Draft:Abo Pass

Abo Pass , also known as Abo Canyon, is a mountain pass at the southern end of the Manzano Mountains of central New Mexico.HistoryFrom pre-Columbian times, the pass provided the most direct trading route through the mountains between the plains Indians of the Estancia Valley to the east and the pueblo cultures of the middle valley of the Rio Grande to the west. The route these traders took led past Abo Pueblo, dating from the 14th Century, strategically located near a cluster of springs on the eastern slope of the pass. The old footpath is now the Abo Pass Trail Scenic Byway (see External Links below).The Spanish arrived in the 16th century, and used the pass as a route between the Rio Grande valley and the three “salt missions” they constructed northeast of the past, now ruins preserved as part of the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument.