WYLIE..... ON THE JORNADA DEL MUERTO

                                 The Organ Mountains

Here we are in the great Chihuahuan Desert, the 2nd largest Desert in North America. Covering parts of these Mexican States--Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Zacatecas and Nuevo Leon as well as parts of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Comprising 142,000 square miles.

So what? Well, if you travel South of Socorro, you are in this desert.  Our recent travels started in Alamogordo, West on US 70 through White Sands Missile Range, to Organ Pass, Town of Organ, Butterfield Park, Las Cruces, (where the dreaded Jornada del Muerto begins), north through Dona Ana, Hill, Radium Springs, Ft. Selden, Rincon, Rodey, Hatch, Salem, Garfield, Derry, Arrey, Caballo, Las Palomas, Williamsburg, Truth or Consequences, finally to the City of Elephant Butte.

All this time in the Great Chihuahuan Desert.  More on the Jornada del Muerto--in the early days, before statehood, the trip from Las Cruces to Socorro was a death march, made so by the Apaches who would attack wagons, settlers and merchants from Mexico, along with soldiers who chose to make the 100 mile journey without water and no chance of water and only the food you carried or game you shot, even though the Rio Grande was only a few miles away, knowing that the apaches would attack anyone foolish enough to try and reach the Rio.

We had a rather civilized 142 mile trip without concern of savages attacking or the dry trackless trek affecting our little group.  My wife and her two sisters and the two men in the family enjoyed the lunch and travel back down the River to Las Cruces for some shopping.  All in all, I would say that I would rather live in this time rather than the more Romantic and Idealized west of the pre-Statehood days. 

Just another day in the Chihuahuan desert.  So what is the largest desert in North America?

Wylie Daugherty
CHS '53
10/13/16