Presidio del Norte is in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, at the mouth of Los Conchos River; hence the town is sometimes called Presidio de las Juntas (junction). It is one of the oldest posts in northern Mexico.--ED. [100] In confirmation of this, it is only necessary to quote the following from the _Pauta de Comisos_, Cap. II., Art. 22: "Ni las guias, ni las facturas, ni los pases, en todos los casos de que trata este decreto, han de contener enmendadura, raspadura, ni entrerenglonadura alguna"--and this under penalty of confiscation. --GREGG. [101] How scant soever our outfit of 'camp comforts' might appear, our Mexican muleteers were much more sparely supplied. The exposure endured by this hardy race is really surprising. Even in the coldest winter weather, they rarely carry more than one blanket apiece--the _sarape_, which serves as a cloak during the day, and at night is their only 'bed and bedding.'--GREGG. [102] The precinct of Valverde, on the east bank of the Rio Grande, a few miles below Socorro, has now a population of three hundred. Although of considerable importance in the early nineteenth century, the town has never been rebuilt since Gregg's time. The site was, however, the rendezvous for Doniphan's troops (1846) preparatory to his march into Chihuahua. It was also the field for a battle in the War of Secession (1862), wherein the Texans won a victory over the Federal troops.--ED. [103] Fray Cristobal was long an important station in New Mexico; but, as Gregg says, never a town of any size, merely a camping place at the beginning of the Jornada del Muerto. The latter is well described by Gregg, and was the dreaded portion of the journey from north to south until the building of the railway, which traverses the larger part of the old caravan route, but leaves the river somewhat higher up and returns to it at Rincon, some distance above Robledo.--ED. [104] Robledo was on the Rio Grande at the site where the Americans later erected Fort Selden. El Paso and the district north had formerly been a part of New Mexico; but the act of 1824, reconstituting the northern states, assigned El Paso district to Chihuahua, hence the boundary here mentioned.--ED. [105] This place is often known among Americans as '_The Pass_.' It has been suggested in another place, that it took its name from the _passing_ thither of the refugees from the massacre of 1680; yet many persons very rationally derive it from the _passing_ of the river (_el paso del Rio del Norte_) between two points of mountains which project against it from each side, just above the town.--GREGG.