Bonito Lake

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Bonito Lake
Location	Lincoln County, New Mexico
Coordinates	33°27′21″N, 105°43′54″WCoordinates: 33°27′21″N, 105°43′54″W
Lake type	reservoir
Primary inflows	Bonito Creek
Primary outflows	Bonito Creek
Basin countries	United States
Max. length	2,800 ft (850 m)
Max. depth	70 ft (21 m)
Surface elevation	7,380 ft (2,250 m)

Bonito Lake is a man-made alpine lake located high in the Sierra Blanca mountains northwest of Ruidoso, New Mexico. Although it is surrounded by the Lincoln National Forest, it is not a part of the nation forest, nor is it a state or national park. It is currently owned by the city of Alamogordo, New Mexico. Because of the high altitude, the lake's temperature is cold year round, and is home to an abundance of rainbow trout. The area around the lake has a campground with hiking trails and streams.

The area is now a part of the Lincoln National Forest, but in the late 19th century, the Southern Pacific Railroad owned most of the water rights in the area. In 1907 the railroad built a small dam in South Fork Canyon, upstream from the current dam. From that dam they extended a wooden pipeline 132 miles to Pastura, New Mexico to provide water for the steam trains of the era ^[1]. The remnants of the original dam and pieces of the wooden pipeline are still visible to hikers along the trail in South Fork Canyon.

By the 1920s, the railroad needed even more water, and they petitioned the Government of New Mexico to allow them to build another, larger dam along Bonito Creek. The engineers who surveyed the canyon determined that the best place to build a dam would be downstream from the town of Bonito, across a narrow spot in the canyon. This location would allow the dam to contain the water of two streams which merged just above the dam. This location, however, meant that the town of Bonito would be flooded by the dam's lake. The people living in Bonito were given land further down the canyon, and the entire town was moved downstream to a new location.

The dam was completed in 1931^[2], and by 1933 the lake was completely filled.

By the 1950s, steam trains had been replaced by diesel electric trains, and the railroad no longer needed the water from the lake. The railroad sold the lake to the city of Alamogordo, New Mexico, which needed a reliable water supply to provide the town's drinking water. A 90 mile pipeline was built to Alamogordo's "La Luz" water treatment plant. ^[3] Alamogordo still owns the dam and lake,^[4] but all of the land around the lake is a part of the Lincoln National Forest. The lake and the surrounding mountains are now popular for fishing, camping, and hiking.