San Diego Mountain (New Mexico)
San Diego Mountain also known as Tonuco Mountain is a summit in the Tunuco Mountains, 22 miles northwest of Las Cruces, New Mexico in Doña Ana County, New Mexico. It lies at at an elevation of 4,951 feet or 1,509 meters.[1]
History
San Diego Mountain on the east bank of the Rio Grande, marked the location of the San Diego Crossing and the gap south of it, where the cutoff from the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, crossed the Rio Grande to its junction with Cooke's Wagon Road. This junction was on the bluffs on the west bank overlooking the location where the Rio Grande made a great bend were it turned southeastward before turning south again just above the San Diego Crossing. Cooke's last camp before leaving the Rio Grande, was located across the river from "San Diego". Cooke's camp at the junction was near the site of Camp Garland and still later Fort Thorn.[2]
References
- ↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: San Diego Mountain
- ↑ Philip St. George Cooke, The Conquest of New Mexico and California, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1878, p.108 "... mountains rising abruptly from the eastern bank; but an apparently complete gap was observed, which was thought to be where the Jornada" road approaches within four or five miles of the river; if so, it is where a future road should cross and fall into the one now being made."
Coordinates: 32°36′11″N 106°59′15″W / 32.60306°N 106.98750°W