Paraje del Perrillo (Place of the Puppy), was a dependable watering and stopping place along the

Camino Real de Tierra Adentro The Camino Real de Tierra Adentro ( en, Royal Road of the Interior Land), also known as the Silver Route, was a Spanish road between Mexico City and San Juan Pueblo (''Ohkay Owingeh''), New Mexico, USA, that was used from 1598 to 1882. It was ...

, where it passed through the

Jornada del Muerto The name Jornada del Muerto translates from Spanish as "Single Day's Journey of the Dead Man" or even "Route of the Dead Man, though the modern literal translation is closer to "The Working Day of the Dead". It was the name given by the Spanish ...

in the vicinity of Point of Rocks in

Sierra County, New Mexico Sierra County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 11,576. Its county seat is Truth or Consequences. Geography According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of w ...

. Paraje del Perillo was the next water to the north beyond the

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".Itinerary of Bishop Tamarón’s Visitation f ...

overlooking the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

5 leagues beyond

Paraje de Robledo Fort Selden was a United States Army post, occupying the area in what is now Radium Springs, New Mexico. The site was long a campground along the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. It was the site of a Confederate Army camp in 1861. The U. S. Ar ...

and a half league from the River.George D. Torok, From the Pass to the Pueblos, Sunstone Press, Santa Fe, Dec 1, 2011
/ref>

History

The name of the place was coined during the initial crossing of the Jornada by the Oñate expedition on May 23, 1598. Oñate wrote they had traveled two days from the paraje, where they had just buried Pedro Robledo and were suffering from lack of water for themselves and their animals and were five or six leagues east of the

Río Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

near the Point of Rocks. When one of their dogs returned with muddy paws, they went in search of the water following the tracks of the little dog that had found the water. Not far away in the direction of the river, Captain Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá and Cristóbal Sánchez each found a waterhole.Colección de documentos inéditos relativos al descubrimiento, conquista y colonización de las posesiones españoles en América y Oceanía, sacados bajo la direccion de J.F. Pacheco, F. de Cárdenas y L. Torres de Mendoza, Volumes 15-16, Jose Maria Perez, Madrid, 1871
/ref> The waterholes were named ''Los Charcos del Perrillo'' (The Puddles of the Puppy) and the stopping place became known as Paraje del Perrillo. Paraje del Perillo was near where the trail of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro passed Point of Rocks which is the southernmost point of the closed Jornada basin. From Paraje del Perillo the trail heads basically north through

mesquite Mesquite is a common name for several plants in the genus ''Prosopis'', which contains over 40 species of small leguminous trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas. They have extremely long roots to seek water from very far under grou ...

scrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, Herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or ...

to another small intermittent watering place, La Cruz de Alemán, named for a fugitive

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

merchant who died of thirst there while attempting to cross the Jornada in the 1670s, at a time when it had no water. From the beginning of the Spanish Colonial trade caravans between Santa Fe and

Chihuahua City The city of Chihuahua ''(La Ciudad de Chihuahua)'' () is the state capital of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. , the city of Chihuahua had a population of 925,762 inhabitants. while the metropolitan area had a population of 988,065 inhabitants. A ...

, Paraje del Perillo was the place that the soldiers guarding the caravans from Santa Fe handed it off to the escort for the journey to the south or picked it up when the caravan came north. Los Charcos del Perrillo were, long before the arrival of the Spanish, an important watering place for

Apache The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...

in the Jornada region. The nearby Point of Rocks was used to watch and launch attacks on unwary travelers at or near this paraje.

Locations

The location of these waterholes is thought to have been about three miles south of Point of Rocks at what is now the site of Point of Rocks Tank in Rincon Arroyo. The other waterhole was a small pond in Rincon Arroyo or in the lower reach of Barbee Draw near Rincon Arroyo. Paraje del Perrillo
from newmexicohistory.org accessed July 23/2019.

References

Pre-statehood history of New Mexico Jornada del Muerto Locale (geographic) {{NewMexico-geo-stub