White Oaks

The gold strike was 1879, not the panel's 1869: John Wilson, Jack Winters and George Baxter found it that fall on what became Baxter Mountain. The panel states the railroad story as fact, but historians treat the tale of town fathers pricing out the El Paso and Northeastern as an oft-repeated rumor. The Old Abe was the richest mine, and in March 1895 a fire there killed eight men, who lie under one shared stone in Cedarvale Cemetery, near Susan McSween Barber, a monument to Deputy James Bell and the state's first governor, William McDonald.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker White Oaks White Oaks grew rapidly after the discovery of gold in 1869. From tent city to bustling mining town, it was the largest town in Lincoln County with cultural events and an occasional bandit. Gold deple- tion and failure to grant railroad right-of-way caused its demise. Cedarvale cemetery-resting place of many White Oaks citizens.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Smokey Bear Historical Park — 17 mi
  The small park in Capitan where the living Smokey Bear is buried, a cub found clinging to a burned tree in the Capitan Mountains in 1950, six years after the cartoon was invented.
• Lincoln Historic Site — 27 mi
  One street of adobe in the Bonito valley kept much as it was in the 1870s, where the Lincoln County War was fought over who would supply Fort Stanton and the Mescalero agency.

More markers nearby

• Susan McSween Barber — 0.7 mi
• Carrizozo — 10.0 mi
• Carrizozo — 10 mi
• Carrizozo — 11 mi