end of the range. Recreation A well-established network of trails exists in the Magdalena Mountains, providing abundant hiking, backpacking, hunting, horseback-riding, and stargazing opportunities. The Forest Service notes that there are over 60 miles of trails in the Magdalenas. Over half of the trails are in the Ryan Hill Inventoried Roadless Area. The Water Canyon Campground is a developed campsite located at 6,800 ft elevation in the Magdalenas. Significant summits include: Scientific research At the southern end of the main range crest, just south of South Baldy, lies the Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech). The Langmuir's location in the Magdalena Mountains was chosen "because thunderstorms are initiated by the mountains and the storms are often isolated, stationary, and relatively small" and occur with high frequency. Visiting scientists at Langmuir also study bats, hummingbirds, butterflies and plant life in the area. The same area hosts the Magdalena Ridge Observatory Interferometer, also operated by New Mexico Tech, along with other institutions. History The history of the Magdalena Mountains is intimately linked with the rich history of the surrounding area. Basham noted in his report documenting the archeological history of the Cibola's Magdalena Ranger District that "[t]he heritage resources on the district are diverse and representative of nearly every prominent human evolutionary event known to anthropology. Evidence for human use of district lands date back 14,000 years to the Paleoindian period providing glimpses into the peopling of the New World and megafaunal extinction." Much of the now Magdalena Ranger District was a province of the Apache. Bands of Apache effectively controlled the Magdalena-Datil region from the seventeenth century until they were defeated in the Apache Wars in the late nineteenth century. A mining rush followed the Apache wars – gold, silver, and copper were found in the mountains. 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 formerly 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