Explorations and Settlements A long tlze Rio Grande
227
leagues more to a narrow valley on the Mexican side of the river. Here they rested on the 17th and on the following day they resumed their march, crossed the Rio Grande, and after going only five leagues, because of the roughness of the country, they stopped in a small valley called Ruidosa because of the noise that the waters of the small stream made as it flowed over the rocks. They had gone nineteen leagues from San Francisco, or approximately fifty-five miles to the northwest. They were now in the vicinity of present day Ruidosa. This conclusion is borne out by the fact that the next day, December 19, continuing along the river, they came upon a group of hot springs about two leagues beyond, which they mistook at first for smoke. The water was so hot that no one could hold his hand in it for more than a minute. Now it happens that a short distance above Ruidosa there is a creek called Hot Spring Creek to this day, which in all prob- ability was the one visited at this time. Continuing on the Texas side for two more days, the country became extremely rough and impassable. After traveling about nine leagues beyond Hot Spring Creek a party was sent to explore the area called El Cajon or Canyon. They reported that six leagues beyond was a mountain called Cola del Aguila (Eagle's tail) and still farther to the north was the Chamiso range, about sixteen leagues away, and that from By January 3, ldoyaga was back in San Francisco de los Conchos where he held a formal investigation to determine the best site for the presidio. Captain Domingo Antonio Garcia and Lieutenant Antonio de Amor Bernal declared that there was really no place suitable for the proposed erection. Even at La Junta, where conditions were better than in all the country explored, the land was sandy, loose, and subject to floods; the adjoining valleys were narrow and ill-suited for settlement; and there were no indications of mineral deposits worth exploiting in the entire area. This discouraging opinion was verified by a third witness, who was called to testify, a certain Jose Gonzalez, resident of Chihuahua. But their testi- mony has to be taken with a grain of salt. The new presidio was to draw its men from those already established in Chihuahua at Cerro Gordo'. San Fra~cisco, ~nd El Gallo. Consequently it meant the weakening of their respective garrisons and the curtailing of the captains' profits. 26Quadcmo que comienza ... A. G. I., Audie 11 cia de Me:cico, 8 9 _ 2 _ 23 (Dunn Transcripts, 1746-7), 83-89. this range it was only about twenty leagues to El Paso. 26 Attempt to determine location of proposed presidio.
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