The
little mountain village of Ruidoso, in New Mexico has become a West Texas
tourist Mecca. Unfortunately, most
folks don’t know the name of the man who started this town. He built the first building in Ruidoso, he
was really Ruidoso’s first resident and his name was Paul Dowlin. The locals called him Captain Paul. In fact,
the town was called Dowlin’s Mill until 1885 when it was renamed Ruidoso for
the Rio Ruidoso, the “noisy river” that ran through town. And that stream was
the draw that started it all.
Paul Dowlin was born in
Waynesburg, Greene County, Pennsylvania in 1830. He was a Civil War veteran and
retired Army captain who served with the New Mexico Volunteers at Fort Stanton
in Lincoln County. It was the War of Southern Rebellion that brought him to New
Mexico. Dowlin was an officer of Company K, First New Mexico Cavalry and he
came from Santa Fe with Colonel Kit Carson in 1862 to re-occupy Fort Stanton
after the rebels high-tailed it back to central Texas. .
The First New Mexico Cavalry was organized on May 31, 1862, attached to the Department of New Mexico, and engaged in operations against Indians in New Mexico and Arizona, and on garrison duty, by detachments, at Fort Stanton and other points in that Department, during their entire term of service. The only report that has Paul Dowlin’s name on it was when, as a Lieutenant, on his return trip from Fort Whipple, Arizona, the Navajo Indians run off fourteen of his mules on Christmas Eve, 1864. Dowlin never talked much about that incident. The regiment mustered out on September 30, 1866.
Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Emil Fritz was succeeded in command of Fort Stanton by Brevet Major Lawrence G. Murphy in April of 1866. Murphy and Fritz became partners and served as Post Sutlers after Murphy was mustered out with the rest of the regiment in September of that year but they both were forced to leave Fort Stanton due to problems with whiskey sales and other things. They opened up the L. G. Murphy and Company store in Las Placitas del Rio Bonito. Originally named by the Spanish families who settled it in the 1850s, the name of the community was changed to Lincoln when Lincoln County was created in 1869 and named to honor the late president Abraham Lincoln. Murphy, along with his later partner Jimmy Dolan, was in most part responsible, of course, for the Lincoln County War.
After Paul Dowlin’s mustering out from the New Mexico Volunteers on September 30, 1866, he worked as a Post Trader at Fort Stanton, too, but the Ruidoso River was the draw that led him, and his brother William, to build a mill to saw and plane lumber. The Army was re-building Fort Stanton and needed all the lumber that a local sawmill could cut and level into boards and sell to them. As a veteran, Dowlin got a homestead of 160 acres. And through a land purchase grant he acquired another 600 acres. That encompassed pretty much of where the village of Ruidoso stands today.
Paul and Will Dowlin began building a sawmill out of adobe bricks in 1869. They first built where the Carrizo Creek and the Rio Ruidoso come together. The Ruidoso Valley Chamber of Commerce building is very near that spot today. Paul Dowlin’s idea was to channel the force of both the creek and the river to run the waterwheel that would power the saw mill. There certainly was a lot of powerful water. In fact, the first Dowlin’s Mill was destroyed by a flood. There were heavy rains and the mill was swept away just a few weeks after its completion.
In his second attempt at the mill business, Paul Dowlin and Will salvaged what they could from the wreckage of the ruined mill and rebuilt on higher ground for safety. The brothers Dowlin got some help from Larry Dow and Tom Kinney, both of whom had known Captain Paul when they worked on the rebuilding of Fort Stanton in 1868, and they had helped Paul build the first mill at the confluence of the Carrizo Creek and the Rio Ruidoso. In fact, Larry Dow helped Paul and Will work the mill for a couple of years.
Because they were now on higher, safer ground they were away from the water. It’s not easy to run a waterwheel where there’s no water. To solve that problem, they constructed a three-mile long flume system of V-shaped wooden troughs, supported by long poles and tree branches, that carried the water from the Carrizo Creek to the mill. But, safety came at a price. It was difficult to divert enough water to operate the mill. At least not enough to power a sawmill. It was now safer but there just wasn't enough water. So, to match the creek’s lower energy, Paul Dowlin decided to establish a grist mill for grinding grain into flour. He had enough power for that.
Things seemed to have progressed smoothly for Paul Dowlin. The 1870 Census listed him at age 40 as a non-New Mexico born lumber merchant in Lincoln County, Precinct Number Two. The real estate was worth $10,000 and Paul Dowlin’s personal property was valued at $5,000. But, the census doesn’t always get things right. The new mill was a grist mill not a lumber mill. Although they had been living there for generations, the Mescalero Apache Reservation was officially created by an executive order of President Grant on May 27, 1873 and the Mescaleros would stop at the mill to trade for flour. Paul served as postmaster of the little village of Dowlin’s Mill in December of 1873. In 1877, Dowlin sold a half interest in the mill to Frank Lesnett, another Fort Stanton veteran.
Frank went off to Chicago to marry his sweetheart Annie and they were planning to get to the mill on May 6th. They had to travel by train, stagecoach and wagon all the way from Chicago to Dowlin‘s Mill. Unfortunately, Paul never got to meet Annie because he met his end the day before.
For reasons unknown, but widely speculated about, Paul Dowlin was shot in the head by a former employee, Jerry Dillon, and died a few hours later on May 5, 1877. Dillon left for Texas and was never heard of again. Dowlin was unarmed at the time and could not defend himself. Paul was survived by his brother Will who notified what was left of his family back in Pennsylvania. Paul Dowlin is buried at the Old Fort Stanton Cemetery, the civilian cemetery located near the government’s Fort Stanton Cemetery.
The story that started at Fort Stanton and ended in bloodshed did not really end there. Dowlin‘s old mill, the building that started it all, served as a grist mill, a bean thrasher and even a place to purchase "moonshine" from 1868 to the turn of the 20th Century. By 1885 the town had attracted a general store, a blacksmith shop, and a post office which was named Ruidoso after the Rio Ruidoso that folks started building cabins on. It is located near the trail that ran through Lincoln County from the Chisum Ranch on the Pecos River to Arizona. The mill may even have been a good place for outlaws to hide out. They say that during or shortly after the Lincoln County War, Billy the Kid once hid at Dowlin’s Mill in a flour barrel. Whether that's true or not, legend or fact, Dowlin’s Mill was definitely one of Billy’s haunts. He was a family friend of the Dowlin and Lesnett families, and Annie Lesnett is said to be the one who stuffed the Kid in the flour barrel.
The First New Mexico Cavalry was organized on May 31, 1862, attached to the Department of New Mexico, and engaged in operations against Indians in New Mexico and Arizona, and on garrison duty, by detachments, at Fort Stanton and other points in that Department, during their entire term of service. The only report that has Paul Dowlin’s name on it was when, as a Lieutenant, on his return trip from Fort Whipple, Arizona, the Navajo Indians run off fourteen of his mules on Christmas Eve, 1864. Dowlin never talked much about that incident. The regiment mustered out on September 30, 1866.
Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Emil Fritz was succeeded in command of Fort Stanton by Brevet Major Lawrence G. Murphy in April of 1866. Murphy and Fritz became partners and served as Post Sutlers after Murphy was mustered out with the rest of the regiment in September of that year but they both were forced to leave Fort Stanton due to problems with whiskey sales and other things. They opened up the L. G. Murphy and Company store in Las Placitas del Rio Bonito. Originally named by the Spanish families who settled it in the 1850s, the name of the community was changed to Lincoln when Lincoln County was created in 1869 and named to honor the late president Abraham Lincoln. Murphy, along with his later partner Jimmy Dolan, was in most part responsible, of course, for the Lincoln County War.
After Paul Dowlin’s mustering out from the New Mexico Volunteers on September 30, 1866, he worked as a Post Trader at Fort Stanton, too, but the Ruidoso River was the draw that led him, and his brother William, to build a mill to saw and plane lumber. The Army was re-building Fort Stanton and needed all the lumber that a local sawmill could cut and level into boards and sell to them. As a veteran, Dowlin got a homestead of 160 acres. And through a land purchase grant he acquired another 600 acres. That encompassed pretty much of where the village of Ruidoso stands today.
Paul and Will Dowlin began building a sawmill out of adobe bricks in 1869. They first built where the Carrizo Creek and the Rio Ruidoso come together. The Ruidoso Valley Chamber of Commerce building is very near that spot today. Paul Dowlin’s idea was to channel the force of both the creek and the river to run the waterwheel that would power the saw mill. There certainly was a lot of powerful water. In fact, the first Dowlin’s Mill was destroyed by a flood. There were heavy rains and the mill was swept away just a few weeks after its completion.
In his second attempt at the mill business, Paul Dowlin and Will salvaged what they could from the wreckage of the ruined mill and rebuilt on higher ground for safety. The brothers Dowlin got some help from Larry Dow and Tom Kinney, both of whom had known Captain Paul when they worked on the rebuilding of Fort Stanton in 1868, and they had helped Paul build the first mill at the confluence of the Carrizo Creek and the Rio Ruidoso. In fact, Larry Dow helped Paul and Will work the mill for a couple of years.
Because they were now on higher, safer ground they were away from the water. It’s not easy to run a waterwheel where there’s no water. To solve that problem, they constructed a three-mile long flume system of V-shaped wooden troughs, supported by long poles and tree branches, that carried the water from the Carrizo Creek to the mill. But, safety came at a price. It was difficult to divert enough water to operate the mill. At least not enough to power a sawmill. It was now safer but there just wasn't enough water. So, to match the creek’s lower energy, Paul Dowlin decided to establish a grist mill for grinding grain into flour. He had enough power for that.
Things seemed to have progressed smoothly for Paul Dowlin. The 1870 Census listed him at age 40 as a non-New Mexico born lumber merchant in Lincoln County, Precinct Number Two. The real estate was worth $10,000 and Paul Dowlin’s personal property was valued at $5,000. But, the census doesn’t always get things right. The new mill was a grist mill not a lumber mill. Although they had been living there for generations, the Mescalero Apache Reservation was officially created by an executive order of President Grant on May 27, 1873 and the Mescaleros would stop at the mill to trade for flour. Paul served as postmaster of the little village of Dowlin’s Mill in December of 1873. In 1877, Dowlin sold a half interest in the mill to Frank Lesnett, another Fort Stanton veteran.
Frank went off to Chicago to marry his sweetheart Annie and they were planning to get to the mill on May 6th. They had to travel by train, stagecoach and wagon all the way from Chicago to Dowlin‘s Mill. Unfortunately, Paul never got to meet Annie because he met his end the day before.
For reasons unknown, but widely speculated about, Paul Dowlin was shot in the head by a former employee, Jerry Dillon, and died a few hours later on May 5, 1877. Dillon left for Texas and was never heard of again. Dowlin was unarmed at the time and could not defend himself. Paul was survived by his brother Will who notified what was left of his family back in Pennsylvania. Paul Dowlin is buried at the Old Fort Stanton Cemetery, the civilian cemetery located near the government’s Fort Stanton Cemetery.
The story that started at Fort Stanton and ended in bloodshed did not really end there. Dowlin‘s old mill, the building that started it all, served as a grist mill, a bean thrasher and even a place to purchase "moonshine" from 1868 to the turn of the 20th Century. By 1885 the town had attracted a general store, a blacksmith shop, and a post office which was named Ruidoso after the Rio Ruidoso that folks started building cabins on. It is located near the trail that ran through Lincoln County from the Chisum Ranch on the Pecos River to Arizona. The mill may even have been a good place for outlaws to hide out. They say that during or shortly after the Lincoln County War, Billy the Kid once hid at Dowlin’s Mill in a flour barrel. Whether that's true or not, legend or fact, Dowlin’s Mill was definitely one of Billy’s haunts. He was a family friend of the Dowlin and Lesnett families, and Annie Lesnett is said to be the one who stuffed the Kid in the flour barrel.
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