The main connection to the outside world is a five-hour bus connection to Creel, half of which occurs on an unpaved mountain road.

The Satevo mission, featuring a large church built four centuries ago with a mysterious past, is 8 kilometers from Batopilas, along the Batopilas River.

Climate

The climate of Batopilas falls on the boundaries of three climatic types: tropical savanna; mediterranean sub-tropical with dry summers, and semi-arid steppe.

Batopilas was established by Spanish conquistadores starting in 1632 as a center for silver mining. Over the centuries scores of hugely productive silver mines have been dug in the area; one estimate (Wilson and Panczner) is that mines in the area have produced seven times as much silver as come from the famous silver mine of Kongsberg, Norway. Little mining is now done.

It was declared a Pueblo Mágico on October 19, 2012.

Batopilas was a prominent silver-mining center from the 17th to the early 20th century. Large fortunes were made in Batopilas, most visibly reflected in a castle-like home, called the Hacienda San Miguel, that Alexander Robey Shepherd, the last governor of Washington, D.C., had built after leaving the United States in 1875. It stands across the river from the center of the village and has long been in ruins.

As of 2006 it is occupied by a number of local families that give tours to visitors for a small fee.

Spend magical moments admiring its plazas, stone bridges, river and the beautiful nineteenth century aqueduct that once formed part of the Silver Route. Lose yourself as you listen to the tales of the legends around the time of Porfirio Diaz’s presidency which tell the story of the discovery in 1708 of the most important mines of the region.

There is a cool museum, a cathedral 7 km out of town (walk, bike or drive), and some silver mining history.

From Creel by taxi: $50-$65 (3:30 hours).
From Témoris by taxi: $90-$110 (6:00 hours).

The road from Creel is being upgraded, travel time currently is 3 hours 30 minutes (December 2014) and should decrease a bit. The descent at La Bufa is spectacular, drops from 2000m to 800m in about 10km. Delays due to road construction are likely. Parts of the road are still in bad condition, so a 4×4 is necessary.

There are supposedly roads going the other way, over to San Ignacio and Urique. A bridge along the road to San Ignacio was washed out in the summer of 2014 and is impassable. The road to Urique is in terrible condition according to locals, and the police do not recommend either route at this time due to security concerns.

You can dial 078 from any phone, where you can find free information about tourist attractions, airports, travel agencies, car rental companies, embassies and consulates, fairs and exhibitions, hotels, hospitals, financial services, migratory and other issues.

Or dial the toll-free (in Mexico) number 01-800-006-8839.

You can also request information to the email correspondencia@sectur.gob.mx

MORE EMERGENCY NUMBERS:

General Information: 040 (not free)

SNational Emergency Service: 911

Radio Patrols: 066
Police (Emergency): 060
Civil Protection: +52(55)5683-2222
Anonymous Complaint: 089

Setravi (Transport Mobility): +52(55)5209-9913
Road Emergency: 074

Cruz Roja: 065 o +52(55)5557-5757
Firefighters: 068 o +52(55)5768-3700

Rich finds of silver were discovered in the Naica mountains in the middle of the dry, inhospitable Chihuahua Desert in the 18th century. Later it was discovered that the mine had other valuable metals – zinc and lead.

Now Naica mines are the largest in Mexico and since the 1950s are managed by the company Industrias Peñoles. Ore of metals almost vertically goes down and thus the mines also are becoming deeper and deeper.

Currently, the deepest shafts are more than 850 meters deep.

Geological history

Naica Mines have formed in an ancient fault line above the magma chamber. Magma causes the high temperature in the cave but it also has formed the minerals of Naica Mine including the giant crystals.

The heated groundwater here dissolved surrounding rocks and became saturated with sulfide ions. This overheated solution went upwards until it met with the cool groundwater from the surface – this groundwater was saturated with oxygen.

As the oxygen and sulfide ions met and magma-heated water cooled down, gypsum crystals started to grow. Slowly, over the period of approximately 500,000 years formed crystals of incredible size.

Their creation was a lucky coincidence of many factors and one factor is – stable, uniform conditions with the same flow of water, the same pressure and temperature (around 54 °C) over these 500,000 years.

Already in 1910 miners hit an unusual cavern in Naica Mines – this cave was filled with enormous, up to 1 meter long, transparent selenite crystals. This cavern got a name – Cave of Swords (“Cueva de las Espadas”).

Eloy and Javier Delgado discovered the Cave of Crystals in April 2000 while excavating a new tunnel. Both miners nearly died while walking through the discovered wonder. This discovery became a worldwide sensation.

However, its discovery was pure luck – this new tunnel is located quite far from the main body of ore.

Cave of the Crystals is located 290 meters below the land surface.

The cave is shaped like a horseshoe, approximately 10 by 27 m large.

The most peculiar feature is the giant crystals of selenite (gypsum). The largest of these crystals is 12 m long, has a diameter of 4 m and its estimated weight is 55 tons. It is one of the largest known crystals in the world.

The floor of the cave is almost completely covered with these giant crystals but even more amazing are the selenite giants which protrude from the walls and ceiling and often reach the opposite side of the cavern.

These giant, translucent crystals have kept their morphological perfectness.

The cave is protected with a special door in order to minimize the impact of temperature fluctuations on the crystals. Other parts of Naica Mines are ventilated to bring down the temperature to a bearable 35 °C.

The temperature in the cave might reach 58 °C but for the most part of the time, it is 45 – 50 °C. Even more dangerous is the combination of the temperature and the high levels of humidity reaching 99%.

The human body will not survive in such conditions. There are no guarantees about the safe “working” of the heart and brain, hot water condenses in the lungs and interferes with free breathing, burning the eyes.

If a person loses consciousness in a cave, it is very difficult for others to rescue him. Others are exposed to the same dangerous conditions. Even 10 minutes in the cave will cause irreparable harm to health.

For this purpose, special protective equipment has been developed, and medics closely monitor the health of the cave researchers. The time spent inside these caves is strictly taken into account and very limited.

In Naica Mines have discovered 5 caverns with amazing crystals:

• Cave of the Swords (Cueva de las Espadas”)
• Cave of the Crystals (“Cueva de los Cristales”)
• Queen’s Eye Cavern (“Cueva del Ojo de la Reina”)
• Candles Cave (“Cueva de las Velas”)
• Ice Palace (Palacio de Hielo”)

The Cave of Swords was the first cave discovered. Experts suggest that the crystals in this cave are smaller because this cave is closer to the land surface and the heated water cools faster than in the Cave of Crystals.

The Cave of the Crystals was discovered in April 2000. In 2000, the Delgado brothers also discovered the Queen’s Eye cave at a depth of 300 meters. This is a cavity 8 m wide, lined with giant translucent selenite crystals.

In the same year, Candles Cave with absolutely unique crystals. In 2009, the Ice Palace was discovered at a depth of 150 m. It is not flooded, with smaller crystals, but impressive in shape – incredibly thin needles.

Maybe one day new caves will appear. There is also a possibility that the entrances to further caves are hidden behind the crystals in the Cave of Crystals, but exploring them will require significant damage to the cave.

The natural groundwater level in this place is at a depth of 110 meters. Thus, to maintain activities at the depth of 850 m mining company has to pump the water away. Each minute they are pumped away 55,000 liters.

This water irrigates the desert around Naica town. Thanks to this, agricultural land has developed here over the past decades. One day mining operations will end and groundwater pumps will be switched out.

And that day, the Cave of the Crystals will be filled with hot water again.

Since there is no water in the cave, the crystals quickly deteriorate. Their transparency decreases, cracks form and the crystals become brittle. Researchers find more and more pieces of broken crystals on the cave floor.

When water will be back in the cave, the formation of crystals will start again.

The geography of the city is dominated by three hills that appear in the Coat of Arms: Cerro Grande, Cerro Coronel and Santa Rosa, the last of which is fully covered by the city. The Cerro Grande has a monumental cross that is lighted each Christmas.

To the east and northeast, is the Sierra Nombre de Dios, across the Sacramento River from the city. Contained therin, off of Heroico Colegio Militar Ave, are the Nombre de Dios Caverns, a beautiful natural display of minerals and underground formations. To the far east and south is General Roberto Fierro Villalobos International Airport and the highway to the US-Mexican border crossing at Presidio, Texas and Ojinaga, Chihuahua.

Chihuahua lies on the western side of the Chihuahuan Desert ecoregion and as such has a semiarid climate (Köppen climate classification BSh). However, it is not as hot as most of the lower elevated portions of the desert to the east owing to an altitude of almost 1,500 metres (4,900 feet) above sea level.

Winters are mild with an average daytime temperature of 17 °C (62.6 °F) and an average minimum temperature of 2 °C (35.6 °F) in January, the coldest month. Occasionally, temperatures can exceed 26 °C (78.8 °F) while cold fronts can push it below −10 °C (14.0 °F). Frosts are common during winter nights. During this time of the year, the climate is dry, with an average humidity around 46% and many days are sunny, averaging 15–18 clear days. Precipitation is rare, with only 1 or 3 days with measureable precipitation from December to March. Snowfall is somewhat uncommon in the city, normally with 2 snowfalls a year, although the surrounding area may receive three or four snowfalls.

Summers are hot with June being the hottest month, averaging 33 °C (91.4 °F) during the day and 19 °C (66.2 °F) during the night. Temperatures can easily exceed 32 °C (89.6 °F) on most days and it can occasionally exceed 38 °C (100.4 °F). Most of the precipitation falls during the summer months, when the monsoon moves up northwards, causing moist air from the Gulf of California and the Gulf of Mexico to move into the city. Afternoon storms are common during the monsoon season and they can be accompanied with hail and thunderstorms. The days are still warm to hot in July and August, though slightly cooler due to the presence of the rain, with an average high of 30 °C (86.0 °F). Humidity is also higher during this time, averaging 53%.

March, April, October and November are transitional months that are unpredictable. Temperatures can reach up to 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) in April while cold fronts can push it below freezing. Usually, these months have warm days, averaging 22 °C (71.6 °F) to 28 °C (82.4 °F) and cool nights (around 5 °C (41.0 °F) to 11 °C (51.8 °F)). During the months of March and April, there can be strong winds that cause dusts and sandstorms.

The National Weather Service of Mexico (Servicio Meteorologico Nacional) reported that the warmest temperature ever recorded in the city is 41.6 °C (106.9 °F), while the coldest is −18 °C (−0.4 °F) on February 4, 2011. July 1973 is the record wettest month, with 242.5 millimetres (10 in). For a single day the record rainfall is 89.0 millimetres (4 in) on August 24, 1966. Chihuahua averages 3,081 hours of sunshine per year, ranging from a low of 217 hours in December (about 7 hours of sunshine per day) to a high of 305 hours in May (about 9.8 hours of sunshine per day).

It has been said that the name derives from the Nahuatl language, meaning “between two waters”, other accepted definitions are “place of the holed-rock” ” or from Tarahumara, “dry and sandy place”.

The city was founded on October 12, 1709, by Blas Cano de los Rios and Antonio Deza y Ulloa, a Spanish explorer, as El Real de Minas de San Francisco de Cuéllar. Don Ildefonso de Irigoyen donated the land for the city foundation. The town was erected a Villa in 1718 (or 1715) with the name of San Felipe el Real de Chihuahua, and the name was shortened in 1823. The location was chosen because it is the intersection of the rivers Chuviscar and Sacramento. It is also the midpoint between the Río Bravo del Norte (Rio Grande) and the then-important mining city of Hidalgo del Parral. For much of the 18th century, Chihuahua served as the de facto capital of Nueva Vizcaya because most governors preferred to reside there rather than in Durango, the capital of the province at that time.

Just as in other parts of Northern Mexico, Roman Catholic missionaries were an important influence during the colonial era, and the city became a meeting point for missionaries heading to and from the ‘sierra’, the mountainous region in western Chihuahua State where the native Tarahumara still live.

During the War of Independence, the city saw little action. However, it was in Chihuahua where Miguel Hidalgo, considered the Father of the Country, was held prisoner in the Federal Palace of Chihuahua and executed in 1811 at the nearby Government Palace by the Spaniards.

During the Mexican-American War, Chihuahua fell to U.S. forces in 1847, after the Mexican Army was defeated at the Battle of the Sacramento, 15 miles (24 km) north of the city.

During the French invasion, President Benito Juárez made the city the seat of his government-in-exile from 1864 to 1867. During the presidency of Porfirio Díaz the city experienced explosive growth and became one of the most important cities in Mexico. The city became the seat for important banks and wealthy families.

The city was more involved during the Mexican Revolution (1910–1917), for it became at times the operations base for the División del Norte, the army led by Pancho Villa. Many sites and memories remain of the Revolutionary era; the most important of these is the Historical Museum of the Mexican Revolution at Villa’s former estate house near downtown Chihuahua. La Quinta Luz was turned into a museum by his widow, Sra. María Luz Corral de Villa, and is now managed by the federal government.

During the 20th century, the city grew in population and learned to take advantage of its proximity with the U.S. border. Until the establishment of foreign manufacturing plants in the 1970s, the city was largely a trade post for cattle and agricultural products.

During the 1990s the city grew dramatically economically, becoming the third wealthiest municipality (per capita) in the republic, after Benito Juárez borough of the Federal District (Mexico City), and San Pedro Garza García in Nuevo León.

Between 2002 and 2005, the city experimented with the introduction of certain new commercial innovations, like the first large mall in the city, Plaza del Sol, and the rise of the commercial Zone of the Sun, all along the Periférico de la Juventud, one of the main thoroughfares in the city.

Since 2005, the International Festivals of Chihuahua have been celebrated by both the state and city governments during the months of September/October with art shows, plays, stage presentations and concerts by such bands as America, Foreigner, Creedence and Los Lobos being held at venues throughout the city.

The city of Chihuahua offers many places of interest for the tourist, especially the history buff (see Museums of Chihuahua), including the baroque Metropolitan Cathedral, seat of the Archdiocese (and the resting place of St Peter of Jesus Maldonado, a Cristero martyr of the 1930s), dating from the 18th century, the Government Palace from the early 19th century, and the City Hall from the turn of the 20th century, on the Plaza de Armas across from the Cathedral.

During the French invasion and the Second Empire, which ended with the execution of the Habsburg Emperor Maximilian in 1867, the constitutional president, Benito Juárez García traveled the country, searching for support wherever he could. He found it in 1864 when he settled his cabinet and government-in-exile here in the city at the address now known as Ave. Juárez 321, and incidentally, making Chihuahua the only city, aside from Mexico City, to be the capital of the Republic. The Museo Casa Juarez, now known as The Museum of Republican Loyalty, has been faithfully restored to the appearance it had when President Juárez lived here from 1864 through 1866.

The city offers the service of the touristic “Trolley el Tarahumara” which is a special bus that goes around to all the main museums and monuments in the City Centre(starting its route at the Plaza de Armas), including parks like the Central Park “El Palomar”, a large park that has a collection of sculptures, including one depicting three doves (palomas, hence the park’s name) and a monumental flagpole, flying one of the largest flags in the Republic, as well as a statue of one of Chihuahua’s favourite sons, the late actor Anthony Quinn, in his famous role as ‘Zorba the Greek’, as well as many others. The city is renowned for its classical and modern sculpture, as seen on any main boulevard or avenue. Included are works by Espino, Baltazar, Ponzanelli and Sebastian, the latter being a native of Chihuahua.

Particularly noteworthy are the murals in the Government Palace and the Paraninfo, or University Auditorium (in the Literary and Scientific Institute building) both depicting the history of the State of Chihuahua, and both fronting upon the Plaza Hidalgo in the city centre, and catter-cornered from the Plaza Mayor. Also of note is the Quinta Gameros, one of the largest estate houses in pre-revolutionary Chihuahua City, now the state museum for the decorative arts, and the former Federal Palace of Chihuahua on Venustiano Carranza Street, north of the Government Palace, which is now a museum and contains the cell in which Miguel Hidalgo spent his final days, and is a national shrine.

The Plaza Mayor is an important square in the city centre that displays fountains, green spaces and a collection of monuments depicting local heroes. The main monument in the Plaza Mayor is the “Ángel de el Libertad” that was built in 2003 representing the freedom of all Mexicans, especially Chihuahua’s people. It was inaugurated during the Independence Day festivities on September 15 of that same year. The angel has a sword with a laser light at the tip, and is capable of rotating 360° over its axis.

The Mammoth Museum, at Gomez Morin (also Calle 27a) and Ave. Juarez, is the city natural history museum and contains 13 halls detailing prehistoric life from the dinosaurs through the reign of the mammals, or the Cenozoic Era. It also has exhibits of prehistoric art. The Semilla Museo Centro de Ciencia y Tecnología, or Seed Centre Museum of Science and Technology, on Teofilo Borunda and Lisboa in the City Centre, is a creative learning centre and interactive science museum for children.

***

Even though Chihuahua suffered a massive destruction of colonial buildings during the 1970s in order to widen the main streets and avenues in the downtown, it stills preserves some valuable monuments from the 19th and 20th centuries. Some of the more interesting sites in the city are listed below:

• Temple of San Francisco, commenced 1717 and completed in 1789-The original burial place of Fr Miguel Hidalgo
• Federal Palace of Chihuahua, now a museum, and the jail cell of Fr Hidalgo
• Museo Casa Juarez, also called The Museum of the Republican Loyalty, is the house where President Juarez lived during his time at Chihuahua City
• Central Park “El Palomar”-Once one of the worst slums in the city, now the largest city park
• Mansion Creel
• Mansion Terrazas
• Mansion ‘Quinta Carolina’ (Former summer estate of Don Luis Terrazas; see Creel-Terrazas Family.)-Now in semi-ruined condition, in process of restoration
• Torre Legislativa de Chihuahua (Legislative tower of Chihuahua-state legislators office building) -Fronts on the Plaza de Armas
• The Government Palace (The State House)
• City Hall
• Dancing Fountains north of the Federal Palace
• Mansion ‘Quinta Gameros’ (City Museum for the Decorative Arts)
• Church of Santa Rita (1731). St Rita of Cascia is the patroness of the city
• Ave. Zarco Residential Area (Some of the most impressive pre-revolutionary residences in the city are situated along this street)
• Colonial Aqueduct-lengths still exist of this monument which was built to transport water from mountain springs to the villa

Parks

• El Palomar
• Ciudad Deportiva
• Deportiva Sur
• Parque metropolitano el rejon

There are two country clubs

• San Francisco Country Club
• Campestre Chihuahua

Most U.S. franchise restaurants and fast-food establishments will be found in Chihuahua, mostly on the Periferico de la Juventud, north of downtown on Universidad Avenue, or on Libertad Street Pedestrian Way in the city centre, and are patronised by the city’s youth and young professionals.

The nightlife is lively, especially in the city centre, where some of the large, pre-revolutionary estate houses have been turned into nightclubs and dance halls, many featuring the best of Chihuahua’s live bands.

Chihuahua is served by Roberto Fierro Villalobos International Airport (IATA Airport code: CUU). It is the starting point for the Chihuahua–Pacific Railroad, and is also served by Ferromex, a private Mexican railroad. There is a large central depot for intercity buses in the south side of the city. For transportation within the Chihuahua metropolitan area, a network of buses exists but is of very poor quality; the city does not provide a map of routes or operating hours. The system of avenues and main streets in the city is being constantly revamped, with the construction of new roads and bridges to handle the ever-increasing traffic.

Important highways that run through Chihuahua are highway 45, which connects Chihuahua to Ciudad Juarez to the north and Delicias to the south, and highway 16, which connects Chihuahua to Hermosillo to the west and to the border town of Ojinaga to the east.

The Feria (Fair) of Santa Rita, known throughout the Republic, is held during the last two weeks of May and features internationally known recording artists in concert. The fair has been held annually for decades. In addition, the University Symphony performs at the Paraninfo weekly during the summer months, and features international guest artists in classical and pop concerts. The Plaza de Toros, or bull ring, ‘La Esperanza’ is located on Teofilo Borunda on the north side of the river, and features Corridas (Bullfights) during the summer and fall.

You can dial 078 from any phone, where you can find free information about tourist attractions, airports, travel agencies, car rental companies, embassies and consulates, fairs and exhibitions, hotels, hospitals, financial services, migratory and other issues.

Or dial the toll-free (in Mexico) number 01-800-006-8839.

You can also request information to the email correspondencia@sectur.gob.mx

MORE EMERGENCY NUMBERS:

General Information: 040 (not free)

National Emergency Service: 911

Radio Patrols: 066
Police (Emergency): 060
Civil Protection: +52(55)5683-2222
Anonymous Complaint: 089

Setravi (Transport Mobility): +52(55)5209-9913
Road Emergency: 074

Cruz Roja: 065 o +52(55)5557-5757
Firefighters: 068 o +52(55)5768-3700

Ciudad Cuauhtémoc has a semi-arid climate moderated by its altitude. Winters are cool and sunny with a January average of 7.5 °C (45.5 °F) and temperatures regularly fall below freezing. Occasionally, the city can see 1 or 2 snowfalls per year.

Summers are warm with June being the warmest month with an average of 21.7 °C (71.1 °F).

The highest recorded temperature was 46.0 °C (114.8 °F) on May 19, 1996 and the lowest recorded temperature was −16 °C (3.2 °F) on December 30, 1975.

Most of the precipitation falls during this time of the year, during the monsoon season.

The Cuauhtémoc area is the home of around 50,000 German speaking Mennonites who live in the following colonies mostly north of the city: Manitoba Colony, Swift Current Colony, Ojo de la Yegua Colony, Santa Rita Colony, Santa Clara Colony and Los Jagueyes Colony.

The Mennonites settled in the San Antonio Valley, as far as 120 km (75 mi.) to the north of the town. There was a General Conference Mennonite Church in the town composed almost entirely of Mennonite refugees who came to Mexico after World War I. The growth of the Mennonite population due to natural increase and to additional immigration from Canada stimulated its economic activities. A small cereal factory was established by non-Mennonites, while a large cheese factory, slaughterhouse, and ice plant were erected by Mennonites (the Redekops) in the town. In 1947 the Mennonite Central Committee established a service unit in Cuauhtémoc to provide health services, recreational direction, and assistance in educational activities of German-speaking children

Although the city, formerly called San Antonio de los Arenales, developed only after the arrival of the Old Colony Mennonites in 1922, it has practically no Mennonites living in it. However, the streets and the numerous banks teem with them, especially on Monday mornings. Cuauhtémoc is the most important commercial center for Old Colony Mennonites in Chihuahua.

In the early 1930s the recent Mennonite immigrants from the Soviet Union (Rußländer) formed a Mennonite congregation in the town, but by 1987, it had disintegrated completely. The few Mennonite families and General Conference Mennonite Church and Mennonite Central Committee workers living in the city in 1986 (5 families and 5 singles) worshipped mostly at the General Conference congregation at Kilometro 11. Cuauhtémoc was the first city to erect a senior citizens home under public or government jurisdiction. Its first matron was a Mennonite, Maria Giesbrecht, from the Santa Rita Colony (Nord Colony).

In the early 1950s there were no improved roads leading from the hinterland into Cuauhtémoc. A four-lane highway, completed in 1986, connected the city with the city of Chihuahua, the state capital. Another highway connected Cuauhtémoc with Col. Anahuac, where a large pulp mill is located. The Gran Vision highway, which is to be continued to the west coast through the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains, joins the city to the western hinterlands, and another highway leaving the city passes through the Mennonite colonies to the north (Manitoba Colony).

You can dial 078 from any phone, where you can find free information about tourist attractions, airports, travel agencies, car rental companies, embassies and consulates, fairs and exhibitions, hotels, hospitals, financial services, migratory and other issues.

Or dial the toll-free (in Mexico) number 01-800-006-8839.

You can also request information to the email correspondencia@sectur.gob.mx

MORE EMERGENCY NUMBERS:

General Information: 040 (not free)

National Emergency Service: 911

Radio Patrols: 066
Police (Emergency): 060
Civil Protection: +52(55)5683-2222
Anonymous Complaint: 089

Setravi (Transport Mobility): +52(55)5209-9913
Road Emergency: 074

Cruz Roja: 065 o +52(55)5557-5757
Firefighters: 068 o +52(55)5768-3700

Due to its location in the Chihuahuan Desert and high altitude, Ciudad Juárez has a cold desert climate.

Seasons are distinct, with hot summers, mild springs and autumns, and cold winters.

Summer average high is 35 °C (95 °F) with lows of 21 °C (70 °F). Winter highs average 14 °C (57 °F) with lows of 0 °C (32 °F).

Rainfall is scarce and greater in summer.

Snowfalls occur occasionally (about 4 times a year), between November and March.
On 26/27 December 2015, parts of the city received 40 cm (16 in) of snow within a 24-hour period beating the previous record of 28 cm (11 in) set in 1951.

The record high is 49 °C (120 °F) and the record low is −23 °C (−9 °F).

Between the 1960s and 1990s, Juárez saw a high level of population growth due in part to the newly established maquiladoras.

The end of the Bracero Program also brought workers back from border cities in the U.S. through Ciudad Juárez, contributing to the growing number of citizens.

According to the 2010 population census, the city had 1,321,004 inhabitants, while the municipality had 1,332,131 inhabitants.

In 1659, as Spanish explorers sought a route through the southern Rocky Mountains, the Franciscan Friar García de San Francisco founded Ciudad Juárez as Paso del Norte (“North Pass”).

The Misión de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe became the first permanent Spanish development in the area. The Native American population was already located there.

The Franciscan friars established a community that grew in importance as commerce between Santa Fe and Chihuahua passed through it.

The wood for the bridge across the Rio Grande first came from Santa Fe, New Mexico in the 18th century.

The original population of Suma, Jumano and immigrants brought by the Spanish as slaves from Central New Spain grew around the mission.

In 1680 during the Pueblo Revolt, some members of the Tigua branch of the Pueblo became refugees from the conflict and a Mission was established for them in Ysleta del Paso del Norte.

Other colonial era settlements included Senecú, Real de San Lorenzo, and the Presidio de San José.

The population of the entire district reached some 5,000 around 1750, when the Apache attacked the other native towns around the missions.

The 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo established the Rio Grande as the border between Mexico and the United States, separating the settlements on the north bank of the river from the rest of the town.

Such settlements were not part of the town at that time; as the military set up its buildings the town grew around it. This would later become El Paso, Texas.

From that time until around 1930 populations on both sides of the border could move freely across it. Ciudad Juárez and El Paso are one of the 14 pairs of cross-border town naming along the Mexico–U.S. border.

During the French intervention in Mexico (1862–1867), El Paso del Norte served as a temporary stop for Benito Juárez’s republican forces until he established his government-in-exile in Chihuahua.

After 1882 the city grew with the arrival of the Mexican Central Railway. Banks, telegraph, telephone, and trams appeared, indicating the city’s thriving commerce, in the firm control of the city’s oligarchy of the Ochoa, Samaniego, Daguerre, Provencio, and Cuarón families.

In 1888, El Paso del Norte was renamed in honor of Juárez.

The city expanded significantly thanks to Díaz’s free-trade policy, creating a new retail and service sector along the old Calle del Comercio (now Vicente Guerrero) and 16 September Avenue.

A bullring opened in 1899.

The Escobar brothers founded the city’s first institution of higher education in 1906, the Escuela Particular de Agricultura. That same year, a series of public works are inaugurated, including the city’s sewage and drainage system, as well as potable water.

A public library, schools, new public market (the old Mercado Cuauhtémoc) and parks dotted the city, making it one of many Porfirian showcases.

Modern hotels and restaurants catered to the increased international railroad traffic from the 1880s on.

In 1909, Díaz and William Howard Taft planned a summit in Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, an historic first meeting between a Mexican and a U.S. president, and also the first time a U.S. president would cross the border into Mexico. But tensions rose on both sides of the border over the disputed Chamizal strip connecting Ciudad Juárez to El Paso, even though it would have been considered neutral territory with no flags present during the summit.

The Texas Rangers, 4,000 U.S. and Mexican troops, U.S. Secret Service agents, FBI agents and U.S. marshals were all called in to provide security. Frederick Russell Burnham, the celebrated scout, was put in charge of a 250 private security detail hired by John Hays Hammond.

On October 16, the day of the summit, Burnham and Private C.R. Moore, a Texas Ranger, discovered a man holding a concealed palm pistol standing at the El Paso Chamber of Commerce building along the procession route. Burnham and Moore captured, disarmed, and arrested the assassin within only a few feet of Díaz and Taft.

The city was Mexico’s largest border town by 1910—and as such, it held strategic importance during the Mexican Revolution. In May 1911, about 3,000 revolutionary fighters under the leadership of Francisco Madero laid siege to Ciudad Juárez, which was garrisoned by 500 regular Federal troops under the command of General Juan J Navarro.

Navarro’s force was supported by 300 civilian auxiliaries and local police. After two days of heavy fighting most of the city had fallen to the insurrectionists and the surviving federal soldiers had withdrawn to their barracks. Navarro then formally surrendered to Madero.

The capture of a key border town at an early stage of the revolution not only enabled the revolutionary forces to bring in weapons and supplies from El Paso, but marked the beginning of the end for the demoralized Diaz regime.

During the subsequent years of the conflict, Villa and other revolutionaries struggled for the control of the town (and income from the Federal Customs House), destroying much of the city during battles in 1911 and 1913.

Much of the population abandoned the city between 1914 and 1917.

Tourism, gambling, and light manufacturing drove the city’s recovery from the 1920s until the 1940s.

A series of mayors in the 1940s–1960s, like Carlos Villareal and René Mascareñas Miranda, ushered in a period of high growth and development predicated on the PRONAF border industrialization development program. A beautification program spruced up the city center, building a series of arched porticos around the main square, as well as neo-colonial façades for main public buildings such as the city health clinic, the central fire station, and city hall.

The Cathedral, built in the 1950s, gave the city center the flavor of central Mexico, with its carved towers and elegant dome, but structural problems required its remodeling in the 1970s.

The city’s population reached some 400,000 by 1970.

Juárez has grown substantially in recent decades due to a large influx of people moving into the city in search of jobs with the maquiladoras.

As of 2014 more technological firms have moved to the city, such as the Delphi Corporation Technical Center, the largest in the Western Hemisphere, which employs over 2,000 engineers. Large slum housing communities called colonias have become extensive.

Juárez has gained further notoriety because of violence and as a major center of narcotics trafficking linked to the powerful Juárez Cartel, and for more than 1000 unsolved murders of young women from 1993 to 2003.

Public Bus System

The main public transportation system in the city is the Public Bus System. The public buses run the main streets of Cd. Juárez throughout the day, costing seven pesos (less than 40 cents) to ride one. Due the aging current bus fleet being considered potentially outdated, the Municipal Government is working on replacing the buses with new ones, along with improving the bus stops, such as by equipping them with shade.

The ViveBus Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system opened to the public in November 2013 with the first route of five planned. The project was made a reality with the collaboration of the local municipal government, the private enterprise of Integradora de Transporte de Juarez (INTRA) as well as other city government agencies. Studies have shown that the current bus system averages 8 mph (13 km/h) while the new system is projected to average 16 mph (26 km/h). The BRT system studies conducted by the Instituto Municipal de Investigacion Y Planeacion project a daily ridership of 40,000.

The first of the five routes opened to users in late 2013 and is officially named Presidencia-Tierra Nueva and has 34 stations distributed along the north to south corridor. The route starts at Avenida Francisco Villa, follows north to Eje Vial Norte-Sur then veers left at Zaragoza Blvd. and ends at Avenida Independencia and the elevated Carretera Federal 2.

Airport

The city is served by Abraham González International Airport, with flights to several Mexican cities. It accommodates national and international air traffic for the city. Nearby El Paso International Airport handles flights to cities within the United States.

International border crossings

The first bridge to cross the Rio Grande at El Paso del Norte was built in the time of New Spain, over 250 years ago, from wood hauled in from Santa Fe. Today, this bridge is honored by the modern Santa Fe Street Bridge, and Santa Fe Street in downtown El Paso.

Several bridges serve the El Paso–Ciudad Juárez area in addition to the Paso Del Norte Bridge also known as the Santa Fe Street Bridge, including the Bridge of the Americas, Stanton Street Bridge, and the Ysleta Bridge also known as the Zaragoza Bridge.

There is also a land crossing at nearby Santa Teresa, New Mexico, and the Fabens–Caseta International Bridge in nearby Fabens, Texas.

You can dial 078 from any phone, where you can find free information about tourist attractions, airports, travel agencies, car rental companies, embassies and consulates, fairs and exhibitions, hotels, hospitals, financial services, migratory and other issues.

Or dial the toll-free (in Mexico) number 01-800-006-8839.

You can also request information to the email correspondencia@sectur.gob.mx

MORE EMERGENCY NUMBERS:

General Information: 040 (not free)

National Emergency Service: 911

Radio Patrols: 066
Police (Emergency): 060
Civil Protection: +52(55)5683-2222
Anonymous Complaint: 089

Setravi (Transport Mobility): +52(55)5209-9913
Road Emergency: 074

Cruz Roja: 065 o +52(55)5557-5757
Firefighters: 068 o +52(55)5768-3700

Copper Canyon’s climate varies significantly depending on the elevation. In the higher altitudes, temperatures can be quite cold, especially during the winter months. Snowfall is not uncommon in these areas.

The alpine climate of the mountainous regions of Copper Canyon has moderate temperatures from October to November and March to April. The bottom of the canyons are humid and warm and remain that way throughout the year.

As you descend into the lower parts of the canyon, the climate becomes more temperate and even subtropical in some areas. Summers tend to be warmer, with temperatures in the lower canyons often reaching hot levels.

During the warmest months, April through June, drought is a problem with little rainfall until July when the rainy season begins.

The best time to visit Copper Canyon

The best time to visit Copper Canyon depends on your preferences and the type of activities you plan to engage in.

For those who want to explore the Copper Canyon’s beauty without extreme temperatures, the ideal time is during the spring and fall (March to May and September to November).

The weather is mild, and the landscape is lush and vibrant during these months.

If you’re interested in witnessing the unique culture of the Tarahumara, consider visiting during their major cultural events and festivals, such as Semana Santa or the Ultramarathon races, which are held in late February or early March.

The New Spanish arrived in the Copper Canyon area in the 17th century and encountered the indigenous locals throughout Chihuahua. For the New Spanish, America was a new land to explore for gold and silver and also to spread Christianity.

The New Spanish named the people they encountered “Tarahumara”, derived from the word Rarámuri, which is what the indigenous people call their men. Some scholars theorize that this word may mean ‘The running people’.

During the 17th century, silver was discovered by the Hispanics in the land of the Tarahumara tribe.

Some were enslaved for mining efforts. There were small uprisings by the Tarahumara but to little avail. They eventually were forced off the more desirable lands and up into the canyon cliffs.

The Sierra Tarahumara Occidental region contains numerous species of pine and oak trees. Mexican Douglas-fir trees cover the high plateaus in altitudes over 2,400 m, but due to deforestation in the area, many species of wildlife are endangered.

Cougars live in the remotest of regions and are rarely seen.

After the summer rainy season, these upper regions blossom with wildflowers until October.

From 1,200–to 2,400 m, oak trees grow in huge forests as well as the more shade-tolerant types of trees. In the fall the forests become brilliant with color from Andean alder and poplar trees.

Brushwood and scrubby trees grow on the canyon slopes, which can accommodate the dry season. Huge fig and palm trees thrive at the bottom where water is plentiful and the climate is tropical.

Due to increases in human population, there are many threats to the ecosystems of the Sierra Tarahumara Occidental region.

The government funding to build a “tourist-friendly” atmosphere poses threats to the environment and indigenous cultures. Roads have been built in the former isolated mountainous zones.

Agriculture and grazing as well as the cutting of hardwoods and other trees for firewood has accelerated a soil erosion problem.

Mesquite (Prosopis spp.) and desert ironwood trees are cut and exported primarily to the U.S. for charcoal. Amapa trees yield highly prized lumber for building and furniture making. Other trees are also cut and sold for their high-priced lumber.

Over-harvesting of the forests in the area has caused the extinction of the imperial woodpecker and Mexican wolf.

Approximately, two percent of the original old-growth forest remains.

However, a massive forest-harvesting project in the region has been abandoned, for now, by the World Bank. The Mexican forestry department deemed these species of trees “legally protected,” but enforcement is difficult.

The government has taken measures to halt or slow down the cultivation of opium poppies and cannabis by spraying crops with herbicides, which threaten the populations of many different species.

A large saturnid moth (Rothschildia Cincta) is one of the species that are threatened by the spraying. Their cocoons are used by the native population for ceremonial purposes.

Open-pit mining for copper, gold, and other metals not only produces air pollution from smelters but has been linked to the serious decline of the Tarahumara frog (Rana tarahumarae).

Every river system has been dammed causing fresh water shortages in nearby desert communities.

An enormous dam is being constructed on the Rio Fuerte, which poses major environmental problems and may lead to massive losses of tropical forests and habitats.

Conservation is underway but remains informal and slow. Mexico has environmental laws but suffers from a lack of financial resources. Enforcement has been lax or non-existent.

Agencies are actively trying to increase the protection of natural preserves.

Copper Canyon’s traditional inhabitants are the Tarahumara or Rarámuri.

With no official census, the population of the Rarámuri people probably ranges between 35,000 and 70,000.

Many Rarámuri reside in the cooler, mountainous regions during the hot summer months and migrate deeper into the canyons in the cooler winter months, where the climate is more temperate.

Their survival strategies have been to occupy areas that are too remote for city people, way off the beaten path, to remain isolated and independent, so as to avoid losing their culture.

Their diet is largely domestic agrarian but does consist of meat from domesticated cows, chickens and goats, wild game, and freshwater fish. Corn (maize) is the most important staple of the Rarámuri’s diet.

The Rarámuri people are known for their endurance running. Living in the canyons, they travel great vertical distances, which they often do by running nonstop for hours.

A popular Rarámuri community race called Rarajipari is played by kicking a wooden ball along the paths of the steep canyons.

Tourism is a growing industry for Copper Canyon, but the acceptance of it is debated in the local communities.

Some communities accept government funding for building roads, restaurants, and lodging to make the area attractive for tourists.

Many other groups of Rarámuri maintain their independence by living in areas that are as far away from city life as possible. Their way of life is protected by the mountainous landscape.

There are many other ways to explore Copper Canyon such as hiking, biking, driving, or horseback riding.

The most popular way is by train, as the Ferrocarril Chihuahua al Pacífico or ChePe, runs along the main canyon called Canyon Urique, between Chihuahua and Los Mochis, on the Gulf of California.

The Chihuahua al Pacifico began in the late 19th century.

The revolution, lack of funding, and the overall difficulty of building a railroad over such terrain hindered its completion until 1961.

The railroad comprises 405 miles of rails with 39 bridges and 86 tunnels. The total trip takes approximately 15 hours and passes through towns, as well as the towering cliffs of the canyons.

Along the railway, many Tarahumarans lay out their food, crafts, and other wares for sale.

Mexico established the Parque Nacional Barranca del Cobre (Copper Canyon National Park) to showcase this remote area. The park is located in the municipalities of Batopilas, Bocoyna, Guachochi, and Urique.

The Basaseachic Falls National Park around the Basaseachic Falls is located within the canyon area.

Among the villages located in or on the Copper Canyon are:

Bahuichivo, ChePe train stop for Cerocahui, Urique, Piedras Verdes, Tubares.

Basaseachi, located near the pour off of 246 m Cascada Basaseachi in the Barranca Candameña. The towns and ranchos of San Lorenzo, Cahuisori, and Huahumar encircle the rim of the canyon, also home to Mexico’s highest waterfall Piedra Volada.

It is on the main Federal Highway 16 between Chihuahua, Chihuahua, and Hermosillo, Sonora. The Rio Candameña is a tributary of the Rio Mayo which flows into the Gulf of California.

Batopilas, elevation 600 m, is a town on the Batopilas River at the bottom of a canyon; first established by the Spanish around 1632 to mine silver. It is located 30 km southeast of Urique.

Bocoyna, 30 km east of Creel, and on the eastern escarpment of the continental divide.

The nearby Rio Conchos flows into the Rio Bravo (Rio Grande) on the Mexico-Texas border. Carichí, Sisoguichi, and Panalachi are important Tarahumara settlements on the Rio Conchos drainage system.

Cerocahui, 14 km S. of the train stop at Bahuichivo.

Creel, atop the canyon and, at 2,340 meters altitude, marking one of the highest points on the ChePe railroad route (San Juanito is higher at 2,400 meters; a central point for commerce and tourism.

Divisadero is a key train stop and vista point with amazing views down into the Urique Canyon of the Barranca del Cobre. The ChePe train allows a 15-20 minute stop for visitors to enjoy the view.

Divisadero and nearby Areponapuchi (located 4 km south) are major canyon-rim trailheads for hiking into the Rio Urique canyon.

This high mesa is home to three tourist-class hotels strategically located on the canyon rim, and several low-budget guesthouses offering basic accommodations with meals included.

Témoris is a dual town located 400 m apart in elevation. The ChePe train traverses the valley 3 times including a mile-long tunnel to gain elevation. Located on the Rio Septentrion, lower Temoris is at 1000 m.

Urique, 560 m. Located at the bottom of the canyon rim below Bahuichivo, on the Urique River. It is 30 km NW of Batopilas, now connected by a rough road.

Creel’s high altitude gives it a cool subtropical highland climate (Köppen climate classification Cwb), characterised by mild days and cold nights with frost occurring most mornings from October to April, though daytime temperatures in those months remain comfortable. Precipitation during the winter is not infrequent, but snowfalls are not particularly common, occurring on average only four days per year (more frequently on the nearby mountain peaks). Light snowfall has occurred in Creel during the month of June.

Christmas in Creel Chihuahua is a good alternative, since the entire family can move to that location and spend the holidays in the village. As this population is very cold, no doubt Christmas will be different and unforgettable

Creel was founded with the name ‘Estación Creel’ on May 26, 1907, as a railroad depot on the Chihuahua–Pacific line. It was named after Enrique Creel governor of Chihuahua state at the time. He was the son of Reuben W. Creel, American delegate in Chihuahua. Creel was founded as a planned agricultural settlement that was intended to have a small number of Mexicans who were supposed to spread their culture onto the Tarahumara who were supposed to be the majority of the population. It was supposed to have 25 Mexican and 75 Tarahumara families, but in its early years only had about 30 Tarahumara families although the right number of Mexicans.

For many years before its completion the Ferrocarril Chihuahua al Pacífico line ended at Creel.

Transport

The Chihuahua al Pacífico (Chepe) railroad runs from the city of Chihuahua to Los Mochis with four passenger trains arriving daily – two from each direction. There is also bus service to Chihuahua, as well as regular service down to the small town of Batopilas, a trip that takes about five hours each way.

From Chihuahua via Ciudad Cuauhtemoc

By train from Chihuahua $40-$66 (5:45 hours), 4 times a day.
By bus from Chihuahua $16-$25 (6:05 hours), every 4 hours a day.
By taxi from Chihuahua $70-$85 (3:40 hours).

From Ciudad Obregon via Navojoa

By bus from Ciudad Obregon to Navojoa $6-$13 (0:45 min) hourly.
By taxi from Navojoa to Chinipas de Almeda $27-$33 (2:50 hours).
By bus from Chinipas de Almeda to Creel $35 (3:10 hours) every 4 hours daily.

From Ciudad Obregon via Los Mochis

By bus from Ciudad Obregon to Los Mochis $11-$24 (2:30 hours) hourly.
By taxi to CP station $1-$2 (0:05 min).
By train from Los Mochis to Creel $45-$80 (9:40 hours) every 4 hours daily.

From Ciudad Obregon to Creel

By taxi $110-$140 (7:40 hours).

From Los Mochis to Creel by train

By train from Los Mochis to Creel $45-$80 (9:40 hours) every 4 hours daily.

From Los Mochis to Creel by bus

By bus from Los Mochis to Navojoa $9-$20 (1:45 hours) every 20 min daily.
By taxi from Navojoa to Chinipas de Almeda $27-$33 (2:50 hours).
By bus from Chinipas de Almeda to Creel $35 (3:10 hours) every 4 hours daily.

From Ciudad Cuauhtemoc

By train $22 (3:25 hours)
By bus $10 (3:35 hours)

From Hermosillo to Creel

Just via Ciudad Obregon and Los Mochis

You can dial 078 from any phone, where you can find free information about tourist attractions, airports, travel agencies, car rental companies, embassies and consulates, fairs and exhibitions, hotels, hospitals, financial services, migratory and other issues.

Or dial the toll-free (in Mexico) number 01-800-006-8839.

You can also request information to the email correspondencia@sectur.gob.mx

MORE EMERGENCY NUMBERS:

General Information: 040 (not free)

National Emergency Service: 911

Radio Patrols: 066
Police (Emergency): 060
Civil Protection: +52(55)5683-2222
Anonymous Complaint: 089

Setravi (Transport Mobility): +52(55)5209-9913
Road Emergency: 074

Cruz Roja: 065 o +52(55)5557-5757
Firefighters: 068 o +52(55)5768-3700

Prehistoric artifacts have been found in the Conchos River Valley that show evidence that indigenous people lived in the area for centuries before European settlers arrived in the area. Several indigenous mummies were found in the valley and are on display in the Museum of Paleontology in Delicias.

The area of present-day Delicias began to attract settlers in 1884 when the Central Mexican Railroad Company built a railroad station to fulfill the transportation demands for agricultural products from the Old Delicias Hacienda. In 1888, German settlers arrived in the area and built Hacienda Polvorosa; they began to prepare food items, brew beer, and produce steel instruments. However, the German settlers were forced to leave after continuous persecution by the Villistas. The Old Delicias Hacienda and Hacienda Polvorosa were the beginnings of the Delicias settlement. Later Hacienda Polvorosa was renamed El Hotel del Norte; this is now a popular museum in town. During the next few decades, the surrounding area began to grow and many small municipalities like Rosales, Meoqui, and Saucillo began to sprout. In 1932, the Chihuahua State Congress recognized this area as an important agricultural region, and named it Region 5. The city of Delicias was founded in 1933 after the Mexican Revolution and was officially declared a municipality on January 7, 1935.

In 1939 cotton in the Conchos River Valley helped build a foundation for a small industrial sector in Delicias. Cotton Gins and American Petroleum Refineries were built to provide services and products needed to fuel the agriculture sector. The Francisco I. Madero Dam was built, which increased crop yields and grew the population in the valley. During the 1940s, Cotton became such a dominant cash crop that by 1943 it replaced many vineyards in the surrounding area. Cotton continued to be the dominant crop of the Conchos River Valley until 1953, when the price of cotton plunged and forced many farmers in the area to diversify the agriculture economy.

The modern layout of Delicias was designed by Carlos G. Blake and was approved by the National Commission of Irrigation on September 30, 1960. The Chihuahua State Congress recognized Delicias as a city on October 29, 1960. That same year, a geological study on the Conchos River was conducted in Region 5 in attempts to build the largest dam in the state of Chihuahua. By 1960, Delicias was the fourth most populous city in the state of Chihuahua (after Juarez, Chihuahua and Cuauhtemoc City).

Delicias continued to grow in population and as a successful agricultural center. Delicias had an agricultural based economy until 1980 when important exporting maquiladoras moved to the city which helped increase the manufacturing sector. By 1990, Delicias was home to seven maquiladoras, making it one of the most important municipalities of the state of Chihuahua.

Delicias is located at 28º11’35″ N Latitude and 105º28’18″ W Longitude, 1,170 metres (3,840 ft) above sea level. Delicias lies in the rich Conchos River Valley and Meoqui to the north and Saucillo to the south and Rosales to the west. The Conchos River flows north on the west side of Delicias. About 30 miles south of Delicias, La Boquilla Reservoir holds back the Conchos River that begins in the highest parts of the heartland of the Sierra Madre Occidental. La Boquilla Reservoir, the largest dam in the state of Chihuahua, provides sustainable water supply to the valley along federal highway 45 including Delicias and the surrounding towns. In September 2008, La Boquilla Reservoir reached its maximum capacity. The western side of Delicias is dominated by the edge of the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range that runs northwest to southeast. Southeast of the city the Sierra del Diablo mountain range runs southwest to northeast. Northeast of the city the dominant solonchaks and extreme arid conditions do not allow the land to be used for agriculture, but in the rest of the surrounding plains and mountains rich soils are found.

Delicias has a desert climate (Köppen BWh), which is just short of a semi-arid climate, receiving only 293.8 millimetres (11.6 in) of rainfall per year. On average, Delicias observes 43 days of rain and a seven-month frost free period each year with a relative humidity of 45%. The prevalent winds come from the southwest. In the winter, days are warm and nights are cold with negligible precipitation. In the summers, days are hot and nights are warm with moderate rainfall by major thunderstorms.

Delicias is home to a campus of the Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua, which forms part of the state university system, the Instituto Tecnológico de Delicias (Technological Institute of Delicias) and a number of art, linguistic and technical secondary schools such as CEUN, Carson College, the Lincoln Institute, Sokhôl Dance School, the Madison School, Henry Ford Institute, the Michigan English Institute and the Culture House.

The Teatro de Delicias (Municipal Theatre) is known for its murals by Aarón Piña Mora, one of Mexico’s renowned muralists and painters, it also built in reference to the “Las Virgenes” Dam located about 10 kilometers from delicias.

Parral has an altitude-moderated semi-arid climate with rainfall limited to heavy thunderstorms during the hot summers. During the dry season from October to May, days range from mild to hot, and nights from chilly to mild.

Frosts are common though not persistent in the winter.

According to legend, Juan Rangel de Biezma came here in 1629, picked up a rock on the “Cerro la Prieta” (La Prieta Hill), licked it, and proclaimed “There is a mineral deposit here.” This deposit produced silver for 340 years.

Parral was once a bustling center for silver mining. As early as 1567, the silver mines at Santa Barbara were established in the territory of the Conchos Indians.

However, in 1631, a vast new silver strike was made in what is now southern Chihuahua.

Later, in 1640, it was declared “Capital of the World of Silver” by monarch Philip IV of Spain, at the very height of the Spanish Empire, which included territories in Eastern Asia, Italy, and the Low Countries.

The large area of southern Chihuahua inhabited by the Tarahumara people included the highway between the mining districts of Parral, Cusihuiriachic, and Chihuahua.

Asarco managed the La Prieta mine until the boom ended in the early 1930s; the minerals that were extracted were sent to the United States for final processing and then shipped back to Mexico, the US, and other markets.

After the end of the silver mining boom, Parral was almost completely abandoned in the early 1930s (although the surrounding district continues to be mined for silver and base metals.) It is now a small city mainly dedicated to commerce.

Currently, Parral is a medium-sized town in the state of Chihuahua and is an important regional center for trade between the southern regions of Chihuahua and northern Durango.

It received its first local television station in 1969, the now-defunct XHJMA-TV channel 3, and it currently has one local station, XHMH-TV channel 13.

Urban development has been slow due to the lack of potable water and its complex physical geography; its intricate network of streets and alleys are distinctive features of the city and it is these features that have helped it preserve its colonial style.

Parral is often associated with several historical figures, including Mexican revolutionary leader Pancho Villa, who was assassinated on July 20, 1923, and initially buried there, and border ruffian “Dirty” Dave Rudabaugh, a sometime friend and foe of Billy the Kid.

El Palacio de Alvarado

It belonged to one of the most prominent families in Parral, descendants of Pedro Alvarado who owned the silver mine called “La Palmilla.” This family was rich enough to offer President Porfirio Díaz to pay the national external debt.

The palace was constructed by Federico Amérigo Rouvier and it is now a museum and cultural center. It has preserved much of the original European-made furniture. The walls of the patio were painted by Italian painter Antonio Decanini between 1946 and 1948.

El Hotel Hidalgo

This historical building was a gift from Don Pedro Alvarado to Pancho Villa and is located next to the Plaza Guillermo Baca.

La Casa de la Familia Griensen (the Griensen Family House)

This is where Elisa Griensen was born. She distinguished herself in Parral history by fighting against a contingent of U.S. soldiers sent to capture Pancho Villa after he crossed the border and attacked Columbus, New Mexico.

The Francisco Villa Museum

The Francisco Villa Museum is a historical building located on the street near the spot where Villa’s enemies waited days for him to pass and ultimately assassinated him in 1923. Every year in July, his death is reenacted here.

Casa Stallworth

This was a beautiful and luxurious palace (during the era), with a beautiful baroque style.

Decorated in the facade with many beings from Nordic mythology, that once belonged to the Stallworth family — who along with the Alvarado family, became the town’s main benefactors, contributing much to its infrastructure.

The annual staging of the Murder of Francisco Villa, a recreation using props from the era, is in the exact place of the historical event.

The annual Cabalgata Villista is a long-distance horse ride with statewide massive participation and a spectacular visual event as thousands of horses enter the city(see Cavalcade).

In addition to its diverse and rich History, Parral is famous for its traditional foods. Parral was recently named as one of the “Ten Gastronomic Marvels of Mexico,” primarily for its artisan confectioneries dulces de leche.

These include a wide variety of candies and pastries from old recipes based on milk, sugar, and natural fruits. Some other notable recipes with a touch of Parral are enchiladas, rayadas, barbacoa, steaks, and cabrito (goat).

Dulce de leche

Dulce de leche are cooked-milk confections found nationwide in Mexico.

Parral has been historically acclaimed since the 1930s because of the distinctive flavor of its dulces de leche – candies made with nuts like pecans, peanuts, hazelnuts, and fruits such as apricot, pineapple, coconut, and others.

Parral’s candies have been shipped around the world, including Vatican City, Washington, and London.

These traditional confections arrived in Parral in the early 20th century. The origin of recipes is unknown, although it is believed that they arrived in southern Mexico from Europe during colonial times.

Then, these recipes were transferred to later generations.

One of the most famous confectionery artisans in Parral was Don Pablo Rodriguez, founder of La Gota de Miel. Don Pablito (as the Parralenses knew him) was born in Teocaltiche, Jalisco in the late 19th century.

He and his wife arrived in Parral in the early 20th century, after working for several years in the State of Coahuila as a baker and a cook in the Hacienda del Rosario (now Parras de la Fuente) for Francisco Madero and Mercedes González (parents of President Francisco I. Madero). It is believed that their recipes might have acquired some influence from professional chefs also working in the hacienda at the time.

Several local artisans in Parral had recently—in the late 1990s—attempted to imitate Don Pablito’s original recipe without success.

Enchiladas

Enchiladas are a specialty Mexican plate also found nationwide, and Parral is traditionally famous for its delicious enchiladas. They are rolled maize tortillas stuffed with meat and covered with tomato and chile sauce.

Enchiladas can be filled with a variety of ingredients, including meat, cheese, beans, potatoes, vegetables, or seafood. This other tradition in Parral started in the early 20th century and they gained notoriety in the mid-late 20th century.

Enchiladas originated in Mexico. Anthropological evidence suggests that the indigenous people of the Valley of Mexico traditionally ate corn tortillas folded or rolled around small fish.

Writing at the time of the Spanish conquistadors, Bernal Díaz del Castillo documented a feast enjoyed by Europeans hosted by Hernán Cortés in Coyoacán. In the 19th century, as Mexican cuisine was being memorialized, enchiladas were mentioned in the first Mexican cookbook, El Cocinero Mexicano (The Mexican Chef), published in 1831, and in Mariano Galvan Rivera’s Diccionario de Cocina, published in 1845. Probably, as with the dulces de leche, this recipe arrived in Parral from immigrants from the south of Mexico.

Among the most famous cookers of enchiladas in Parral was Doña Cuca, near the historical Calicanto bridge.

Barbacoa

Barbacoa is meat from cattle or sheep slowly cooked over an open fire or, more traditionally, in a hole dug in the ground covered with maguey leaves; although the interpretation is loose, in the present day it may refer to meat steamed until tender.

During colonial and post-colonial times, Parral was famous because of its delectable barbacoa or birria de hoyo.

Such barbacoa contained ingredients such as laurel (bay leaf), garlic, maguey, onions, and other condiments. It was one of the luscious foods of the executives, foreigners, and miners working in the silver mines at Parral.

Between CE 1130 and 1300, the area’s inhabitants began to congregate in small settlements in this wide fertile valley. The largest identified settlement is known today as Paquimé or Casas Grandes.

It began as a group of 20 or more house clusters, each with a plaza and enclosing wall.

These single-story adobe dwellings shared a common water system. Evidence shows that Paquimé had a complex water control system that included underground drain systems, reservoirs, channels for water to get to the homes, and a sewage system.

After being burned in about 1340, Casas Grandes was rebuilt with multi-story apartment buildings to replace the small buildings.

Casas Grandes consisted of about 2,000 adjoining rooms built of adobe, I-shaped Mesoamerican ballcourts, stone-faced platforms, effigy mounds, and a market area. About 350 other, smaller settlements have been discovered within a distance of 70 km.

Archaeologists believe that the area directly controlled by Casas Grandes was relatively small, extending out about 30 km from the city. The population may have been about 2,500 in Casas Grandes with perhaps 10,000 people living within its area of control.

Specialized craft activities included the production of copper bells and ornaments, extensive pottery, and beads from marine mollusks. These crafts were probably distributed by an extensive trading network.

Casas Grandes pottery has a white or reddish surface, with ornamentation in blue, red, brown, or black. It is sometimes considered better manufactured than the modern pottery in the area.

Effigy bowls and vessels were often formed in the shape of a painted human figure. Casas Grandes pottery was traded among prehistoric peoples as far north as present-day New Mexico and Arizona and throughout northern Mexico.

The archaeologist Stephen Lekson has noted that Paquimé is aligned on roughly the same longitudinal axis as Chaco Canyon and Aztec Ruins, with an error of only a few miles. Chaco reached its cultural peak first, then Aztec and Paquimé.

The similarities among these sites may indicate that their ruling elites also had a ceremonial connection. Lekson proposed that ruling elites, once removed from their prior positions at Chaco, re-established their hegemony over the area at Aztec and later Paquime.

This idea, though, remains controversial and is not as widely accepted as often reported. It has been proposed, and more widely accepted, that the origins of Paquime can be found in its connection with the Mogollon culture.

At the time of the Spanish Conquest, the district of Casas Grandes was studded with artificial mounds, from which looters took numerous stone axes, metates or corn grinders, and earthenware pottery vessels of various kinds.

Before significant archaeological investigation, sizable portions of buildings from pre-Columbian times were extant about half a mile from the modern community. The ruins were built of sun-dried blocks of mud and gravel, about 56 cm thick, and of irregular length, generally about 0.91 m, probably formed and dried in place.

The thick walls seem to have been plastered both inside and outside. A principal structure extended 240 m from north to south and 76 m from east to west. It was generally rectangular and appears to have consisted of three separate units joined by galleries or lines of lower buildings.

The eastern and western halves of the city are divided by a stone wall and reservoirs. The monuments on the east are rectilinear, puddled adobe structures used primarily for domestic and manufacturing purposes.

The buildings on the west, on the other hand, are open earthmounds lined in stone for public displays. This visual structure defines the eastern side as lending toward the Puebloan peoples of North America and the west as referencing the cultures to the south in Mesoamerica.

This visual motif is prevalent throughout the other sites sharing the same longitudinal line, indicating that they were built by a common group.

The homes at Paquimé were circular and semi-circular pit houses and coursed-adobe room blocks built around plazas. The living spaces varied in size from closet-sized to extensive courtyards.

Walls at many of the angles stand 12 to 15 m high and indicate an original elevation of up to six or seven stories.

Ruins about 140 m from the main grouping consist of a series of rooms ranging around a square court, seven rooms to each side with a larger apartment at each corner.

The settlement featured T-shaped doorways and stone disks at the bottom of ceiling support columns, both distinctive of Puebloan architecture. Casas Grandes had ballcourts, though they were relatively small compared to other major sites.

Interestingly, the ballcourts at Paquime are in the classic “I” shape of those found in Mesoamerica, and not the oval-shaped ones found in association with the Hohokam culture in south and central Arizona.

A 2,300 kg iron meteorite was found in one of the rooms, carefully wrapped in linen. The meteorite is displayed in the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

Excavations in one compound produced eggshell fragments, bird skeletons, and traces of wooden perches. Additionally, there is the presence of a row of macaw pens in the center of the site.

Archaeologists concluded that the community had imported an initial population of scarlet macaws from Mesoamerica and raised them as their feathers were considered sacred and important in Mesoamerican rituals.

A major collection of Casas Grandes pottery is currently held by the Museum of Peoples and Cultures at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Stanford University in California also holds pottery artifacts from here.

The remainder of the material culture recovered from Paquime is located in the care of INAH in Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, and Chihuahua City, Chihuahua.

Casas Grandes’ ruins are similar to neighboring ruins near Gila and Salinas in New Mexico, as well as Arizona and Colorado. It is reasoned they represent cultural groups related and linked to the Mogollon culture.

Early ethnologist Hubert Howe Bancroft, in his The Native Races of the Pacific States of North America (1874), had alleged that they are related to the modern-day Hopi People, referred to as “Moqui” during his period.

Contemporary scholars have not precisely identified the descendants of the Casas Grandes people.

Iconography can be simply defined as pictorial or material relating to or illustrating a subject, the traditional or conventional images or symbols associated with a subject, and especially a religious or legendary subject, including art.

In the case of the ruins found at Casas Grandes, iconography has proven to be particularly important in understanding gender differences, especially regarding trade, daily tasks, and religious rituals.

Effigies (small figurines) were found through the excavation of the site, thus the effigies show definite gender and sex differences between males and females in society.

The similar characteristics of the effigies such as body positions, body proportions, activities, and facial decorations allow archaeologists to make assumptions about how gender differences were portrayed.

Artisans of Casas Grandes depicted a wide range of behaviors and beliefs from rules about social behavior (sitting positions) to ritual activities (smoking) and the supernatural (horned/plumed serpents).

Based on archaeologists’ studies of the effigies found, the activities of women and men were both valued and social differentiation was based more on individual status and class membership than sex and gender.

Contrasting specific pictorial representations of the effigies include masculine identified features and activities such as sitting with their legs flexed to their bodies, decorated with pound signs and horned serpent imagery, smoking, and their penis.

Females in contrast have large midsections sitting with their legs extended, decorated with modified pound signs and bird imagery, holding children and pots, and occasionally nursing.

The effigies depicted the way in which the Casas Grandes people thought social life should be implemented based on gender differences and provided insight into the simple aspects of society.

Various theories exist as to the inhabitants of Casas Grandes, but the most logical relationship of Casas Grandes to Forty Houses 97 km to the south and to TJ Ruins and Gila Cliff 320 km to the north led to the common agreement that the site is part of the Mogollon culture sphere of influence.

Three other theories compete to explain its existence.

Some theories say that Casas Grandes was a backwater until about 1200 CE when pochteca (traders) from the Aztec empire or other Mesoamerican states to the south turned it into a major trading center.

A diametrically opposed theory is that Casas Grandes was established by the elites of the Ancestral Puebloans from the north who were leaving Chaco Canyon and other areas during their decline.

The third theory is that Casas Grandes is a purely local creation, a community that grew over time to dominate its region and adopted some religious and social customs from the civilizations of Mesoamerica.

There is common academic agreement that trading existed between the cultures of Mesoamerica, Aridoamerica, and the American Southwest, though not on a large or planned scale.

As no system like the Pochteca existed in the north, the architectural remains throughout yet share a commonality of knowledge from north to south, which included such ancient population centers as Snaketown.

Casas Grandes was abandoned in about 1450. It is unclear whether it was abandoned slowly over a period of years or quickly. The Spanish explorer Francisco de Ibarra found the site of Casa Grande in 1565.

The indigenous nomads told him that a war with the inhabitants of the village of Opata, a 4-day journey to the west, led to Casas Grandes being abandoned, and the inhabitants began a 6-day journey to the north.

This story suggests the people of Casas Grandes joined the Pueblos on the Rio Grande in New Mexico.

Other theories are that the Casas Grandes people migrated west to Sonora and joined or became the Opata whom the Spaniards found in the mid-16th century living in “statelets,” small but well-organized city-states.

It is also possible that Casas Grandes was abandoned because opportunities were greater elsewhere. Other communities in the Southwest are known to have been abandoned in favor of a new home.

The language spoken by the people of Casas Grandes is unknown. Given the Mesoamerican influence on Casas Grandes, Nahuatl was probably widely spoken but was not the primary language of the local inhabitants.

Composition and creation of the dune fields

The white-to-tan sands of the dune fields are almost pure silica.

On average, the sand contains 90-95% quartz and 5-10% mixed rock grains.

The particle shapes are nodular and spheroid. They were formed by airflow erosion of rocks that created small fragments that were then carried away by the wind, to be deposited in natural land depressions.

Another factor assisting in the formation of the dunes is the abrupt changes in temperature that exist in the desert, which assisted in the breaking up of surface rock into sand grains.

The most dramatic portion of the Samalayuca dune fields lies east and west of Mexican Federal Highway 45 and the parallel Mexican Railway in an area 30 to 60 miles south of Juarez.

This major north-south highway and railroad, between Ciudad Juarez and the city of Chihuahua, crosses through this dune area, and low dunes are visible for many kilometers on each side of the highway.

The dramatic high dunes that exist close to the village of Samalayuca may be seen in the distance from Federal Highway 45. These dune fields are formed by the prevailing wind from the northwest dropping sand particles in the lee of the Sierra Samalayuca (Samalayuca Mountains).

Besides the high dunes appearing in the area of the village of Samalayuca, the dune fields lie in several other areas of the Samalayuca desert to the southwest and southeast of Ciudad Juarez.

A lesser-known part of the Salamayuca dune field extends to the west from Samalayuca into the area southwest of Ciudad Juárez.

This area (lying west of Mexico Federal Highway 45) is larger than the more dramatic high dune area near Samalayuca and comprises the bulk of the Samalayuca desert area.

These dune fields extend to the north where they lie across the (now abandoned) right of way of the defunct Mexico North Western Railway (Compañía del Ferrocarril Nor-Oeste de México) and extend into the Chihuahua municipality of Ascension.

Smaller dune fields also extend to the east from the town of Salamayuca, into the municipality of Guadalupe.

Endemic species

In large dune systems, many species of plants and animals evolve and adapt to the harsh environment, and thus become unique and endemic. The Samalayuca dunes are no exception.

They provide the habitat for 248 vegetal and 154 animal species, most of them endemic.

The area is therefore biologically unique on a global scale and is receiving greater attention as a biosphere. Most of the known endemic species in the Samalayuca Dunes are plants and various native bee species.

Scarcity of water

When traveling the route that led through the sand dunes near the village of Samalayuca water was critical. The only reliable water sources lay miles to the north and south of the sand dunes near Samalayuca. Water supplies near the dunes were very scarce.

To be significantly delayed in the Salamayuca Sand Dunes in a dry year with limited water supplies could be fatal.

There were springs that flowed near the present settlement of Samalayuca on the northern edge of this stretch of sand. As stated below these springs were not reliable sources of water for two reasons.

These springs near Salamalayuca could be too saline for consumption.

Recent surveys confirm that three springs exist in the area of Samalayuca, but the saline content renders two of them unfit for drinking. Water for those currently living in Samalayuca comes from hand-dug shallow wells.

Travelers in the 1840s reported that the Ojo de Samalayuca (Samalayuca Springs) were seasonal.

In the dry season of a dry year, these springs would cease to flow, which would leave no water source on the trail between the areas of El Paso del Norte in the north and the village of Carrizal in the south.

Historical name

The sand dune area has traditionally been referred to as “Los Médanos” or simply, the dunes. The name Samalayuca Dune Fields is of more recent origin. The name “Los Médanos” is more commonly used particularly in historical accounts.

Recently and increasingly the dune fields are referred to by Spanish and non-Spanish speakers as Médanos de Samalayuca.

Name origin

The field and the desert get their name from the town of Samalayuca, Chihuahua.

There are historic springs in the area, which accounts for the location of the town. The town is adjacent to the dramatic high dunes that lie some 52 km directly south of Ciudad Juárez just east of Mexico Federal Highway 45.

These high dunes are formed by the prevailing winds from the northwest dropping sands in the lee of Cerro de Samalayuca (Samalayuca Mountain), which lies close to Samalayuca village.

Experiences of travelers in the 1800s

In order to avoid the delay of traveling around the dune fields on the detour, many travelers on the trail between Chihuahua and El Paso del Norte elected to go directly across the dune fields.

From the 1600s through the 1800s merchants, explorers, soldiers, and random tourists traveling on the Chihuahua trail found passage through the Samalayuca dunes difficult and dangerous.

Throughout this period of three centuries, the Apache Indians carried on their off-and-on guerrilla war with the encroaching Spanish, operating out of the Sierra Madre mountains to the west.

They sporadically attacked and sometimes laid waste to haciendas/ranches and small settlements in the area.

As part of this conflict, the Apaches kept watching over the trail across the dunes, as well as the water holes in and around the dune fields, in order to rob and kill vulnerable groups of travelers.

Even as late as 1882 travelers were warned to avoid this point (Los Médanos) of all others while traveling through Chihuahua, and to take the alternative route around the dunes area, though some 60 miles long, because this place is attended by great danger from the attacks of the Apaches, who well know the helpless condition of animals passing and take the opportunity to attack parties.

While animals and persons found footing and traction to be difficult in the loose sands of the dunes, what was most dreaded was the difficulty of hauling loaded wagons or carts through the sand.

These vehicles could bog down at their hubs. Some merchants going south from El Paso started out with carts loaded with goods but would hire a mule train to accompany them.

On arrival at the dunes, the goods from the carts would be loaded on the mule train and the emptied carts would then be pulled over the dunes. On the south side of the dunes, the carts would be reloaded and proceed.

In 1842 George W. Kendall made a diary as he traveled through the dunes. He was one of a group of political prisoners, who were marched down the Chihuahua trail, guarded by units of the Mexican army.

He observed high “mountains” of loose sand along the trail. He noted that horses would sink in the sand to their fetlocks, and walking in the sand exhausted men and animals. The two-wheeled carreteras would bog down in the sand and to pull them through this area required doubling the teams.

Kendall also noted a large stone, weighing some 200 pounds directly in the path through the dune fields.

Over many years passing gangs of muleteers had superstitiously adopted the custom of lifting the stone and moving it farther along, each gang moving it a few feet at a time towards Mexico City.

Their recurrent activity, continuing over many decades was reported to have moved the stone some 14 miles.

In 1846 an English soldier of fortune reported the track through the dunes littered with skeletons and dead bodies of oxen, mules, and horses. He reported the sand to be knee-deep and constantly shifting.

The dunes caused death to animals and humans. “On one ridge the upper half of a human skeleton protruded from the sand”.

Traveling by night avoided the punishing desert heat during the summer months, and in 1846 a German scientist Friedrich Adolph Wislizenus described such a night passage through the dunes.

Flashes of lightning illuminated ghostly images of slow-moving wagons, riders on horseback wrapped in blankets, and travelers on foot walking or sleeping beside the track.

Quiet prevailed except for the cries of muleteers and the thunder, The winding passage of the procession through the dunes was marked with multiple pinpoints of light from “cigarritos”.

During the Mexican War, Colonel Alexander William Doniphan led a force of about 1000 American soldiers south from El Paso. They had engaged to guard a merchant caravan of about 315 heavy wagons going to Chihuahua City.

They elected to go through the Salamayuca Sands, rather than take the detour. After entering the dune fields, the mules pulling the heavy wagon train sank to their knees in the sand, and the wheels of the wagons were buried in the hubs.

With the merchant’s wagons bogged down, men and animals began to suffer serious debility from lack of water.

The column had to abandon thousands of pounds of supplies in order to free the wagons from the sands, and men and animals had to join together to push and pull the wagons forward out of the dune area.

Once past the dunes, Colonel Doniphan went on the south, and still accompanied by the wagon train he defeated a Mexican force at the Battle of the Sacramento River, thereafter capturing Chihuahua City.

Tourism interest in the dune fields near Samalayuca

The dramatic appearance of the dunes near Samalayuca, visible from Highway 45, has generated tourism interest in the dunes. This includes adventure tourism. Tourists hike in the dunes, ride over them in various vehicles, and slide down the dunes on sandboards.

On June 5, 2009, the Mexican federal government created a protected area of 63,182 hectares (631.82 km2) in Samalayuca dune fields.

Today, the original trail (except for the branch that skirted the Samalayuca sand dunes) from Chihuahua, Mexico to El Paso, Texas lies beneath or beside Mexico’s Federal Highway 45. Paralleling the highway is a railroad, now used only to haul freight.

A traveler on Highway 45 passes over the sandy areas without difficulty.

Chihuahua Trail

The Samalayuca Dune fields lie directly across the main route of the Chihuahua Trail, part of the longer route known as El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, or the royal road of the interior.

The portion of this route known as the Chihuahua Trail went north from Chihuahua City to Santa Fe, in New Mexico.

From the time the Spanish colonial city of Santa Fe was founded in 1598 by the Spanish explorer Juan de Oñate, there was steady and increasing freight and passenger traffic on this route.

The only major river on the trail was the Rio Grande. The trail crossed the river via a ford near the famous pass between the Juarez and Franklin mountain ranges.

This ford and pass came to be known simply as “the Pass” (El Paso) or “The Pass of the North” (El Paso del Norte), and a town by the same name was first established south of the river, at the site of present-day Ciudad Juarez.

A separate community also known as El Paso del Norte, was later established on the north side of the river in 1849 after the Mexican-U.S. War on United States Territory. The original Mexican community of El Paso del Norte south of the river changed its name to Ciudad Juarez in 1865.

However, in the segment of the Chihuahua trail from Chihuahua City and El Paso del Norte, where the trail reached a point some 45 miles south of the Pass of the North, the trail encountered a 15-mile stretch of the Samalayuca dune fields.

The wind shifted and renewed the deep and finely gained sand beds in these dunes.

The soft shifting sands made walking through the dune fields tiring and time-consuming for animals and people. Horses, oxen, mules, and people could cross this sandy area only with great difficulty.

The traditional two-wheeled carts (carreteras) could become bogged down in the sands.

Juan de Oñate and alternative routes

In 1598, Juan de Oñate, a wealthy Zacatecas nobleman, set out northward from the Valle de San Bartolomé, New Spain, to establish a new northern colony. He pioneered the Chihuahua Trail route.

When he reached Los Médanos (the dunes), he attempted to cross but found the difficulty so great that he detoured to the east to go around the area of sand dunes, before trending north again to the area where he found San Juan, the first capital of New Mexico.

Oñate’s detour set a precedent, and thereafter an alternative trail led around the sand dunes near Salamaluca. South of the dunes, the Chihuahua trail forked at Laguna de Patos (Duck Lake).

The detour branched off south of the dunes at Lagunas de Patos and veered northeast for roughly 60 miles, across the southeastern margin of the dune fields till it reached the south bank of the Rio Grande del Norte.

This branch then turned and followed the Rio Grande’s south bank upstream in a northwest direction about 60 miles to The Pass of the North (El Paso Del Norte), where the two branches of the trail were again joined.

After El Paso, the trail proceeded through the pass and on to Santa Fe.

At Laguna de Patos, the main branch of the Chihuahua Trail proceeded due north crossing the dune fields to reach El Paso del Norte in about 65 miles.

In this distance the trail crossed through the sandy dunes for a distance of 12 to 15 miles, emerging from the sand to cross about 30 miles of desert brushlands to finally reach El Paso del Norte.

The detour around the dune fields added some fifty or sixty miles to the direct route through the dune fields.

To a horseman traveling at 20 miles a day, this could mean a delay of three days. To a merchant caravan moving at twelve miles a day between Ciudad de Chihuahua and El Paso del North, this could mean a delay in transit of five or more days.