In May 1598, Juan de Oñate, the first governor of New Mexico, passed near here with his colonizing expedition. Traveling north, he designated official campsites, called parajes, on the Camino Real for expeditions that followed. Oñate's caravan included 129 men, many accompanied by their families and servants. The Camino Real, known as the King's Highway, was the oldest historical road in the United States, running more than 2000 miles from Mexico City to Taos. Parts of it were used by Spanish explorers in the 1580s, but it was formally established in 1598 by Oñate, New Mexico's first colonizer and governor, and was later called the Chihuahua Trail.