Framedlight

 The old town of Lake Valley lies in a stunning location in the Black Range Mountains of Southern New Mexico. It is entirely deserted and mainly in a tumbledown state, although now it is cared for by the Bureau of Land Management who are trying to keep the buildings from deteriorating further. It is free to visit but you can make a donation. We drove up to the old school house which had a small parking area in front of it. This is the only building which is habitable and it is used as visitor centre and museum. Here you can get a map for a self guided tour of the town. You can see Monument Peak otherwise known as Lizard Mountain rising above the town to the east. Following the suggested route we walked down a path through scrubland and turned right on to Main Street. This area was once the business district but it burned down in 1895 and was never rebuilt. Silver had been found in massive quantities when the Bridal Chamber Mine was tunnelled in 1882. At that time the American Mint used