(Engle NM)
Went to see the ghosttown of Engle, but there’s not much left of it. The old schoolhouse is the only building remaining. I was told there are still a couple of foundations now on private property. There was a shed and an adobe barn that looked pretty old.
Engle
The entire area is now part of the Armendaris Ranch HQ, which extends for about 60 miles north and 20 miles east. They raise cattle, bison and keep rare species like the dessert tortoise, bighorn sheep, I think oryx and others in the surrounding mountains.
Ranch Headquarters
Old Engle Schoolhouse
In it’s heyday, it was a pretty hoppin’ place with hotel, saloons, stores, and railroad station for supplying the mines to the west, and hauling cattle from the surrounding ranches. All is gone, except the school and a siding for managing rail traffic that still passes through.
Shed & Barn
Train on RR Siding
The Jornada del Muerto portion of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro passed on the edge of town. About ten miles to the north was a watering hole; if there had been recent rain. Amazing how once important places like this just fade away.
Camp: Elephant Butte Lake SP-Old Landing
Scene: Ghosttown, ranch, railroad
Old memories for me. I found Engle while hunting for an old road to the dam of the original lake upstream of Elephant Butte Lake. That would be in 2008 I think. The old dam turned out to be on private property. Rats.
Yep. Anything north of town is part of the ranch.