In yesterday’s Blog entry I wrote about Elephant Butte Dam which created Elephant Butte Lake in 1916. If you missed that entry, you can read it by clicking this link…
http://wp.me/pDCku-4by
Today I’ll describe the lake it created. Justice can only be done in one of two ways…by airplane or Google Earth. Since I do not own an airplane and I’m not about to rent one…we’ll use the magic of Google Earth.
As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view...
In this first view you get to see the lake, directly from above, as seen from an altitude of 38 miles…
In the above image you can see my current location of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico as marked by TOC. The location of the dam is also shown. The lake is also known as the Elephant Butte Reservoir which you can read about by clicking this Wikipedia link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_Butte_Reservoir
The lake is New Mexico’s largest body of water at 40 miles long with 200 miles of shoreline. You can read about other details of the lake in this link…
http://www.recreation.gov/recAreaDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&recAreaId=100
This next Google Earth image shown from an angle gives a better perspective of the “big picture”…
In addition to the Rio Grande River and the dam locations, I’m also showing you the relative locations of two Blog entries from a few days ago…first is the Laguna del Muerto from the entry about the Journey of the Dead…
http://wp.me/pDCku-49n
and second is the entry about Engle, New Mexico…An Unusual Ghost Town…
http://wp.me/pDCku-49e
As you might have guessed, the lake has huge recreational use and value. Directly to the northeast of Truth or Consequences is the rather unremarkable city of Elephant Butte…population in the 2000 census of 1,368. The major portion of the city’s business population is made up of RV and boat storage facitities…folks store them during the week and come and play on the weekends.
All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
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http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust
Que Sera, Sera... Whatever Will Be, Will Be... 