Socorro, county, central New Mexico, U.S. The Rio Grande winds southward through the county. East of the river valley are the Los Pinos Mountains, the Jornada del Muerto desert, and the Sierra Oscura, which includes Oscura Peak (8,732 feet [2,661 metres]). Mountain ranges west of the river are the Ladron, Bear, Gallinas, Magdalena (including 10,783-foot [3,286-metre] South Baldy), and San Mateo (including Mount Withington and San Mateo Peak, both over 10,000 feet [3,000 metres]). Most of the residents at the Alamo Band Navajo Indian Reservation, despite its name, are Apaches. Along the Rio Grande are two wildlife refuges, the Sevilleta and the Bosque del Apache, important in the reestablishment of the whooping crane population. Socorro county also includes the Fort Craig National Historic Site and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.
There were pueblos along the Rio Grande at the time of the first incursion of Spanish explorers, including Francisco Vázquez de Coronado in 1541, Agustin Rodríguez and Francisco Chamuscado in 1581, and Antonio de Espejo in 1582. Socorro county was established by Mexico in 1844; after New Mexico joined the United States, Socorro county was established by the territory’s legislature in 1850. The discovery of silver in 1867 led to several decades of mining prosperity. The historic first atomic bomb explosion occurred at Trinity Site in southeastern Socorro county in 1945.
The New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (1889), at the town of Socorro, the county seat, is the major element in an economy based to a large extent on government expenditures. Agriculture (cattle, milk, hay) is another important economic element. Area 6,647 square miles (17,216 square km). Pop. (2000) 18,078; (2010) 17,866.