Skyland, a young boys summer dream

Feb. 27--The sign posted on the side of Sudderth Drive says "Skyland," but for most of the people whipping by in their vehicles, the word has no significance.

They don't know that before Ruidoso was incorporated, before chain stores and restaurants discovered the Sacramento Mountains, Skyland accounted for much of the mountain settlement.

The development boomed, in part because it became the step-child of the El Paso Herald-Times. Depending on who's telling the story, lots were either sold at discounts with new subscriptions to the paper, or they were given away with a five-year subscription.

"The Times actually delivered every morning to each cabin," Lyle Hosmer said in a 1991 interview with the Ruidoso News. Hosmer, now 88, summered in the area with his parents and siblings, and continued the tradition with his own children.

He provided copies of warranty deeds filed in November 1930 and August 1931. Conveying the lots were developers Arthur and Ruth Smadbeck from Manhattan Borough in New York City. The 1930 buyer was Edna L. Dunbar of El Paso and the 1931 buyer was Ed E. Williams of Ruidoso.

The restrictive covenants contained in the deeds were reflective of another age. Prohibited by the covenants were slaughter houses, asylums, manufacture of gunpowder or establishments of "tanning, dressing or preparing of skins, hides or leather." Outhouses had to be suitably screened.

The covenants also strictly forbid the sale, lease or rent of a house to "Africans or any person other than of the Caucasian Race."

Evidence of the newspaper's involvement in the project shows in the last line, which required that plans and specifications for all buildings be submitted to the subscription department for approval.

"Skyland is the oldest area around here," former Ruidoso mayor Lloyd L. Davis Jr. said in the 1991 article. "It went all the way up to the (Mescalero Apache) reservation. It probably was the earliest in the down river area."

Progressive development

Two agents representing the development, Stella Campbell and Madeline Burdett, operated out of an adobe house that still stands at the corner of Sudderth Drive and Laurel Road, Davis said.

Local real estate appraiser Dan Swearingin was quoted in the article as saying he had a chance to talk to them about those early days.

"The land was subdivided by the Smadbecks, who did recreational developments all around the United States," he said. They submitted their plat about 1927.

"Back then, newspapers were immensely powerful, because they were the only way to advertise," Swearingin said.

Although he didn't know the specifics of the arrangement, Swearingin said Burdett came to Ruidoso to sell lots in Skyland during the summer. In the winter, she operated out of an office at the Times.

"It was a pretty progressive development," Swearingin said. "They built what is now the Ruidoso Woman's Clubhouse as a meeting place for the property owners association and a place for new lot owners to live until their cabins were built. They issued title insurance when no one else did. They set up a property owners association, put in a water system and dedicated park land where the clubhouse, the chamber of commerce and Two Rivers Park now stand."

The deeds also specified that if the Ruidoso area ever incorporated, Skyland would be included within its boundaries.

Swearingin said as the cycle of boom and bust started on the downside, the Smadbecks called Burdett to tell her to sell the remaining lots for whatever she could get.

"But she said that would ruin the investment of the people who bought at the higher prices and she offered to buy the lots herself," Swearingin said.

Burdett didn't have enough money, but at a dinner party in El Paso, she met Stella Campbell. They talked and left the party as partners. Their first winter in Ruidoso, they lived in the clubhouse, Swearingin said.

The biggest problem was the narrow width of the lots, a mere 20 feet.

"People had to buy two or three to put up a house," he said. "They did that on purpose."

Hosmer's father, Ralph Hosmer, bought six lots and a 20-foot by 30-foot cabin across the road from the Ruidoso River in 1938 for $800. The annual property tax was $2.20. The lot faced a sliver of park land that borders the river. The family, headed by eldest brother Ford Hosmer acquired several more cabins. For a few years, one of Lyle and Wanda Hosmer's three children, Ken Hosmer, maintained a studio in one of the cottages and taught art at nearby Carrizo Canyon Lodge during the summers.

Hosmer traced ownership of Skyland property back to Frank and Annie Lesnett, one-time owners of the Old Dowlin Mill, who is February of 1888, conveyed the land to James Edward Cree, owner of the Angus VV Ranch and a resident of Scotland. In May 1927, Cree sold to Warren Smadbeck, who sold in February of the following year to Arthur Smadbeck.

The last deed reserved water and ditch rights in the area for the Dowlin Mill on Sudderth Drive, which then was active, but later became a book and curio shop and now is the focus of preservation efforts. The deed also specified that any necessary work for maintenance, repair or laying of pipe was to be allowed.

Evidence of an old ditch still can be found that ran from Flume Canyon near Sherwood Forest, along the back of Midtown historic tourist shopping core, and through Skyland on Carter Road and Begonia near the Ruidoso News office. It eventually emptied into Carrizo Creek by the property owners clubhouse. Hosmer said he wasn't sure, but it may be the same ditch referred to in the 1927 deed.

While lots in Skyland away from the river were being sold and deeded for $75 and $50 along Sudderth, people who wanted to live in Upper Canyon could only lease lots from the railroad.

"Dad ruled that out, because the leases were only for 99 years," Hosmer said. "The Southern Pacific owned Bonito Lake, Eagle Creek and lots of other riverside property."

Gravel roads

Hosmer said cabins could be built in 1930 for about $250.

"I first came to Ruidoso in June 1934, (at the age of nine) when my family rented a cabin on Willow Road for $15 a month from 'Uncle' Charlie Weems, a carpenter and early builder," Hosmer said.

"We came into town on a gravel road and stopped at Brooks Barbecue for lunch," he said. "Then we went next door to Holloman Lumber Co. and there were bunches of men sitting around the stove visiting."

In 1939, the Holloman building at the corner of Willow and Sudderth was converted into Ruidoso's first movie theater, "The Apache." The owner of the theater was killed in the September 1941 flood, Hosmer said. The building in 1991, was used by Murray's Cleaning Service.

Doc Benninghof'sLog Cabin Pharmacy was situated where Ruidoso State Bank, now Compass Bank was built.

"It was an interesting place to me, because he sold ice cream," Hosmer said.

One block down the street sitting side-by-side were the Jack Lee and Robinson's grocery stores.

"With no refrigerators, people went to the meat markets everyday to buy fresh," he said,

To keep supplies as cool as possible, people either submerged them in the river, or used a box they called a California cooler with a screen top to bottom, and screen shelves, he said.

"Things stayed cooler and it kept the flies out," Hosmer said. "The coolness from the ground was drawn up."

The Midtown section already existed, but the Gateway portion didn't begin developing until after World War II, Hosmer said.

Besides outdoor recreation, a bowling alley and shooting gallery operated in the vicinity of what was the La Lorraine Restaurant in 1991 and more recently a steakhouse.

"Most everything ended at the highway to Alto," he said.

Carter's 40 Acre Lodge with cabins and a riding stable cut across the canyon near Whitlock Street from the river to Carrizo Creek. Tall Pines RV Park was part of that site in 1991, but was removed for the River Crossing development. The Carter Lodge grocery supply and souvenir store was the forerunner of Sierra Ski Rental, most recently a secondhand store.

Pure water

The water in the Ruidoso River was so good back then that people drank from it, Hosmer said. A horseback patrol was hired to keep children from wading or playing in the clear water.

A spring on River Road, by 1991 hidden in dense foliage, was a place for families to fill their water jugs, he said. About 5 p.m., it was the busiest place in town.

"The river was pretty impressive to me," Hosmer said. "I could see the fish and I wanted to catch them with my hands while watching for the patrol."

The downside was that by the time Hosmer was 13, he was expected to carry water from the river in buckets back to the cabin. "They really got heavy and I really became interested in digging a well," he said. The hand pump on that well still operated in 1991.

Hosmer remembered four footbridges that crossed the river and a clean and attractive park in Skyland, which was maintained by the property owners association until after World War II.

"All the footbridges (in back of the Ruidoso State Bank holdings) were wiped out by the 1941 flood," Hosmer said. The flood also straightened out a loop in the river.

Two U.S. Forest Service campgrounds were operating in 1938, one on the river beneath the existing fire tower in Ruidoso and the other where the public library now sits on Kansas City Road, he said.

Pharmacist Benninghof was the closest thing to a doctor and when Edna Dunbar, a nurse came up for the summer, she quickly was pressed into service, delivering babies or whatever was necessary.

The legends of the wild days of Lincoln County were very vivid in the 1930s.

"George W. Coe walked out on a stage next to the library and held out his hand with a missing finger shot off at Blazers Mill," Hosmer said. "I was 15 and it really impressed me."

He remembered sipping a soft drink called Ruidoso Cola, produced in Alamogordo. He saved a cap for his scrapbook.

In 1969, Hosmer remodeled the family cabin, Cuyahoga, but he kept the original wood burning stove.

"We had an oil burning stove too and used it in the summer when it was too hot to burn wood," Hosmer said. That stove was removed during the remodeling. Many other original items remained in the cabin, such as the small doors on the bedrooms, an old iron bed and his brother's bedspread. Outside stood a Ponderous pine that measured 144 inches around its base. A smaller tree with 178 rings blew down in a strong windstorm in 1985, so he estimated the old tree at 250 years back in 1991.

"I have fond memories of these special places," Hosmer said. "I guess progress is good, but I wish we could slow down a bit."

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