DE BACA

county, eastern New Mexico, U.S., in the Pecos River valley section of the Great Plains. The Pecos River flows southward through the county. Alamogordo Dam impounds Sumner Lake on the Pecos; Sumner Lake State Park is located at the southern tip of the lake. Ancient erosion by the Pecos and its tributaries left bluffs, canyons, and mesas in the terrain. In 1541 explorer Francisco Vzquez de Coronado passed through the region, which was part of the Plains Indians, Spanish, Mexican, and Texan domains before becoming part of the United States. The Fort Sumner State Monument is located at the site of the notorious Bosque Redondo, an arid, nearly barren 21 acres on which, from 1864 to 1868, the U.S. Army forced more than 7,000 Navajo Indians to live in starvation conditions and under attack by Comanches. The outlaw gang of Billy the Kid (William Bonney) frequented the nearby town of Fort Sumner; his grave is nearby. The county was established in 1917. Agriculture, especially cattle, is the foundation of the economy. Fort Sumner is the county seat. Area 2,325 square miles (6,022 square km). Pop. (1990) 2,252.