Billy the Kid Trail
Fort Stanton Reservation, NM

The heart of the Fort Stanton Reservation is historic Fort Stanton. Located exactly 15 miles northeast of Ruidoso, the fort was built in 1855 to protect Anglo-European and Hispanic settlers in the area from Native American invasions. The fort also served as the home for a renowned unit of the black soldiers of the 9th Calvary, nicknamed the "Buffalo Soldiers." Through the 1800s it served as a frontier outpost and protected local settlers from the Mescalero Apache Indians.

Many famous western personalities once stopped at Fort Stanton, including Kit Carson, Billy the Kid, and General "Black Jack" Pershing. With the coming of peace in 1896, Fort Stanton was abandoned. In 1899 President McKinley found use for the Fort once again. It was designated as a U.S. Marine Hospital that specialized in the treatment of patients with tuberculosis. After 40 years of serving tuberculosis patients, Fort Stanton then served as an internment camp for German and Japanese prisoners of war from World War II.

In 1953, Fort Stanton and 1,320 acres surrounding it were donated to the New Mexico State Department of Public Welfare. The Department transformed Fort Stanton into a hospital to serve the needs of the developmentally disabled. In the mid-1990s, this hospital was closed. Fort Stanton is currently a New Mexico State Prison for Women.

The Fort Stanton Reservation offers many recreational opportunities that include camping, hiking, and horseback riding. Also located on the reservation are a series of 12 caves, the most famous being Fort Stanton Cave, the third longest in New Mexico. These caves are open to the public, and are also used by universities, archaeologists, and anthropologists to conduct studies on prehistoric Indian culture and land geography.