Fort Stanton Cave Entrance from [http://www.lincolncountynm.org/Gallery%208.htm]The photo on the right is the oldest entrance photo we have been made aware of, and was taken either in 1911 or 1912 by an Entomologist, AG Hammar. He was from West Virginia and had been sent out to this part of New Mexico because of a major infestation of worms that was destroying the apple orchards in the Pecos, Hondo and Lincoln Valleys. He lived in Roswell.AG Hammar was also an avid hunter AND photographer. Everywhere he visited he took photos. He and newspaper man Cy Leland were hunting partners. Leland also lived in the area. In 1912 they went hunting on the North side of the Capitans (Pine Lodge area, we would guess). Hammar was killed accidentally, and his body was returned to his home state.One of the men who takes care of the archives in the Roswell area for the Historical Society of SE New Mexico shared copies of that collection pertinent to Lincoln County with Dr. Ritch who scanned many collections for LCHS while he was on the Board. He had both hard copy and scanned versions from that collection. [AG Hammar Photo] |
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Danna Henderson provided the next two photos from the Fort Stanton Kids Collection. The first, taken in the late 1920s or early 1930s, shows Bill Gould (Tom Gould's father) in the white sailor hat, and other currently unidentified Fort Stanton residents at the Fort Stanton Cave entrance.It was a big sinkhole, and we'd tie the horses up at the top to graze and go down into the entrance to cool off in the summer. As I've said before, and told the cavers, I never went beyond where the daylight ended myself, mostly just sat down inside the entrance and contemplated the world. The slope down into the cave was much easier to negotiate back then (or maybe it seemed so because we were kids, Danna Henderson And it still looked like that in the early 1960's - no fence, no signs, just wild. I remember one time as I drove up to the entrance, there was a large herd of pronghorn grazing in tall grass near the entrance. Lee Skinner |
This shows the entrance to Dan's Cave, named after Daniel Kusianovich (Danna Henderson's father), who was the Fort Stanton Hospital Administrator for many years. UNM archeologists excavated the cave in 1951-52. This cave, now called Feather Cave, located in the Fort Stanton area, is both an important archeological site and a bat cave. |
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The picture on the left, taken in March, 1965, shows the original sinkhole entrance and camping area which was used by cavers starting work on the survey of the cave. Sierra Blanca mountain is usually snow-capped at this time of the year, and if you look closely you can see buildings of Fort Stanton along the line drawn between the large sinkhole and the peak. [P. Lindsley Photo] |
A more recent aerial view of the entrance (July 1, 2008) shows the chain link fence and access gate next to the road, that was installed to insure proper protection and management of this important resource. A parking area is also shown near the cave entrance. [W. Walker Photo] |
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More about the Historic Fort Stanton Fort, a book byLynda A. Sánchez, a past FSCSP Director |
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(We have room for more. Please send in your pictures or contact us below.) |
Thanks to everyone who assisted with the research on this page, including Lynda Sánchez, Danna Henderson, Tom Gould, Mike Bilbo, Lee Skinner, Pete Lindsley, Donald Davis, Wayne Walker, John Corcoran and Dr. Alden Ritch. |
