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Carrizal, Chihuahua

Note, this article on Carrizal, Mexico is in the process of construction, and may look odd except from the construction site in the "edit" view.

Carrazal, Chihuahua is more traditionally known as Ojos de Carrazal (the -), or more recently referenced as --- is..........

located in the northern part of the Mexican state of Chihuahua.

The city is located in the Chihuahua Desert region

Reference of Torok 1.

Today........

Area of
Before Carrizal was a settlement it was an ancient Indian trail.

The Pass of the North has been an important transportation corridor for hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of years. Well before historic time, Native-Americans followed the Rio Grande, trading goods from the interior and coastal regions of Mexico with northern Pueblo settlements. These Indian footpaths crossed the barren Chihuahua Desert, followed the rocky banks of the river, and cut through the Sierra de Juárez and Franklin Mountains. When sixteenth century Spaniards entered Mexico and made their way north through the frontier, they often followed ancient Indian trails. As they conquered the Aztec empire and established new settlements, they made these same trails part of a vast road network that expanded the boundaries of New Spain. A series of caminos reales, or royal roads, served as official passageways of the Spanish government, linking provincial capitals with Mexico City. These caminos reales wound through the scattered mining towns, missions, haciendas, and fortresses of the frontiers. One of the four royal roads that led out of the capital, the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, or the Royal Road to the Interior Land, moved north into the booming mining regions of Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, and Zacatecas. By the 1580s, the road ended at Santa Bárbara, near today's Parral, Chihuahua.'

In 1598, Juan de Oñate, a wealthy Zacatecas nobleman, pushed the Camino Real hundreds of miles further as he led settlers north from the Valle de San Bartolomé to establish a new colony, a "New" Mexico. The Oñate expedition crossed the vast Chihuahua Desert, traveled through the Pass of the North, survived the Jornada del Muerto, and eventually arrived at San Juan Pueblo, near today's Espanola, New Mexico. Carts or carretas drawn by oxen, and wagons or carros moved by mules, transported Oñate's caravan through the frontier. Hundreds of colonists followed on horseback and on foot. This vast extension of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro became the main route north, soon used by soldiers, missionaries, colonists, and countless travelers and wagon trains. Villas, missions, haciendas, and presidios were later established along the trail. For more than 220 years the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro served as the lifeline of the Spanish empire in the north. After Mexican independence in 1821, the Camino Real was renamed the Camino Nacional. It continued to be a major commercial route and new ties were forged with American traders. Merchants from Missouri traveled west to Santa Fe along the Santa Fe Trail and then ventured six hundred miles south along the Camino Real to Chihuahua City on what became known as the Chihuahua Trail. Even though the Mexican War and the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 created a new international boundary and severed the old Camino Real, the trail continued to play an important role in local and regional trade. It was used well into the late nineteenth century as a path for stage coaches, post roads, and transport. It is still in use today as the base of our modern railroads and highways, carrying countless thousands of people, vehicles, and consumer goods, as it has for the past four hundred years. As a major transportation corridor, almost 1,500 miles in length, it played a particularly important role in the development of the El Paso-Ciudad Juárez area. Located at a vital point along the trail, the Pass and its surrounding missions and settlements grew and prospered, becoming a thriving part of New Mexico. The trail also provided a pathway for Spanish and Mexican culture, European technology, agriculture, live-

stock, and ranching. It brought most of the settlers to the region, including many who inhabit El Paso and Ciudad Juárez today, and shaped much of the modern American Southwest. Today, the Camino Real remains a living, working trail, crossing borders and linking two nations. But despite its tremendous importance, by the mid-twentieth century it was all but forgotten. Until very recently, few had ever heard of the Camino Real. Fortunately, as the twentieth century drew to a close, there was new interest in El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. Historical and archaeological studies, conferences, and publications have brought attention to the trail once again. National and international agencies began working together to study and mark the trail in both the United States and Mexico. In October 2001, El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro was designated as a National Historic Trail in the United States, administered by the National Park Service (NPS) and the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM). It became recognized as an international historic trail with interest developing in the United States, Mexico and Spain. In 2003, CARTA, Camino Real de Tierra Adentro Trail Association, was formed to preserve, protect, and promote the trail. Working with federal and international agencies, CARTA is helping to identify and certify historic sites and to educate the public about the importance of this international historic trail. In years to come, El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro will regain its faded reputation as the longest, oldest, and most historic trail in the Americas.2 But where was the path of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro? The trail led through the desert land of northern Chihuahua, along the mission settlements of the Lower Valley, into El Paso del Norte, through the Mesilla Valley and off to the dreaded Jornada del Muerto. Over time, the path of the Camino Real changed. It was usually near the river, but floods carved out new river channels. New paths were made, new fords were developed, and missions, presidios, haciendas, and settlements were relocated. Sources of water and good places to stop and rest were identified. These sites became known as parajes, or campsites. Today, the urban sprawl of El Paso and Ciudad Juárez has obliterated many traces of the trail, but with careful observation one can still find the old Camino Real. It continues to shadow or parallel some of the major thoroughfares of our area and its approximate path can be followed well into the surrounding rural areas, both north and south of the cities.

Carrizal and the history of the Chihuahua Trai (El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro)
Carrizal lies directly across the route of the Chihuahua Trail, also known as El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, or the royal road of the interior. The Trail went north from Chihuahua City to Sante Fe, in New Mexico. From the time the Spanish colonial city of Sante Fe was founded in 1598 by the Spanish explorer Oñate there was increased 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 well-known ford near the famous pass between the Juarez and Franklin mountain ranges. This ford and pass came to be known simply as "the Pass" or "The Pass of the North", and the border cities of Ciudad Juarez and El Paso (El Paso del Norte) grew at this place.

However, as the trail reached a point some 60 to 70 kilometros south of the Pass of the North, the trail encountered the Samalayuca dune fields. Oxen pulling two wheeled carts, horses and pedestrians could cross this sandy area only with great difficulty.

In 1598, Juan de Oñate, a wealthy Zacatecas nobleman set out northward from the Valle de San Bartolomé to establish a new northern colony, a "New" Mexico. When he reached Los Medanos, he attempted to cross but found the difficulty so great that he detoured to the northeast to strike the Rio Grande down stream from The Pass of the North.

Oñate's detour set a precedent, and thereafter at the southern end of the sand dune fields of Los Medanos the trail branched. One branch proceeded due north for some 60 to 70 kilometers, crossing through the dunes for a distance of 20 to 30 kilometers, and then across desert brush lands to reach The Pass. The other branch veered northeast for roughly 45 kilometers, across the dune field’s southeastern margin, to the south bank of the river, downstream from the ford and the pass. This branch then followed the Rio Grande upstream some 55 kilometros to The Pass of the North (El Passo Del Norte).

When traveling the route that led through the sands water was critical. There were springs that flowed at Carrizal Other than this, water was very scarce.

--- When traveling north in the colonial era, the only regularly inhabited site between Chihuahua City and El Paso del Norte was Carrizal. From here, we can begin our journey north along El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. Carrizal was a true oasis, the last reliable source of water and the last refuge for weary travelers as they set north into the barren desert. Although a hacienda existed here earlier, the site was formally settled in 1758 as San Fernando de las Amarillas. By 1774 a new Presidio de San Fernando de Carrizal was established to protect traffic along the trail.10 A walled fortress-village was built and served as home to more than three hundred soldiers and their families. Presidio soldiers often accompanied large caravans along stretches of the trail that were particularly dangerous. Many eighteenth and nineteenth century visitors described Carrizal, including Bishop Tamarón, Nicolás de Lafora, Zebulon Pike, and Adolphus Wislizenus.11 The fort was occupied until 1847 when Colonel Doniphan's troops took control of Chihuahua during the Mexican War. George Gibson, a soldier with Doniphan, described the fortress as "much dilapidated" and predicted that it would soon be in ruins.12 Carrizal continued to maintain a small population long after its days as a presidio. Today, it is a quiet village, well off the main highway. The fortress is no longer intact but a series of small adobe mounds reveal its outline.13 Carrizal is located about seven miles southwest of Villa Ahumada, off of Mexican Federal Highway 45.

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Today, the original trail (except for the branch which skirted the Samalayuca sand dunes) from Chihuahua to The Pass lies beneath or beside Mexico’s Federal Highway 45.