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86 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES 
rocky slopes are dotted with a cactus resembling a huge pincushion 
(Echinocereus stramineus), which bears a delicious fruit, locally called 
pitahaya. 
The plateau region extending west from Dryden to Longfellow and 
beyond appears rocky and barren, but it affords fairly good pasturage 
and sustains many cattle; sheep and goats are also raised with a large 
yield of wool and mohair. The old Texas longhorn cattle have been 
displaced, mostly by white-faced Herefords, which make more beef, 
are hardier, and withstand the arid climate. There are also many 
Brahmas, characterized by a hump and short straight horns; this 
stock was introduced from India and has proved to be well adapted 
to the dry climate. (See pl. 
roo’ 12, B.) The great ‘open 
range,” however, is mostly 
's0° afeature of the past, and 
; now, although there are 
Rocks =i b100% some very large pastures, 
<3 all are inclosed by barbed- 
a _ wire fences. The old 
Ps oi os a ah aT -_ 
a round-up” is no longer 
— ee the great event in ranch 
rr life, and most of the brand- 
ing is done at the home 
FIGURE 9.—Section near Maxon, Tex. Crpscrans: Kg, corral. (Turn to sheet 14.) 
fasten tedcoaine ean caudate: wastidia: A few miles beyond 
Be en heme Semation. . Peaneviyanien: Of, Tens Longfellow the tracks de- 
flect to the south. High- 
way 3 continues west up the Dry Creek Valley to a divide some- 
what higher than the one utilized by the railroad. 
Longfellow. The railroad follows a wide valley, which is drained 
toemeaee in part by Sanderson Creek and beyond Rosenfeld 
New Orleans 891 miles. Siding by Maxon Creek. The walls of the valley 
consist of the Edwards and Georgetown limestones, 
which crop out in massive gray ledges. 
Near Maxon siding a prominent ledge of brown sandstone 100 feet 
thick appears beneath the Edwards limestone in the canyon walls and 
is in turn underlain by impure limestones and shales of the Glen Rose 
formation of the Trinity group, which crop out in a succession’ of 
benches and slopes, as shown in Figure 9. The walls are 300 to 500 
feet high near Maxon, but they are mostly broken into ridges and 
buttes. Maxon is near Maxon Springs, named for Lieutenant Maxon, 
of the United States Army, who first described it. 
_ Three miles beyond Maxon the railroad swings to the west and, 
: leaving the limestone canyon, enters a broad plain out of which rise 
many ridges of moderate height. This is the eastern edge of the 
Basin. A short distance east of Tesnus siding the railroad 
