234

A BRIEF HISTORY OF SOCORRO COUNTY Parcp \\/. CunrsuANSEN

New Mexico Institute of 'Mining and Technology

The County of Socorro, New Mexico, is a com- where we see the signs of this heritage. N4ining also plex and colorful mass of landforms scattered helter- played a dominant role, althougli of shorter dura- skelter across central New Mexico. It stretches from tion. The exploitation of mineral resources as a the green Rio Grande Valley with its irrigated lands, force in Socorro County would strike swiftly and quaint farms and picturesque agricultural villages, dramatically in the r88o's and would dominate the up the steep western slopes of the valley to the roll- county until the rgzo's, then it declined to a trickle; ing grassland mesas and alluvial fans ending in steep yet its imprint is clear. One can hardly lift his eyes and treacherous canyons in the rugged mountains. to the hills without seeing signs of the prospector's The Socorro Mountains, the Magdalenas, the San shovel or the miner's work. One can hardly con- Mateos, the Ladrones, and countless others seem verse with citizens of the county without discuss- always to ring the horizon. Some of them are tim- ing mines of the past or mines of the future. Live- bered and abound in cool refreshing shade and stock and n-rining, then, are woven through the his- springs. Some are harsh and dry. In the west, the torical pattern and are never far from any part of the county becomes the famed San Agustin Plains which story. stretch to the sunset, a wide carpet fringed by black, INoraN Hrsrony Sxercsy timbered hills. The complexity of the county's geol- The history of the Indian in Socorro County is ogy, scenery, and terrain, is matched by an equally only partly known, and the chronology is almost complex history. completely lacking. Three major Indian cultures The history of Socorro County (which, until very inhabited parts of the county in tirnes past. Today, recent years, included what is now Catron County), there are but few of the native inhabitants remain- is a mosaic of many hues and shades; some harsh ing, and they are of tribes of culture groups of re- anC stark like its dry desert mountains, some invit- latively recent origin. ing like the shade and coolness of its timbered can- The earliest inhabitants found in Socorro County yons and mountain springs. First are the many were cave dwcllers, people whose cultural achieve- and sometimes hostile Indian cultures. There diverse ments were limited by the harsh existence with were peaceful pueblo peoples tilling their lands, which they were faced. They lived in natural caves, using the Rio Grande's flowing water to produce usually along watercourses. They managed rudimen- abundance. Also, prehistoric village dwellers strug- tary handicrafts such as basketmaking, the manu- gled to create agricultural societies along the banks facture of stone tools, and bone work. After about of now dry rivers in western Socorro County, seek- A.D. the Neolithic revolution occurred in the ing a bare subsistence from these arid lands. And 4oo area with the introduction of crude agricultural there were the fearsome Apache who founded their techniques, bascd on the production of corn. With hon-res in the broken mountain fastness and added the possibility of sedentary life, the Indian cultures their own excitement and tragedy to the mosaic. So, of the area evolved into several distinct groups, all too, would the Spaniard make his mark and the heavily influenced by patterns of cultural growth N{exican who fo}lowed close behind. The place apparent in other regions of the southwest. names in Socorro County are mostly Spanish names, The oldest Neolithic cultures were in the west- although the Spanish would find Socorro County ern sections of Socorro County and were part of a difficult place in which to maintain himself. Per- the Mimbres-Cibola group which don'rinated west- haps not so romantic, and not so colorful, but ern New Mexico during the period 6oo e.o. to about dominating and adding realism to the mosaic, was rroo A.D. These people flourished in the upper Gila the Anglo-American who converted this land to the River drainage basin, later around Quemado and as flag States. major eco- of the United Finally, two far east as the Gallinas Mountains. After rloo A.D. nomic factors left a profund imprint on Socorro they gradually dispersed and eventually disappeared County: stockraising and mining. The first origi- as a cultural group. The prime factor in their dis- nated with the Spanish, was continued by the Mexi- appearance we will see more clearly when we intro- cans, and commercialized by the Americans. Every- duce the Athapascan people to the Southwest. Nsw MBxlco Gsorocrcar SocrEry-FounrusNrH Frnro CouTERENCE 235

In eastern Socorro County, primarily in the Rio raised and stored by the various farners with whom Grande Valley and in the mountains that rim the he came into contact. Since he had already per- eastern bank of the river, another important Indian fected his warlike talents, he found the pueblo peo- culture developed. \A,/ith the collapse of the older ples an easy mark and pressed his advantage relent- Indian cultures in northern and western New Mex- lessly. 'I'he result was the collapse of n-rany estab- ico (the Mimbres-Cibola, the Mesa Verde, Chaco, Iished cultures across the Southwest. By the time and others), there developed, after rzoo A.D., a the Spaniard arrived, the Apaclie was master of the pueblo complex in the Rio Grande Valley. Gen- borderlands with the exception of the r-rpper Rio erally, the pueblos which grew along the Rio Grande Grande Valley (the modern Pueblo peoples, includ- watershed gathered into them the remnants of the ing thc Piro), and the Nloqui or Hopi of northern earlier cultures who were leaving their traditional Arizona. Also, by this time, they had taken on spec- homes. They were, therefore, an eclectic accumu- ial characteristics and names: the Navajo, Chirica- lation of the earlier cultures. The part of this com- hua, Mescalero, Natajc, Lipane, and others. In plex that developed in Socorro County were called Socorro County various , Apachc groups used the Piro Indians. They inhabited such places as Abo, N,Iagdalenas, the San Mateos, tl're Ladrones, and Guarai, Gran Qr-rivira, Socorro, San Antonio, and other mountains as their strongholds. From these countless other places in the Manzano N4ountains points of vantage they raided and pillaged, first In- and along the banks of the Rio Grande. The Span- dian, then Spanish, Mexican, and Anrerican conr- iards were to found some of their rnost important munities. missionary churches among the Piros, and of all Today, signs of Indian cr,rlture abound evcrywhere the pueblo peoples of New Mexico, the Piros be- in Socorro County. Along dry arroyos, on buttes came most loyal to the Spanisli adn'rinistration and overlooking the Rio Grande and in mo'irntain the Roman Church. The Pueblo peoples of the up- vallcys, one necd only to scarch and he will be per Rio Grande Valley turned against the Spanish amply rewarded by finding countlcss Indian arti- oppressor in 168o, but the Piro remained loyal. facts. While the Indians are lost to antiqr-rity, their When the Spanish were forced to retreat from New contribution to the liistory of the county livcs Mexico most of the Piros, fearing retaliation by the dramatically in the culture they created. other pueblos, went south to El Paso with the Span- ish. There they founded new villages and there they SpaNrsrr LBavB Nlanr remained. Those Piro who stayed in New Ntlexico The imprint of Spanish culture on Socorro were dispersed or destroyed by the Apache and County is not so dcep as one rnight think. \\rith the Comanche who constantly raided their villages. exccption of a few isolated spots along thc Rio Both the Piro and the peoples of western Socorro Grande River, the Spanish colonizcd very littlc of County were peaceful farmers wanting nothing the count1,. For the most part their influcnce came more than to work their lands and to practice their through the cffort of the Francisctrn fzrthcrs work- handicrafts and their religion. Not so with the Ath- ing among the Piro Indians. apascans who flooded into the country sometime The Spanish cra can bc divided into two gcneral after rooo a.o. The Athapascan, or Apache as we periods. 'Ihe first began with,the first Spanish ex- now call them, migrated from the northern plains ploration and occupation and endcd with the seeking new homes, pushed either by population Pueblo Revolt in 168o. The second began in 169z pressure or by a stronger people, probably a com- with the Reconquest and continued until the r8zo's bination of both. Along the high plains of eastern when the Spanish empire in Amcrica came to an New Nlexico the migration split into two groups, end. one continuing south down the plains into south- All of the early Spanish explorers of the south- western Texas and southeastern New Mexico. The west passed through or explored parts of the coun- second turned west and left the plains behind them, try. Coronado saw parts of western Socorro Cottnty, entering the arid and mountainous regions of cen- and later, elements of his command penetrated down tral and western New Mexico, thence into Arizona. the Rio Grande river passing through eastern por- Along its route it left remnants of the migration tions. Later expeditions, including Rodriguez, Es- who appropriated local areas for their own use. Left pejo, and the colonizing expedition of Oirate, using behind was their plains culture. The Indian was the Rio Grande river valley as their highway into forced to adapt to the harsh conditions of moun- New Mexico, also had opportunity to explore east- tain and desert. His food supply sharply curtailed, ern Socorro County. The early place names in the he turned to the easiest source available: the corn county are attributed to Ofrate and his colonists 236 Nsw Mnxrco Gsorocrcal Socrrrv-FounrsrNrH Frur,o CoNTERENCE

when they passed through in r 598. As they slowly age of. some 90 miles called, for obvious reasons, the progressed north up the valley they gave names to Jornada del Muerto, journey of death. It returned their campsites and to outstanding landmarks. to the river at Fra Cristobal, again following the Among these appears the name Socorro, applied to course of the river until it reached the vicinity of the Piro Indian village (called Pilabo by the In- Santa Fe. From F'ra Cristobal to La loya, it passed dians) on the site of nodern Socorro, when the In- through what is now Socorro County, and there dians gave aid to the colonists in the form of food. were a number of important points along this road Socorro County did not immediately feel the im- where travelers or caravans stopped for water and pact of Spanish colonization. The attention of the rest. Some were ranches, some campsites, some In- Spaniards was on the more heavily populated and dian villages. Many of these famous places still exist, better-watered upper Rio Grande Valley. With the occupied in some cases, in others only names from extension of the Franciscan mission program, how- the past: Fra Cristobal, Valverde, Luis Lopez, La ever, it was not long until the Piro groups received Joya de Sevilleta, Felipe Romero. What of Socorro? padres and churches. Fray Benevides, the greatest Socorro was on the west side of the river and never of the early lsz6grs of the Franciscan order in New a stop on the Camino Real. Mexico, says of tl-re missions established in #hat is The western part of Socorro County felt no in- now Socorro County, fluences from the Spanish in the period before r68o. The Pueblo Revolt ended, temporarily, any Spanish Though this (Piros) is the 6rst province of that kingdom, it influence anywhere in Socorro County. failure \\"s among the last in its conversion. God pleascd that its The hour should come; and in the year one thousand six hundred of the Spanish to hold out against the combined and twenty-six, being Custodian of these conversions, I dcdi- efforts of the Pueblo people, the abandonment of cated myself to the Lord in the conversion of these souls, the region, and dedicating their chief pueblo to the most Holy \/irgin of the fact that the Piro Indians in the Socorro. And so in this first ycar our Lord was pleased to area decided to leave their homes, Ieft the county favor me in such wise that all became baptized and are very largely in the hands of the Apache. For all practical good Christians. And I have founded in this province three purposes, these monasteries and churches; the one in the pueblo of Senecu, wild, untamed sons of the desert dedicated to San Antonio de Padua; another in the Pueblo of would remain the dominant force in and around Pilabo (Socorro), dedicated to the Virgin of Socorro; the Socorro County until the nineteenth century. other in the pueblo of Sevilletta, dedicated to San Luis Opispo of my order. From 168o until the end of Spanish rule in the southwest, the area of Socorro County remained The walls of the Socorro church, founded by Fray relatively dormant. Only in isolated places and at Garcia de San Francisco y Zuniga on the instruc- irregular times did the white man leave his mark on tions of Benevides, were standing in r692, according the land. Of course, after the reconquest by De to reports of the De Vargas expedition of recon- Vargas in 1692, and with the reopening of con- quest. The ruins were still visible as late as 1725, but tacts with northern Mexico, many, many Spaniards no trace of the former settlement is now to be seen. passed along the Can-rino Real. Again there was The missions at Senecu and Sevilleta were not sporadic activity at Fra Cristobal, a ranch developed important Spanish centers, nor was the one at So- at Lnis Lopez, at La Joya, and a few isolated spots corro. All were missions, located at Indian villages. along the trail. In a few instances, hardy Spanish Certainly there were Spanish padres in residence, colonists tried to wrest a living in the Rio Grande but there was little or no other Spanish population. Valley, despite the danger from hostile Indians. But All of the missions would disappear after 168o, each of these was no more than an oasis, and was along with the Spaniards, never to return. There concerned with the trade along the Camino Real, were, however, a few spots that did exist as mainly not in developing the area that is Socorro County. Spanish centers prior to 168o, some of which re- Their influence was confined to the narrow margins mained important before and after the Pueblo Re- of the Rio Grande river. And what of the village volt. One of the most important roads in North from which the county takes its name? It remained America was laid out between Santa Fe and Chihua- abandoned and empty of people until after the end hua City; it was called the Camino Real (a name of the Spanish empire in America. given to many "Royal Roads" in the Spanish Em- Only on rare occasions did the Spanish penetrate pire). This famous road struck north from Chihua- the regions of western Socorro County. Thii country hua City directly to El Paso Del Norte (modern belonged to the Apache. In the late eighteenth cen- lmrez), crossed to the east bank of the Rio Grande, tury the Apache, who had always been a menace to following the river to the area of Hatch. There it Indian and Spaniard alike, became adapted to the left the river and entered the famed waterless pass- use of the horse, imported into the new world by Nrw Mnxrco Gnorocrcer Socrrry-Founrrnurn Frrro CoNTERENCE 237 the Spanish. While he was dangerous as a warnor characterized by the maintenance of the status quo on foot, mounted, the Apache threatened the very in Socorro County. There was little growth in pop- existence of the white man's control of the border- ulation or in economic wealth. The communities lands. As a result of increasing Apache raids the along the river renained much the same as in the Spanish made several attempts to meet and con- Iate Spanish period, except for one major develop- quer him in his own country. In ry67, an expedition ment. Sometime before the tine of N,Iexican inde- leaving from lanos, Chihuahua, led by Lope de pendence, the town of Socorro again appeared. In Cuellar, fought a pitched battle against a large band and among the ruins of that ancient Indian com- of Apache on the Plains of San Agustin. The Span- munity, and its ruined church so long in disuse, ish were badly defeated and forced to retreat back stirrings of activity were again apparent. to Chihuahua. Later, after a sweeping military and A generalization, then, is in order. Socorro administrative changes on the frontier, there were County, during the two and a half centuries of Span- several efforts to liquidate the Apache in western ish-Mexican rule, was poor and thinly populated. Socorro County and in other areas of western and It was a beginning, however, and so many of the southwestern New lVlexico. These were led by Hugo places we yet know date from this period. Oconor in and in q75, and by Bautista ry74 |uan ANcro-AnrnRrcAN Acrrvrry de Anza in the r78o's. Although many Indians were killed, and many rancherias destroyed, the over-all The spectacular growth of Socorro County, and effect did not seriously weaken the Apache. all of New N'Iexico for that matter, came with the While it is true that there was little or no develop- occupation of the southwest by the Anglo-Amer- ment in most areas of Socorro County in the eight- ican. The Mexican war, r846-1848, wrested half of teenth century, this same generalization will not the national territory away from N,Iexico and de- apply during the Spanish portion of the nineteenth posited it in the public don.rain of the United States. century. After r8oo there is evidence that the Span- With the signing of the treaty of Guadalupe- ish population of the Rio Grande Valley communi- Hidalgo ending the war, a flood of people crossed the ties did increase, and it is in the years between r 8oo plains. Some were headed for the gold fields in Cali- 'fhere and r846 that the heaviest Spanish-Mexican influ- fornia, some came as traders to Santa Fe. ence was felt. However, even during this time the were ranchers, adventurers, health seekers, soldiers, population was very small, and relied for its eco- and tourists. N,Iany simply passed through, others nomic life upon the trading caravans that passed stayed. They spread to all corners of the territory, along the Camino Real and upon subsistence and Socorro County got her share. They searched agriculture. for wealth in land, in cattle, and in minerals. Very early it was deternined that there were stores of Msxrc,A,N INrr,nr-uor precious minerals in many parts of New N,Iexico and During the Nlexican period, 18z5-1846, the his- the clamor for exploitation began. There was, how- tory of the county, and of New Mexico as a whole, ever, one major block to this demand. The Apache wai one of stagnation. Mexico, struggling to estab- menace still persisted, and until the vicious raids Iish herself as a nation and plagued with crisis after were contained, thcre could'be no growth. crisis, was in no position to care for a far-flung, poor The result was a growing pressure on those in and troubled frontier. Hence, the people of Socorro high places to bring in troops in sufficient quantity County suffered a period of acute poverty. Trade to stop the Apache. All across the southwest forts along the Camino Real dwindled and the entire sprang up to accommodate the increasing soldiery. province declined. There was one saving grace. Be- Eventually a ring of forts surrounded the Apache ginning in r8zr, a long thin line of wagons threaded lands and thousands of trained infantry and cavalry- fheir way across the treacherous plains, over the high men stood poised against the Apache. Against this passes, finally reaching Santa Fe after many wgSry new force the Apache had no chance. The American n-riles out from the Missouri communities. The army was not armed with lances and smooth-bore Santa Fe trail would play a maior role in keeping muskets as were the Spanish soldiers against whom the New Mexico communities alive until the whole the Apache were so successful. Now the Apache area became subject to United States' control. Some faced repeating rifles and pistols, and new military of the merchandise moving from Missouri to Santa techniques. The end was inevitable. In this warfare Fe was destined to be transshipped over the Ca- Socorro County played a substantial role. N4any of mino Real to Mexico, and Socorro would benefit the nountains in Socorro County were old and well from this. The Mexican period can, therefore, be established Apache strongholds. The valley com- 48 Nrw Maxrco Gsorocrcer Socrrrv-FounrunNrH FInro ConTERENCE

munities in the country were constantly subjected of the town of Socorro, a second spectacular min- to devastating raids by the Apacl-re, much rnore so ing boon-r occurred. Again it grew out of the peace- than any other comnunities in New l\'Iexico. Several ful conditions following r88o. On the western kev forts and Indian agencics were established in slopes of the N{agdalenas prospectors opened rich Socorro County in an efiort to control the situation. deposits of lead, zinc, and silver ores. Nearby, per- The Indian wars lasted from 1846, with the first haps a mile and a half south of the town of Magda- Anrerican penetration into New N{exico, to the lena, the town of Kelly grew and prospered. Ores r88o's. The end came in 1886 when Geronimo and from the mines in the mountains above Kelly were his few ragged followers surrendered to General hauled bv wagon to Magdalena where railroad facil- Nliles in Skeleton Canyon, Arizona. The final dc- ities were available. Nllagdalena became the supply feat of the Apache, set the stage for sudden and center for the nining camp and thus underwent rapid growth of Socorro County. tremendous growth and prosperity. Kelly, like the \\rith the elimination of the Apache menace, camps in the Mogollons, would disgorge its wealth Socorro County became thc center of political and tl-rroughout the county, attract its sl-rare of good and economic lifc in New N{exico. This sudden growth bad elements, and finally decline in the rgzo's to was directly connected with mining and stockraising. become a ghost town. Settlers in and around Soccoro County had long There was other important mining activity in the been aware that the mountain regions in the county county. On the mountain that rises directly west u'cre rich in mineral resources. While the Apache of the town of Socorro, locally bearing the name controlled the mountain fastness these riches re- "M" mollntain after the symbol carefully white- rnained lockcd in the earth. But when peace and washed each ys21 by freshmen at New Mexico In- tranquiliiy rcturned after r88o, wealth-seekers un- stitute of N{ining and Technology, rich silver de- locked thc secrets hidden beneath the earth's sur- posits werc found. These discoveries, plus the bene- face. Prospectors roamed the hills sinking shafts in fits fron the other mining camps, would awaken likely outcrops, exploring canyon walls, seeking that the sleepy village of Socorro, and within a short time vcin or ore body whicl-r resulted in the frenzied cry it became the most important single town in the gold! (or silver). Behind the prospector came the county. Its location n-rade it the general sr-rpply ter- miner and the metallurgist, and towns sprang up minal for all of the county's mining camps. Located and the lonely mountain canyons became bustling on the main line of the Santa Fe Railway, it had and active comnunities. access to all necessary supplies for the mines, and In the N{ogollon Mountains (in what is now to markets for the mineral products pouring out of Catron County) gold camps came into bcing which Socorro County. With the discovery of silver in the would prosper, and the thunder of their riches was nearby mountains, it also became a mining camp in heard tl-rroughout the southwest. At tl-re town of its own right. During the peak of the r.nining boom N'Iogollon, built on the steep slopes of a sharp and in Socorro County, the town of Socorro not only rugged canyon, at Cooney, not far distant, and at became the most populous and most important in other n-rining canps these rugged in nountains, the county, but it was also the most populous town wealth poured out into the county and lured the in New Mexico. In r889 the importance of Socorro kind of elements traditionally associated with n-rin- was attested to by the establishment of the New ing camps throughout the American west. Some Mexico School of Nlines to be located were good, some evil, depending upon one's own at this im- portant mining center. Socorro, point of view. There were gamblers, prostitutes, too, would suffer decline with the failure of ores, low metal prices saloon kecpers, highwaymen, land swindlers, and a and host of others who sought to reap a rich harvest in the general collapse of the mining industry in the canrps gone crazy with gold or silver fever. Also county after r9zo. came the shop keepers, blacksmiths, doctors, law- Mining was not limited to metals alone. Carthage, yers, clergymen, lawmen, sometimes no better than south and east of the town of Socorro, would be- the highway men and swindlers, but often bent come a major producer of coal; coal which supplied upon making permanent and civilized communities the mills and smelters with their necessary fuel re- out of the "roaring camps." By the rgzo's the im- quirements, coal used by the Santa Fe Railway to pact of this area had run its course, the thunder power their locomotives. But coal, too, temporarily faded, and the men, good and bad alike, passed into passed from the scene as an important mining opera- obscurity. tion in the state and in the county. The failure of In the Magdalena Mountains, not far to the west the mines, and the smelters, and the gradual con- Nrw Mnxrco Grorocrcel Socrrry-FounrnnNrn Frrrr-o CoTvTERENCE 219 version from steam to internal combustion engines Also, the cost of land has, in the first half of the by the railroads made coal mining uneconomic. twentieth century, made it difficult to amass the capital necessary to enter the cattle business. RaucnrNc INrousrnv BonNr Mining and cattle were the prime. economic fac- While mining and the activities associated with tors in the growth of Socorro County, but it must mining were instrumental in causing rapid econo- be pointed out that agriculture played an important mic growth in the county, livestock raising also role. Whereas subsistence agriculture was the rule served as a stimulant. Again the rapid development prior to the mining and cattle boom, commercial of this industry was tied directly to the settlement agriculture was made possible after the boom. Mar- of the Indian problem. The areas of the county sub- kets appeared, and prices were high enough for sub- ject to extensive grazing operations were located in stantial profits. Agricultural activity was largely con- regions previously controlled by the Apache. The fined to the Rio Grande Valley. This, of course, be- best graze, and the areas open to exploitation, were cause of the lack of necessary natural water supplies in the western portion of the county. The lands on in other regions of the county. the western fringes of the Magdalenas, the grassy San Agustin Plains, the hills and valleys immedi- 'Ionev-Wner? ately surrounding the plains, and in the mountains Fronr r88o to r9zo, the pattern of development of western Socorro County (Catron County), were in Socorro County centered around mining and cat- subjected to a land rush. Although the numbers of tle, with agriculture emerging as a natural outgrowth people engaged in livestock production never rivaled of the other two. After r9zo, the picture changed. the numbers engaged in mining, the area between Mining declined rapidly and eventually came to a the Rio Grande and what is now the Arizona line complete standstill. Ore bodies failed, prices col- became a cattleman's empire. Ranches and home- lapsed, and only for brief periods have the mines of steads sprang into existence, and cattle roamed the Socorro County been opened for business in recent thousands of hills and valleys of Socorro County. decades. While mining was drying up, so too was The cowboy and the miner rubbed elbows in the the cattle industry shrinking. With these events towns and exchanged pleasantries, and unpleasant- Socorro County entered into a period of depression ries. Cattle by the tens of thousands flowed fronr from which the county has not yet recovered. The the ranges of Socorro County to feed the hungry mining camps became ghost towns. Magdalena and millions in eastern cities. Socorro found themselves faced with rapidly declin- Merchants in the small communities prospered, ing populations. Merchants closed their doors, busi- the railroad prospered, and Socorro County as a resses failed, and the great expectations of the late whole prospered from the cattle industry. Magda- nineteenth century faded into memory. Agriculture Socorro were the centers lena and the town of returned to its subsistence level as its markets dis- through the cattle flowed, and from which which appgared. What of Socorro County today? Through- ranch supplies found their way to the ranch head- out Socorro County, and Catron County, which quarters. While much of the beef, hides, and other was formed out of western Socorro County in r9zr, products associated with the cattle industry flowed the mines still exist as do the smelters and mills. into the larger United States market, there was a flourishing local market among the mining camps. But they are empty tunnels and deserted buildings, While 'mining and its related activities would for there are almost no miners left and few mine decline very rapidly in the county after r9zo, the operations. The cattle industry still persists, but livestock industry still remains important today. It only a fraction of the cattle once raised in the is true that the cattle empire that once existed is no county still roam the hills and valleys. Agriculture, more than a shadow of its former size, but it has spurred on by the development of new crops and weathered the test of time. Several prime factors new techniques, is now a mixture of subsistence have been responsible for the decline of the range agiiculture and commercial agriculture, the latter cattle industry. First, much of the country adaptable primarily concerned with cotton culture. Efforts to cattle was tragically overgrazed, resulting in the have been made and are being made to stimulate destruction of the harvestable pasture areas. Second, economic growth in other areas with some minor the cost-price relationship put the squeeze on the success. Today Socorro County lies somewhere be- small producer in the past 40 years, making the pro- tween the very shaky days of the Spanish period and duction of beef a low-profit, high-volume operation. the opulent days of the r 88o's. 240

NOTICE CONCERNING ABSTRACTS OF TECHNICAL PAPERS

Guidebooks in the past have contained abstracts therefore, be published in the Geological Society of of technical papers presented at the previous annual America Special Paper containing abstracts of all meeting. The last annual meeting of the New Mex- papers submitted to meetings with which the Geo- ico Geological Society was held May r5-r8, r963, si- logical Society of America was associated. The read- multaneously with the meeting of the Rocky Moun- er is referred to this forthcoming Special Paper for tain Section of the Geological Society of America in the technical program of the last New Mexico Geo- Albuquerque, New Mexico. These abstracts will, logical Society meeting.

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