a mining rush followed the apache wars – gold, silver, and copper were found in the mountains. it wasn't until this time that extensive use of the area by non-native americans occurred. while some mining activity, involving gold, silver, and copper, occurred in the southern part of the range near the end of the nineteenth century, the prospecting/mining remnants are barely visible today due to collapse, topographic screening, and vegetation regrowth. while miners combed the mountains for mineral riches during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, stockmen drove tens of thousands of sheep and cattle to stockyards at the village of magdalena, then linked by rail with socorro. in fact, the last regularly used cattle trail in the united states stretched 125 miles westward from magdalena. the route was formally known as the magdalena livestock driveway, but more popularly known to cowboys and cattlemen as the beefsteak trail. the trail began use in 1865 and its peak was in 1919. the trail was used continually until trailing gave way to trucking and the trail official closed in 1971.