OCR Text |
Show the Green River near the ( 119 1.19 ) foot of Split ( Mountain Alountain ) Canyon , Utah . From there it moved southwesterly to a point in the neighborhood of the Virgin River , then turned easterly and eventually crossed the Colorado River , at a point ( designated desigmated ) as the ( Cross Cross- Cross ) ing of the Fathers , and returned to Santa Fe5 New Mexico . ( Vol . 9 , p . 1560 . ) This expedition is extremely important on ( ac- ac ) count of its bearing upon the susceptibility of the rivers in question to navigation . The prime object of the expedition was to ( estab- estab ) ( lisli lish ) a line of communication ( between betiveen ) Santa Fe , New Mexico , and the California Spanish towns . The Spaniards were experienced explorers and were builders of empires . They ( were vere ) skilled in the operation of boats . They never used any boats on the Green , Colorado , or San ( Juan Tuan ) Rivers . Later an overland trade route from ( Santa Sauta ) Fe to ( Califor Califor- Califor ) nia ( was -was was ) established , known as the Old Spanish Trail . Between the point where the Old Spanish Trail crosses the San Juan River and the mouth of the Virgin River there were 700 miles of continuous river and the Spaniards discarded the river route as unsuitable for travel . The trail crossed the Grand River near the present town of Moab . ( Froai From ) the point where it crossed to the mouth of the Virgin River , there were 600 ( miles railes ) of ( continu continu- continu ) ous river and this river also was discarded as a means of travel . The trail crossed the Green River at the present town of Greenriver Utah and from , , |