The Santa Fe Trail map shows a "Cimmaron Route" that looks just like the route of old Route 66 through that area.
I think the Dragoons avoided the Apache areas to the west. While driving through the area using secondary roads I found a spot where a US Dragoon expedition had been destroyed in battle with Apache tribesmen in about 1840. Pretty place, with good water and farmland. Might have been on the road to Alpine from New Mexico.
Years ago, forget exactly where it was.
I've driven through a couple of Apache reservations in New Mexico that were on good, very pretty land. Not at all like the pictures in the movies.
Evening Iris7.
The Apaches were tough, Can't blame the Dragoons for avoiding them.