Steins, New Mexico

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Steins is a ghost town in Hidalgo County, New Mexico.

Steins was established in 1880 as a town along the Southern Pacific Railroad. Railway employees mined rock for roadbeds in the area. Steins had no natural source of water, so all water had to be brought in by train. In the early 1900s Steins had a peak population of about 1,300 people.

At the end of World War II the railway ceased operations at the Steins quarry and gave notice it would no longer subsidise water deliveries. The railway's offered the inhabitants of Steins free transport elsewhere with what they could carry; most of the population accepted this offer, leaving their houses and many of their possessions behind. In time Steins was completely abandoned.

Part of old Steins burned down, but a large section remains, and is visited by tourists. It is unusual in the old West ghost towns in having been a railroad rather than a mining town.