Claunch

I hate traffic.  I hate to travel high population density areas.  I love to ponder "what came before".  Claunch is an example of a reward.  I was driving through a desolate area between Ruidoso and the Rio Grande.  I went through Claunch without paying close attention.  Then, I turned around and looked closer and took some photos.  Most striking is the pinto bean elevator, where dry harvested beans were stored.  I had not thought of this part of New Mexico as being a Dust Bowl area, but I guess it was.  The population now is essentially zero but it apparently was a semi-thriving farming area in the 1930s.  There is no indication of irrigation; I guess they made do with rainfall.  That's what happened all through the Dust Bowl; farmers had sufficient rainfall to produce dry land crops for many years.  Then, it turned dry.

What will the country look like after cities have built out over crop land and they have taken all the water needed for irrigation?  We don't need to grow our own food or have our own farmers.  We can just buy what we need from Mexico, South America, Australia, etc.

http://elchuqueno.com/city-of-dust-claunch-new-mexico/

 Claunch Women's Club

 Pinto Bean Elevator

Old School.  Above door: "Claunch School  WPA 1938".
Zoomable photos here:
https://plus.google.com/+WillieMcKemie/posts/9e5211nYrAu

I failed to take a photo of the post office.  As described in the first link, it looks to be active and a library also.  I regret that I did not seek out the postal person.  Claunch is pretty close to being a ghost town though many of the buildings, including the post office, show signs of care.  I'm guessing the post office serves hundreds of thousands of acres containing  ranches of 10,000+ acres.

The El Chuqueno link says there used to be a home about every section and now it is more like 20 sections per home.  A "section" being 640 acres.

The vast surrounding plain looks like pretty good grass grazing but very dry.  Very flat.  Not enough runoff to create many creeks.  The whole area grew pinto beans up until mid 1900s.  Hard to imagine from the way it looks now.