| Hatch is any small town in the deserts of southern
New Mexico. So it isn't really abandoned. People live there. 1500, in fact. But it's a typical desert town, in that when a building goes unused, it isn't torn down. It sits there, fading in the sun, and in the case of the many authentic adobe buildings in the area, left unatended, they simply melt back into the earth. |
| Most of the population of Hatch consists of farmers,
which seemed really odd to me at first, being located in one of the most
arid areas in the country. The town is very close to the Rio Grande,
though, which apparently is able to supply enough water to the area for the
cultivation of many crops, the most famous being pecans and chiles. |
| There's a certain quality to little desert towns like
this that I really enjoy. You won't find anything like it in the midwest
where I grew up. People generally mind their own business out in the
desert, probably due to the fact that many of them live there out of a love
for solitude. Abandonded buildings do not seem at all out of place
here, either. Instead, they become part of the landscape and in many
ways help in defining the American West. |