This brief account of a name was secured from Mr. E. E. Townsend,
sheriff of Brewster County. Shortly after 1880 General Geno, of the
United States Army, and a party of surveyors were making their way down
the Rio Grande when they entered the upper mouth of a rugged canyon. To
proceed with their horses meant a detour of many miles via Fort
Stockton. To continue travel directly meant that they must abandon
horses and use the river for transportation. It was finally decided to
proceed down the river on rafts. In order to prevent their mounts from
falling into the hands of Indians and being used in forays against the
whites, the exploring party shot all their horses, some thirty or forty
head. To this day the rugged canyon through which the Rio Grande winds
its way for several hundred miles above Del Rio is called Dead Horse
Canyon.