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Show 8 The route into Ute country took the Spaniards up the Chama River Valley to south-central Colorado, then west past the La Plata Mountains and around the high San Juan Mountains to the Uncompahgre River. To that point, the route was known because a man named Rivera had been there eleven years before. From that point, the route took the party to northwestern Colorado. They entered Utah a few miles south of the Yampa River's confluence with the Green River. They crossed the Green River and traveled westward through the Uintah Basin, up Strawberry Creek, down Diamond Fork to Spanish Fork, and into the valley of Utah Lake. There they encountered their largest group of Ute Indians. From Utah Valley, the expedition proceeded southward through the area of the Pahvant Indians and into Paiute areas. For the major part of their journey, the explorers were in Utah territory. Not many of the Indians were met along the way, but the arrival of the party caused lively interest in Utah. The journey was peaceful, even remarkably peaceful for so long a trip through unknown Indian territory. It was truly an indication of the Ute people's peaceable and friendly attitude toward the whites. The fathers were able to preach to the Indians in west-central Colorado at the camp of the Sabuaganas (a part of the Yamparka or White River Utes). They were received in a most amicable way, were permitted to trade lame horses for sound ones and were given food (dried buffalo meat) in return for glass beads. The leaders of the Sabuaganas urged the travelers to turn back saying that their lives would |
