The headwaters of the Soto La Marina are in the Sierra Madre Oriental in pine-oak forests at an elevation of about 3,000 m (9,800 ft) in the municipality of General Zaragoza, Nuevo León.

The lower course of the Soto La Marina is through a semi-arid eco-region called Tamaulipan mezquital which is characterized by sub-tropical low trees and shrubs similar to what is found in southernmost Texas.

The Spaniard Francisco de Garay discovered the Soto La Marina River in 1523.

Garay, Governor of Jamaica, led an expedition of 600 men to form a colony on the Pánuco River, but landed by mistake one hundred miles north at the mouth of the Soto La Marina which he called the River of Palms (Rio de las Palmas).

He reconnoitered by sending a small boat upriver about 25 miles, probably reaching the present day city of Soto la Marina.