HISTORY OF UTAH.

CHAPTER I.

DISCOVERIES OF THE SPANIARDS.

1540-1777.

FRANCISCO VAZQUEZ DE CORONADO AT CÍBOLA-EXPEDITION OF PEDRO DE TOBAR AND FATHER JUAN DE PADILLA-THEY HEAR OF A LARGE RIVER-GARCÍA LOPEZ DE CÁRDENAS SENT IN SEARCH OF IT-THE FIRST EUROPEANS TO APPROACH UTAH-ROUTE OF CARDENAS-MYTHICAL MAPS PART OF THE NORTHERN MYSTERY-JOURNEY OF DOMINGUEZ AND ESCALANTE--THE COURSE THEY FOLLOWED-THE RIVERS THEY CROSSED THE COMANCHES-REGION OF THE GREAT LAKES-RIVERS TIMPANOGOS, SAN BUENAVENTURA, AND OTHERS-THE COUNTRY OF THE YUTAS-ROUTE FROM SANTA FÉ TO MONTEREY-THE FRIARS TALK OF THE LAKE COUNTRY-RETURN OF THE SPANIARDS TO ZUNI AND MARCH TO SANTA FÉ.

As Francisco Vazquez de Coronado was journeying from Culiacan to the north and east in 1540, he rested at Cibola, that is to say Zuñi, and while waiting for the main army to come forward, expeditions were sent out in various directions. One of these, consisting of twenty men under Pedro de Tobar, and attended by Father Juan de Padilla, proceeded north-westward, and after five days reached Tusayan, or the Moqui villages, which were quickly captured. Among other matters of interest, information was here given of a large river yet farther north, the people who lived upon its banks being likewise very large.

Returning to Cibola, Tobar reported what had been said concerning this river; whereupon Captain García Lopez de Cárdenas was sent with twelve men to explore it, Pedro de Sotomayor accompanying to

chronicle the expedition. Obtaining at Tusayan, where he was well received, guides and carriers, with an ample supply of provisions, Cárdenas marched for twenty days, probably in a north-westerly direction,1

1I say probably, though in my own mind there is little doubt. The Spaniards were exploring northward. They had lately traversed the region to their south-west, and instead of wishing to retrace their steps they would be likely to keep up well away from their former track. It is true that one narrative gives the direction as west; but then the same writer places Tusan, or Tusayan, west of Cibola, which if the latter be Zuñi, and the former Moqui, is incorrect. Then, if their direction from the Moqui towns was the same as this writer declares it to have been in travelling to that place, the Spaniards at this time certainly struck the Colorado within the limits of the present Utah. Escalante, Carta de 28 Oct. 1775, MS., placed Moqui west of Zuñi, but a little north of west, with the Yutas their neighbor on the north. It is sufficiently plain that Cibola was Zuñi, and Tusayan Moqui, and as a matter of fact the latter is in a north-westerly direction from the former. That they went due west and crossed the Little Colorado without any mention of that stream is not likely; because, first, it is not twenty days distant from the Moquis, and the stream when reached does not answer to their description. It was the great river they wished to find, and a northwest course would be the most direct. Further than this, it is stated plainly that the point at which they discovered the river was much nearer its source than where the Spaniards had previously seen it. Upon the direction then taken hangs the question as to the first Europeans to enter Utah. I deem the matter of sufficient importance to give both the originals and the translations of two of the most complete and reliable narratives of the expedition. The first and fullest we find in the Relation de Castañeda of Coronado's expedition, Ternaux-Compans, série i. tom. ix. 61-5, which reads as follows:

'Comme don Pedro de Tobar avait rempli sa mission, il revint sur ses pas et rendit compte au général de ce qu'il avait vu. Celui-ci fit partir sur-lechamp don Garci-Lopez de Cardenas et douze autres personnes pour aller visiter cette rivière; cet officier fut très-bien reçu et parfaitement traité par les indiens de Tusayan, qui lui donnèrent des guides pour continuer sa route. Nos soldats partirent chargés de vivres, les indiens les ayant avertis qu'il fallait traverser un désert de vingt journées de long avant d'entrer dans un pays habité. Après ces vingt journées de marche ils arrivérent en effet à cette rivière, dont les bords sont tellement élevés qu'ils croyaient être à trois ou quatre lieues en l'air. Le pays est couvert de pins bas et rabougris; il est exposé au nord, et le froid y est si violent, que, quoique l'on fût en été, ou pouvait à peine le supporter. Les Espagnols marchèrent pendant trois jours le long de ces montagnes, espérant toujours trouver une descente pour arriver à la rivière qui, d'en haut, ne paraissait pas avoir plus d'une brasse de large, et qui, selon les Indiens, avait plus d'une demi-lieue; mais il fut impossible de s'y rendre. Étant parvenus deux ou trois jours après dans un endroit où la descente leur parut plus facile, le capitaine Melgosa, Juan Galeras et un soldat qui étaient les plus légers de la bande, résolurent de faire une tentative. Ils descendirent jusqu'à ce que ceux qui étaient restés en haut les eussent perdus de ven. Ils revinrent vers les quatre heures du soir, disant qu'ils avaient trouvé tant de difficultés, qu'ils n'avaient pu arriver jusqu'en bas; car ce qui d'en haut semblait facile, ne l'était pas du tout quand en approchait. Ils ajoutèrent qu'ils étaient parvenus à environ un tiers de la descente, et que de là, la rivière paraissait déjà très grande, ce qui confirmait ce que les indiens avaient dit. Ils assurèrent que quelques rochers que l'on voyait d'en haut, et qui paraissait à peine de la hauteur d'un homme étaient plus hauts que la tour de la cathédrale de Séville. Les Espagnols cessèrent

EXPEDITION OF CARDENAS.

through a desert country until he discovered the river, but from such high banks that he could not reach it. It was the river called the Tizon, and it flowed from the north-east toward the south-west. It seemed to the Spaniards when they first descried it that they were on mountains through which the river had cut de suivre les rochers qui bordent la rivière, parce qu'on y manquait d'ean. Jusque-là ils avaient été obligés chaque soir de s'avancer une lieue ou deux dans l'intérieur pour en trouver. Quand ils eurent marché pendant trois on quatre jours, les guides leur déclarèrent qu'il était impossible d'aller plus loin, qu'on ne trouverait pas d'eau de quatre jours; que quand les Indiens passaient cette route, ils emmenaient avec eux des femmes chargées de calebasses remplies d'eau, et qu'ils en enterraient une partie pour les retrouver au retour; que d'ailleurs ils parcouraient en un jour autant de chemin que les Espagnols en deux. Cette rivière était celle del Tizon. On arriva beaucoup plus près de sa source que de l'endroit où Melchior Diaz et ses gens l'avaient traversée, et l'on sut plus tard que les Indiens dont on avait parlé étaient de la même nation que ceux que Diaz avait vus. Les Espagnols revinrent donc sur leurs pas, et cette expédition n'eut pas d'autre résultat. Pendant la marche, ils arrivèrent à une cascade qui tombait d'un rocher. Les guides dirent que les cristaux blancs qui pendaient à l'entour étaient du sel. On en recueillit une quantité que l'on emporta, et qu'on distribua à Cibola, où l'on rendit compte par écrit au général de tout ce que l'on avai vu. Garci-Lopez avait emmené avec lui un certain Pédro de Sotomayor, qui était chroniqueur de l'expédition. Tous les villages de cette province sont restés nos alliés, mais on ne les a pas visités depuis, et l'on n'a tenté aucune découverte de ce côté.'

As soon as Don Pedro de Tobar had fulfilled his mission, he returned and gave the general an account of what he had seen. The latter immediately ordered Don Garci-Lopez de Cárdenas, and 12 other persons, to go and visit that river; this officer was well received and politely treated by the Indians of Tusayan, who furnished him with guides to continue his journey. Our soldiers departed loaded with provisions, the Indians having notified them that it was necessary to travel 20 days through a desert before entering any inhabited country. After this 20 days' march, they arrived at that river whose banks are of such a height that it seemed to them that they were three or four leagues up in the air. The country is covered with low and stunted pines, exposed to the north, and the cold is so violent that, although it was summer, one could hardly endure it. The Spaniards during three days skirted those mountains, always in the hope of finding a descent to reach the river, which from above appeared to be no more than a fathom in width, and which, according to the Indians, was more than half a league wide; but all their efforts were vain. Two or three days later, they arrived at a place where the descent seemed easier; Captain Melgosa Juan Galeras and a soldier who were the lightest men of the band, resolved to make an attempt. They descended until those who had remained on the top had lost sight of them. They returned at about four o'clock in the afternoon, saying they had found so many difficulties that they could not reach the bottom; for, what seemed easy from above was not at all so when approaching the water. They added that they came down about one third of the descent, and that even from there the river seemed very large. This statement confirmed what the Indians had said. The three men affirmed that some rocks seen from above and which appeared to be of the height of a man, were higher than the tower of the cathedral of Seville. The Spaniards stopped following the rocks that bordered the river on account of the lack of water. Until then, they had been obliged to advance one or two leagues in the interior to find

à chasm only a few feet wide, but which if they might believe the natives was half a league across. In vain for several days, with their faces toward the south and west, they sought to escape from the mountains that environed them, and descend to the river, for they were suffering from thirst. At length some. When they had marched during three or four days, the guides declared to them that it was impossible to go further, that water would not be found before four days; that when the Indians travelled on this road, they took with them women who carried calabashes filled with water, and they buried a certain part, so that they might find it when returning; and besides they made in one day as many miles as the Spaniards would in two. This was the river del Tizon. They arrived much nearer to its source than the place where Melchor Diaz and his people had crossed, and it was known later that the Indians spoken of belonged to the same nation as those seen by Diaz. The Spaniards therefore came back, and the expedition had no other result. While marching, they arrived at a cascade falling from a rock. The guides affirmed that the white crystals hanging around were salt. A quantity of it was gathered, carried away, and distributed at Cíbola, where a written account of all that had been seen was sent to the general. Garci-Lopez had taken with him a certain Pedro de Sotomayor, who was the chronicler of the expedition. All the villages of this province have remained our allies, but they have not been visited since, and no attempt at discovery has been made in that direction.

The other is from a relation by an unknown author, found in the archives of the Indies, and printed in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiv. 321–3, under title of Relacion del suceso de la Jornada que Francisco Vazquez hizo en el descubrimiento de Cibola, and from which I give the extract covering the same incident:

'Vuelto D. Pedro de Tobar, é dada relacion de aquellos pueblos, luego despachó á D. García Lopez de Cárdenas, maestre de campo, por el mesmo camino que habia venido D. Pedro, é que pasase de aquella provincia de Tuzan, al Poniente, é para ida é vuelta de la jornada é descobrimiento, le señaló ochenta dias de término de ida é vuelta, el qual fué echado adelante de Tuzan con guias de los naturales que decian que habia adelante, poblado, aunque lejos, andadas cincuenta leguas de Tuzan al Poniente, é ochenta de Cibola, halló una barranca de un rio que fué imposible por una parte ni otra hallarle baxada para caballo, ni aun para pié, sino por una parte muy trabaxosa, por donde tenia casi dos leguas de baxada. Estaba la barranca tan acantillada de peñas, que apenas podian ver el rio, el cual, aunque es segun dicen, tanto ó mucho mayor que el de Sevilla, de arriba aparescia un arroyo; por manera que aunque con harta diligencia se buscó pasada, é por muchas partes no se halla, en la cual estuvieron artos dias con mucha necesidad de agua, que no la hallaban, é la del rio no se podian aprovechar della aunque la vian; é á esta causa le fué forzado á don García Lopez volverse á donde hallaron; este rio venia del Nordeste é volvia al Sur Sudueste, por manera que sin falta ninguna es aquel donde llegó Melchor Diaz.'

Don Pedro de Tobar having returned, and having made a report concerning those towns, D. García Lopez de Cárdenas, maestre de campo, was ordered to take the same route by which Don Pedro had come, and to go on from the province of Tuzan to the westward. He was given 80 days in which to make the journey, from his departure until his return. He went on beyond Tuzan, accompanied by Indian guides, who told him that farther on there was a settlement. Having gone 50 leagues to the westward of Tuzan, and 80 from Cibola, he came to the cañon of a river adown the side of which there was no descent practicable for horse, nor even for those on foot, except

ATTEMPT TO REACH THE RIVER.

one morning three of the lightest and most active of the party crept over the brink and descended until they were out of sight. They did not return till toward evening, when they reported their failure to reach the bottom, saying that the river, and distances and objects, were all much larger than they seemed to the beholder above, rocks apparently no higher than a man being in fact larger than the cathedral at

Seville. Compelled by thirst they retired from the inhospitable stream, and finally returned to Tusayan and Cibola.

by a way full of difficulties, and nearly two leagues in length. The side of the cañon was of rock so steep that the river was barely discernible, although, according to report, it is as great as the river of Seville, or greater; and from above appeared a brook. During many days, and in many places, a way by which to pass the river was sought in vain. During this time there was much suffering from a lack of water, for although that of the river was in view, it was unattainable. For this reason Don García Lopez was forced to return. This river comes from the north-east, and makes a bend to the south-south-eastward; hence, beyond a doubt, it must be that reached by Melchor Diaz.

Thus the reader will be able to determine the matter for himself as clearly as may be. For details on Coronado's expedition see the following author