Editing Carrizozo, New Mexico (section)

==History==
[[Image:Carrizozo.JPG|thumb|left|Official scenic historical marker at eastern town limit]]

Prior to 1899, the area was primarily a few ranches and a stagecoach crossing with limited permanent settlement.<ref name=Cosentino>{{cite book|last=Cosentino|first=Stew|title=History of New Mexico: Land of the Brave, Land of the Slaves|year=2010|publisher=iUniverse|location=Bloomington, IN}}</ref> [[Lawrence Murphy]], a merchant active in the [[Lincoln County War]] (1878), owned a major ranch in the area.<ref name=Drago>{{cite book|last=Drago|first=Harry Sinclair|title=The Great Range Wars: Violence on the Plains|year=1970|publisher=Dodd & Mead|location=New York|isbn=0803265638|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yr3C9KuNkN8C&q=Carrizozo&pg=PA87}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Mullin|first=Robert N.|title=The Life and Death of John Henry Tunstall|journal=Journal of the Southwest|year=1966|volume=8|issue=2|pages=181}}</ref> The location of Carrizozo was selected as the site for a station on the [[El Paso and Northeastern Railway]] (EP&NE) main line in 1899. Carrizozo was chosen over the nearby booming mine town of [[White Oaks, New Mexico|White Oaks]], resulting in large-scale migration from White Oaks to Carrizozo.<ref name=Dietrich>{{cite web|last=Dietrich |first=Bruce M. |title=Carrizozo |url=http://www.newmexicohistory.org/filedetails.php?fileID=21298 |publisher=New Mexico Office of the State Historian |access-date=September 1, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101007031846/http://newmexicohistory.org/filedetails.php?fileID=21298 |archive-date=October 7, 2010 }}</ref>

The railroad brought businesses, growing population, and increased importance to the town of Carrizozo. As a result, a county referendum in 1909 moved the seat of [[Lincoln County, New Mexico|Lincoln County]] from the town of [[Lincoln, New Mexico|Lincoln]] to Carrizozo.<ref name=Cosentino /> This decision resulted in a four-year legal battle that was eventually resolved in favor of Carrizozo by the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] in the case of ''Gray v. Taylor''.<ref>[https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=15127433663801438019&hl=en&as_sdt=2&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr ''Gray v. Taylor''].</ref> The result was a boom in which railroad access and political importance combined to lead to significant population growth in Carrizozo. The population reached around 2,000 by 1920.<ref name=Banks />

During this time, [[Albert B. Fall]], a U.S. Senator from New Mexico and later [[United States Secretary of the Interior|Secretary of the Interior]], owned the Three Rivers Ranch just south of Carrizozo, but had to sell it to settle legal debts as a result of his involvement in the [[Teapot Dome scandal]] (1922–1923).<ref name=Pike>{{cite book|last=Pike|first=David|title=Roadside New Mexico: A Guide to Historical Markers|year=2004|publisher=University of New Mexico Press|location=Albuquerque, NM}}</ref> During the same time, journalist [[Quentin Reynolds]] visited the town and wrote a piece on it for ''[[Collier's]]''. Later, he wrote in ''The Wounded Don't Cry'' that "I used to agree with [[Arthur "Bugs" Baer|Bugs]] that once you left New York, you were strictly on the horse and buggy circuit. But of late years I've had to modify that. Since then I've discovered [[New Orleans]], [[San Francisco]] and a little place called Carrizozo, New Mexico, where I want to go when I die. I want to go there and gang around the drug store and sneak behind the prescription counter with Art Rolland and have a nip of what he calls Old Granddaddy then type out his prescriptions for him."<ref name=Reynolds>{{cite book|last=Reynolds|first=Quentin|title=The Wounded Don't Cry|year=1941|pages=103|isbn=9781419159640|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RIERXT6Tm6sC&q=Carrizozo}}</ref>

Carrizozo is about {{convert|35|mi}} east of the [[Trinity (nuclear test)|Trinity Site]], where the first nuclear bomb was detonated on July 16, 1945. Residents reported tremors like an earthquake and, as the first major downwind settlement, the town received a significant part of the remnants of the mushroom cloud resulting in [[nuclear fallout]] of the area, which caused [[radioactive contamination]].<ref name=Szasz>{{cite book|last=Szasz|first=Ferenc Morton|title=The Day the Sun Rose Twice|year=1984|publisher=University of New Mexico Press|location=Albuquerque, NM|url=https://archive.org/details/daysunrosetwic00szas|url-access=registration|quote=The Day the Sun Rose Twice.}}</ref>{{page needed|date=August 2023}} [[Bonito Lake]] which also lies within the estimated radioactive fallout zone of the 1945 Trinity test, was a water source for Carrizozo.<ref name="NG">{{Cite news |date=September 21, 2021 |title=U.S. lawmakers move urgently to recognize survivors of the first atomic bomb test |language=en |work=National Geographic |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/lawmakers-move-urgently-to-recognize-survivors-of-the-first-atomic-bomb-test |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210921194054/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/lawmakers-move-urgently-to-recognize-survivors-of-the-first-atomic-bomb-test |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 21, 2021 |access-date=August 2, 2023}}</ref>

With the rise of the automobile, Carrizozo's proximity to the railroad became less important starting in the 1950s, and the last passenger train passed through in 1968.<ref name=Cosentino /> The result was a decrease in economic opportunity in Carrizozo, and the population fell back to about 1,200 people for much of the end of the 20th century.<ref name="Lincoln County">{{cite web|title=Lincoln County Comprehensive Plan|url=http://www.lincolncountynm.net/Final%20Comp.pdf|publisher=Lincoln County|access-date=September 5, 2012}}</ref> Recently, the town has seen increasing focus on tourism, and [[Cherry juice|cherry cider]] produced in the town was known nationally. The Carrizozo Orchard has since been permanently closed.<ref name=Heim /><ref name="Banks" />