Cimarron National Grassland is the largest area of public land in Kansas, preserving a semi-arid shortgrass prairie along the Cimarron River in the state's far southwest. Long part of Comanche and allied tribal territory, it became an important corridor when William Becknell took the Santa Fe Trail's Cimarron Cutoff through the area in 1822, with Middle Spring serving as a crucial water source. Ranching and farming followed, but drought in the 1930s devastated Morton County during the Dust Bowl. After the federal government bought failed farms and restored prairie, the grassland was formally created in 1960 and now supports conservation, grazing, energy development, wildlife, and recreation.