Lake Valley

At the focal point of the Lake Valley Backcountry Byway is the now-deserted mining town of Lake Valley. Only a volunteer couple that serve as BLM caretakers of the townsite reside there. Lake Valley was the site of the largest single body of silver ever discovered, and with the decline in demand for silver came the decline of the town itself. The last residents left the town in 1994. It's always amazed me how people just up and leave a settlement and leave many belongings behind. Countless artifacts of a time now gone lie scattered around the buildings that remain. As the wind blows through the buildings and across the desert one can almost hear the voices from the past; what remains helps to tell their story.
More information can be found here: http://www.newmexico.org/explore/scenic_byways/lake_valley.php