A short distance from Joia, the Rio Grande is greatly contracted in its usual breadth in its passage between some low hills; it was indeed so narrow as to create for a time a doubt whether it was the river we had left when we turned off from it near the Casa Colorada. We did not continue long on the bank, our course being to the left of some mountains lying between the river and the road, through a red sandy country abounding in dry water-holes, in which were considerable quantities of crystallized salt. We halted in the evening (the 26th) at Pareida, again striking the river. This is the last settlement on the left bank between Santa Fe and Paso del Norte. At Pareida is the commencement of a great bend of the river to the E. : and in order to shorten our road we crossed the water, about 2 feet deep, the greater number of our party wading through it. On the opposite side was a wood of cotton-trees of large growth, and on the S.W. of a level plain, apparently of very good land, we came, at the distance of about 6 miles from the river, to the village of Socorro, the central point of the range of the Apache Indians, several of whom rode into the village armed with American rifles. The houses are built with flat roofs after the Mexican fashion; and in the windows, instead of glass, were thin and broad pieces of mica. The population speak Spanish, though of mixed and chiefly of Indian blood, in common with all the Mexican population of the north.

On the 28th the road was along a flat country, at the bottom of a ridge of mountains lying to our right. We passed a grove of oak-trees to our left, called the Bosque de los Apaches, and camped at the Valle Verde, a continuation of the same wood. On the 29th we crossed the river, which here bends far to the W., striking it again at a camping-place called Fray Cristoval. At this point the river again bends to the W. During this day a violent N. wind blew, and at night there was a fall of about 2 inches of snow. As we none of us had more than one blanket in addition to our light clothing, and many no blanket at all, we suffered much from the cold. At this point is the commencement of what is called the grand jornada (great journey), across the country to where the river is again met with. We moved off at noon on the 31st, and our march continued during the whole night. In the morning we halted for about an hour and a half, when the march recommenced, and was continued throughout the day until sunset. We rested for about three hours, and then moved on, during a second night, until about ten o'clock the next morning, to a spot called Roblado, opposite a high precipitous mountain, round the E. side of which the river turns in its course to the S. During this time we had no provisions or water. In some parts of the road there were shrubby trees, but generally the country was open and barren. After resting a few hours, we proceeded about 5 miles farther, to obtain pasture for the cattle. In this long march two men were killed : they were exhausted and unable to walk, and one of them, named Golphin, had lost the use of his right hand, and had been carried in a waggon for nearly two months.

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Adapted from Thomas Falconer
"Notes on a Journey through Texas and New Mexico, in the Years 1841 and 1842"