Only an hour’s drive from bustling Albuquerque is Estancia, the core of Torrance County. While offering proximity to the big city, with a population of 1,600, the town also prides itself on a rural, homegrown atmosphere.

“It's fun to live in old-school America,” Mayor Nathan Dial said. “We’re pretty diverse but we still come together to support each other and even though we may not agree with each other’s politics, we're still a small community that comes together. We like small-town living.”

Residents especially enjoy one of New Mexico’s best-kept secrets, Estancia’s Arthur Park. A recreational space, the park boasts giant shade trees and a pond stocked with fish.

“We put a lot into the park, which has the only county pool,” Dial told the New Mexico Sun. “Pools do not make money so we're trying to work with the county to get the pool kept up and maybe even enclosed. That way the school can use it for swim class.”

Dial, a retired military veteran, became mayor of Estancia three years ago.

“I was born and raised here and have been in construction projects my whole life,” he said. “After 25 years in the Army, I came home and figured I’d try and run for mayor.”

His vision for Estancia is for the county to acquire the fairgrounds, which are next to Arthur Park. 

“Hopefully the county will revamp the fairgrounds and, in turn, the town will revamp the baseball fields,” Dial said in an interview. “When everything's operational we have a beautiful library, a beautiful pond, a beautiful pool and we have a beautiful arena where people do shows at all within a 100 yards of each other. It’s very active right now but it does take a lot to maintain through the winter.”

Rich with an agricultural heritage, ranching and farming continue to remain strong influences in the region's economy.

“We live on gas and oil and federal contracts,” Dial said. “One of the major issues around here is water. We're very dry and we don't want the urban areas to start piping our water out of our valley because then we're dead."

Within Estancia's jurisdiction is the Torrance County Detention Facility (TCDF), a private prison owned and operated by Core Civic. When it shut down four years ago, the town lost two-thirds of its income along with its only grocery store and bank, according to Dial. It has since reopened.

“Their current contract is mainly for ICE, and with this last presidential election, I thought they were going to get shut down because I really didn't think they were going to keep ICE facilities open,” said Dial, a Republican. “It could be closed depending on who is president and their policies on private prisons, which could shut Estancia down, too.”

Estancia is also a designated stop on The Salt Missions Scenic Byway, a mapped scenic drive through New Mexico's beautiful and historic landscapes.

“If they could revamp the Salt Missions trail, it would help economically," Dial said. "Not just for Estancia but for the whole county.”