Note I'-25 — Chapter I · ITINERARY: THROUGH NEW MEXICO ON THE RIO GRANDE TO EL PASO, FEB. 27TH-MAR. 21ST, 1807.

To-day's itinerary brings up a number of interesting and important points, not evident at first sight. Below Valverde and San Pascual mt. Pike comes to a section of the river which has made much history. Along here, above and below Valverde, within a very few miles of one another, are the sites of Fort Conrad and old Fort Craig, both on the W. bank of the river; the position of the present places known as Arny, San Marcia, and Plaza Grande on the W., with La Mesa and Contadero on the E.; the present crossing of the railroad to the Mesa Prieta, from points higher up on the W.; and below this the Rio Grande crossing known as Paraje ferry, near the place of that name on the E. But we are mainly concerned to discover Pike's "point from which the road leaves the river"; and why at this point his escort should have abandoned the main road due S., two days' journey, to take him across the river and then S. W., by a rough and roundabout way for several days till, bearing S. E., the route should strike the S. end of the direct road which had been left at its N. end. If we should imagine some dark Spanish mystery here, we should be mistaken; for Malgares simply took Pike that way to avoid the terrible Jornada del Muerto—that Macabresque march which too often proved to be literally a "journey of the dead." It is now, as it was then, the great highway directly N. and S.; but what is now bowled over at ease in a few hours by rail, was then the toilsome, perilous, and sometimes fatal journey through an awful desert. When I was in New Mexico, 30 years ago, officers and others who had made this jornada were never weary of descanting upon the terrors of that "ninety miles without, a drop of water," as it was commonly said to be. The trip is not quite so far as this, between the points where the river is usually left and regained; but it is not much less, and lives often hung upon the uncertainty whether any water could be found at a midway point known as Laguna del Muerto, or Lake of the Dead. The route of the Jornada is like the string of a bow whose arc is the Rio Grande, stretched straight up and down the desert between the river on the W. and the San Andreas range on the E., or rather between this range and those mountains on the W. of itself which close in on the E. bank of the river, cause its deflection, and render travel along its left (E.) bank difficult or impossible. Hence the crossing of the river at a point above them, to go along the right or W. bank, as Malgares did, was the alternative to the Jornada del Muerto. The mountains in mention are a barren range which begins to hug the river in the vicinity of Paraje, below Contadero, and is known as the Fra Cristobal range; this, or rather the northern end of it, is the "mountain of the Friar Christopher," of which Pike speaks. The chain continues southward (with only partial interruption, in the vicinity of Fort McRae), as the Sierra de los Caballos, or Horse range. Pike lays down ranges at three separate points, lettered "Las Pennuclas" (for Los Penáculos, the Pinnacles), "Horse Mn." and "Death Mn."; the first of these being an elevation of the Cristobal range, probably that now called Cristobal Peak, and the second and third being parts of the Caballos range. Whatever the exact point at which the main road left the river when Pike passed, it was near if not at the same point whence the Jornada has begun for half a century at least, and which took the name Fra Cristobal from the mountain. Thus, we read in Gregg, Comm. Pra. II. 1844, pp. 71-72: "Our next camping place deserving of mention was Fray Cristóbal, which, like many others on the route, is neither town nor village, but a simple isolated point on the river-bank—a mere parage, or camping-ground ... thus being the threshold of the famous Jornada del Muerto." The words of Dr. Wislizenus on this subject are to precisely the same effect, Mem., 1848, p. 38: "This camping place is known as Fray Cristobal; but as there is neither house nor settlement here, and one may fix his camp close on or some distance from the river, the limits of Fray Cristobal are not so distinctly defined as those of a city, and generally the last camping place on or near the Rio del Norte before entering the Jornada del Muerto is understood by it." Doniphan's troops were more than three days in making the jornada: Hughes, Don. Exp., 1847, p. 95. Here the road left the river valley by a contadero, and passed on to the desert. The first lap of the jornada was 26 m. to the Laguna del Muerto, usually dry, sometimes holding water after a rain. (Pike lays this down rather too far N., as the "Lago del munto" by mistake of the engraver.) Thus when Gregg passed in 1839, "there was not even a vestige of water," l. c., p. 73. "The marshes," he continues, "said by some historians to be in the vicinity, are nowhere to be found; nothing but the firmest and dryest table land is to be seen in every direction. To procure water for our thirsty animals, it is often necessary to make a halt here, and drive them to the Ojo del Muerto (Dead Man's Spring), five or six miles to the westward, in the very heart of the mountain ridge that lay between us and the river. This region is one of the favorite resorts of the Apaches, where many a poor arriero has met with an untimely end. The route which leads to the spring winds for two or three miles down a narrow cañon or gorge, overhung on either side by abrupt precipices, while the various clefts and crags, which project their gloomy brows over the abyss below, seem to move the murderous savage to deeds of horror and blood." The second lap of the jornada was 28 m. to a place called Perillo (qu: same as Barilla?), to be found on present maps as Point of Rocks, where water may be found in holes. The third stage was 23 m., finishing the jornada in the vicinity of Fort Selden. This total of 77 m.—easily becoming the "90" of tradition—could be made in two days, as Pike says; the usual method being to cover the distance in three marches of a night, next day, and the following night. The road itself is not bad; only the possibility or probability of 77 m. without water made it a terror. As may be seen even from the map on the railroad folder, the jornada was nearly coincident with the present line from Contadero due S.; but the track leaves the river a little higher up, and strikes it again also higher up, at Rincon. The first portion of the track runs through mal pais, as they call ground strewn with rough and gritty fragments of lava, which makes traveling bad; there is a station called Lava from this circumstance, and also a certain Lava Butte, near the station Pope. The rails continue by Crocker and Round mt. to the station Eagle, whence a road goes off W. to the Fort McRae reservation; stations further along are Cutler, Upham, and Granada, the last being near the Point of Rocks, formerly called Perillo, near where the stage station used to be; whence the run is into Rincon, at a point on the river opposite Angostura, where Pike comes along on the 17th. A camping-ground on the river, at this end of the jornada, was known as Robledo (Oaks).