The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 33, July 1929 - April, 1930 Page: 70

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

by infantry, beyond the reach of the shot of the fortification. On
the summit of the sierra, the Road of the Narrow Gap58 (Camino
de Boquete) of the Sierra Blanca unites with that of Sangre de
Cristo.5D Two days are required along this road to the said gap,
and in this all the roads unite for this province; they come from
the Valley of the Huerfano, from the Valleys of the Soldiers, from
the Valleys of the Sierra Mojada60 and the rest which the settlers
of this province go over. It has its strength on the northeast;
it will be fortified because it has permanent springs.61 In the inter-
mediate distance of the Sangre de Cristo, there are also incon-
venient footpaths which cross the road or unite with it on the top
of the sierra. Along the route to the northeast, there is a road to
Sangre de Cristo, but it goes about over a great deal of land,
keeping in view always the Napestle. Along this road there are
more than thirty leagues, and along the ordinary road there are
twenty.e" At a very great distance from the Gap, going along the
sierra to the north, there go back to the northwest many little
reported that the post had been attacked. The remains of this fort are
noted by Fowler, and the location is approximately established by Coues
in his note. On Saturday, February 3, 1822, Fowler, near the Huerfano,
wrote as follows: "Set out Early about South along the foot of the moun-
tains for about ten miles to a Crick (and) about five miles (further) to
Whar there the Remains of a Spanish fort to apperence ocepied about one
year back-Hear We Camped"8 for the night Which was cold and Windey.
. ." Coues writes as follows in note 83: "Fowler . . is about to
round the southern end of the Wet Mountain range, marked by Badito
Cone, where the Rio Huerfano flows out to the plains; he will cross this
river and enter upon the Sangre de Cristo range between the Sheep mts.
and the Veta mts. His position is not far from lat. 370 45'; place called
St. Mary's in the vicinity. . . ." Journal of Jacob Fowler, E. Coues (ed.),
pp. 98-99.
"'The Road of the Narrow Gap refers to Sand Hill or Mosca Pass. See
Melgares' comments and notes below.
"The Sierra Blanca is simply the continuation of the Sangre de Cristo
Range. See map.
cSierra Mojada refers to the present Wet Mountains, but which are the
Valleys of the Soldiers is not known to the writer.
"Such a post would be in the vicinity of present Bradford, near Muddy
Creek. For an excellent discussion of the Sand Hill Pass particularly, and
other passes in that vicinity, see The Expcditions of Zebulon M. Pike,
E. Coues (ed.) II, pp. 490-492, note 39.
02Apparently the thirty-league road here refers to a trail somewhat west
of the Purgatoire River to the Arkansas and thence west along that stream
to the Huerfano; while the twenty-league road is that which, after leaving
Mesa Sicorica, ran directly northwest to the Huerfano River.