Lake Arthur was established in 1885 when Arthur V. Russell, a sheep
rancher, homesteaded 3 miles north of present-day Lake Arthur in the
southwest United States. His daughter later explained, "He raised a lot
of sheep and ran a lot of them up around Capitan. But at shearing time,
Daddy always sheared the sheep at the lake south of Lake Arthur. Somehow
his name and the lake just got connected. There wasn't anything else
here then. Lake Arthur and Hagerman were both just stopping off places."
Over the years, Lake Arthur has lost population to Artesia, but it remains
a living community in Chaves County in the southwest United States.