CORONADO.
[Sidenote: 1540]
About four years after the death of Columbus at Valladolid, there was
born at Salamanca, about sixty miles away, one who was to become an
explorer in the world that Columbus had discovered. Francisco Vasquez
de Coronado grew up to have ambitions of his own. He removed to New
Spain, where he married Beatrice, the beautiful and accomplished
daughter of King Charles' cousin. Her father, Alonzo Estranda, was the
royal treasurer of the New Country. Even at that remote period those
Spanish gentlemen had a way of coming across the seas and weighing
their titles in the scales against the money, bonds and lands of the
relatives of the prospective wife, in the process of which the wife
did not apparently seem to be taken into account. Coronado received
from the mother of Beatrice, a great landed estate that had come to
her as a grant from the Crown. Then, too, they had a law in New Spain,
that confiscated the property of a man if he failed to marry by a
certain time. One who preferred poverty to matrimony, had his vast
fortune taken from him, and given to Coronado, which was very bad for
one, and very pleasant for the other. So Coronado started out on his
career very rich. He was made an officer in the Spanish army, and
almost immediately attracted attention to himself. The negroes in the
mines at Ametepeque mutinied, and set up a king for themselves, in
order that the wealth which they were producing might become the
property of their own king and themselves, instead of being sent to
the Court of Spain. The promptness with which Coronado shot many of
them to death and took their king away, shows that he was neither
lacking in decision nor initiative even at the very early age of
twenty-seven. A year later, 1538, he received the appointment of
Governor of New Gallicia, the country in the subjugation of which,
Guzeman the Viceroy of New Spain, had accomplished his own undoing.
Coronado had helped Fray Marcos and his negro guide on their way
through his territory as they passed northward. They went unattended
and unprotected. It had seemed to Mendoza that Fray Marcos, in his
priestly capacity, might accomplish more for the Crown than could the
royal troops; alone he could gain the confidence of the Indians and
learn of their strength and treasure. So he went without weapons, and
with only a few friendly Indian carriers.
Spring turned to summer, and summer to autumn, and Estevenico, the
negro guide, had become a memory only. The man who had so successfully
faced the dangers of the wilds in his eight years of wanderings, was
not to be so fortunate this time. He had an idea that he might become
a person of importance himself, an explorer instead of guide, and reap
the glory of the success of the trip. So at the first opportunity, he
put his plans into practice. Fray Marcos had sent him on ahead for a
few days of reconnoitering and then to wait. He reconnoitered, but he
did not wait. Gathering an ever increasing number of the natives about
him, he pressed on and Fray Marcos never did overtake him. He grew
more arrogant all the time, until finally he was made prisoner by the
Chief of one of the tribes, was tortured, put to death, his body cut
into pieces and distributed as souvenirs among the tribes. Three
hundred of his followers were killed, one escaping and bringing the
news to Fray Marcos, who quickly began to retrace his steps, the
Indians all the time becoming more threatening as he passed southward.
Coronado met the Monk as he returned, and accompanied him to Mexico
City where he went to make what proved to be a much over-drawn report.
Coronado had by this time become so enthusiastic over the
possibilities of his own aggrandizement, and the wealth to be reaped
from an expedition of conquest, that he proposed to Mendoza to pay the
entire cost of the expedition himself, if he were allowed to head the
party and share in its results. Mendoza was too guardful of his own
prestige and prospects, and of the interests of the Crown, to accept
the offer. But he appointed Coronado, General of the Army, to the
disappointment of a number of its prominent members who desired the
position for themselves. Acting upon the suggestion that had come from
Coronado, Mendoza mortgaged all of his estates and joined his money to
that of the Crown to pay the tremendous expense of the expedition.
Because of the number engaged, the extent of the preparations, the
time involved and the distance traversed, this is counted as the most
notable exploration party ever engaged in exploiting the North
American Continent. It comprised a picked company of three hundred
Spanish soldiers and horsemen, eight hundred seasoned Indian warriors,
and two ships under Alercon carrying extra supplies of food and
ammunition, which were to take the ocean route and be subject to call.
All being in readiness, the army marched, the ships sailed, the
trumpets sounded and the people shouted, all on that memorable morning
of February 23, 1540.
[Illustration: Coronado Before One of the Zuni Villages.]
Up from Compostela, their starting point, northwest of Mexico City; up
along the Pacific Coast; up through New Gallicia and on by the shore
of the ocean they pushed, bearing inland to the east and away from
their ships which they were never to see again. At last they passed
through Sonora, across the northernmost boundary of Mexico, and were
swallowed up in the wilderness of Arizona. Like the hunter traveling
far for his prey, the expedition on July 7th found its quarry, and
began the slaughter by the capture of the first of the "Seven cities
of Cibola." Coronado named the captured city Granada, the city in
Spain that was the birth place of Mendoza, and the burial place of
Queen Isabella. The remaining six cities were much like the first;
inhabited by the Zuni Indians, poor, ignorant and uncivilized. These
were the cities which Fray Marcos had reported to be the rivals of the
famous City of Mexico. They proved to be simple adobe houses, instead
of imposing structures with classical architecture. The people were
numbered by hundreds instead of by thousands, and were living in
abject poverty instead of wealth. The outraged and indignant army
brought Fray Marcos before them, and told him "Annanias estaba hambra
vere fies a lado di te." The Monk was greatly chagrined and
crest-fallen; his punishment consisted only in his being banished from
the army and sent back to Mexico in disgrace. But would he have
returned northward with the army if he thought he was deceiving them?
Doubtless as he viewed the country of Cibola from a distance, what he
described seemed to him true, though he may not have scrupulously
controlled his imagination. The name Cibola is from Se-bo-la, meaning
cow or buffalo. These seven cities were located in Upper New Mexico
about one hundred miles west of Albuquerque.
General Coronado having been badly injured in battle, the army went
into camp pending his recovery, and detachments were sent out on trips
of discovery.
Alvarada with a party went east and found the Rio Grande River, lined
with eighty native villages, and about 15,000 Indians. Crossing the
river, he came out upon the great buffalo plains of northern Texas,
and then made his way back to the army.
Maldonado had previously gone with a party to the ocean in fruitless
search of the ships, but found marks made by Alercon on a tree, at the
foot of which was a letter; in it they told of their arrival, of their
sailing quite a distance up the Colorado River, of their finding that
they were in a Gulf instead of on the Ocean, and that, not finding the
army, they were starting on their return trip. There is no record of
their ever having reached home. If they had been on the Ocean instead
of in the Gulf of California, and could have sailed on North, and had
discovered the mild climate of California and its luxuriant foliage,
unquestionably Spain would have colonized that country, the Rocky
Mountains would have been the dividing wall between Spanish Territory
and that of the United States, and Dewey, instead of going to the
Philippines to fight the Spanish fleet, would have bombarded the
Spanish City of San Francisco and have sunk their ships at the Golden
Gate. The Pacific Ocean was then unknown. It had only been discovered
twenty years before, when Magalhaes in 1520 sailed into its South
American waters, and called it "Pacific" because of its calmness as
compared with the storms which he had just encountered.
Field Marshal Garcia Cardenas led a party westward, and found the
Colorado River at the point now known as the Grand Canon of Arizona,
where the river is seven thousand feet deep in the ground, and where
the mighty rushing torrent is so far below, that it seems like a
thread winding its way at the bottom of that wonderful gorge, to which
the party tried in vain to descend. He was gone eighty days, and
reported, upon his return, that the river was a barrier so frightful
and insurmountable, that it would bar investigations to the westward
forever.
It is a river that is eleven hundred miles long, and is formed by the
union in Utah, of the Green River from Wyoming, and the Grand River
from Colorado. It is navigable for five hundred miles, and its mighty
volume pours unceasingly through a channel fifty feet deep, and
thirteen hundred feet wide at the point in Mexico where it hurls its
turbulent waters into the Gulf of California. The stupendous gorge
where Cardenas touched the river, is two hundred and fifty miles long,
and is made up of a maze of giant gorges. It is the most sublime
spectacle on earth. Below the Niagara Falls is a tempestuous
whirl-pool, seething, roaring, and dashing against the towering walls
of granite that vie with the turbulence of the waters for the mastery.
A thousand whirl-pools, more majestic and more inspiring, are gripped
within the walls of the canons of the Colorado River. It is for this
King of Rivers, that our State is named; a Spanish name, meaning
"ruddy." In the naming of the river and the state, two extremes have
met. In the river Colorado--is the labyrinthian terrifying chasm,
filled with the terrific rush and deafening roar of the pounding
waters, of the turbulent tidal waters laboring under the mighty swells
from the tempestuous ocean. While in Colorado the State--there is
peace, peace everywhere; the silent mountains, the quiet plains, the
mellow skies, the sunny lakes, the balmy air, the murmuring
streams--all soothe and charm and thrill, and life is all too short
for the enjoyment of its perfections.
[Illustration: A map.]
The army moved to the Rio Grande River and went into winter quarters,
occupying the best of the houses of the natives whom they inhospitably
turned out of doors to pass the winter. One of the Indians who had
been taken prisoner by the Spaniards was a talkative person and told
of a rich country far to the northeast, a country "filled with gold
and lordly kings." It sounded good to the army, as just what they were
seeking, and their enthusiasm grew as the winter passed. With the
coming of Spring, April 23, 1541, Coronado began the march to the
northeast with his whole excited army, guided by the Indian with the
vivid imagination, whom they called the "Turk." After many days of
travel with no result, and meeting different Indian tribes who said
the guide's stories were untrue, and being repeatedly assured by other
Indians that there was nothing to Turk's tales, the suspicions of the
army became a certainty, and upon their insistent questions their
guide yielded up his secret. To save his people, he was leading the
army away on a far journey, in the hope that they would never get
back, and if they did return, would be so weak and their horses so
worn, that the natives could easily fall upon and destroy them. The
work of the infuriated soldiers was cruel, swift and certain, and when
it had ended, there on the ground lay the Indian, dead.
As die the heroes of all ages, so died this Indian guide. He died for
his people. Coronado's army had invaded his country, turned his people
out of their homes in midwinter, confiscated the supplies of their
families, had killed some and imprisoned many. Leading the army away,
out of reach of water and food, hoping to encompass its destruction,
knowing that every step took him nearer to the death sure to be meted
out to him, he moved stoically and unfalteringly to his fate. "Make
way for liberty," cried Winkelreid, as he fell pierced by a dozen
bayonets pinning him to the earth, while through the gap in the solid
ranks of the enemy, poured his compatriots, sweeping Switzerland to
its freedom--and his name will live forever. Just as nobly died the
Indian on the western plains, but the wind that scattered his dust,
blew into oblivion the remembrance of the heroic act of a humble,
courageous, and self-sacrificing martyr!
The bewildered army halted for consultation. It was decided by
Coronado that he would take thirty picked horsemen and proceed
northeasterly on a tour of investigation, while the main army would
return to the Rio Grande, to the point that had been the place of
their winter quarters. He proceeded into Northern Kansas, and is
supposed to have passed the boundary line between Nebraska and Kansas,
and to have crossed the Platte River, whence he retraced his steps to
the army, then at a place near the site of the present City of
Albuquerque.
Upon his arrival he wrote a letter to the King of Spain, which is
hereafter quoted. It is interesting to note how highly he regards the
country of Quivira, which afterwards was called "Kansas," and which he
likens to the soil of Spain. His description of the products of that
section gives much information. The "cows," so frequently referred to
in his letter, were the buffalo which we found just as plentiful when
we came to settle the country. The Indians moved with the buffalo, and
lived upon them, moving their tents along with the herds as they
grazed northward in summer to escape the heat, mosquitoes and flies,
and journeying south together in the winter, to escape the cold. The
Indians knew no such word as buffalo, but called this greatly
appreciated animal Ni-ai, which meant shelter or protector. The
distance travelled by the expedition was measured by a footman
trudging along beside a horseman, his steps being counted by the
riders, seventeen hundred and sixty steps making a mile. They traveled
forty-two days on their way to the Northeast, shortening the distance
to thirty-five days for their return, and were twenty-five days in the
country of Quivira. The distance traveled was three hundred leagues,
which is about seven hundred miles. The same year that Coronado was in
Eastern Kansas, the eminent Spanish warrior and explorer De Soto, back
from his conquest of Peru with Pizarro, had discovered the Mississippi
River, the Father of Waters, and ascended it from the Gulf of Mexico;
there was only the State of Iowa between his exploring party and that
of Coronado, though neither of them were aware of the fact.
"Holy Catholic Caesarian Majesty:
"On April 20 of this year (1541) I wrote to your Majesty from this
Province of Tiguex, in reply to a letter from your Majesty, dated
in Madrid June 11 a year ago * * * I started from this Province on
the 23 of last April for the place where the Indian wanted to
guide me. After nine days march I reached some plains so vast that
I did not find their limit anywhere that I went, although I
traveled over them for more than 300 leagues, and I found such a
quantity of cows in these plains * * * which they have in this
country, that it is impossible to number them, for which I was
journeying through these plains until I returned to where I first
found them there was not a day that I lost sight of them. And
after 17 days' march, I came to a settlement of Indians who are
called 'Querechos,' who travel around with these cows, who do not
plant and who eat the raw flesh and drink the blood of the cows
they kill and they tan the skins of the cows with which all the
people of this country dress themselves here. They have little
field tents made of the hides of the cows, tanned and greased,
very well made, in which they live while they travel around near
the cows, moving with these. They have dogs which they load, which
carry their tents and poles and belongings. These people have the
best figures of any that I have seen in the Indies. They could not
give me any account of the country where the guides were taking me
* * *
"It was the Lord's pleasure, that after having journeyed across
these deserts 77 days, I arrived at the province they call Quivira
to which the guides were conducting me and where they had
described to me houses of stone with many stories and not only are
they of stone but of straw, but the people in them are as
barbarous as all those whom I have seen and passed before this.
They do not have cloaks nor cotton of which to make these, but use
the skins of the cattle they kill which they tan, because they are
settled among these on a very large river * * * The country itself
is the best I have ever seen for producing all the products of
Spain, for besides the land itself being very fat and black, and
being very well watered by the rivulets and springs and rivers, I
found prunes like those of Spain * * * and nuts and very good
sweet grapes and mulberries. I have treated the natives of this
province and all the others whom I have wherever I went as well as
was possible, agreeably to what your Majesty had commanded and
they have received no harm in any way from me or from those who
went in my Company * * * And what I am sure of is, that there is
not any gold nor any other metal in all that country and the other
things of which they had told me are nothing but little villages
and in many of these they do not plant anything and do not have
any houses except of skins and sticks and they wander around with
the cows; so that the account they gave me was false, because they
wanted to persuade me to go there with the whole force, believing
that as the way was through such inhabited deserts, and from the
lack of water, they would get us where we and our horses would die
of hunger * * * I have done all that I possibly could to serve
your Majesty and to discover a country where God our Lord might be
served and the royal patrimony of your Majesty increased as your
loyal servant and vassal. For since I reached the province of
Cibola, to which the Viceroy of New Spain sent me in the name of
your Majesty, seeing that there were none of the things there of
which Fray Marcos had told, I have managed to explore this country
for 200 leagues and more around Cibola and the best place I have
found is this river of Tiguex, where I am now and the settlements
here. It would not be possible to establish a settlement here, for
besides being 400 leagues from the North Sea and more than 200
from the South Sea, with which it is impossible to have any sort
of communication, the country is so cold as I have written to your
Majesty that apparently the winter could not be spent here because
there is no wood nor cloth with which to protect the men except
the skins which the natives wear and some small amount of cotton
cloaks. I send the Viceroy of New Spain an account of everything I
have seen in the countries where I have been, and as Don Garcia
Lopez de Cardenas is going to kiss your Majesty's hands who has
done much and has served your Majesty very well on this expedition
and he will give your Majesty an account of everything here as one
who has seen it himself, I give way to him. And may our Lord
protect the Holy Imperial Catholic person of your Majesty with
increase of greater kingdoms and powers as your loyal servants and
vassals desire. From this Province of Tiguex, Oct. 20 in the year
1541. Your Majesty's humble servant and vassal who would kiss the
royal feet and hands.
(Signed) "FRANCISCO VASQUEZ CORONADO."
On August 5, 1540, Coronado wrote to Mendoza, the Viceroy of New
Spain, a letter, of which a portion is introduced in these pages
because of its reference to local conditions where the army wintered.
The spelling in the letter to the King was changed for easier perusal,
but the original quaint translation is preserved in the following,
that the style may be observed. Both letters have been translated from
the Spanish:
"It remaineth now to certifie your Honour of the seuen cities, and
of the kingdomes and prouinces whereof the Father produinciall
made report vnto your Lordship. And to bee briefe, I can assure
your honour, he sayd the trueth in nothing that he reported, but
all was quite contrary, sauing onely the names of the cities, and
great houses of stone: for although they bee not wrought with
Turqueses, nor with lyme, nor brickes, yet are they very excellent
good houses of three or foure or fiue lofts high, wherein are good
lodgings and faire chambers with lathers instead of staires, and
certaine cellars vnder the ground very good and paued, which are
made for winter, they are in maner like stooues: and the lathers
which they haue for their houses are all in a maner mooueable and
portable, and they are made of two pieces of wood with their
steppes, as ours be. The seuen cities are seuen small townes, all
made with these kinde of houses that I speake of: and they stand
all within foure leagues together, and they are all called the
kingdome of Cibola, and euery one of them haue their particular
name: and none of them is called Cibola, but altogether they are
called Cibola. And this towne which I call a citie, I haue named
Granada, as well because it is somewhat like vnto it, as also in
remembrance of your lordship. In this towne where I nowe remaine,
there may be some two hundred houses, all compassed with walles,
and I thinke that with the rest of the houses which are not so
walled, they may be together fiue hundred. There is another towne
neere this, which is one of the seuen, & it is somewhat bigger
than this, and another of the same bignesse that this is of, and
the other foure are somewhat lesse: and I send them all painted
vnto your lordship with the voyage. And the parchment wherein the
picture is, was found here with other parchments. The people of
this towne seeme vnto me of a reasonable stature, and wittie yet
they seem not to bee such as they should bee, of that judgment and
wit to builde these houses in such sort as they are. For the most
part they goe all naked, except their priuie partes which are
couered: and they haue painted mantles like those which I send
vnto your lordship. They haue no cotton wooll growing, because the
countrye is colde, yet they weare mantles thereof as your honour
may see by the shewe thereof: and true it is that there was found
in their houses certaine yarne made of cotton wooll. They weare
their haire on their heads like those of Mexico, and they are well
nurtured and condicioned: And they haue Turqueses I thinke good
quantitie, which with the rest of the goods which they had, except
their corne, they had conueyed away before I came thither: for I
found no women there, nor no youth vnder fifteene yeres olde, nor
no olde folkes aboue sixtie, sauing two or three olde folkes, who
stayed behinde to gouerne all the rest of the youth and men of
warre. There were found in a certaine paper two poynts of Emralds,
and certaine small stones broken which are in colour somewhat like
Granates very bad, and other stones of Christall, which I gaue one
of my seruants to lay vp to send them to your lordship, and hee
hath lost them as hee telleth me. Wee found heere Guinie cockes,
but fewe. The Indians tell mee in all these seuen cities, that
they eate them not, but that they keepe them onely for their
feathers. I beleeue them not, for they are excellent good, and
greater then those of Mexico. The season which is in this
countrey, and the temperature of the ayre is like that of Mexico:
for sometime it is hotte, and sometime it raineth: but hitherto I
neuer sawe it raine, but once there fell a little showre with
winde, as they are woont to fall in Spaine.
"The snow and cold are woont to be great, for so say the
inhabitants of the Countrey: and it is very likely so to bee, both
in respect to the maner of the Countrey, and by the fashion of
their houses, and their furres and other things which this people
haue to defend them from colde. There is no kind of fruit nor
trees of fruite. The Countrey is all plaine, and is on no side
mountainous: albeit there are some hillie and bad passages. There
are small store of Foules: the cause whereof is the colde, and
because the mountaines are not neere. Here is no great store of
wood, because they haue wood for their fuell sufficient foure
leagues off from a wood of small Cedars. There is most excellent
grasse within a quarter of a league hence, for our horses as well
to feede them in pasture, as to mowe and make hay, whereof wee
stoode in great neede, because our horses came hither so weake and
feeble. The victuals which the people of this countrey haue, is
Maiz, whereof they haue great store, and also small white Pease:
and Venison, which by all likelyhood they feede vpon, (though they
say no) for wee found many skinnes of Deere, of Hares and Conies.
They eate the best cakes that euer I sawe, and euery body
generally eateth of them. They haue the finest order and way to
grind that wee euer sawe in any place. And one Indian woman of
this countrey will grinde as much as foure women of Mexico. They
haue no knowledge among them of the North Sea, nor of the Western
Sea, neither can I tell your lordship to which wee bee nearest:
But in reason they should seeme to bee neerest to the Western Sea:
and at the least I thinke I am an hundred and fiftie leagues from
thence: and the Northerne Sea should bee much further off. Your
lordship may see how broad the land is here. Here are many sorts
of beasts, as Beares, Tigers, Lions, Porkespicks, and certaine
Sheep as bigge as an horse, with very great hornes and little
tailes, I haue seene their hornes so bigge, that it is a wonder to
behold their greatnesse. Here are also wilde goates whose heads
likewise I haue seene, and the pawes of Beares, and the skins of
wilde Bores. There is game of Deere, Ounces, and very great
Stagges: and all men are of opinion that there are some bigger
than that beast which your lordship bestowed vpon me, which once
belonged to Iohn Melaz. They trauell eight dayes journey vnto
certaine plaines lying toward the North Sea. In this Countrey
there are certaine skinees well dressed, and they dresse them and
paint them where they kill their Oxen, for so they say themselves.
(Signed) "FRANCISCO VASQUEZ CORONADO."
Emerging from the second wintering of the army on the Rio Grande,
Coronado started in the Spring of 1542 with his disappointed soldiers
on their return to Mexico City, where they arrived that Fall, and
where they found grief corresponding to the gloom of the returning
soldiers. Many had built their hopes on the result of the expedition,
had borrowed money and given to those who were of the exploring party
to make filings upon mines, and to pre-empt such treasure as could be
found, as was the custom of those times. Mendoza was impoverished by
the debts he had incurred in behalf of the expedition. Coronado
instead of being a conquering hero, was greatly criticized, though not
responsible for the disappointment attending his efforts. He reported
to Mendoza who received him coldly. He returned to his province of New
Gallicia, where he remained as Governor for a time and then resigned.
Later we learn of the King sending a Commission over, to investigate
the rumor that Coronado had vastly more than the allotted number of
slaves working on his plantations.
Did Coronado discover Colorado? On the bench of the Supreme Court of
the United States, there are nine judges, and the decision of five is
final. If we were to apply that principle to this case, then we would
unhesitatingly answer that the feet of Coronado were the first of any
white man to tread the soil of Colorado and Kansas. Students of
history differ in their opinion, but the majority believe that
Coronado is the discoverer of Colorado. Much that has been written of
this expedition has been lost. At the time of the massacre of the
whites, and the destruction of the Missions at Santa Fe by the
Indians, a great many Spanish manuscripts are supposed to have been
burned, which might now throw light upon this question. In the
monasteries of Old Spain there are many papers bearing upon the
history of the New World, that are worn with age and buried in the
dust and mould of cellars, many stories deep underground, that have
not seen the light for centuries. These may someday be unearthed to
answer positively our question. Scientific investigation is going on
at this time under the direction and expense of Societies of Research
of both Worlds. A map was issued by the Interior Department of the
United States in 1908, that gives the supposed journeyings of Coronado
and shows that he both went and returned through Colorado on his trip
to Kansas. Other maps of writers give his journeyings both ways as
following the old Santa Fe trail, which runs northeast and southwest
along the Cimarron River, through the southeast corner of Colorado. So
in either event, it is to be supposed that he was within the
boundaries of our State, following either the Arkansas River or the
Cimarron.
Wonderful to contemplate are the possibilities that might have arisen
had the Coronado expedition been a success! Our country might have
been settled by the Spaniards, and we might have been a Spanish
speaking race, even after becoming strong enough to throw off our
allegiance to the Crown of Spain; and Washington would not have been
the Father of our Country. Government might have centralized between
the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, where the Capital might
have been established. The Pilgrim Fathers might not have landed on
the forbidding shores of New England, eighty years after Coronado's
expedition started out from Compostela, and there might have been no
tea thrown overboard into the harbor at Boston. Those grand forests of
the middle and eastern states, of value now beyond computation, might
have remained standing, instead of being devastated by fire and axe.
Irrigation would have been early developed, the country would have
been covered with cement-lined ditches, and every depression would
have been a storage reservoir.
Coronado might have been the greatest man in the New World, and
Coronado might have been King!