On May 22, 1726 Rivera followed the bank of the Río Grande eight leagues and stayed at a paraje next to the river called Ranchería, which used to be inhabited frequently by the Mansos Indians before they were converted to pueblo life (Alessio Robles 1946:49).
A comparison of the distances given by Rivera and Lafora in the lower Río Grande valley shows Ranchería Grande a little north of Bracito. The referenced map (“Plano del Rio del Norte,” 1773) by Bernardo de Miera y Pacheco shows Doña Ana and Bracito at what appear to be eastward bends of the river that defined the Ancón de Doña Ana before the flood of 1864. The Ranchería Grande is depicted as in the bend between those two points, which takes in the area of Las Cruces (Adams and Chávez 1956:268).
Though not an often-mentioned paraje, this was a frequent habitation of local Indians and is now the site of Las Cruces, the largest city in southern New Mexico.On May 22, 1726 Rivera followed the bank of the Río Grande eight leagues and stayed at a paraje next to the river called Ranchería, which used to be inhabited frequently by the Mansos Indians before they were converted to pueblo life (Alessio Robles 1946:49).<br /><br /><br /><br />
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A comparison of the distances given by Rivera and Lafora in the lower Río Grande valley shows Ranchería Grande a little north of Bracito. The referenced map (“Plano del Rio del Norte,” 1773) by Bernardo de Miera y Pacheco shows Doña Ana and Bracito at what appear to be eastward bends of the river that defined the Ancón de Doña Ana before the flood of 1864. The Ranchería Grande is depicted as in the bend between those two points, which takes in the area of Las Cruces (Adams and Chávez 1956:268).<br /><br /><br /><br />
Courtesy U.S. Department of the Interior. El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail, Comprehensive Management Plan/Final Environmental Impact Statement. Santa Fe, NM: National Park Service/Bureau of Land Management,2004.