Interior of Wildland Firefighter Museum
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In the summer of 1999, a family of forest service firefighters with an interest in old firefighting tools put together a unique museum in the tiny town of Capitan, New Mexico. Capitan lies at the foot of the Capitan Mountains and rests on rolling wooded hills. It is surrounded by the juniper, pinon, and aspen-studded 1.1 million acre Lincoln National Forest. Capitan’s claim to fame is singular: Its forest is the birthplace and burial site of the world-renowned Smokey Bear.
The museum and gift shop are housed in the same building and located across the street from the State Smokey Bear Historical Park. Both are "must see" tourist stops on a tour of the town. The gift shop, as its name implies, carries an assortment of Smokey Bear items. It has been in business since the mid 1970s.
In the museum visitors will find antique firefighting tools and equipment, pictures and videos of fires, old Smokey Bear memorabilia, and a display of crew and fire shirts from across the nation.
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Capitan. Photo by Phyllis Eileen Banks.
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Every school age child has heard of Smokey Bear, but they may not know that Capitan, New Mexico, is his birthplace. In the aftermath of a disastrous fire in the Capitan Mountains, a four pound black bear was found on May 19, 1950, clinging to the trunk of a burned tree. The rangers named him Smokey. Ultimately he was taken to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. and in June, 1950, he became the living symbol of Smokey Bear. When he died in 1976 he was returned to Capitan and buried at Smokey Bear Historical Park. The visitor’s center includes exhibits about forest fires, a history of the fire prevention campaign and a theater. There are also educational computer games on fire prevention.
The village of Capitan, at an elevation of 6,350 feet on U.S. Highway 380, is home to 1400 people. Located between two mountain ranges, the Sacramento and the Capitan, the average rainfall is 15.7 inches, average winter temperature 36 degrees, and summer average is 68 degrees.
Seaborn T. Gray homesteaded there in 1884, and the town was known as Gray until 1900 when it was renamed Capitan. The El Paso and Northeastern Railroad built a coal line from Carrizozo to the Phelps-Dodge coal mines, one mile west of Capitan. By 1905 the coal mines had played out and were abandoned. Ranching, fishing and hunting are the economic bases now.
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