6. West of his line of continental-divide mountains Pike locates two pueblos, or rather Indian villages, by the names of "Cumpa" and "Chacat." These are not far apart, and both approximate to the four Moki villages he charts: see a note [beyond] for the Mokis. The identification of Cumpa may be in question; but Chacat evidently stands for what Pike learned of the old establishments in the Cañon de Chaco, or de Chasco. This is in N. W. New Mexico, and in such extent of the cañon as has running water is the Rio Chaco, tributary of Rio San Juan, a branch of the Colorado Grande which enters above the mouth of the Colorado Chiquito, in Utah. This cañon once harbored a large population in several different establishments, all long since gone to ruins; and the Chaco people have been the subjects of much disputed history. An excellent account of the ruins is contained in Simpson's Report, pp. 73-86; views of some of them are given on several plates. On his map the names of 10 of the 12 he locates stand as Pintado, Wejegi, Una Vida, Hungo Pavi, Chetho Kette, Bonito, Del Arroyo, Nos. 8 and 9 blank, Peñasca Blanca.
[I'-22] Past Joya cañon to the vicinity of La Joyita, near the S. border of the Joya Grant. This is a small town near which some black basaltic bluffs reach down close to the river. It is not to be confounded with the village of similar name, La Joya, a few miles further on.
[I'-23] The Black mts. of Pike's text, Sierra Obscura of his map, are in the series of ranges along the E. side of the Rio Grande, at varying but always considerable distances. These are in general but not exact continuation of the San Diaz or Sandia mts., and take, in different parts of their extent, other names, as Cerro Manzano, Cerro Montoso, etc.; the name Sierra Oscura or Black range being now restricted to a short chain between the Chupadera mesa on the N. and the San Andreas chain on the S. Though there is of course no such linear continuity of these ranges as Pike's Sierra Obscura seems to represent, yet I think Pike hit off the mountains wonderfully well, considering the stealthy circumstances under which he observed them. All through "the captivity" in New Spain he had to make his notes furtively, and then conceal them—in other words, he stole and hid away his information. His Sierra Obscura is all the better delineated by his marking certain southern portions of the chain with the names "Sierra de el Sacramento" and "Sierra de Guadelupe"—these being ranges which he was never near, if in fact he ever laid eyes on them. They are those called to-day the Sacramento and Guadalupe ranges, trending S. E. toward the Rio Pecos, down to lat. 32° or thereabouts; they are special southward extensions of the huge nest of mountains which bound for a great distance the water-shed of the Pecos, and are broken into many lesser ranges and peaks, as the White range (Sierra Blanca), the Nogal, Capitan, Carrizo, Jicarilla, etc. In perhaps no point is Pike's (qu: Humboldt's?) map clearer than where he runs his "Montagnes de Salines" N. between his Sierra Obscura on the E. and the Rio Grande on the W.; for this is the San Andreas range, which extends continuously southward from the Sierra Oscura of present geography, and whose southern portions now bear the names of the Organ and Franklin mts., ending only near El Paso. The Organ mts. were better and have been long known by the Spanish name of Sierra de los Organos, exactly as lettered by Pike. This curious name originated in the fancied resemblance of the columnar trap formations to the pipes of an organ. Wislizenus and Hughes both call them the "Organic" mts. Their fastnesses were favorite and habitual lurking-places of the Mescalero Apaches—those murderous freebooters and desperadoes who used to descend upon the peaceful pueblos and the Spanish settlements. "The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold," and so did the Apache, not only from the Organ mts. and other parts of the San Andreas or Salinas range, but also from all the mountains above mentioned as lying further east. Observe that Pike thrice locates Apaches among these mountains, lettering "Apaches Faraone," "Apaches Mescaleros," and "Apaches Mescalorez." He also locates what he calls "Indiens Ietans"; these are the Comanches, usually given in his text as "Tetaus," who played the part of Vandals to the Goths of the Apaches—twin scourges during the whole historic period and down to our own day, under the leadership of chiefs whose characters recall the popular impressions of Attila the Hun. The only serious criticism to be passed on this part of Pike's map is the way he runs a great river in the country of his Ietans and Mescaleros, between his Sierra Obscura and his Montagnes de Salines, i. e., in the deserts E. of his San Andreas range and W. of the other mountains. But this is simply his misapprehension of such information as he had of the course of the Pecos; for his "Rio Puerto" is a mistake for Rio Puerco, and this was a long current though mistaken name of the Pecos, to be found on various maps and in different itineraries of comparatively recent dates. It is hardly necessary to add that the Pecos lies eastward of all the mountains now under consideration; there is no such river where Pike lays down his "Rio Puerto." That region is a horrid desert, where such waters as may start from the mountains on either hand soon run out by evaporation and absorption, or lose themselves in those salty sinks and alkaline wastes whence originated, in fact, the former name of "Saline" or "Salinas" mts. for the San Andreas range.
As to the "Mountains of Magdalen" of Pike's text: We observe that he maps two isolated elevations on his right, W. of the Rio Grande, respectively lettered "Sierra Magillez" and "Sierra Christopher." These clearly correspond to two of the most conspicuous elevations, Mt. Magdalen and Old Baldy, of the range which continues to be known as that of the Magdalen mts. or Sierra Magdalena. These are a short but high range directly W. of the county town Socorro, whence a branch of the railroad now runs into them to the place called Magdalena. This range rises 20 m. and more from the river; in this interval a series of lesser elevations stretches northward, taking at successive points the names of Socorro, Limitar, Polvadero, and Ladron—the two last of these being separated by the arroyo of the Rio Salado, coming to the Rio Grande from the W. in the vicinity of the Joya cañon from the E.
The position of Pike's camp of the 12th is not easily determined, as he gives no mileage and names no place. But it was not far below Socorro, and perhaps in the close vicinity of Bosquecito. His Sierra Christopher (W. of the river) is to be carefully distinguished from what he further on calls the "mountain of the Friar Christopher," i. e., Fra Cristobal, on the E. of the river: see [note25, pp. 635, 636], and [note30, p. 639].
When Pike passed a couple of miles below Parida, on the E. side of the Rio Grande, he had to climb a steep hill close to the river. From the top of this there is a fine view to be had of various places. Nearly opposite is Socorro, on the W. bank; Limitar is visible, 6 or 8 m. higher up on that side; while about 4 m. below is the site of the ruins of Las Huertas (the Orchards). Socorro was long one of the largest and most important places on the Rio Grande. It had a population of 2,000 about the middle of this century.
[I'-24] No mileage for to-day, nor even number of hours on the march; no named point. In fact Pike's itinerary from Santa Fé thus far hardly gives a natural feature—not even the mouth of the Rio Puerco; we have to check it as best we can by a few names of towns now nearly a century old, and not always indicating a present location, together with what we may suppose to have been ordinary days' journeys. Camp of the 13th may be set somewhere within the limits of the present Bosque del Apache Grant, a good ways below Bosquecitos and San Pedro on the E., or San José and San Antonio on the W. A view of the Bosque faces p. 499 of Abert's report. The grant named is a small triangular area whose N. base is the S. border of the Socorro Grant, whose W. side adjoins the E. border of the Armendaris Grant, and whose apex is at or near Mt. Pascal (Cerro San Pascual). Old Fort Conrad was built on the W. side of the river, nearly opposite but a little above Valverde. Valverde was inhabited during the first quarter of this century, but the inhabitants were killed or driven off by the Apaches and Navajos, and it showed nothing but its ruins in 1846, as delineated on the plate of Abert's report, facing p. 506. Writing of 1839, Gregg says, Comm. Pra. II. 1844, p. 71: "We passed the southernmost settlements of New Mexico, and 20 or 30 miles further down the river we came to the ruins of Valverde. This village was founded about 20 years ago, in one of the most fertile valleys of the Rio del Norte. It increased rapidly in population, until it was invaded by the Navajoes, when the inhabitants were obliged to abandon the place after considerable loss, and it has never since been repeopled." This locality, in a narrow, sandy valley, some 15 m. by the road above Fra Cristobal mt., used to be a point of departure in various directions from the Rio Grande, and the name occurs continually in the history of scouts on reconnoissances in this region before our Civil War; it was the general rendezvous of Doniphan's forces, preparatory to his invasion of Mexico and capture of Chihuahua; and it was the scene of a battle, for gallant and meritorious services in which action a particular friend of mine, Allen Latham Anderson, was brevetted major, Feb. 21st, 1862.
[I'-25] 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).
[I'-26] The whole of this way is bad, being cut across by a series of arroyos or gulches making down from the San Mateo and Mimbres ranges. These mountains are a part of the general chain which Pike maps in linear continuity as one which forms the "Dividing Ridge between the Waters of Rio del Norte and those of the Gulf of California"—that is, the Continental Divide. At one point in these ranges Pike legends very conspicuously "Grand Copper Mines, worked." It is also shown on the map of Lieut.-Col. Philip St. George Cooke, of his route from the Rio Grande to the Gila, etc., in 1846-47, Ex. Doc. No. 41, 30th Cong., 1st Sess., pub. 1848; and a "view of the copper mine" forms the subject of the plate opp. p. 59 of the same volume, in Lieut. W. H. Emory's report: see also ibid., A. R. Johnston's report, pp. 577, 578 fig. The headwaters of the Rio Gila are across the divide of the Mimbres range. As the party goes down the valley of the Rio Grande, say from the Nogal arroyo or the site of the village now called San José, opposite Fra Cristobal, 6,600 feet, they have the range of the latter name on the left, or E., immediately across the river, while the San Mateo peak, 10,200 feet, towers on the N. W.
[I'-27] Before coming to his Horse mt., Pike passed several points of note. He crossed Rio Alamoso or Cañada Alamosa near camp (unless he was already beyond it), and next Rio Cuchillo Negro. Between these two, but off on the E. side of the river, was built Fort McRae, in the southern foothills of the Fra Cristobal range (vicinity of Elephant Butte and Ojo del Muerto). There is or was a crossing of the Rio Grande from the fort, called Fest's ferry. Horse mt. of Pike is now called Caballo Cone; it rises at the N. extremity of the range of the Horse mts., usually known by the Spanish name of Sierra de los Caballos. The Mt. of the Dead is another elevation of this range, but which one is less easily determined. It was at or near the S. end of this range; see the positions of "Horse Mn." and "Dead Mn." on the map. Pike also marks a mountain close to his trail, on the W., by the name of "Rabledillo." This I take to be Cerro Cuchillo Negro, opposite Caballo Cone, between Rio Cuchillo Negro and Rio Palomo (Pigeon cr.). The latter is crossed at its mouth (Los Palomos); Rio Animas is crossed (Brent's); and several arroyos or dry washes are passed, till the party is well down on the W. side of the Horse range, within some 25 m. of where the Rio Grande will be crossed to-morrow. Camp is apparently between the mouths of Rio Perchas and Cienega Apache, which fall in near together on the W. Hillsborough, seat of Sierra Co. (which Pike entered when he left Socorro Co. on the 15th), is situated about 20 m. up Rio Perchas. Near this camp, and nearly opposite his Dead mt., Pike marks an elevation by the name of "La Ranchero," which appears to be that which approaches the Rio Grande most closely between Cienega Apache and White Water cr. In any event, this is one of the foothills of the Mimbres range, as are several others Pike maps in this vicinity. See [next note].