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Show PREFACE July 1776, whi Ie George Washington 'was attempting to prevent superior British forces from capturing New York City, two Catholic Fathers- Francisco Atanasio Dominguez and Si Ivestre Velez de Escalante--set out from Santa Fe, New Mexico, at the head of a ten-man missionary exploring party bound for Cal ifornia. Before completing its work, that expedition had accom pi ished one of the most remarkable explorations in the history of the United States. It had penetrated deeply into the vast, as yet unknown, interior region of the great American West. In padres intended to fol Iowa fairly wei I known trai I northwestward Fe into present-day western Colorado before swinging to the west. Such a route would avoid the deep canyons of the Colorado River and hopefully bring the expedition into contact with new' Indian tribes--I ikely subjects for conversion to the Christian faith.' Thus, the two major (I) to open a I ine of objectives of the expedition would be achieved: communication between the New Mexico settlements and Monterey, newly estab I ished capital of Cal ifornia; (2) to take Christianity to the natives with the expectation of laying the groundwork for establ ishing missions mong The from Santa . them. As it turned out, neither objective was achieved. Although numerous friendly Indians were encountered during the five-month trek, not one was baptized (various brief contacts did not al low sufficient time for true From a point in conversion), and no mission was established among them. of the short its far south,ern Utah, Monterey goal, ompany was forced present back to Santa to turn However, in spite Fe. of its fai lure to achieve intended goal, the. smal I of parts of the group conducted the earl iest known European exploration and Arizona. (The New Mexico areas of states Utah, Colorado, present traversed had already been explored and most of the region colonized.) The dai Iy journal kept by Father Escalante constitutes the earl iest written description of most of the area covered, including Indian tribes encoun The map prepared by Don fauna, mountains, rivers, and lakes. the expedition's cartographer, [s a remarkable Bernardo Miera y Pacheco, flora, tered, work--the first to show many significant physical features in Even some of the mistakes addition to marking each campsite of the company. influence on the future to have considerable destined were the on carried map piece of history that and later exploration and settlement of the West. Because of the historical importance of this expedition, plus the fact of New it was conducted during the latter half of 1776, the four states Arizona formed the Dominguez-Escalante State/Federal Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and to plan for and direct a program ,that would properly Bicentennial Committee commemorate that famous exploration as part of the national Bicentennial -v- |
