Socorro County History History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888 By Hubert Howe Bancroft, Henry Lebbeus Oak SOCORRO COUNTY. 797 Socorro county covers an area of about 12,000 square miles west of Lincoln and south of  Valencia. It originally included all of southern New Mexico; but Dona Ana was cut off in 1852 and Lincoln in 1869; and the boundaries were otherwise somewhat changed in 1870, 1872, and 1880. The county seat was removed to Limitar in 1854, but restored to Socorro in 1867. With its long stretch of fertile alluvial soil in the main valley, and its 4-6,000,000 acres of grazing lands, this county is believed to have unexcelled advantages for agriculture and stock-raising, though both industries, and especially the former, have hitherto been too much neglected. In 1880, nevertheless, there were 728 farms, averaging 53 acres each, and producing $217,295. In 1883 the assessment was $330,793 on 393,170 acres; there were 20,430 cattle and 66,615 sheep; and the total valuation of property was $2,450,193. According to Ritch, in 1882-4 cattle increased from 9,000 to 70,000, while sheep decreased from 300,000 to 100,000. Mining activity dates from about 1881, and in the yield of silver, gold, and copper Socorro has become one of the leading counties, with over 50 districts and many remarkably productive mines. With the growth of this great mining industry the others retrograded at first, but in recent years there are indications of revival; and a prosperous future seems assured. Socorro, the county seat, is a flourishing town of over 3,000 inhabitants, with every sign of becoming a commercial centre of great importance; and doubtless other settlements will eventually enter the race of progress, though hitherto all have been content with mere existence. The railroad down the Rio Grande traverses the county from north to south, two short branches extend to the mines at Carthage and Magdalena, and here, as everywhere, several cross-county roads are looked for in the early future. In a certain sense Socorro may be regarded as the oldest Spanish name in New Mexico, though it is not quite certain that the pueblo or spot so named in the sixteenth century by Oñate is exactly the site of the present town. In this region was the southernmost group of pueblos, noted by all the early explorers coming from the south, or in the case of Coronado from the north; and the name Nuestra Señora del Socorro was given in 1598, in recognition of the succor there found after crossing the southern deserts. Spanish and Mexican annals deal for the most part only with the line of settlements along the river, where the early pueblos have long since disappeared; but in the north-east were several flourishing mission pueblos, eventually destroyed by Apaches, the ruins of which are still seen at Ab, Gran Quivira, and other places. ©2007 Genealogy Trails