Paraje de San Diego


Paraje de San Diego was a camping place, overlooking the Rio Grande, along the route of the Jornada del Muerto. It was located 5 leagues north of the Paraje de Robledo and "half a league from the river".
Bishop of Durango, Pedro Tamarón y Romeral, wrote of this location during his 1760 visitation to New Mexico:
During this thirteenth day they had traveled 20 leagues until eight-thirty at night, when they halted opposite the Sierra de Fray Cristóbal. After a 10 league journey on the 14th of May, the Bishop reached the Rio Grande again at eleven‑thirty, at the Paraje de Fray Cristóbal, leaving the Jornada del Muerto.
The location given by Bishop Tamarón places Paraje de San Diego on the heights overlooking the Rincon Valley north of San Diego Mountain above Tonuco Draw, southeast of the location of Rincon, New Mexico. At the time the Bishop wrote the Rio Grande must have had a different course than today to be half a league away. It would have to pass close to the east side of the valley close to the foot of the bluffs where the paraje was located and at the foot of San Diego Mountain.