Shaftner Lake

Shaftner Lake, though residing approximately 20 miles east of the Lea County, New Mexico border, was home for some of the families of Lea County, New Mexico.
Originally named Salt Lake and changed to Shaftner Lake to honor Maj. General William R. Shaftner who first reported finding the lake in 1876.

In 1907 a group of real estate promoters founded the Shaftner Lake Land and Trust Co., platting the site and advertising it as "picturesque" by James T. Cumley and that a railroad was to build a rail-line through the area.
Land was selling for $160.00 for 40 acres.

Advertising paid off, two months after the ad appreared Shaftner Lake as a townshop was booming with a post office, bank, school, several businesses and over fifty homes.

Newcomers brought their families and fishing gear, planning to take full advantage of the newly discovered area, when residents asked about the lack of fish in the alkaline lake, Mr, Cumley editor of the Shaftner Lake Herald explained that "a meteor had landed in the lake on October 3rd, 1907 and boiled the fish alive."

Mr. Cumley dissappeared as did other residents and the townshop itself, leaving a few foundations of another vanishing town within the Permian basin.

Source: Max Clampitt, published in the Hobbs News-Sun, 27 Nov. 2010
Printed by permission of Max Clampitt