Dominguez-Escalante Expedition of 1776, Part 2
submitted by: Jay Jones
DE Part2 Casting |
The Dominguez-Escalante expedition left Santa Fe, New Mexico in late July 1776, expecting to arrive in California before winter.
After traveling northwest through Colorado and visiting with friendly Indians in Utah Valley, they pursued a southwesterly course.
Not finding a route to the west with good water and feed for their horses, they proceeded south.
After experiencing a heavy snow storm in the vicinity of Milford, Dominguez and Escalante realized that with winter starting to set in, they may be unable to cross mountain passes to arrive safely at their intended destination. Their supplies were running low. They told the men that they would return to Santa Fe.
The navigator and mapmaker of the expedition, Don Bernardo Miera, had convinced most of the men that the opportunities for wealth and glory in California would exceed anything they could dream of in New Mexico. Most of the men wanted to continue to California, becoming very grumpy at the idea of returning home before reaching that goal.
After camping the night of 10 October 1776 at a site they named San Eleuterio in present day northern Iron County near Brown Knoll, most of the men resumed their journey southward while Dominguez and Escalante discussed their options.
Sensing that a mutiny was a distinct possibility, Dominguez and Escalante caught up with the group and had them dismount. A small knoll, now called Dominguez Knoll, overlooking the Escalante Valley became the location of a major decision.
Escalante records: “In order that God’s cause stood better justified, and to make them understand more clearly that we had changed our mind neither out of fear nor by our own despotic will, we decided to lay aside altogether the great weight of the arguments mentioned and, after imploring the divine mercy and the intercession of our holy patron saints, to search anew God’s will by casting lots – putting Monterey on one and Cosnina on the other – and to follow the route which came out.”
Father Dominguez told the group that if the lot fell on California, Miera would be responsible to guide them there and to answer for the safety of the men.
Escalante continues: “We cast lots, and the one of Cosnina came out. This we all heartily accepted now, thanks be to God, mollified and pleased.”
Cosnina was the name that the Spaniards had given to a Havasupai Indian village near the Colorado River that was believed to be on the way back to Santa Fe. No one in the expedition had ever been there, and as it turned out, it was not on the return route taken.
With this major decision behind them, the explorers adjusted their direction from the southwest to the southeast and entered Cedar Valley. Escalante called it a “beautiful valley . . . most abundant in pasturage.” They named it the Valley of Señor San José.
The following day they encountered several Indians “who had been gathering wild plant seeds on the plain.” Noticing the fear that the natives had of men mounted on horses, Escalante wrote that “we sent them away, telling them to notify their people that we came in peace, that we harmed no one, that we loved everybody – and so, for the men who were able, to come without misgivings to the place where we were going to spend the night.”
That night, 12 October, they camped west of present day Kanarraville. They convinced one of the native men to accompany them as a guide.
The next day they continued south, over the Black Ridge and camped along Ash Creek. The local guide disappeared into the hills.
Next week, the conclusion of the Dominguez-Escalante expedition.