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WASHINGTON COUNTY. 
(Area 2,220 square miles. ) 
This is a newly organized county, in the plains region ot northeast 
Colorado. It has no native timber, unless it is a slight growth of Cot- 
tonwood along some of the streams. 
WELD COUNTY. 
(Area, 5,300 square miles. ) 
This county is situated in the northeastern part of the State. Its sur- 
face is mostly rolling plains, intersected by the South Platte, Cache la 
Poudre, Big and Little Thompson, and St. Vrain Rivers, and numerous 
small creeks. There is but little timber in the county except a scatter- 
ing growth of Cottonwood along the Platte River, which extends through 
the county from west to east. There are small groves of Cottonwood 
and fruit and ornamental trees in union colony, Greeley. 
NEW MEXICO. 
The Territory of New Mexico extends from the thirty-second to the 
thirty-seventh degree of latitude, and from the one hundred and third 
to the one hundred and ninth parallel of longitude—embracing a super- 
ficial area of 122,500 square miles. It has the form of a parallelogram, 
with sides 350 miles in length. It is situated upon the southeastern 
border of the Rocky Mountain plateaus, and has an average or mean 
elevation of 5,600 feet above the level of the sea. The principal surface 
features of the country are extensive table-lands, or mesas, wide and 
sandy plains, mountains, foot-hills, and valleys. | 
The mountain system, which in Colorado is so intricate, including 
scores of rugged ranges and lofty peaks, becomes in New Mexico more 
simple. The ranges here are not so massive, are less in number and 
‘elevation, and more widely separated one from another. The mountain 
chains, diverging at the northern border, spread fan like over the Terri- 
tory, and in broken lines flank upon either side the valley of the Rio 
Grande, which traverses the entire region from north to south. De- 
tached groups and solitary mountains are seen at many points. Though 
all belong to the Rocky Mountain system, they are each distinguished 
by local names. 
In the southeastern part of the Territory is the Llano Estacado, or— 
Staked Plain, an elevated, arid region, which also extends into the ad- 
joining State of Texas. The soil here is apparently barren, but pro- 
duces abundantly the Mesquit (Prosopis juliflora), a small but deep- 
rooted and valuable tree or shrub. The land would yield good crops if 
water could be had for irrigation. 
The general surface of the Territory has an elevation of about 5,000 
feet in the northwestern portion, and thence descends toward the south- 

