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Orogrande, Era of Wealth

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Orogrande, Era of Wealth

August 20, 2026

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George E. Moffett, an 87-year-old New Mexico pioneer living in Alamogordo, recalled the boom years of Orogrande, N.M., when an El Paso newspaper writer helped popularize the town’s name after Moffett found a nugget “as large as a man’s finger” that was described as “Oro Grande.” The name endured…

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