Paraje De Fra Cristobal

This was where the Camino Real came back to the river after the Jornada del Muerto, and travelers from Diego de Vargas in 1692 to Josiah Gregg in 1833 wrote it down. Fort Conrad and Fort Craig rose nearby in the 1850s, and late in that decade a town called Paraje, or Fra Cristobal, grew at about the same spot; it kept a post office from 1867 to 1910. Elephant Butte Reservoir first covered the site in 1942, and when the water drops, some ruins and artifacts of the town come back into view.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Paraje de Fra Cristobal The mountain range seen along the east bank of the Rio Grande is named after Father Cristobal de Salazar of the 1598 Juan de Oñate expedition. The northern edge of the twenty-one mile range is said to resemble the profile of the good friar. This paraje, or encampment, was a place of rest for caravans on the Camino Real as they entered or exited the Jornada del Muerto.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge — 19 mi
  A Rio Grande refuge south of Socorro where cranes and geese winter by the tens of thousands on wetlands and fields kept by people, because the river no longer floods to make them.

More markers nearby

• Women of the Camino Real — steps away
• Fort Craig — steps away
• Vásquez de Coronado's Route — steps away
• Paraje de Fra Cristobal — steps away