San Diego Crossing
San Diego Crossing, was a major ford on the Rio Grande, in Doña Ana County, New Mexico during the 19th Century. It was named for San Diego Mountain, on the east side of the Rio Grande, located directly west of the crossing. It was 11 miles north from Doña Ana, New Mexico then 7 miles northwest
from the Camino Real to the crossing and 17 miles along the west bank from the crossing to their last camp along the river before their junction with Cooke's Wagon Road.
In 1849, it was described in the diary of Robert Eccleston, who was traveling west from the Jornada del Muerto with the wagon train of a party of 49ers on October 6, 1849:
In August 1862, during the American Civil War, Lt. Col. Edward E. Eyre, 1st Regiment California Volunteer Cavalry, gave precise mileage from Fort Thorn down the west bank of the Rio Grande to the San Diego Crossing as 18 miles. He gave the location of the head of Cooke's Wagon Road as a further 3 miles up river from the fort.
