| OCR Text |
Show broke on November 5 with no report from the two explorers, decided that this was not the ford referred to by the leaders expedition The only route open was to continue upstream in search of it. Indians. During the day the company marched northward along the high west rim of the canyon gorge, passed the mouth of Warm Creek <astride the present Arizona-Utah boundary), found a little-used trai I into and out of Warm As day Canyon, and continued northeastward to camp at they found some water and fair pasturage. Creek the base of Romana Mesa where At main just yon. or campsite the November 5 near the expedition intersected the Indian trai I which they could have fol lowed to the ford. However, east of Romana Mesa that trail turned to the north up Gunsight Can Rather than fol low .it in what seemed to be the wrong direction, the turned to the south and skirted the south end of Gunsight Butte to During the day and previous camp within a mile of the Colorado Gorge. night progress had been hampered by storms of heavy rain, snow, and hai I. (Had they fol lowed the trai I northward they would have reached the ford by way of Gunsight Pass and the north bank of Padre Creek.) Before night fall two men were dispatched to examine the country immediately ahead in The two returned with a favorable report. search of the elusive ford. padres Early on November 7 Escalante and Dominguez, accompanied by part of the crew, went personally to check the area. They found that access to the Colorado must be by way of a smal I tributary now known as Padre Creek. In order to provide secure footing for the horses, the men cut some notches ledges of Padre Creek's west wall. From expedition turned to the south and reached a sandbar just upstream from a major river bend. This seemed to permanent Two men immediately waded into the stream be the west side of the ford. The padres fol lowed and crossed to the east bank without having to swim. about ten feet along one of the the mouth of Padre Creek the Orders them at once on horseback and reached the east bank without incident. were sent back to the camp with instructions to carry al I of the camp gear and 'other equ i pment to a low spot in the west canyon wa II and lower it to ropes. The horses were brought without packs over the route fathers ha d taken, then repacked before ford i ng the stream. It is not surprising that the whole company held a mi Id celebration that night, Novem the sandbar with the 7, having finally overcome the major barrier in their way back to Santa The Cross i ng of the Fathers now lies far beneath the wate rs of La ke Fe. Powell in the area officially known as Padre Bay. The November 7 camp was located about three miles north of the present Utah-Arizona boundary. ber SEGMENT 9: From the Crossing of the Fathers to Zuni Pueblo. Researcher W.L. Rusho and Associate C. Gregory Crampton did the basic research on this segment of the trai I. They were assisted at times by several other people. The Rusho Crampton report and the contributions in RESEARCH REPORT I. -20- of others are contained |
