White's City For Sale

White's City, New Mexico, is the place nearest to Carlsbad Caverns to buy gas and spend the night in a bed. It's also not really a city, being privately owned and managed by the White family, descendants of Charlie L. White, who founded the "city" in the early 1920s. The whole thing will be sold July 14 at a three-day auction starting at 11 a.m., according to a news release from Higgenbotham Auctioneers International, a Lakeland, Florida, real estate auction firm. The Carlsbad Current Argus ran the story yesterday. Albuquerque TV stations picked it up for tonight.
The auction covers 366 acres, 460 acre feet of water and 11 parcels of land. Amenities on parcel one, as Higgenbotham puts it, include two motels, a restaurant, an RV park, a museum, retail shops, a gas station, a water park, and more. See www.higgenbotham.com/auctiondetails.asp?AuctionID=1175.
I had the pleasure of knowing Jack White Jr., for more than 20 years before his death in 2005. Jack had worked at White's City Inc. for 39 years when he died. He was president of White's City Inc. Jack was a blustery and completely decent man. His business interests were White's City, Carlsbad Caverns (though he was not fond of the Park Service), Carlsbad and New Mexico.
The buyers of White's City face a problem that Jack White struggled with for maybe 20 years—declining visits to Carlsbad Caverns. And this is not a gently dropping count. Today's gas prices compound the challenge.