Emigrants' Crossing was one of the few places where pioneer travelers could ford the Pecos River. There the deep, treacherous river flows over exposed rock, creating one of only three fords in a 60-mile stretch of the stream. It was the crossing favored by parties migrating in 1849 from the eastern United States to west coast gold fields, and, often called the California Emigrants' Crossing or the Red River Trail crossing, it was also used in 1858 by Butterfield Overland Mail coaches, which had an adobe station and a high-walled adobe corral there.