The Dominguez-Escalante Expedition
The Spanish had already established several missions along the west coast before 1776. The next step was to establish a line of communication between the older settlements of New Mexico and the new ones on the coast. Three Franciscan fathers, Francisco Garces, Silvestre Velez de Escalante, and Francisco Antanasio Dominguez had been looking into the idea. In 1775, Escalante had been performing missionary work for the Zuni tribe. That summer he had explored a route from the Hopi villages to Monterey, California, via the Colorado River. Garces had been living at San Xavier del Bac near Tucson, Arizona. He had been interested in a route from his mission to Santa Fe. Meanwhile, Dominguez was checking up on missionary activities in New Mexico.
Dominguez was tapped to explore a new route to the coast. He had heard of Escalante's efforts and asked him to join him. They first met in June of 1776. They decided they could not go directly west. The Hopis were not interested in western religion and the Apaches along the Gila River were downright hostile. They decided to go a little farther north, through what would become southwest Colorado. They would follow the Uncompahgre to its junction with the Gunnison River. It was a fairly well-known route at that time. From there they would go west toward Monterey.
They left Santa Fe on July 29, 1776. Dominguez was the head of the expedition but Escalante kept a daily record of the trip. Don Bernardo Miera y Pacheco, a retired army captain also went on the trip. He would map the area and describe what he saw along the route. Seven other men were on the roster. They were Don Juan Pedro Cisneros, mayor of Zuni; Don Joaquin Lain of Zuni; Lorenzo Olivares from El Paso, Andres Munis, interpreter; his brother Lucrecio; Juan de Aguilar; and Simon Lucero, servant of Cisneros. Two Indians joined them on August 14, near Cahone, Colorado. Then near Austin, Colorado, they hired a Laguna Indian named Silvestre as a guide. On September 2, while following the Gunnison to the Colorado, another Laguna Indian joined the expedition. The fathers named him Joaquin; he remained with the expedition until it returned to Santa Fe. They took several head of cattle along with them to provide food along the way.
They reached the Green River in eastern Utah on September 16 near today's Dinosaur National Monument. They continued west along the Duchesne River for a ways, then continued to Spanish Fork Canyon and on to Utah Lake. The Spanish named it Lake Timpanogos after the friendly Indians that lived there. From the lake they turned south again, following the Sevier River to Sevier Lake.
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