Jal is a small city located in Lea County, New Mexico, United States.

[4] Jal is historically important in the natural gas industry, from the early 1900s to the present day.

[5] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.8 square miles (12 km2), all land.

During the early 1900s, the Cowden boys of Midland, Texas moved the entire John A. Lynch herd to the Monument draw, about 6 miles northeast of present-day Jal.

In the process of trying to rebrand the Cowdens, they found it too big a task so they registered the brand under their name in Silver City, New Mexico Territory.

Then on June 2, 1928, a second well, serving up more than 90 million cubic feet of gas a day, was brought online 6 miles west of Jal.

The Great Depression and low crude prices caused a sharp slump in drilling and people left in droves.

[citation needed] In the summer of 1934, the Cooper #1 brought the “Big Boom” back to Jal.

[11] Jal experiences a cool semi-arid climate, typical of the high plains of eastern New Mexico.