Deep Lake, New Mexico
Posted by: DesertStatic
Figured we should have one thread that’s just about Deep Lake itself.
Not 94.
Not Odyssey.
Not theories.
Just the town.
Because I’ve started realizing how many things I’ve always considered “normal” here that maybe… weren’t.
Reply by: MesaMom73
I’ll start with something small:
Has anyone else noticed that Deep Lake never seems to grow?
I don’t mean population — I mean physically.
No new neighborhoods.
No real expansion.
Reply by: CarlFromCarl’sHardware
As someone who ran a hardware store here:
We get building permits.
We sell materials.
People say they’re renovating or adding rooms.
But I have never once seen a visible addition completed.
Not in 30 years.
Lots of leavers though.
Reply by: SandiaStatic
Deep Lake High’s graduating classes have been roughly the same size since the 80s.
Not similar.
The same.
Yearbooks confirm it.
Within a margin of like… two students.
Reply by: JuniperRoad
Okay but that could just be rural population stability.
What bothers me is this:
Why are there only people on this forum who came from, but don’t live in, Deep Lake?
Relatives of mine, just don’t want to talk about the place they live in?
Reply by: HighDesert1990
I left in 2003.
Albuquerque for college.
I remember one day looking at a map and feeling like something was wrong.
Like Deep Lake wasn’t where I thought it was.
I couldn’t go back.
I tell people it was family.
It wasn’t.
Reply by: LakebedLurker
Did you ever notice how quiet the wind was there?
We’re in New Mexico.
There should be constant wind.
But some days it’s just… still.
Even when dust is moving somewhere else.
Reply by: MesaMom73
My sister moved here in ’98 and swears there used to be a motel on Route 9.
White sign. Red letters.
I don’t remember it.
There’s no foundation.
No tax record.
But she can describe the lobby.
Reply by: OldLakeArchivist
Census records list Deep Lake as “unincorporated.”
Town council minutes refer to it as “municipally governed.”
We collect local taxes.
But technically, we don’t exist as a city.
Reply by: HighDesert1990
The water tower has been repainted three times in my life.
Same slogan every time.
“Deep Lake — Established 1903.”
There are no founding documents from 1903.
Earliest record I can find is 1927.
Reply by: LakebedLurker
Has anyone else noticed we don’t really have stray animals?
No feral dogs.
No stray cats.
Occasionally one appears.
But not for long.
Reply by: MesaMom73
Okay but now we’re spiraling.
Every small town has quirks.
Deep Lake is dry, isolated, bureaucratically weird.
That doesn’t mean anything.
Reply by: DesertStatic
I’m not saying it means anything.
I just think it’s strange that so many of us grew up here…
Left… Have weird memories, and no one back home wants to talk about it.
Or can’t quite explain why.
Reply by: CarlFromCarl’sHardware
Because it’s home.
That’s all.
Reply by: SandiaStatic
Sure.
That’s all.