The  eastern  portion  of  this  county,  all  public  domain,  is  entirely
devoted  to  stock  raising.  The  great  plains  lying  between  Union
County  and  Red  River  support  numerous  herds  of  sheep,  aggregating
hundreds  of  thousands  during  all  the  year.  This  immense  stock
range  is  well  watered,  and,  with  sufficient  shelter  afforded  by  the
many  brakes  and  canyons,  comes  near  to  being  the  stockman's  ideal
of  what  a  summer  and  winter  range  should  be.  The  grass  is  black
gramma,  well  known  to  be  the  most  nutritious  of  grasses.
From  Red  River  westward  the  country  is  broken  by  cedar-clad  hills
and  open  parks  and  glades;  is  dotted  with  picturesque  stock  ranches
and  small  farms  until  the  lower  valley  of  the  Mora  is  reached  at
Cherry  Valley,  from  which  point  to  the  head  waters  of  the  Mora
River  large  tracts  of  land  are  farmed,  and  all  under  irrigation  sys-
tems, yielding  heavy  crops  of  alfalfa,  the  principal  forage  plant
grown.  Other  crops  successfully  raised  are  meadow  hay,  oats,  wheat,
corn,  and,  in  fact,  all  small  grains  give  a  greater  return  per  acre  in
bushels,  and  many  more  pounds  to  the  bushel,  than  any  of  the  famous
wheat  or  corn  States.
From  Watrous  to  the  western  boundary  line  of  Mora  County,  on
aU  the  streams  and  throughout  all  the  many  beautiful  valleys,  very
lai'ge  amounts  of  grain  and  hay  are  annually  harvested.  Las  Vegas
is  yet,  and  has  been  for  decades,  the  principal  market  and  distrib-
uting point  for  all  crops  raised  in  the  upper  Mora  and  tributary  val-
leys, as  well  as  the  receiving  and  distributing  point  for  all  material
timbers  used  by  the  Atchison,  Topeka  and  Santa  Fe  Railway  and  sent
for  hundreds  of  miles  north  and  south  over  its  line.
