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Show 12 to discover the overland trail to the Pacific. Wending his way out of San Xavior del Bac, he followed the Gila River downstream to its confluence with the Colorado. He descended the river perhaps fifty miles or so, then struck northwest across the desert; and, entering Imperial Valley near the present U.S.-Mexico border, he became the first white man to cross into the drainage of the Great Basin. Of course this honor was not to be bestowed upon him during his lifetime. It was another 73 years before such a geographical distinction was made concerning the "land of interior drainage." Garce's did not reach the Pacific coast on this expedition, but he did travel far enough to sight the eastern slopes of the San Jacinto Range; and he is credited with establishing the first Sonora-California trail, although difficult and impractical. Perhaps the most important accomplishment of Garces's expedition was the cementing of his friendship with the Yumas who controlled the strategic river crossing of the Colorado. Encouraged by Garces's success, Viceroy Bucareli authorized Juan Bautista de Anza, commander of the garrison at Tubac, to attempt another crossing. Anza, guided by Garces, struck out from Tubac on January 8, 1774 and arrived at San Gabriel on the coast on March 22nd. He closely followed Garces's trail of 1771. Another expedition was led by Anza and Garces in 1775 accompanied by some 240 colonists. At the Yuma villages near the confluence of the the Gila and the Colorado, Garces left the main body of travellers and ascended the Colorado to the Needles (the site of present-day Needles, California). Aided by Indian guides, he again traversed the invisible boundry of the Great Basin, and, following the Mojave River across the desert, be arrived at the San Gabriel mission in the Spring of 1776. By the efforts Garces and Anza much of the topography of the extreme |