Xicahua

In the dry uplands of Chihuahua, the Sacramento and Chuvíscar rivers meet below the mountains of Santa Eulalia. Concho communities lived in the region before Spanish missions and mining camps transformed it. A Franciscan mission called Nombre de Dios was founded for the Conchos in 1697 near the site of the later town, on the northern frontier of Nueva Vizcaya.

Rich discoveries at Santa Eulalia in 1707 brought a rush of miners to the mountains. The steep terrain made expansion difficult, and in 1709 the governor Antonio de Deza y Ulloa chose the nearby valley at the meeting of the rivers for a new settlement. It grew into San Felipe el Real de Chihuahua, linking the mining district to the roads and farms of the surrounding country.