Ruidoso, Spanish for noisy river, is the name given to the burbling stream tumbling out of the White Mountains in New Mexico. These mountains and much of the plains to the east were inhabited by natives known as the Mescalero who have tribal ties to the Apache. It was alongside this busy stream that Paul Dowlin, an ancestor of Irish immigrants who migrated to the United States even before the Revolutionary war, found his destiny. He was born and lived in eastern Pennsylvania for over 30 years. His yearning for adventure and advancement led him to make his way across the country in 1859. Soon...