We took a side trip today to Roswell- glad it wasn?t any further away or I would have been seriously disappointed with how we ended up spending our time. My fault- I did not do enough research and I erroneously thought that Roswell and Area 51 and that whole conspiracy cover-up thing were here but I found out Area 51 is in Nevada, not New Mexico. (Guess the crash supposedly occurred in Roswell and the aliens were transported & hidden at Area 51?). The only real "alien" things here of note are the International UFO museum & Research Center (nothing to sneeze at), the alleged site of the 1947 crash (on private land and inaccessible for most people) and of course, over 4th of July the Annual UFO Convention, which would be great to attend if you were in the area. There are other things to see in Roswell, several Museums that did not open until 1:00 PM (it was 11:00 AM when we showed up) and a Planetarium that was also owned privately and was not open except for special presentations. So for the most part, we were out of luck. They do have an extensive architecturally historic housing area and we viewed some of the homes before leaving, but all in all I would call that visit a bust. So ? nothing significant to report for today. Instead- we will have a little history of Brantley Lake State Park.
Brantley Lake State Park is a desert ? type campground on Brantley Lake. It is New Mexico?s newest state park and opened offically in the fall of 1989, It is located 12 mi north of Carlsbad (the city not the Caverns). The park offers camping, picnicking, boating, fishing, water skiing, swimming, and hiking. The park has two boat ramps, restrooms, a playground, a visitor center, and a nature trail. It has 32 developed picnicking sites, 49 camping sites, including RV sites with electric hookups. Primitive camping is also allowed along the shores of the lake. Hiking trails connect the campgrounds, the shorelines and the Visitor?s center.
Brantley Lake is the lake that resulted when Brantley Dam was built on the Pecos River. Brantley is designed to hold 348,540 acre-ft of water. The headwaters of the Pecos River are in the Sangre De Cristo mountains and this is one of the southern-most reservoirs on the Pecos River. Although the primary functions of the lake are flood control and water storage for irrigation and water commitments to Texas and Mexico, the lake is best known for its water recreation and fishing.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation began construction on Brantley Dam in 1984 and it was completed in 1988. The dam was designed to replace the existing McMillan Dam. McMillan Dam was originally constructed for irrigation in 1893 as a 57'high 2114 long earthfill dam. The type of rock it was built on was easily eroded, so by the 1980s, even after 2 previous rehabilitations to prevent water from leaking into sinkholes and reducing capacity, McMillan had filled up with so much silt and sediment that water storage was down to 1/3 of its original capacity. Its replacement, Brantley Dam, has a maximum height of 143.5? and is made up of a concrete section that is 730 ft long and an earthen embayment that is 3.9 mi long. It is an example of how local geology was used in determining the site of a modern dam. The dam was specifically built where the body of rock was less permeable and would not as easily dissolve. Once Brantley Dam was completed, McMillan Dam was breached and allowed to drain into Lake Brantley. The area once covered by Lake McMillan is being reclaimed and revegetated for use as a wildlife refuge called the Brantley Wildlife Management Area. This is the first large lakebed in the western US to be rehabilitated.
Hopefully I understood much of what I read and have restated it to you here correctly. Aren?t you all better informed now? We are off to Carlsbad Caverns tomorrow so should have more exciting info and pictures I ope. I really need a new camera that takes clearer and more composed pictures because I know that you would never suggest that any lack of perfection in my pictures could be a result of operator error.
You wait- I know a new camera will make all the difference.
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