<P> In 1851 the Vatican appointed Jean - Baptiste Lamy (1814--1888), a French cleric, as bishop of the diocese of Sante Fe . There were only nine priests at first; Lamy brought in many more . In 1875 it was upgraded to the status of archdiocese, with supervision over Catholic affairs in New Mexico and Arizona . Lamy had St. Francis Cathedral built in a French style; the work was conducted between 1869 and 1886 . </P> <P> To provide the forts and reservations with food, the federal government contracted for thousands of head of cattle, and Texas cattlemen began entering New Mexico with their herds . Rancher Charles Goodnight blazed the first cattle trail through New Mexico in 1866, extending from the Pecos River northward into Colorado and Wyoming . Over it more than 250,000 head of cattle trailed to market . John Chisum also brought his herds up the Pecos . As employer of the desperado Billy the Kid, he figured prominently in the Lincoln County War of 1878--1880 . This was one of the many struggles between cattle herders and territorial officials, among rival cattle barons, and between sheep ranchers and cattle ranchers during this period . The Butterfield Trail, the longest of the cattle trails, had its first important stop in New Mexico at Fort Fillmore . It began operations in 1858 and was superseded by railroad operations in 1881 . </P> <P> The Santa Fe Railroad reached New Mexico in 1878, with the first locomotive crossing Raton Pass that December . It reached Lamy, New Mexico, 16 miles (26 km) from Santa Fe in 1879 and Santa Fe itself in 1880, and Deming in 1881, thereby replacing the storied Santa Fe Trail as a way to ship cattle to market . The new town of Albuquerque, platted in 1880 as the Santa Fe Railroad extended westward, quickly enveloped the old town . The rival Southern Pacific was completed between the Rio Grande valley and the Arizona border in 1881 . </P> <P> From 1880 to 1910 the territory grew rapidly . With the coming of the railroad, many homesteaders moved to New Mexico . In 1886 the New Mexico Education Association of school teachers was organized; in 1889 small state colleges were established at Albuquerque, Las Cruces, and Socorro; and in 1891 the first effective public school law was passed . An irrigation project in the Pecos River valley in 1889 marked the first of many such projects to irrigate farms in the dry state . Discovery of artesian waters at Roswell in 1890 gave both farming and mining a boost . The power of the cattle barons faded as much land was fenced in at the expense of the open range . The cattle ranchers and sheep ranchers also learned to tolerate one other, and both the cattle and sheep industries expanded . Mining became even more important, especially gold and silver . Coal mining developed during the 1890s, primarily to supply the railroads, and oil was discovered in Eddy County in 1909 . The population of New Mexico reached 195,000 in 1910 . </P>

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