True Story

The Village of Capitan, New Mexico
has a unique story. It is the birthplace
and burial site of the world's most
well-known bear. Smokey's story is
factual although it might appear to be
fictitious. On
May 4, 1950, a carelessly discarded
cigarette started the Los Tablos blaze
in the Lincoln National Forest. On
May 6, a second fire, known as the
Capitan Gap fire started in the same
general area. Together these fires
destroyed 17,000 acres of forest and
grasslands. The monetary loss to
private property was great but the
loss to the environment was even
greater.

In May 8, a 70 mile per hour wind
made it impossible to control the
blaze. It was on this day that nineteen
men were trapped in a rock slide
while the raging holocaust,
incredibly, spared them. They were
rescued without any fatalities, but
later expressed the opinion that they
knew "just how a slice of toast feels."
On May 9, a fire crew brought a badly
singed bear cub into the fire camp.
They had found the frightened cub
clinging tenaciously to the side of a
burnt pine tree. Badly burned about
the buttocks and feet, he was given
the name "Hotfoot", a description soon
to be changed to Smokey Bear. His
burns were tended to overnight at the
nearby Flatley Ranch, then flown by
Game Warden Ray Bell to the
veterinary hospital in Santa Fe. Bell
later kept Smokey in his home,
where, it is said, he was a "mite
domineering" with the other family
pets and somewhat of a ham.

In 1944, prior to the discovery of
Smokey Bear, the Forest Service and
the Advertising Council originated
and authorized the use of a poster by
artist Albert Staehle, depicting
Smokey Bear. A later depiction by
Rudolph Wendelin is still used in fire
prevention campaigns. The
popularity of the campaign grew so
great, after the inclusion of Smokey,
that in 1952 Congress passed a bill
into law governing the
commercialization of the name and
image of Smokey Bear. Due to the vast
amount of mail he was receiving,
Smokey was given his own zip code.
Upon Smokey's recovery in Santa Fe,
the Forest Service had Smokey flown
to Washington D.C.
It is rumored that on this flight, an
airport refused the pilot's request to
land because a bear was aboard the
plane!
In July of 1950, the U.S. Senator
Chaves of New Mexico, presented
Smokey to the school children of
America. Smokey was now in his
permanent home at the National Zoo
where millions visited and marveled
at his story.

As a result of Smokey's life, the Village
of Capitan, the state of New Mexico,
the nation and possibly the entire
world have been altered to some
degree. A study was made of school
children in the United States and
foreign countries using familiar
slogans. Given the motto "Only You",
more children were able to complete,
"Can Prevent Forest Fires", than with
any other motto.
In 1956, a Smokey Bear Club, Inc.
was formed in Capitan to further
conservation efforts. The sum of
$2,300 was raised and with donated
materials and labor, a log cabin
museum was constructed. The
museum plans were drawn by a
ranger's wife, Dorothy Guck. The
conservation efforts of the Village
were recognized in 1958 when
President Dwight Eisenhower
presented Capitan with the first
"Smokey Oscar" for its efforts. The log
cabin museum opened to the public in
1960 with free admission to all.

New Mexico adopted the black bear as
the state animal in 1962, and, on its
golden anniversary in 1962, a female
bear companion named Goldie from
Magdalena, New Mexico was sent to
the Washington Zoo. No cubs were
ever born to Smokey and his mate.
Upon his death in 1976, at the urging
of his many friends, Smokey's body
was returned to his beautiful and
beloved Capitan Mountains. He now
rests in peace, buried in a small park
which bears his name; in the heart of
the Village of Capitan and in the
shadow of the mountains where it all
began. In 1984, Rudolph Wendelin
designed a 20 cent postage stamp
depicting a bear cub clinging to a
burnt tree with the famous Smokey
Bear emblem as a background. This
was the first and only time the U.S.
Postal Service has issued a postage
stamp honoring an individual
animal. Capitan was chosen for the
first day sale of this commemorative
stamp fifty years after the inception
of Wendelin's poster.
Smokey Bear, the Lincoln National
Forest, the beautiful and rugged
Capitan Mountains, are all part of the
saga of dedicated and caring people
who were brought together by a
miracle of nature... all a part of the
history of Capitan.
Thanks to Frank E. Miller and Dorothy
Guck for providing information for
this epic story.
Photos courtesy of the Smokey Bear
Museum.