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40,000 acres in Harding County
FATHER AND SON
After learning the ranching business in Arizona, the
Fitzgerald
family--E. and son Mike--moved east a bit about 20 years ago, buying
two ranches in out-of-the-way Harding County--the state's only
county without a numbered U.S. highway. Besides the deeded land, the
Fitzgerald's lease another 37,000 acres.
Like so many of New Mexico's bigger spreads, the Fitzgerald
holdings reveal the ups and downs of ranching. ``There's lots of old
homesteads on the ranches,'' says Mike Fitzgerald--meaning that the
homesteaders at some point had to sell out. On the other hand, there
are also several old churches,
one of which still regularly draws worshipers.
Says Fitzgerald about his now-retired father and himself,
``We're not pioneers. We're trying to take care of the land. Besides
our cattle operations, we're conservationists in our own right.''
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