Rio Grande: Vargas Crossing

The interpretive site marking Don Diego de Vargas's 1694 crossing of the Rio Grande is site #11 on the interpretive route laid out along Los Caminos Antiguos ("The Ancient Roads") Scenic & Historic Byway. In July 1694 Don Diego de Vargas, the governor-general of New Mexico, raided the village of Taos to feed the hungry Spanish settlers in Santa Fe. Fearing retaliation by the Taos Pueblo Indians, he rode north into the largely unexplored San Luis Valley. In the 19th century the site was heavily used by pioneers crossing via the Costilla ferry.