Historical Marker

Jornada del Muerto (2)

Side 1

This section of the Camino Real is called the Jornada del Muerto or Deadman's Journey after the tragic fate of German trader Bernardo Gruber, El Alemán. In 1670 the Inquisition accused him of witchcraft. He escaped and attempted to cross ninety miles of forbidding desert south of Socorro, between the Paraje de Fray Cristóbal to the north and the Paraje de Robledo to the south.

Side 2

After days of unquenched thirst, Gruber's Apache servant Antonio went in search of water. When he returned, El Alemán was gone. Weeks later, travelers found his clothing and his scattered remains. Spanish and Mexican merchants, the U.S. Army, the Texas Confederates in 1862, and the railroad in the 1880s also used this route.