LAKE ARTHUR, NEW MEXICO

Lake Arthur, New Mexico, was established in 1885 when Arthur V. Russell who was a sheep rancher homesteaded 3 miles north of present-day Lake Arthur. His daughter later explained, "He raised a lot of sheep and ran a lot of them up around Capitan. But at shearing time, Daddy always sheared the sheep at the lake south of Lake Arthur. Somehow his name and the lake just got connected. There wasn't anything else here then. Lake Arthur and Hagerman were both just stopping off places."

Lake Arthur has lost population to Artesia, but it remains a living community.

Lake Arthur is in Chaves County on NM 2 about 8 miles north of Artesia.