The Chihuahua Trail was opened in segments and was not called by this name until the 19th century. A small part of the route along the nearby Pecos River was followed by the Spaniard Gaspar Castano de Sosa in 1590 during an expedition to New Mexico. By 1850, the trail had been extended to connect the city of Chihuahua and the Texas Gulf Coast by way of San Antonio. Gold seekers going to California found it practical because it touched at all known water holes in this rugged terrain. The trail saw its heaviest use during the mid-1870s, when freighters transported tons of silver and copper from the state of Chihuahua for shipment to the eastern U.S. In this part of western Texas, one of the trail's landmarks was Escondido, or Hidden, water hole, seven miles southeast of Fort Lancaster. This small, deep well in the side of a rugged canyon was very hard to find but saved the lives of many travelers, though rock cairns beside it mark the graves of some who died near the water hole from accidents or disease.