Eastward from Roswell, on either U.S. Highway 70 or 380, redbeds of Permian and Triassic age lie half hidden by pinkish sands up to the edge of the caprock; beyond are the fertile grazing and crop lands of the Llano Estacado, with its queen cities of Clovis and Portales. Here, deep wells pump underground waters to irrigate lush fields that produce peanuts, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, melons, strawberries, cucumbers, and grapes. On the plains beyond the reach of the wells, wheat, maize, and broomcorn are grown. Southeastward, oil derricks dot the plains, surrounding Hobbs and Lovington. Westward from Roswell, U.S. Highways 70 and 380 run together up the rolling limestone hills west of the Pecos Valley before plunging down Picacho Hill into the narrow canyon of Rio Hondo. At Hondo they divide. U.S. Highway 380 leads northwestward through Lincoln town, Billy the Kid’s shooting grounds, into Capitan, over Indian Divide, and down into sleepy Carrizozo—paralleled by the forested peaks of Capitan Mountains to the north and overshadowed by mighty Sierra Blanca to the southwest. U.S. Highway 70 runs up the green canyon of Rio Ruidoso, past Ruidoso Downs, past State Highway 37 which leads to Ruidoso and the Sierra Blanca Ski Area, up into the ponderosa pines, crossing the divide at Apache Summit, then westward and downhill past Mescalero, paralleling Rio Tularosa. Suddenly the canyon widens, and ahead is the dry Tularosa Basin with the White Sands glistening in the far distance. [Illustration: (_Forest Service, U.S.D.A._) Now this is what is meant by forest.... from Monjeau Lookout] From Tularosa to Alamogordo, U.S. Highway 70 is along the west edge of the Sacramento Mountains wherein tier upon tier of dolomite and limestone cliffs rise to the high peaks near Cloudcroft. Southwestward from Alamogordo, the highway cuts diagonally across the Tularosa Basin, skirting the southern edge of the White Sands, and passing through White Sands Missile Range. Ahead lie the fabulous spires of the Organ Mountains; to the right, the notched cliffs of the San Andres Mountains stretch northward to rounded Salinas Peak and beyond the horizon. Steeply, the highway rises to cross San Augustin Pass between the Organ and San Andres mountains, past the village of Organ with its crumbling mining dumps, before plunging downward onto the southern end of Jornada del Muerto, and finally, on the east edge of Las Cruces, leaves the creosote bush plains to dip into the green Mesilla Valley of the Rio Grande. West of Carrizozo, U.S. 380 crosses the black basalt flows of Valley of Fires State Park, curves over the Carrizozo dome and up the dip slopes of Chupadera Mesa, crosses in red roadcuts the northern tip of Sierra Oscura, then westward through sand dunes of the northern Jornada del Muerto. Coal beds crop out at Cerro Colorado before the highway sweeps down into the Rio Grande Valley to San Antonio.