Page:History of Utah.djvu/53

HISTORY OF UTAH.

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CHAPTER I.

DISCOVERIES OF THE SPANIARDS.

1540-1777.

Francisco Vazquez de Coronado at Cíbola—Expedition of Pedro de Tobar and Father Juan de Padilla—They Hear of a Large River—García Lopez de Cárdenas Sent in Search of It—The First Europeans to Approach Utah—Route of Cárdenas—Mythical Maps—Part of the Northern Mystery—Journey of Dominguez and Escalante—The Course They Followed—The Rivers They Crossed—The Comanches—Region of the Great Lakes—Rivers Timpanogos, San Buenaventura, and Others—The Country of the Yutas—Route from Santa Fé to Monterey—The Friars Talk of the Lake Country—Return of the Spaniards to Zuñi and March to Santa Fé.

As Francisco Vazquez de Coronado was journeying from Culiacan to the north and east in 1540, he rested at Cíbola, that is to say Zuñi, and while waiting for the main army to come forward, expeditions were sent out in various directions. One of these, consisting of twenty men under Pedro de Tobar, and attended by Father Juan de Padilla, proceeded north-westward, and after five days reached Tusayan, or the Moqui villages, which were quickly captured. Among other matters of interest, information was here given of a large river yet farther north, the people who lived upon its banks being likewise very large.

Returning to Cíbola, Tobar reported what had been said concerning this river; whereupon Captain García Lopez de Cárdenas was sent with twelve men to explore it, Pedro de Sotomayor accompanying to