Anyone know anything about Dell City? It seems out of the way of everything. Why is it even there?

A friend of mine's mom was a teacher out there one year in the 70's when he husband worked at Guadalupe Mountains NP. She taught kindergarten. She said none of the kids spoke English, but all (half a dozen or so as I recall) learned by the end of the year and were quite eager. Though she had to teach important things like not going to the bathroom behind the building. I never had anyone teach me that and continued long past kindergarten! I think it is just a ranching community on the edge of the salt flats, never been on that side of the park.

ACCORDING TO THE DELL CITY WEB PAGE:

Dell Valley is a gateway to Guadalupe Mountains National Park.
The gorgeous views rendered by this magnificent range of mountains change with the seasons and each passing day.


About Our Community...

Dell City is a small farming and ranching community, located 13 miles off of US Highway 62-180. Approximately 80 miles between El Paso, TX and Carlsbad, NM. Our current population hovers near 500 with plenty of room to grow.

Known as the “Valley of Hidden Waters,” this quaint little community is nestled at the base of Guadalupe Mountains National Park.



Demographics
As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 413 people, 155 households, and 119 families residing in the city. The population density was 250.1 people per square mile (96.6/km²). There were 226 housing units at an average density of 136.9/sq mi (52.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 61.50% White, 1.45% African American, 1.94% Native American, 0.24% Asian, 32.69% from other races, and 2.18% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 69.25% of the population.



Famous ex-Residents
Laura Lynch, member of the original Dixie Chicks

Worked EMS there for a few months. It is in the middle of nowhere. Folks are either ranchers or farmers. Two cafes, two gas stations, one volunteer fire dept, and one airplane landing strip.

My cousins lived there for many, many years. My uncle moved to the area in the 60's to run the cotton gin. The community exists primarily for the melon (cantelope), alfalfa and cotton crops due to the naturally high water tables and artesian wells.

The community was a little larger (population +500) before most farmers adopted the circular, automatic irrigation systems. Before then, most irrigation was done by hand by setting tubes from large, concrete irrigation ditches. Now I think it is squeaking along on life support as kids graduate HS and leave. No population replenishment.

My family still owns land out there, but they no longer live there. I spent the summers of my youth helping on the farm and hiking the Guadalupe Mts.

There is acutally a "golf" course on the salt flats where hitting a tire counts as a hole. No greens just hard packed gypsum and salt. That whole area is an ancient sea bed.


[This message has been edited by Mike Bravo (edited 11/18/2008 8:15a).]