About El farol. (Capitan, Condado de Lincoln, Nuevo México) 1905-19??
Capitan, Condado de Lincoln, Nuevo México (1905-19??)

El Farol

El Farol ("The Lantern") was a weekly Spanish-language newspaper published in Capitan, New Mexico, from December 12, 1905, until November 20, 1906. Capitan, named after the Capitan Mountains, was founded in the 1890s after coal was discovered in the area in 1884. By the turn of the century, the railroad had arrived in the town, which had grown to a population of 670. By the early 1900s most coal mines in the area had been abandoned. Capitan's most famous resident was Smokey Bear, a bear cub found badly burned after a forest fire in the area in 1950.

Clement Hightower served as editor for El Farol, and he worked for the Forest Service until 1906. Hightower ran for mayor as a Republican, and the paper included information on the Republican convention of 1906. John A. Haley held the position of publicist, but he also served as editor and proprietor of the Capitan News, a Democratic paper, from 1903 until 1908. Haley was originally from Texas and taught in the public schools in White Oaks until moving to Capitan at the turn of the century. George A. Chamberlain served as manager. The Capitan News was published by La Compania Publicista El Farol (El Farol Publishing Company). El Farol briefly merged with the Capitan News from October 23, 1906, until its final issue appeared on November 20, 1906.

El Farol was published on Tuesdays, and its motto explained its special place as "The only Castilian paper South of Las Vegas and West of the Rio Grande." The paper spanned four pages in Spanish. Advertisements also appeared in Spanish and covered various local businesses such as Welch & Titsworth's General Store, local bars, medicines, and dry goods. Each issue of El Farol included an advertisement explaining the paper's dedication to "the interests of the Mexican people."

During its yearlong publication, El Farol maintained a section for local news, which included politics, local visitors, and special sales at local businesses. Notably, the Spanish used in this section of the paper exhibited New Mexican Spanish influence, but the remainder of the paper employed vocabulary and verb forms found in Spain, which likely seemed strange to local readers. The newspaper also dedicated a section each week to a passage from Pedro Antonio de Alarcon's 1855 romantic novel, El Final de Norma ("The End of Norma").

The price of a one-year subscription to El Farol remained $1.50 throughout its publication. In 1907, N.W. Ayer & Son's American Newspaper Annual states that El Farol was an independent Republican paper of unknown circulation. The Capitan News, the Democratic paper for which John A. Haley served as editor and publisher, had a circulation of around 350.

Provided by: University of New Mexico