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The name of Elephant Butte Lake, New Mexico’s
largest lake and the state’s premier water recreation facility,
comes from the weather-beaten core of a long-extinct volcano that is
today an island in the reservoir, shaped, some think, like the eponymous
pachyderm. The lake was constructed by a dam on the Rio Grande to provide
irrigation and flood control. Elephant Butte Reservoir is some 40 miles
long and boasts over 200 miles of shoreline.
Elephant Butte Lake is the most popular of the New Mexico lakes and
a favorite destination year-round thanks to the unusually mild New Mexico
climate in this area. The lake provides visitors with an opportunity
to participate in almost every type of water sport, from fishing and
swimming to boating and water-skiing.
Paleontology buffs will be interested to note that the lake is a prime
fossil hunting ground. Elephant Butte Lake was once a shallow sea millions
of years ago, and after that a prime hunting ground for the Tyrannosaurus
Rex. |
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