A Dwindling Population

From Virden, it is 27 miles southeast to Lordsburg, the county seat of Hidalgo County and, by far, the biggest town in the county.  Currently, Hidalgo County has 4,844 people,  according to the Census Bureau, which represents a significant drop from the 2000 Census count of 5,932. From information I have gathered, however, I believe the county's population is lower than that, about 4,000. Judging from what I have seen (or not seen), this figure makes more sense because, outside of Lordsburg, there are not that many people in the county. The county is, for the most part, unpopulated.  In the 1950 Census, for example, Hidalgo County had  5,095 people with 3,525 of those people living in Lordsburg. Lordsburg had about 75% of the county's population and that has been the trend in the decades hence. But according to most recent figures, Lordsburg only has about half of the county's population, which makes it look like the rest of the county has gained population or possibly shrunk at an insignificant rate compared to Lordsburg  and that is not the case.  
  Hidalgo County had 6,049 people in the 1980 Census, but unofficially reached its peak in 1966 with 6,547 people. That is also the year that Lordsburg reached its peak population of 4,712. Since 1966 was not a Census year, that figure is not official, but accurate nevertheless.
  Since the 2000 Census, the population of Hidalgo County and Lordsburg has spiraled downward. In 2000, Lordsburg had 3,379 people and the population had fluctuated at roughly 3,000 for several decades. In the last 10 years, however, the population has dropped to 2,582, but seems to be leveling off.
  In the past decade, a company owned mining town in Hidalgo County, Playas, has been shut down and was purchased by New Mexico Tech University (located in Socorro)  for $5 million. The majority of the Playas townsite is used by the university for a variety of purposes, most notably research and by the Department of Homeland Security as a counterterrorism training center. So the Playas Training Center has a highly variable, transient population that usually is less than 50, but can grow to several hundred depending on what type of training or research activities are taking place. It is a highly restricted area, much like a military base.
  Also, in the past decade, a tiny town called Road Forks, located 17 miles west of Lordsburg on Interstate 10, has become a ghost town. Road Forks never had more than 38 people, but it served as a significant travel stop for decades before "giving up the ghost" in the past few years. I will talk more about Road Forks later.
  As I stated above, the population loss that has taken place in the past few decades in Hidalgo County has accelerated in the past 10 years and it is evident everywhere in the county, not just in Lordsburg. Like I just stated, two of the county's towns have been completely abandoned just in the past decade while Lordsburg has experienced a steep drop in population, so I believe the county's population is approximately 4,000 or slightly less.