regarding the 

possibility of a telescope for Capulin. In order for visitors to enjoy the view, they 

needed to be able to get to the top of the volcano using the monument road. The road, 

however, was a continual maintenance problem for the monument. Sliding cinders 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

56

and poor drainage left Custodian Farr with little time and funding to work on other 

projects. Farr believed that a retaining wall was the best answer to the seemingly 

never ending road maintenance issues (Fig. 5.3 & 5.4). 

 Figs. 5.3 & 5.4 Homer Farr on the monument road, pre-retaining 

 walls, circ. 1938. Property of Leonard Farr, Private Collection. 

In early June of 1938, Farr wrote to Superintendent Pinkley voicing his 

disappointment that the stabilization or retaining wall was, according to Pinkley, too 

expensive for the Park Service to undertake.128 Farr sympathized with Pinkley’s 

difficult job, but felt that the wall was important to the integrity of the road and the 

safety of visitors. The continual sliding volcanic cinders also made the road and 

drainage culverts more expensive and difficult to maintain (Fig. 5.5). 

 

128Homer Farr, to the Superintendent of Southwestern National Monuments, 8 June 1938. 

Typed Letter. National Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 57. 

 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

57

 Fig. 5.5 Capulin Mountain Culvert, circ. 1938. Property of Leonard Farr, 

 Private Collection. 

5.2 A General Plan 

 During the late 1930s, Assistant Superintendent Hugh Miller visited the 

monument to help Custodian Farr assess the situation and start a remedial resource 

management plan. After months of visitors and approvals, a general plan was agreed 

upon. Capulin Mountain National Monument needed several improvements which 

were outlined in a letter from Superintendent Pinkley to Farr, dated October 18, 1938. 

A used pickup truck was to be transferred from Bandelier National Monument for use 

at Capulin. The transfer would take place as soon as Bandelier Monument had a new 

truck to replace the one being sent to Capulin. Farr was delighted at the prospect of 

having an NPS vehicle, instead of his own personal car, to use for monument 

maintenance. Although he managed to make do and invented his own equipment from 

whatever he had at hand, Farr had faced many setbacks from his lack of funding and 

the absence of needed equipment. The truck would finally give him a valuable and 

necessary maintenance tool. Pinkley also approved and summarized several other 

long awaited projects in his letter to Farr. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

58

 The old stone toilets were to be removed, and new standard Park toilets put in, 

one for women and one for men. Pinkley wished to consult the Branch of Plans and 

Design before digging any new pits. He also felt that it was not necessary to have any 

such facilities along the road, they were only needed near the parking area. He 

contemplated having the men’s facility at one end of the parking area, and the 

women’s facility at the other. Farr was told to destroy the picnic area fireplace at the 

park entrance and to move the picnic table to a better location, a quarter of a mile 

west. Three new picnic areas would be chosen and new fireplaces built at a later date. 

According to Pinkley’s letter, the big fireplace was not to be disturbed for now. The 

exact location of this particular fireplace is not mentioned in Pinkley’s 

correspondence.129 A photo from the late 1930s shows a fireplace and picnic table 

at Capulin Mountain (Fig. 5.6). 

 Fig. 5.6 Homer and dog at a Capulin picnic area, circ. 1938. 

 Property of Leonard Farr, Private Collection. 

 

 

129 Frank Pinkley, to the Custodian of Capulin Mountain National Monument, 18 October 

1938. Typed Letter. National Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 57. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

59

 Another management issue which made the list of planned improvements 

included the removal of dead and infested trees. Assistant Forester W. Ward Yeager 

prepared the “Annual Forest Insect Narrative Report” for Capulin. Yeager and Farr 

surveyed the monument and found porcupine and erosion damage to several trees. 

Porcupines were noted as a problem for the pinyon trees in several reports to the NPS. 

This cartoon depiction of a porcupine at work was used in a crater rim trail guide for 

the monument (Fig. 5.7). 

Fig. 5.7 Crater Trail Guide Depiction of a Porcupine Eating Pinyon Bark, Property of 

 the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, in Cooperation with 

 Southwestern Monuments Association, Globe: Arizona (Harpers Ferry: Harpers Ferry 

 Center Reference Services). 

 These porcupine damaged trees, as well as approximately forty wind damaged 

trees, had become a breeding area for insects described in the report as the ips 

cofusus.

130 The ips cofusus is commonly called the bark beetle. This beetle is capable 

 

130 Ward Yeager, Annual Forest Insect Narrative Report, Capulin National Monument. (Santa 

Fe: NPS Region Three, 1938). National Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File 

Box 57. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

60

of causing great damage to forests, but usually infests already dead or dying trees.131 

In Yeager’s September 1938 report, he stated that there was not a problematic 

infestation, but he suggested the removal of these damaged and infested trees which 

were located generally on the south and east mountain slopes.132

 

 Homer Farr immediately took action and removed “some thirty or forty down 

trees from near the road,” as he pointed out in his October report.133 He did not give 

specifics as to what was done with the removed trees, but most likely he was 

resourceful in their removal and use. The density of the tree population on Capulin 

Mountain is difficult to surmise. Many reports from the community claimed that the 

volcano was barren of trees, while other reports state that local folks used the 

mountain to retrieve large amounts of firewood and building materials. Homer Farr 

and his brother apparently owned a lumber company in the town of Capulin for a short 

while, however, the provider of their lumber is unknown. Certainly, at the time of 

Yeager’s September 1938 report, there were enough trees to merit such a report and 

the involvement of a professional forester. 

 Pinkley requested further changes for the monument. He asked that Farr 

immediately move a fence line that existed approximately two hundred yards from the 

monument entrance. The fence, according to discussions with Miller, Richey, and 

other NPS management, was too close to the monument boundary and should be 

moved back to “overcome its objectionable proximity to the right of way.”134 In his 

report to Pinkley regarding his management planning visit with Farr, Assistant 

Superintendent Hugh Miller also suggested that Farr make regular refuse cleaning 

visits to the monument rim, parking area, and the picnic areas. This regularly 

scheduled clean-up would take place as soon as Bandelier transferred the old NPS 

truck to Capulin. 

 Pinkley also confirmed the removal of what he referred to as the “Concrete 

Shelter or Checking Station.” He told Farr that he was in agreement that the old 

building should go, and Farr was to use powder or whatever he needed to efficiently 

bring the building safely down. Superintendent Pinkley requested that Farr use 

caution blowing up the building. He did not want the ground or surrounding 

vegetation to be scarred from the operation. He also suggested that Farr take the 

remains of the old building and dump them in some off monument arroyo “where they 

will not be visible from the various roads ... you probably know just the arroyo in 

which to dump them.” This advice to dump the remains of the old building wherever, 

was probably not considered inappropriate by 1938 preservation standards. 

 Farr did not get around to removing the building right away. Homer Farr, in 

his usual resourceful manner, had other plans for the left over materials from the old 

building. In a letter to Pinkley dated November 18, 1938, Farr asked if he could have 

permission to use the materials from the “little cabin” for a possible chicken house 

covering or something else. He had not removed the building yet, and was awaiting 

 

131 New Mexico Department of Game and Fish et al, Biota Information System of New 

Mexico, Ips Confusus, March 2002. 

132 Yeager, Annual Forest Insect Narrative Report.

133 Homer Farr, to the Superintendent of Southwestern National Monuments, 29 October 1938. 

Typed Letter. National Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 57. 

134 Pinkley, to the Custodian. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

61

the “new” truck.135 Farr also explained in his letter that the building had been there for 

approximately fourteen years. The building had been used as the monument’s first 

check-in station or visitor shelter. In retrospect, the decision to remove one of the 

monument’s first structures was an unfortunate mistake. The building would have 

certainly been considered historical and worthy of preservation by today’s standards 

and guidelines. An early picture of the visitor shelter shows a man, woman, and 

young boy standing near the building with a suitcase in the foreground (Fig. 5.8). 

 

 Fig. 5.8 Visitor Shelter or Cabin. Photograph courtesy of Dietmar Schneider-Hector, 

Jessie Foote Jack, “A Capable and Worthy Woman,” The Origins of Capulin Volcano 

 National Monument (Las Cruces: Dietmar Schneider-Hector, 2002), 16. National 

 Archives photo.

 

135 Homer Farr, to the Superintendent of Southwestern National Monuments, 18 November 

1938. Typed Letter. National Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 57. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

62

 Early plans for the building or cabin are visible in a 1925 correspondence from 

Farr (Fig. 5.9). A later 1934 blueprint shows the actual building location (Fig. 5.10). 

Fig. 5.9 Homer Farr’s Cabin Proposal, 1925. Correspondence courtesy of Dietmar SchneiderHector, Jessie Foote Jack, “A Capable and Worthy Woman,” The Origins of Capulin Volcano 

National Monument (Las Cruces: Dietmar Schneider-Hector, 2002), 29. 

Fig. 5.10 Enlarged Blueprint of Capulin Mountain, Drawn by Stewart, July 1934. Property of 

Leonard Farr, Private Collection. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

63

Fig. 5.11 Capulin Mountain, Circ. 1931, Photograph by Roger Toll. Property of the National 

Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, (Charles Town: Historic Photographic 

Collections). 

Fig. 5.12 Capulin Mountain Postcard, Copyrighted by J. R. Willis, Southwest Postcard 

Company, From Circ. 1931, Photograph by Roger Toll. Courtesy of Dr. Jon Hunner. In 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

64

response to Farr’s November 18th letter and questions regarding the cabin or shelter, 

Pinkley replied, “When you destroy the old cabin we would be glad if you might store 

in your own yard any salvage materials which appear to have value.”136 By March of 

1939, Farr reported having removed the cabin by dynamiting it and hauling any 

leftover valuable materials to his own yard for further disposition. The ground where 

the cabin was located was now completely cleared.137 1938 and early 1939 proved to 

be very busy times for Capulin, however, important resource identification and 

management planning had just begun for the monument and for the NPS in general. 

5.3 Photographers & Naturalists 

The early 1930s, although financially difficult times for the monument, 

brought photographers and naturalists along with the usual tourists. Many of the 

earliest photographs of the volcano were taken by Homer Farr, his family members, 

friends, and of course, the visiting tourists and naturalists. Local people, living near 

Capulin Mountain, remember taking family pictures with the volcano in the 

background. Professional photographers came to the monument, and much later 

during the 1960s, the National Park Service sent NPS Photographer Fred Mang Jr. to 

the volcano to take what would become the volcano’s most publicized photos. The 

area was both scenic and unusual and attracted both the amateur and professional. 

 Roger W. Toll took several early photographs of the volcano, which later 

became the subject matter for a tourist postcard distributed by the Southwest Post Card 

Company (Figs. 5.11, 5.12, 5.13). 

Fig. 5.13 Capulin Mountain, 1931, Photograph by Roger Toll, 1931. Property of the National 

Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Negative WASO.H-145 (Charles Town: 

Historic Photographic Collections).

 

136 Frank Pinkley, to the Custodian of Capulin Mountain National Monument, 3 December 

1938. Typed Letter. National Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 57. 

137 Capulin Historical Binder, (Capulin, National Park Service, Intermountain Support Office 

Archives) 67. Retype of Homer Farr’s Letters.
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

65

 In 1938, the U.S. Department of Agriculture took an interesting aerial 

photograph of Capulin. Science News Letter used the photograph in an issue dated the 

same year. The original negative for the photo was lost, however, a copy of the 

negative was recovered in 1984 amongst the monument records. The photographer is 

unknown (Fig. 5.14). 

Fig. 5.14 Capulin Mountain, Aerial, USDA, 1938. Property of the National Park Service, U.S. 

Department of the Interior, Negative 27 (Charles Town: Historic Photographic Collections). 

The late 1930s brought new attention to Capulin Monument. Custodian 

Homer Farr submitted another Works Progress Administration project proposal 

requesting $73,741 in June of 1939. His purpose was to “improve the road into 

Capulin Mountain National Monument and to provide labor to the unemployed.”138

 

His work description stated that he wished to develop the monument through the 

restoration and conservation of water, soil, forest, and wildlife. The plea for funding, 

although admirable and in correspondence with the National Park System’s 

conservation efforts, was mistimed. As 1940 loomed, so did a change of leadership 

for NPS biologists. The biologists were to answer to the newly established Office of 

National Park Wildlife.139 This change of authority diminished the conservation 

agenda of the NPS by taking away what modest power and voice the conservation 

biologists maintained within the NPS. 

 Without this voice, which advocated conservation over use as historian 

Richard Sellars explains, the NPS would resume a utilitarian approach and “two 

decades would pass before scientific resource management in the national parks would 

experience even a small resurgence.”140 Although somewhat untimely and short lived, 

Farr’s request stirred interest in the monument from within the NPS, bringing several 

officials to the volcano. Naturalists, photographers, engineers, and landscape 

 

138 Homer Farr, to the Works Progress Administration, 5 June 1939. Typed Project Proposal. 

National Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 58. 

139 Richard W. Sellars, Preserving Nature in the National Parks, A History (New Haven: Yale 

University Press, 1997), 146. 

140 Sellars, Preserving Nature, 147. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

66

architects visited the monument providing much needed expertise. Along with new 

picnic areas, improvements to the road, and several other approved projects, Farr was 

given assistance in designing his long advocated Capulin information leaflet. Farr had 

designed several preliminary models. He, however, did not feel as though he was an 

expert and could correctly convey the appropriate scientific information that he 

wanted the leaflet to provide for his visitors. This needed scientific assistance and 

advice came from Natt Dodge. 

5.4 Natt Dodge 

 Natt N. Dodge worked as a naturalist for the NPS. His easy manner gave him 

the ability to fit in at any function, and he was immediately well liked by Farr. Dodge 

spent many hours at the monument surveying wildlife, taking pictures, and helping 

Homer Farr to get the assistance and attention the monument needed. In 1938, Dodge 

took the following photograph of Capulin Mountain (Fig. 5.15). 

Fig. 5.15 Capulin Mountain from the West, Circ 1938, Photograph by Natt Dodge. Property 

of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Negative 28 (Charles Town: 

Historic Photographic Collections). 

 Dodge took Farr’s ideas for an informational leaflet and added his naturalist 

touch. After some deliberation and research, Dodge wrote to Farr in March of 1940 

relaying the good news that 2,000 leaflets were on the way to Capulin Monument. 

The leaflets were temporary handouts until Farr could approve the final version. 

Dodge, with the help of Ranger Ed Alberts, chose to leave several illustrations out of 

the final version because of the difficulty involved in printing them. Dodge included 

in his letter to Farr that Capulin’s leaflet would be the only one that headquarters 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

67

allowed to have illustrations, and the only one having two pages. 141 The original 

informational leaflet probably resembled the one page leaflets printed in the early 

1940s. The leaflet shown here was printed after 1945 and uses a photograph taken by 

Natt Dodge (Fig. 5.16). Homer Farr is the standing figure in the photo. 

 Fig. 5.16 Capulin Mountain Leaflet Signed by Homer Farr, Circ. 1945, Map Drawn 

 by J.J. Black, Photo By N. Dodge. Property of Leonard Farr, Private Collection. 

 Farr was of course delighted with the leaflets, found no need for improvement, 

and replied to Dodge with the following gracious and appreciative letter (Fig 5.17).

When Superintendent Frank Pinkley retired his position in the late 1930s, 

Hugh M. Miller became the new Superintendent for Southwestern National 

Monuments, based in Coolidge, Arizona. He had served as Pinkley’s assistant, 

spending a great deal of time working with Homer Farr at the monument. Miller’s 

former duties, which required his presence at the monument, gave him a much better 

view of the natural environment and the monument’s needs. Miller had assisted Farr 

in pinpointing important monument issues and devising a plan of action. He realized 

that the monument had to carefully identify its important natural resources and that 

Farr would need help with this endeavor. 

 Naturalist Natt Dodge was allowed to focus his efforts on Capulin from 

approximately 1938 on. He assisted Farr in completing the annual wildlife census in 

1939. Dodge also helped Farr to compile his ideas regarding a crater rim museum, 

complete with telescope. Farr submitted this proposal for a museum to Frank Pinkley 

before Pinkley’s retirement. Farr felt as though one of the monument’s greatest 

 

141 Natt Dodge, to the Custodian of Capulin Mountain National Monument, 22 March 1940. 

Typed Letter. National Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 57 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

68

Fig. 5.17 Homer Farr, to Southwestern National Monuments Naturalist, 4 April 1940. Typed 

Letter. National Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 57. 

resources, as mentioned earlier, was the view from the top of the crater, and he pressed 

the NPS to give the monument a visitor center at the rim and a telescope. Miller 

promised Farr that he would look into the matter. Unfortunately for many, U.S. 

involvement in World War II seemed inevitable. Lack of funding sources and major 

cuts within the NPS ended the monument’s short rush of resource conservation and 

management activity. Capulin suffered along with the rest of the NPS, waiting 

hopefully for the end of the war, and for monetary relief. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

69

Chapter 6 Visitor Facilities Planning 

6.1 Visitor Center Development 

 In December of 1941, the entrance of the United States into World War II sent 

the National Park Service, as well as the U.S. in general, into a strict mode of 

rationing. Huge funding cuts left the NPS with approximately twenty five percent of 

its original personnel. Amenities and funding were limited to critical war time needs. 

The Civilian Conservation Corps was cut completely. 142 Capulin Mountain National 

Monument moved from a process of progressive conservation and management to 

survival mode. Every expenditure required justification (Fig 6.1). 

Fig. 6.1 Certificate of War Necessity for Capulin Mountain’s Pickup Truck, Oct. 27, 1943. 

(U.S. Office of Defense Transportation). Property of Leonard Farr, Private Collection. 

 Custodian, Homer Farr was determined not to lose sight of his dream, 

regardless of the state of the nation. He believed that the volcano’s interesting history, 

geologic features, and breathtaking views merited a crater rim museum and several 

trail side exhibits. For several years he pushed the National Park Service to consider 

his ideas and eventually, they investigated the possibility of a crater rim exhibit and 

shelter and a trailside exhibit. Dr. C. P. Russell and Associate Architect Leffler 

Miller, along with several other Berkeley Headquarters staff members, researched the 

monument and submitted an official proposal. The proposal outlined ideas for a 

lookout shelter to be located at the crater rim (Figs 6.2, 6.3, and 6.4). 

 

142 Richard W. Sellars, Preserving Nature in the National Parks, A History (New Haven: Yale 

University Press, 1997), 150-51. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

70

 Fig. 6.2 Exhibit Plans for Lookout Shelter, Neal Butterfield, to the Custodian of 

 Capulin Mountain National Monument, 2 August 1940. Typed Letter. National 

 Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 58. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

71

 Figs. 6.3 and 6.4 Exhibit Plans for Lookout Shelter, Neal Butterfield, to the Custodian 

 of Capulin Mountain National Monument, 2 August 1940. Typed Letter. National 

 Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 58. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

72

 Figs. 6.5, 6.6, and 6.7 Three New Signs, circ. 1940. 

 Property of Leonard Farr, Private Collection. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

73

 Inside the shelter, exhibits would explain the geologic science of the volcano 

while providing protection from the elements for visitors. A trailside exhibit 

explaining the Folsom discovery was also outlined in the proposal. This exhibit would 

provide a resting place for trail hikers. Both exhibits were to be made of native rock 

and were to be self operating.143 Associate Park Planner Neal Butterfield wrote to Farr 

on August 2, of 1940, relaying the exciting information that the Director had approved 

the plan. However, the necessary funding was not available to complete the project. 

Farr would have to wait several more years. The proposal was filed away, but not 

forgotten. Farr, unfortunately, did not get the exhibits and shelter he desired, but the 

proposal and official visits brought support for other monument needs. 

6.2 Park Amenities 

 Throughout the late 1930s and early 1940s, Farr received long awaited park 

supplies and materials from the NPS. Although seemingly minor supplies, many of 

the items were necessary for park maintenance. One twenty gallon and two twelve 

gallon garbage cans were shipped to Raton for Farr to pick up in late 1939.144 The 

plans for these receptacles had been approved in previous years, but the funding was 

always absent. Farr had formerly used his own vehicle and receptacles to dispose of 

visitor trash on the monument. Three much needed road signs and park information 

signs were finished by a soon to be disbanded federal work camp at Bandelier 

National Monument. The group was supervised by H.B. Chase, who wrote to Farr 

requesting that he drive out to Bandelier and pick up the signs which were apparently 

too large to ship. The new signs were placed at the entrance to the monument, the 

bottom of the spiraling volcano road, and the side of the volcano road (Figs 6.5, 6.6, 

and 6.7). 

 Other signage was designed by the State Tourists Bureau in order to direct 

travelers from Highway 64 north towards Capulin Mountain.145 This 1950 photo 

shows the sign that was delivered sometime in later April of 1940 (Fig 6.8). 

 Three latrines for Capulin Mountain were completed by another federal work 

camp located at Chaco Canyon National Monument in August of 1941. Farr was sent 

the materials to complete three camp tables, three fireplaces, three latrines or toilets, 

and was also given other minor signage for the monument roads. 

 

143 Proposed Lookout and Museum & Folsom Trailside Exhibit, Circ. 1939. Typed Report., 

(Capulin, National Park Service, Intermountain Support Office Archives, Santa Fe), Record NPS 

CAVO, G, 10, PC11650. 

144 Frank Pinkley, to the Custodian of Capulin Mountain National Monument, 8 September 

1939. Typed Letter. National Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 57. 

145 Homer Farr, to the Superintendent of Southwestern National Monuments, 19 March 1940. 

Typed Letter. National Archives and Records Administration, Denver, RG 79, File Box 57. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

74

 

 Fig. 6.8 Capulin Mountain Sign on Highway 64, circ. 1950. 

 Property of Leonard Farr, Private Collection. 

 After years of planning, Capulin Mountain National Monument still did not 

have an official onsite visitor center. Homer Farr and his family, however, owned a 

business at the base of the volcano in the town of Capulin. Here visitors could buy 

auto supplies, gas, water, wood, souvenirs, and pick up volcano information. An 

early photo shows Farr Motor Company around the 1940s (Fig. 6.9). 

 Fig. 6.9 Farr Motor Company circ. 1940. Capulin Historical Binder, (Capulin, 

 National Park Service, Intermountain Support Office Archives). 

 Another photo from the early 1950s shows the Farr business with a newly 

added awning and signage advertising free volcano information (Fig. 6.10). 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

75

 Fig. 6.10 Farr Family Business, circ. 1950. 

 Property of Leonard Farr, Private Collection. 

 The Farr family business became Capulin Monument’s unofficial visitor 

center, offering information about the volcano, free camping, a clean and modern 

bathroom facility, supplies, and surprisingly, an occasional donkey ride. (Fig. 6.11). 

 Fig. 6.11 Donkey near the Farr Family Business, Homer Farr is standing near 

 the head of the donkey. circ. 1948. Property of Leonard Farr, Private Collection. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

76

 Farr undoubtedly made a small profit from the sale of food and water and other 

tourist services, but his business also promoted the monument at his personal expense. 

As a part-time custodian for the NPS, Homer Farr exceeded his job expectations by 

spending hours with visitors, explaining the geology of the volcano and offering his 

expertise. In response to a 2002 historical questionnaire regarding Capulin, Homer 

Farr’s daughter-in-law, Mary Elizabeth Brown Farr, and his eldest grandson, Leonard 

Jay Farr, described the difficult financial problems of the region. Both explained that 

the town of Capulin did not offer vast opportunities, in fact, the region was very 

difficult to survive in, and the family business barely paid its own bills at times. 

 Regardless of hard times, monument visitors were always treated with the 

utmost respect, and Homer Farr was dedicated to the Park Service and Capulin 

Mountain. Farr was also known for his sense of humor and ability to squeeze a smile 

out of the most dismal tourist. Visitors often enjoyed themselves so much that they 

would write letters of appreciation to the NPS and to Homer Farr. The beginning of 

World War II and United States involvement in the war changed the demographic 

makeup of visitors to the monument. Rationing and national hardship prevented the 

usual tourists from making their regular visits to the monument. In his final reports, 

before war rationing ended regular NPS reporting during the mid-1940s, Farr noted 

the drop off in visitation. These were difficult times for the monument, the NPS, and 

the United States. Limited funding and careful rationing of resources left the NPS and 

Capulin Monument in a short period of stagnated growth. However, by the end of the 

1940s, a new plan for the NPS was on the horizon, a plan that would eventually lead to 

an NPS sponsored visitor center for Capulin Monument. 

6.3 Mission 66 

 The end of World War II lead to a U.S. postwar economy that historians 

Richard Etulain and Michael Malone describe as “the greatest sustained prosperity that 

any nation has ever seen.”146 Tremendous economic growth meant that people had the 

money and time to travel. As a result, the parks system experienced a huge resurgence 

in visitation. Nationwide, tourists enjoyed their new economic freedom and leisure 

time by hitting the road and taking their families on vacations. The already stressed 

and deteriorating NPS infrastructures were straining under the new visitation 

population pressures. Like Capulin, many parks and monuments spent the 1940s 

merely surviving. No new management plans or development plans had been made 

for the volcano since 1940.147 The great influx of visitors undoubtedly kept part time 

custodian Homer Farr very busy. Capulin Mountain’s visitation more than doubled in 

a five year period, jumping from 14,098 visitors in 1945, to 29,100 visitors in 1950.148 

The trend was repeated throughout the NPS. 

 

146 Michael Malone and Richard Etulain, The American West, A Twentieth Century History 

(Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990), 220. 

147 Master Plan Development Outline, Capulin Mountain National Monument, New Mexico, 

1952. Property of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior (Harpers Ferry: Harpers 

Ferry Center Reference Services) 2. 

148 Museum Prospectus, Capulin Volcano National Monument Administrative Records, Area 

and Service History File D6215, 6. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

77

 In light of the new and returning visitors, the NPS no longer needed to 

concentrate on the development of tourism. Instead of the previous tourist campaign, 

the NPS needed to focus its resources on park infrastructure and visitor amenity 

development, which Capulin Mountain National Monument, along with many other 

parks and monuments, needed desperately. In Preserving Nature in the National 

Parks, historian Richard West Sellars explains that the Park Service scrambled to 

accommodate the incredible influx of visitors. Conrad Wirth, a planner and landscape 

architect for the NPS, “argued that development would save the parks. By the 1950s, 

the public was (in a phrase that Wirth claimed had been coined by the Service) ‘loving 

the parks to death.’ Development would control where the public went and prevent 

misuse....This idea became a fundamental principle of Wirth’s Mission 66 

program...”149

 

 Conrad Wirth, newly appointed as NPS director in 1951, hoped that he could 

implement a plan which would enable the parks to build new infrastructure, visitor 

centers, and other public amenities. Wirth, however, approached his monetary 

problems in a different manner from his predecessors. Hoping to develop a large long 

term plan that would appeal to everyone, he asked congress “for an entire decade of 

funding,” and surprisingly, he received it.150 The billion dollar endeavor, to be 

implemented over a ten year period starting in 1956 and ending in 1966, was called 

Mission 66. Capulin Mountain National Monument, along with the rest of the NPS, 

benefited greatly from the new program which brought a different progressive 

architectural style to the NPS. 

 Unfortunately for Homer Farr, Capulin Mountain’s longtime custodian, he was 

approaching retirement and would not personally usher in the coming expansion of 

funding, staffing, or new buildings. Capulin would get the visitor center that Farr had 

dreamed of for many years, but the original plans for a rustic building on the crater rim 

would not be used. Instead, a new modernist style of functionality would take its 

place. The modernist movement, which was sweeping the United States, appealed to 

Conrad Wirth on a utilitarian level, and he did not wish to use the old fashioned rustic 

style. He felt that park buildings should be simple service buildings that did not take 

away from the surrounding environment.151 The former style of the NPS was a 

regional rustic style that lead to interesting buildings; however, Wirth had a budget to 

maintain, and he wanted efficient, progressive structures. Cecil Doty was one of the 

architects hired to carry out this new style. 

6.4 Cecil Doty 

Cecil John Doty served the NPS as an architect and engineer throughout most 

of his career (Fig. 6.12). 

 

149 Richard W. Sellars, Preserving Nature in the National Parks, A History (New Haven: Yale 

University Press, 1997), 181. 

150 Sara, Allaback, Mission 66 Visitor Centers, The History of a Building Type (Washington 

D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2000) 3. 

151 Allaback, Mission 66, 11. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

78

 Fig. 6.12 Cecil John Doty, Circ. 1939, (National Park Service, 

 Intermountain Support Office Archives, Santa Fe). 

 Raised on a farm in May, Oklahoma, Doty decided to attend college at 

Oklahoma A&M, graduating in 1928 with a degree in architectural engineering.152 

According to historian Sarah Allaback, Doty created or assisted in creating many of 

the park buildings and visitor centers in use today throughout the NPS. His extensive 

work, however, never brought him fame and fortune, instead, he played a distinctive 

role working behind the scenes. Doty received praise for several of his designs which 

incorporated natural adobe, wood, and other regional materials into the architecture. 

His building designs, however, gradually evolved along with the NPS desire to 

modernize its facilities. The long practiced era of regionally or culturally rustic 

building design progressively gave way to the non-intrusive utilitarian architecture of 

the early 1950s and 1960s. 

 These new architectural styles were not well liked by many who felt that the 

park buildings should be representative of local styles, instead of merely functionally 

operational facilities. Doty, however, managed the difficult assignment of placing the 

new modern Mission 66 buildings into the park environments without disrupting the 

natural beauty of the park. Cecil Doty completed plans for a visitor center, two 

residences, and a maintenance garage for Capulin Mountain in the late 1950s and early 

1960s. The Mission 66 buildings would not be completed for several years, awaiting 

allocated funding from the NPS. During this waiting period, long-time custodian 

Homer Farr retired, leaving the volcano he had watched over and tended to for thirtytwo years. 

 

152 Allaback, Mission 66, 215. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

79

Chapter 7 Change & Growth 

7.1 Homer Farr Retires 

Born in Kansas in October of 1885, Homer Farr had come a long way from his 

family home to live at the base of Capulin Mountain. In the late 1940s and early 

1950s, Farr realized that it might be time to retire from his work for the NPS. In a 

letter from General Superintendent John M. Davis, Farr was informed that he would 

reach mandatory retirement age in October of 1955.153 Farr had served the monument 

well, while making friends and business acquaintances across the nation (Fig. 7.1). 

 Fig. 7.1 Homer Farr, (left), with visitor J.N. McNeany. The photo 

 was sent to Farr from McNeany’s home in Enid, Oklahoma. circ. 1950. 

 Property of Leonard Farr, Private Collection. 

 

153 John Davis, to the Custodian of Capulin Mountain National Monument, 25 October 1954. 

Typed Letter. Property of Leonard Farr, Private Collection.
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

80

 Farr retired in 1955 at seventy years of age. He was given a certificate of 

honor, signed by Conrad Wirth, Director of the National Park Service. The certificate 

was awarded for commendable service (Fig. 7.2). 

 Fig. 7.2 Department of Interior Certificate of Honor, awarded to Homer Farr, 

 August 31, 1955, Property of Leonard Farr, Private Collection. 

 Farr’s retirement unfortunately meant that he did not get to see the vast 

changes that Wirth’s Mission 66 program would finally bring to the volcano. Capulin 

Mountain National Monument was about to be completely overhauled, receiving new 

facilities, paved roads, and a full time staff. Farr eventually moved to Beaumont, 

Texas to be near his children. He kept in contact with the monument through the mail 

and by phone and was occasionally asked to provide historical information and his 

opinion on past events by historians and NPS employees. His retirement marked the 

end of an era, and the opening of a new period of development for the monument. 

7.2 Crater Rim Exhibit Shelter 

In his 1952 report on Capulin, Naturalist L.P. Amberger pointed out the 

inadequacy of a “one man monument” and the need for better facilities. The report 

Amberger compiled recommended a combined headquarters building, small museum, 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

81

and an entrance station, to be located at the west entrance to the monument.154 His 

report agreed with Farr and with Hugh Miller’s later recommendations, that visitors 

should have access to exhibits and information covering Capulin Mountain, as well as 

other southwestern and NPS subjects. In 1954, the year prior to Farr’s retirement, 

Assistant Regional Director Hugh Miller visited the monument and made his own 

observations in an inspection letter to the Regional Director. Miller eventually 

became the Regional Director, making his inspection even more important for later 

monument funding. He reported that the log entrance sign had deteriorated and would 

need to be replaced immediately. Highway signs leading to the monument were small 

and inadequate and also needed replacing as soon as possible. 

 The picnic area contained two well used picnic tables, two fireplaces, one 

poorly functioning pit toilet, and one garbage container. Miller refuted an observation 

made in the November 10, 1954 issue of National Parks Magazine, which indicated 

that the picnic area was littered. He pointed out several other inadequacies, however, 

and requested new garbage containers and an additional picnic table. The one pit 

toilet at the picnic area was also in disrepair and needed a door at the very least. 

 Miller examined the crater road and parking area and urged the NPS to 

construct a wayside exhibit and shelter. He found the pit toilet at the crater rim 

intolerable. He pointedly remarked that “nothing more astonishing in the way of 

public sanitation facilities can be found anywhere in the National Park Service than 

the roofless, doorless, stone-masonry structure which has served at Capulin for many 

years.”155 This statement laughably mirrored what Farr had been telling the NPS for 

countless years. In closing, Hugh Miller stated that Homer Farr “plans to retire at the 

close of August 1955. This will present a close to many years of faithful, loyal, and 

inadequately remunerated service and a remarkably successful effort to make the area 

available for the enjoyment of the public with only the meagerest funds.”156 Miller’s 

observations and requests added to the numerous pleas for funding, infrastructure, 

staffing, and visitor amenities at the volcano, while pointing out how much Farr had 

accomplished with very little support. 

 After the demolition of the original visitor shelter or cabin, the only visitor 

facilities at the monument were picnic tables, pit latrines, and fireplaces. The only 

visitor information services were a self guiding tour at the crater rim and, of course, 

Homer Farr. For many years, Farr, working as a part time custodian, greeted visitors 

at his store, or at the rim of the volcano during the busy summer months, handing 

them informational pamphlets about the volcano. Influenced greatly by Hugh 

Miller’s inspection in 1954, and his insistence on funding from the NPS, the plans for 

 

154 L.P. Amberger, “Master Plan Development Outline, Capulin Mountain National 

Monument, New Mexico, 1952, Interpretation” (Capulin: Capulin Volcano National Monument 

Administrative Records). 

155 Hugh Miller, Memorandum to the Regional Director, 10 November 1954. Typed Letter, 

Capulin: Capulin Volcano National Monument Administrative Records, Official Visits 1954-1966, File 

A5427. 

156 Memorandum, 1954, File A5427. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

82

an exhibit or interpretive shelter at the crater rim parking area finally received 

funding.157

 Homer Farr’s long awaited crater rim shelter and exhibit received approval and 

backing in the early part of 1955. Construction on the exhibit shelter began in June of 

1955, and was completed in August of that same year (Figs. 7.3, 7.4, and 7.5).158

 Fig. 7.3 Exhibit Shelter at the Volcano Rim, Circ. 1955. Photographer 

 unknown. Capulin: Capulin Volcano National Monument Administrative 

 Records, Completion Reports, File D2621. 

 

157 S.T. Carlson, to the Regional Chief of Operations, 31 August 1955. Typed Letter, 

(Capulin: Capulin Volcano National Monument Administrative Records, Official Visits 1954-1966), 

File A5427. 

158 Exhibit Shelter and three Pit Toilets Completion Report, (Capulin: Capulin Volcano 

National Monument Administrative Records, Completion Reports), File D2621. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

83

 Figs. 7.4 Exhibit Shelter Stairs at the Volcano Rim, Circ. 1955. 

 Photographer unknown. Capulin: Capulin Volcano National Monument 

 Administrative Records, Completion Reports, File D2621. 

Figs. 7.5 Exhibit Shelter and Stairs looking towards the rim parking, Circ. 1955. 

 Photographer unknown. Capulin: Capulin Volcano National Monument 

 Administrative Records, Completion Reports, File D2621. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

84

 A small interpretive exhibit showing the “Story of Capulin Mountain” was 

installed in the shelter (Fig. 7.6). 

 Fig. 7.6 Interpretive Sign, The Story of Capulin Mountain, 1956, Photographer 

 Unknown. Property of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 

 Negative WASO.A-145 Charles Town: Historic Photographic Collections. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

85

 Figs. 7.7 Entrance Sign, Circ. 1955. Photographer unknown. Capulin: Capulin 

 Volcano National Monument Administrative Records, Completion Reports, 

 File D2621. 

 Figs. 7.8 State Highway Sign, Circ. 1955. Photographer unknown. Capulin: Capulin 

 Volcano National Monument Administrative Records, Completion Reports, 

 File D2621. 

 The long awaited shelter and crater rim exhibit provided an overview of 

volcanism as well as a short summary of local wildlife. The Folsom discovery and a 

few photographs of arrowheads also shared a corner of the bulletin board style exhibit. 

The shelter provided protection and information to the crater rim visitor. Besides the 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

86

immediate installation of the shelter, Hugh Miller’s somewhat scathing inspection 

brought about other immediate changes for the monument. The volcano received a 

new entrance sign for the monument boundary, a new directional sign on State 

Highway 235, and three new pit toilets for the crater rim and picnic area (Figs. 7.7, 

7.8, 7.9, and 7.10). 

Figs. 7.9 One of Two New Crater Rim Pit 

Toilets, Circ. 1955. Photographer unknown. 

Capulin: Capulin Volcano National 

Monument Administrative Records, 

Completion Reports, File D2621. 

 

Figs. 7.10 Picnic Area Pit Toilet, Circ. 1955. 

Photographer unknown. Capulin: Capulin 

Volcano National Monument Administrative 

Records, Completion Reports, File D2621. 

 

7.3 New Infrastructure & Management 

 

 The later 1950s passed bringing new management to the volcano and several 

new custodians. Limited funding made the position of Custodian difficult to fill in the 

booming 1950s. NPS pay scales were unfortunately still catching up from the slow 

and stagnant period of the late 1940s. Lack of on-site living space for the new staff 

also became a deterrent. Glenn Wilson accepted the position of Custodian serving the 

monument from 1955 to 1957. Wilson was followed by Rudy Lukes, who served as 

Custodian from 1957 to 1958. The first Superintendent of Capulin Mountain National 

Monument was Merritt S. Johnston, who accepted the position in 1958 and served 

until 1961. 

 Johnston’s staff consisted of one part-time caretaker, Mr. Wallace, and a 

seasonal ranger, Ranger Hamilton, who worked mainly in the summer and early fall. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

87

Johnston witnessed the drilling of a water well off of the northeast corner of the 

monument, which struck water at 334 feet and was drilled to 359 feet.159 During 

Johnston’s service, the monument also received bids for electricity, phone lines, and 

other needed modernizations. A small trailer served as the temporary entrance station 

to the monument. In September of 1959, Johnston, with the help of Naturalist Natt 

Dodge, prepared a Museum Prospectus for Capulin Mountain National Monument. 

The prospectus presented an outline of the Monument’s needs and summarized 

justifications for museum development.160

 

 Fig. 7.11 Visitor Center Plan. Merritt Johnston and Natt Dodge, “Museum Prospectus, 

 Capulin Mountain National Monument, 1959, Interpretation” (Capulin: Capulin 

 Volcano National Monument Administrative Records) File D6215. 

 In this prospectus, Johnston and Dodge proposed that the monument needed 

four full time staff members including a superintendent, a clerk, a naturalist, and a 

maintenance man. Along with these full time employees, two seasonal park rangers 

were recommended to insure that a uniformed person was on duty seven days a week. 

Dodge and Johnston urged the NPS, as did their predecessors, to build a permanent 

visitor center, including a superintendent’s office, a naturalist’s office, storage, 

bathroom facilities, a utility room, and of course, a large exhibit area and lobby. Their 

 

159 Merrit Johnston, to the Superintendent of Capulin Mountain National Monument, 27 April 

1958. Typed Letter, (Capulin: Capulin Volcano National Monument Administrative Records, Official 

Visits 1954-1966), File A5427. 

160 Merritt Johnston and Natt Dodge, “Museum Prospectus, Capulin Mountain National 

Monument, 1959, Interpretation” (Capulin: Capulin Volcano National Monument Administrative 

Records) File D6215. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

88

estimated budget for this building totaled $40,000, 6,000 of which was proposed for 

planning expenses.161 The prospectus included the following plan or drawing (Fig. 

7.11). 

 In August of 1960, Coordinating Project Supervisor Donald S. Marley reported 

on his visit to Capulin Monument and his meeting with Merritt Johnston, Inspector 

Pingry, and Project Supervisor Novak, who was busy “laying out the retaining wall 

construction to be accomplished as soon as the project can be advertised and a contract 

awarded.”162 The four located suitable construction materials for the retaining wall, 

just off of Capulin property, however still on state property. Marley explained in his 

report that the regional office would pursue permission to use rocks and other building 

materials from the site. Johnston finished his term at Capulin Mountain as 

construction on the retaining wall began. The next big infrastructure changes for 

Capulin, many of which were carried over from previous years of careful planning, 

came during David G. Stimson’s management. Stimson took the position of 

monument Superintendent in 1961, and stayed with the monument for many years, 

leaving in 1969. During his term, he managed and ushered in the final planning for 

Mission 66, the largest infrastructure change Capulin Mountain National Monument 

had ever undertaken. 

7.4 Initial Mission 66 Construction 

 Planning for the new crater ascent road retaining wall, using Mission 66 

funding, started in November of 1960. Final construction on the wall began in March 

of 1961.163 Plans for the 1,000 cubic yards of retaining wall were prepared by E. 

Pingry, C. Novak, and W. L. Hall. Charles Denton and Son, from the nearby town of 

Raton, held the contract for the stone masonry project. Denton and Son accomplished 

the actual work on the wall, while Pingry and Hall supervised. The finished wall, 

completed in June of 1961, consisted of 1,065 linear feet of stone and totaled $55,000. 

Planning and surveying costs totaled $13,337, bringing the total project cost to 

$68,337.164 Completion reports from this period of construction contain several 

historical photographs showing the monument road before construction, and after the 

completion of the retaining wall (Figs. 7.12 through 7.16). 

 

161 Johnston, “Museum Prospectus, 1959. 

162 Donald Marley, to the Supervisory Engineer, 31 August 1960. Typed Letter, (Capulin: 

Capulin Volcano National Monument Administrative Records, Official Visits 1954-1966), File A5427. 

163 Natt Dodge, to the Regional Chief, Division of Interpretation, 24 March 1961. Typed 

Letter, (Capulin: Capulin Volcano National Monument Administrative Records, Official Visits 1954-

1966), File A5427. 

164 Crater Ascent Road and Lunchground Road, October 6, 1961, Completion Report, 

(Capulin: Capulin Volcano National Monument Administrative Records, Completion Reports), File 

D2621. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

89

Fig. 7.12 Crater Ascent Road Before Retaining Wall Construction, Circ. 1960, 

 Photographer unknown, Completion Report, (Capulin: Capulin Volcano National 

 Monument Administrative Records, Completion Reports), File D2621. 

 Fig. 7.13 Crater Ascent Road Construction, Circ. 1961, Photographer unknown, 

 Completion Report, (Capulin: Capulin Volcano National Monument Administrative 

 Records, Completion Reports), File D2621. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

90

 Fig. 7.14 Crater Ascent Road Construction, Circ. 1961, Photographer unknown, 

 Completion Report, (Capulin: Capulin Volcano National Monument Administrative 

 Records, Completion Reports), File D2621. 

Fig. 7.15 Crater Ascent Road After Retaining Wall Construction, Circ. 1961, 

 Photographer unknown, Completion Report, (Capulin: Capulin Volcano National 

 Monument Administrative Records, Completion Reports), File D2621. 

 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

91

 Fig. 7.16 Completed Retaining Wall, Circ. 1961, Photographer unknown, 

 Completion Report, (Capulin: Capulin Volcano National Monument 

 Administrative Records, Completion Reports), File D2621. 

 

 Immediately, in July of 1961, work began on four drainage and wash area 

walls, 1380 more feet of crater road retaining wall, crater rim parking enlargement 

along with a parking area retaining wall, and a deer ladder. The terraced walls making 

up the deer ladder were placed along an already existing deer path which crossed the 

crater rim road near a wash. The project contract was awarded to Elmer Starr, while 

C. Novak and W. L. Hall oversaw the project, as they had done with the previous 

retaining wall.165 The total cost of these new projects amounted to $96,131. The 

project was completed and approved in October of 1961. The following photographs, 

from a Capulin Mountain Completion Report, show the work in progress and the 

completed projects (Figs. 7.17 through 7.24). 

 

 

165 Crater Ascent Road and Lunchground, January 4, 1962, Completion Report, (Capulin: 

Capulin Volcano National Monument Administrative Records, Completion Reports), File D2621. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

92

 

 Figs. 7.17 and 7.18 Crater Rim Area Before Retaining Wall, Circ. 

 1961, Photographer unknown, Completion Report, (Capulin: Capulin 

 Volcano National Monument Administrative Records, Completion 

 Reports), File D2621. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

93

 Fig. 7.19 Crater Rim Excavation for Retaining Wall, Circ. 1961, 

 Photographer unknown, Completion Report, (Capulin: Capulin 

 Volcano National Monument Administrative Records, Completion 

 Reports), File D2621. 

 Fig. 7.20 Completed Crater Rim Retaining Wall, Circ. 1961, 

 Photographer unknown, Completion Report, (Capulin: Capulin 

 Volcano National Monument Administrative Records, Completion 

 Reports), File D2621. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

94

 Fig. 7.21 Excavation for Additional Crater Road Retaining Wall, 

 Circ. 1961, Photographer unknown, Completion Report, (Capulin: 

 Capulin Volcano National Monument Administrative Records, 

 Completion Reports), File D2621. 

 Fig. 7.22 Completed Retaining Wall, Circ. 1961, 

 Photographer unknown, Completion Report, (Capulin: 

 Capulin Volcano National Monument Administrative 

 Records, Completion Reports), File D2621. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

95

 Figs. 7.23 and 7.24 Pre Deer Ladder and Completed Deer Ladder 

 and Wall, Circ. 1961, Photographer unknown, Completion 

 Report, (Capulin: Capulin Volcano National Monument 

 Administrative Records, Completion Reports), File D2621. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

96

Over the next several years, Superintendent David G. Stimson had an 

extremely busy management job. Many more projects and changes received funding 

during his tenure. Projects included the reconstruction of the crater rim trails, 

telephone service, a new entrance road, a sewage and water system, new signage, a 

visitor center parking area, and a residence area which were all implemented during 

Stimson’s term. In a letter to the NPS Chief Engineer dated August 1962, 

Coordinating Project Supervisor Donald Marley explained that everything for the 

layout of the new visitor center and residence area was complete. The only minor 

problem remaining was the removal of a shack or small building that had been sitting 

in the planned parking area.166 Trail maintenance started the new group of projects. 

During trail reconstruction, trails were covered with two inches of crushed cinders, 

then a coat of asphalt, and topped off with a coat of finely crushed cinders (Fig. 7.25 

through 7.30). 

 

Fig. 7.25 Original Trail before Resurfacing, Circ. 1962, Photographer 

 unknown, Completion Report, (Capulin: Capulin Volcano National 

 Monument Administrative Records, Completion Reports), File D2621. 

 

166 Donald Marley, to the Regional Chief Engineer, 1 August 1962. Typed Letter, (Capulin: 

Capulin Volcano National Monument Administrative Records, Official Visits 1954-1966), File A5427. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

97

 Figs. 7.26 and 7.27 Trail Reconstruction and Resurfacing, 

 Circ. 1962, Photographer unknown, Completion Report, 

 (Capulin: Capulin Volcano National Monument 

 Administrative Records, Completion Reports), File D2621. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

98

 Fig. 7.28 Completed Trail, Circ. 1962, Photographer unknown, Completion 

 Report, (Capulin: Capulin Volcano National Monument Administrative 

 Records, Completion Reports), File D2621. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

99

 

 Figs. 7.29 and 7.30 Original (top) and Relocated Shelter Trail, 

 Circ. 1962, Photographer unknown, Completion Report, 

 (Capulin: Capulin Volcano National Monument 

 Administrative Records, Completion Reports), File D2621. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

100

The next project Stimson oversaw took place in the summer of 1963. Three 

and one half miles of telephone lines were strung connecting Capulin Mountain 

National Monument to Capulin Village (Figs. 7.31 and 7.32). The project was 

completed on June 28, 1963. 

 

 Fig. 7.31 Putting up Poles and Stringing Wire, Circ. 1963, Photographer 

 unknown, Completion Report, (Capulin: Capulin Volcano National 

 Monument Administrative Records, Completion Reports), File D2621. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

101

 Fig. 7.32 Pole with Wooden Cattle Guard, Circ. 1963, Photographer 

 unknown, Completion Report, (Capulin: Capulin Volcano National 

 Monument Administrative Records, Completion Reports), File D2621. 

 By June of 1963, the visitor center parking area and residence road were also 

completed (Fig. 7.33.) 

 Fig. 7.33 Visitor Center Parking and Residence Spur, Circ. 1963, 

 Photographer unknown, Completion Report, (Capulin: Capulin 

 Volcano National Monument Administrative Records, 

 Completion Reports), File D2621. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

102

 Charles Denton and Son of Raton won the contract for the road paving and the 

infrastructure project in late 1962. Denton was also awarded the contract for the water 

and sewage disposal system, as well as underground utilities and drainage systems. 

Superintendent Stimson oversaw the project as well as Novak, Matteson, and Hall. As 

part of this project, the entrance road to the monument was also moved and paved 

(Figs. 7.34 and 7.35). 

 Figs. 7.34 and 7.35 New Entrance, Before and After, Circ. 1963, Photographer 

 unknown, Completion Report, (Capulin: Capulin Volcano National 

 Monument Administrative Records, Completion Reports), File D2621. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

103

 Twelve new signs were established at the monument in 1964 including several 

small interpretive signs, directional signs, and a new park entrance sign (Figs. 7.36 

through 7.39). 

 Figs. 7.36 & 7.37 New Entrance Sign Construction, Circ. 1964, Photographer 

 unknown, Completion Report, (Capulin: Capulin Volcano National 

 Monument Administrative Records, Completion Reports), File D2621. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

104

 Fig. 7.38 New Entrance Sign, Circ. 1964, Photographer unknown, 

 Completion Report, (Capulin: Capulin Volcano National Monument 

 Administrative Records, Completion Reports), File D2621. 

 Fig. 7.39 Crater Trail Interpretive Sign, Circ. 1964, Photographer unknown, 

 Completion Report, (Capulin: Capulin Volcano National Monument 

 Administrative Records, Completion Reports), File D2621. 

 Throughout the early 1960s, funding for new infrastructure and basic park 

amenities seemed unending. Mission 66 provided the NPS with the resources to 

improve parks and monuments nationwide. Capulin Mountain National Monument 

finally received many of the improvements and necessities that Homer Farr and others 

had requested for years. Still, the monument lacked basic facilities for staff and 

visitors. The building of a visitor center and adjacent residences for park employees 

proved to be the most substantial, and certainly one of the most important, changes 

made in the monument’s built environment. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

105

Chapter 8 Interactions with the Community 

8.1 The Visitor Center 

 The Mission 66 era of new and modernized park facilities led to the final 

design of the Capulin Monument visitor center and nearby residences. Not only did 

the Mission 66 program provide funding for the facilities, but the philosophy of the 

time, as stated earlier, led to the specific style and use of the buildings. Functionality, 

conservation, and centralization were key aspects of the Mission 66 era of design. As 

historian Sarah Allaback points out, the very term “visitor center” was coined by 

Mission 66 planners who wished to convey the then contemporary idea of a 

centralized, all-use building, instead of the older style of separate, non-centralized 

structures.167 Efficiency and resourcefulness lead planners and architects, like Cecil 

Doty, to envision the non-invasive, yet intriguingly placed buildings. 

 By 1963, finalized building plans, along with the completed paving of the 

parking area and the installation of utilities, left only one more step, construction of 

the buildings. One visitor center, a garage, and two residences were all to reside in 

what plans called the headquarters area. Costs for the construction of a visitor center, 

comfort station (for the picnic area), two residences, a maintenance shop, along with 

other support utilities and ground improvements, totaled $172,871. Sutherland 

Construction Company of Colorado Springs, Colorado won the bid and began 

construction in 1963 (Figs. 8.1 and 8.2). 

 Fig. 8.1 Construction of Visitor Center North Wall, Circ. 1963, 

 Photographer unknown, Completion Report, (Capulin: Capulin Volcano National 

 Monument Administrative Records, Completion Reports), File D2622. 

 

167 Sara, Allaback, Mission 66 Visitor Centers, The History of a Building Type (Washington 

D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2000) 24. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

106

 Fig. 8.2 Construction of Visitor Center West & South Walls, Circ. 1963, 

 Photographer unknown, Completion Report, (Capulin: Capulin Volcano National 

 Monument Administrative Records, Completion Reports), File D2622. 

 The project was completed and the final inspection made on December 6, 

1963.168 The visitor center consisted of concrete block walls, tiled concrete floors, and 

a simple but modern single story design (Figs. 8.3 and 8.4). 

 Fig. 8.3 Capulin Mountain Visitor Center, Circ. 1963, Photographer 

 unknown, Completion Report, (Capulin: Capulin Volcano National 

 Monument Administrative Records, Completion Reports), File D2622. 

 

168 Construction of Visitor Center, Garage, Residences, March 30, 1966, Completion Reports, 

(Capulin: Capulin Volcano National Monument Administrative Records, Completion Reports), File 

D2622. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

107

 Fig. 8.4 Two Residences (left) and the Visitor Center, Circ. 1963, Photographer 

 unknown, Completion Report, (Capulin: Capulin Volcano National Monument 

 Administrative Records, Completion Reports), File D2622. 

 The buildings followed the new NPS ideal of non-intrusive utilitarian 

architecture. Later photographs give another view of the visitor center which has 

undergone very minimal external change since 1963 (Fig 8.5 and 8.6). 

 Fig 8.5 Capulin Mountain Visitor Center, Photo by Fred Mang Jr. 1969. Property 

 of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Negative WASO, 69-

 449-1, (Charles Town: Historic Photographic Collections). 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

108

 

 Fig 8.6 Capulin Mountain Visitor Center, Photo by Lail. 2002. 

 The visitor building, as mentioned previously, was designed by architect Cecil 

Doty who collaborated with staff and used building ideas from other parks and 

monuments to complete his plan. The center housed offices, restrooms, a visitor 

exhibit area, and storage rooms. Behind the main visitor building, the garage and 

maintenance room held maintenance and repair items. Also behind the visitor center, 

two residences provided housing for monument staff. The finalized completion report 

for the headquarters area, which included the above described buildings, was signed 

by Superintendent David Stimson in September of 1966. The buildings were built to 

serve their purpose well and were located in a centralized area, as prescribed by 

Mission 66 planners. Exhibit planning for the center had been underway for some 

time. Installation and editing of the long anticipated visitor exhibits became the next 

big step for Capulin Mountain. 

8.2 Exhibits & Visitor Programs 

 Official Mission 66 plans for the visitor center exhibits began in the early 

1950s. Letters describing what could be done and what could not, passed back and 

forth between the NPS Western Museum Lab, the Regional Director, Park 

Superintendents, designers, and virtually everyone who had any interest in the exhibits 

or visitor center. Finally, a general idea of visitor interests and NPS ideals evolved 

into a museum prospectus. The overall plan consisted of six exhibits which would 

give the visitor a glimpse of geology, local history, the volcano’s history, and the NPS 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

109

in general. The following sketches were designed by the NPS Western Museum Lab, 

turned into final exhibits, and shipped to Capulin Mountain National Monument in 

February of 1964. The sketches are placed in the order that a visitor would encounter 

the actual exhibit upon entering the visitor center (Figs. 8.7 through 8.11). 

 Fig 8.7 Exhibit Sketch “Rock Born of Fire,” Sketch Artist Unknown, 1964. 

 Property of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 

 (Charles Town: Historic Photographic Collections). 

Fig 8.8 Exhibit Sketch “When did Capulin Erupt,” Sketch Artist Unknown, 1964. 

 Property of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 

 (Charles Town: Historic Photographic Collections). 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

110

 Fig 8.9 Exhibit Sketch “Capulin’s Explosive Past,” Sketch Artist Unknown, 1964. 

 Property of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 

 (Charles Town: Historic Photographic Collections). 

 Fig 8.10 Exhibit Sketch “Your NPS,” Sketch Artist Unknown, 1964. 

 Property of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 

 (Charles Town: Historic Photographic Collections). 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

111

 Fig 8.11 Exhibit Sketch “Famous Trails,” Sketch Artist Unknown, 1964. 

 Property of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 

 (Charles Town: Historic Photographic Collections). 

 A large volcanic bomb was also placed on exhibit, and can be seen in the 

following photos. The final exhibits were framed in black plastic display cases with 

glass coverings (8.12 and 8.13). 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

112

 Figs 8.12 & 8.13 Final Exhibits, Photo by Fred Mang Jr. Circ. 1964. 

 Property of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 

 (Charles Town: Historic Photographic Collections). 

 Over the years, the visitor center exhibits changed as new information, display 

items, and funding became available. NPS ideas about what was important to the 

monument and the public also changed along with monument superintendents, 

rangers, and naturalists. This photograph shows a visitor seated at the front of the 

visitor center near a new bulletin board and a lava based table (Fig. 8.14). 

 Figs 8.14 Visitor Center and Visitors, Photographer Unknown. Circ. 1970. 

 Property of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Neg. 

 74-1971-2 (Charles Town: Historic Photographic Collections). 

 Throughout all, Superintendent David Stimson continued to persevere, pushing 

the monument to complete all of the essential facilities and infrastructure needs as 

soon as possible. Stimson did an incredible job of organizing and overseeing the 

monument’s needs. He worked diligently to bring everything together. Stimson 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

113

carried out numerous management duties for the monument while requesting staffing, 

employee uniforms, trail markers, and an endless list of other needed items. As the 

new visitor center came together, staffing issues for the park were overwhelming. 

Reports from this extremely busy time at Capulin Mountain explain how badly new 

staffing was needed in order to keep the current staff, such as maintenance man Jay 

Ellis and several others, from going back to “the 100 hour a week plan.”169 However, 

in the midst of the chaos and over-worked employees, new visitor programs developed 

along with the center and the monument. 

 In late September of 1964, the new visitor center found itself under fire from 

Robert Barrell who visited the monument and found the exhibits confusing and “not 

good.” His words were not taken lightly and the exhibits experienced the first of 

several revisions. Gradually, however, the monument staff learned that differences of 

opinion on what should be displayed were as numerous as visitors to the monument. 

It was determined that a new plan should be developed over time, as changes were 

deemed important by the staff and naturalist. In the mean time, most of the visitor 

center displays would remain pretty much the same. Near the visitor center, thanks to 

Cecil Doty’s interesting placement of the building, a short nature trail was designed 

utilizing the lava squeeze up and other interesting features located directly beside the 

center. Photographs show a modern version of the nature trail as of 2002 (Figs. 8.15 

through 8.17). 

 Fig 8.15 Path from Visitor Center to 10 Minute Nature Trail, Photo by Lail. 2002. 

 

169 Franklin Smith, to the Assistant Regional Director, 17 February 1964. Typed Letter, 

(Capulin: Capulin Volcano National Monument Administrative Records, Official Visits 1954-1966), 

File A5427. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

114

 Fig 8.16 Nature Trail Marker Describing a Lava Squeeze Up, Photo by Lail. 2002. 

 Fig 8.17 Lava Squeeze Up on the Visitor Center Nature Trail, 

 Photo by Lail. 2002. 

 Other visitor trails were reconstructed, updated, and even received new 

interpretive signage similar to the visitor center trail. The completed crater rim trail 

markers or posts lead the visitor on a one mile self-guided tour around the crater rim, 

with the help of a trail booklet and twenty-seven numbered trail markers. The booklet 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

115

cost twenty five cents if the visitor wished to purchase it to take home, otherwise they 

could just borrow the guide for the trip around the crater trail. Each numbered marker 

or post had a corresponding descriptive and informative paragraph in the booklet. 

This self guided tour gave the visitor an interpretive self-paced tour, while minimizing 

the need for more staffing on the crater rim. The booklet shown here was printed in 

1967 but most likely looks very similar to the earlier version printed in 1964 (Figs 

8.18 and 8.19). 

 Fig 8.18 Crater Rim Trail Booklet, 1967, Property of the National Park Service, U.S. 

 Department of the Interior, in Cooperation with Southwestern Monuments 

 Association, Globe: Arizona (Santa Fe. Intermountain Support Office Archives). 

 

 Fig 8.19 Trail Booklet Sample Text, 1967, Property of the National Park Service, 

 U.S. Department of the Interior, in Cooperation with Southwestern Monuments 

 Association, Globe: Arizona (Santa Fe. Intermountain Support Office Archives). 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

116

 The new trails and amenities brought local boy scout troops, college geology 

field trips, and even local high school groups to a monument not previously frequented 

by locals. Excitement in the community was created not only by the new monument 

buildings and exhibits, but also by the prospect of growth and jobs in a somewhat 

economically depressed region. As visitor numbers increased, so did visitor programs 

and amenities. In the late 1970s, the visitor center acquired an auditorium for viewing 

an informative program designed for the monument. The program, which could be 

resplayed with each new visitor, consisted of a video about Capulin Volcano and 

volcano formation in general (Fig. 8.20). 

 Fig 8.20 Visitor Center Auditorium, Photo by Lail. 2002. 

8.3 Boundary Issues 

 Along with the exciting new infrastructure and job growth, Capulin Mountain 

National Monument was also growing in acreage. During his tenor as Superintendent, 

Stimson managed to oversee the acquisition of ninety-five more acres of land to be 

added to the monument in 1962.170 The next addition to the monument happened over 

twenty years later in 1987 under Superintendent Clark D. Crane. This addition totaled 

seventeen and one half acres of BLM land. The same act also declared Capulin 

 

170 Boundary Revision Act (76 Stat. 436), Capulin National Monument, Congressional Record, 

(5 September 1962). 392. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

117

Mountain National Monument to be officially renamed Capulin Volcano National 

Monument.171 The old sign was quickly modified to display the new monument name 

( Fig. 8.21). 

 Fig 8.21 Capulin Volcano Entrance Sign, Photo by Lail. 2002. 

Throughout Capulin Monument’s existence, concern over cattle grazing, tree 

cutting, and cinder mining have raised issues of boundary adjustment. The monument 

boundaries do not encompass the entire volcano base, which prevents total protection 

of the volcano and the surrounding supportive landscape. Lava flows, clearly visible 

from the top of the volcano and aerial photographs are also without NPS protection. 

In an attempt to surmise what options the NPS had in regards to acquiring new lands, 

Capulin Superintendent Mary J. Karraker recommended a boundary study in the early 

1990s. The study created an immediate reaction in the community around the 

volcano. Spurred by the belief that their land would be somehow stolen from them, 

an anti-expansion group formed. 

 The group called themselves the “Folsom United” and elected chairmen Bill 

Berg and Dino Cornay to represent them. Dianne Brown served as the treasurer and 

secretary. Ben Doherty, who coined the group’s name, also proclaimed their mission 

statement which was printed in the Union County Leader as follows: 

 Folsom United resolves to adamantly oppose any expansion 

 alternative of the Capulin Volcano National Monument, and further 

 resolve that we continue a community wide effort to defeat that 

 expansion proposal.172

Old resentments towards the monument fueled local suspicions that the NPS was 

trying to steal land or acquire properties illegally. The group refused to believe that 

there was a possible logical reason for considering an expansion. Newspapers 

 

171 Boundary Revision Act (101 Stat. 1547), Capulin National Monument, Congressional 

Record, (31 December 1987). 392. 

172 Union County Leader. February 8, 1995. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

118

throughout the region ran the opposition’s views, but the NPS was not represented. 

The true anger of the group seemed to stem from the feeling that they were not 

advised that this study was going to take place. Berg even stated in several news 

articles that the local government, undoubtedly referring to his group, was not 

involved in the boundary study and should have been consulted. 

 NPS staff felt that they had been wrongfully represented in the press and that 

they were merely investigating the further protection of the volcano. They were not 

planning a hostile takeover or a sneak attack on local land owners. The NPS gradually 

retracted the study, hoping to quell the terrible misunderstanding. The boundary 

issues are still spoken of in the community around Capulin Volcano. Some residents, 

to this day, unfortunately refuse to speak with NPS staff or anyone who they feel 

might represent the monument. 

Fig 8.22 Capulin Volcano National Monument vicinity map, National Park Service, 1988. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

119

Conclusion 

 

 

 Capulin Volcano National Monument has an extensive history of cooperation, 

conflict, and adaptation. The volcano has witnessed geologic changes as well as 

numerous demographic changes. The fragile and often controversial balance between 

preservation and visitor use continues into present day park management issues. 

Whose welfare should the National Park Service take into account when making 

decisions regarding Capulin Monument and the surrounding area, and how can visitors 

enjoy the monument without destroying it? There are many facets to these seemingly 

simple questions. Throughout all, the volcano remains intact, a reminder of the past 

and a monument not only to incredible geologic formation, but also to critical 

conservation efforts in the face of change and controversy. 

 9.1 Capulin Volcano, Photo by Lail. 2002. 
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

120
Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

121

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Archive and Source Abbreviations 

Denver Public Library - DP 

Denver National Archives - D 

Harpers Ferry Photo Archive - HPA 

Harper Ferry Center - HC 

Fort-Worth National Archives - F 

Fray Chavez Archives - FC 

National Park Service Intermountain Support Office - SF 

New Mexico State Library - SL 

Capulin Volcano National Monument Library - CL 

Capulin Volcano National Monument Administrative Records - CAD 

Raton Public Library - RP 

Raton Clerks Office - RC 

Raton City Hall Mapping Department - RM 

Clayton Assessors Office - CAS 

Clayton Clerks Office – CC 

Clayton Public Library - CPL 

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Arizona State University – ASU 

University of Arizona Library – UA 

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Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

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Capulin Mountain, 1931, Photograph by Roger Toll, 1931. Property of the National 

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Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

127

Capulin Volcano, view of mining pit, Photograph property of the National Park 

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Comanche Spear Point and Folsom Point, found near Capulin Volcano, Photograph 

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Interpretive Sign, The Story of Capulin Mountain, 1956, Photographer Unknown. 

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Capulin Volcano National Monument – Administrative History 

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Capulin Mountain Work Crew, August 1934. Homer Farr stands at the far left of the 

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Farr Family Business, circ. 1950. Property of Leonard Farr, Private Collection. 

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