White Oaks, New Mexico
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White Oaks, New Mexico is a ghost town located on the outskirts of the Lincoln National Forest, which became a boomtown in 1879 following the discovery of gold and coal in the nearby Jicarilla Mountains, in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
[edit] History
In 1879, following the discovery of gold and coal in the Jicarilla Mountains, White Oaks sprang into existence from nothing. It was frequented by notable Old West personalities, to include Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and Shotgun John Collins. Jonathan H. Wise established the towns first newspaper in 1880, called the White Oaks Golden Era.
In November, 1880, a posse originating in White Oaks pursued Billy the Kid a distance of over forty miles, culminating in a standoff, during which the posse accidentally shot and killed Deputy Sheriff Jim Carlysle, as the latter was attempting to negotiate with the outlaw. Billy the Kid escaped, but in 1881, while Billy the Kid and 'Arkansas' Dave Rudabaugh were entering White Oaks, Rudabough took a shot at Deputy Sheriff James Redman, who was standing in front of Hudgens General Store, missing. Allegedly, Redman had been a member of the earlier posse that pursued Rudabaugh, and within seconds of the shot being fired, several armed citizens came to Redman's aid, forcing Rudabaugh and Billy the Kid to flee town.
Billy the Kid later sent a letter to Governor Lew Wallace about the death of Deputy Carlysle, disputing an article written by a Las Vegas, New Mexico newspaper which claimed he was the leader of a band of outlaws. In his letter, the Kid claimed that the house in which they were located was surrounded by lawmen, and Deputy Carlysle entered demanding a surrender. Billy alleged that he asked for their "papers", meaning warrants, to which Carlysle replied that they had none. With that, he alleged that he concluded that without warrants, the posse accounted to nothing more than a mob, and he told Carlysle that he would have to stay in the house and lead them out the next day. Soon after this, the posse had sent in a note saying that if Carlysle did not exit in a matter of minutes, that the local friend to Billy the Kid, a "Mr. Greathouse", would be killed by the posse members. Minutes later, there was a shot, after which Carlysle jumped from the window, at which time he was shot to death by his own posse. [1]
The town, at its peak, had a population of 2,000 people, reached by 1890. In 1882, with a population of 500, construction was completed on Starr's Opera House, and the town sported several saloons, several general stores, a school, and a town hall. In 1884 Lyman Hood held the first church services in an actual church building, with those meetings taking place previoulsy in the town hall. During this period, there were brothels with many prostitutes, and the town was frequently a haven for cattle rustlers and other outlaws.
By 1885, White Oaks had settled down, and was beginning to thrive. Three attorneys, John Y. Hewitt, H. B. Fergusson, and George Barber, opened businesses there, and other professionals began to arrive in town to open their own businesses. However, its continued existance was dependent on a railroad passing through it. This did not happen, with the railroad instead running twelve miles to the west, through Carrizozo, New Mexico, and by the late 1890's the mines had dried up, and the population dwindled. By the early 1900's the town was a shadow of its previous self. It is now a ghost town, with several of the more permanent buildings still standing today.
Susan McSween Barber, widow of Alexander McSween who was killed during the Lincoln County War, became known as the "Cattle Queen of New Mexico" in the late 19th century, having over 5,000 head of cattle. In 1902 she sold out, and moved to Wite Oaks, where she remained until her death in 1931. She is buried in the old White Oaks cemetery, along with another notable, former New Mexico state Governor William McDonald, the states first governor after achieving statehood.
