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Show CATHOLIC CHURCH IN UTAH i Trailing the Spanish Priests-Across Colo- j rado, Utah and Grand Canyon Its Ob- j ject Failure to Reach Destiny Es- calante's First Camp in Utah Posado's j Previous Trip Ends Abruptly Esca- I lante Rests at Green River Accurate Description of Various Places Near- ! ing Utah Lake. , ll-l- I Leaving Santa IV, the first stopping place ef the party was at the old Spanish town of Santa Clara, which name the little village still .retains, ' and another nine leagues, or twenty-one and a half j miles, brought them to Santa Rosa de Abiquiu, tha still existing town of that name. From hero the trail bore to the north and west to a point near j j the present village of Chama on the Denver & Ri i I Grande railroad, from where the priests turned j ; abruptly to the westward, following practically the j . route at present taken by the railroad, through i Durango and, still along the line of the railroad, to the west until they arrived at the present station sta-tion of Dolores, where the railroad turns into the mountains to the right on its way to Ouray and ! Telluride. Here, the course taken by the party was along j the Rio Dolores to within some 15 miles of where . the river is joined by the San Miguel, which Esca- j lante named the San Pedro, and then turned to the 1 eastward across the head-waters of the San Miguel. j " There can be little question but this abrupt ! swing to the eastward was the primary cause of j thg-failure of the expedition to reach Monterey. It seems apparent that in taking this route Esca- lante must have been influenced by the previous trips of Rivera and Posado, the former going as far north as the Grand river, and the latter to the San Buenaventura or Green river. Following this easterly course for some 50 miles they now turned, northward, across the lower end of the Uncomphagre plateau into the drainage of the Uncomphagre river, and then northward across ! i the Gunnison and the Grand, and still on across the White river until they reached Utah. j j : On this portion of the journey they traveled al-' most entirely over Indian trails, with competent i guides, and, as they followed the routes of Rivera ' and Posado, nothing of noteworthy interest hap- ; pened, and not until they leave the banks of the j j Grand river do they encounter a foretaste of the j i trials which are to come later. Crossing the state line, now separating Colorado Colo-rado from Utah, and coming to that portion of the journey which more intimately concerns our history, his-tory, Escalante made his first camp in Utah upon the eastern bank of the Green river at a point near the present town of Jensen, but on the opposite oppo-site side of the river. Of the location of this i camp there can be little doubt, as the minute de-. scription which he gives of the prominent topographical topo-graphical features could be fitted to no other portion por-tion of northern Utah, and while his latitude given t for this camp is, as in other instances, erroneous I owing to a defective quadrant, the error in this re-' ! gion showing him to be about 58 minutes too far f north, he could have come, according to hi3 descrip- I. tions of the country, from no other direction than I across the Yampa plateau and down to the Green river, or, as he records it in his Journal, the San t Buenaventura. Here it is interesting to note that f he says in his Journal, "this river of San Buena- ! ventura is the largest that we have crossed, and i3 the same one that Fray Alonzo de Posado says ' in his report separates the Yuta nation from the Comanche, if we may judge by the description ho ; gives of it and the distance he says it is from 1 Santa Fe." J The most diligent search fails to reveal any ' record of Posado's trip, and as Escalante makes no j further mention of it beyond the Green river, it I must be assumed that Posado turned back from j here or continued his explorations in other directions. direc-tions. Having always in mind the primary object 1 ' of Escalante's journey the resolution to open a route to Monterey it would be interesting to know j how far Posado's journal may have influenced him i I in continuing his course so far to the north, and ! ; which ultimately led to the abandonment of tha ! r attempt to reach Monterey. j Arriving at the Green river, Aug. 13, and naming nam-ing his camp the Vega de Santa Cruz, or Plain of ? the Holy Cross, Escalante remained here the two i following days to rest his horses, and with the excellent ex-cellent feed and abundant water found in this place, give them opportunity to recuperate from the i f (Continued on Page 5.) ' ; I' 1 1 s . ! CATHOLIC CHURCH IN UTAH (Continued from page 1.) wearisome efforts which the preceding days of the journey had occasioned. On the morning of Sept. 16, witih horses rested rest-ed and rfershed, the strenuous journey is again taken up. Going northward t.a mile to the only available ford, the river is crossed and a westerly-course westerly-course ft taken until Brush creek is forded, when they enter the lines on the western bank of the river and pursue a soutlnve.sterly course until they came across tracks of Indians and horses. These signs produced in their" minds such grave-suspicions grave-suspicions as to give rise to the belief that an ati tempt would be made to steal their stock. Their suspicions seemed further confirmed by the actions ac-tions of their guide, so, swerving to the right, they turned and followed the tracks, which again brought them to Green river, and where they camped for the night. Leaving this camp on a course almost due west, the Uintah river, called by them Rio San Damiam was reached and crossed near the mouth of the Du Chene, to which they gave the name of Rio San! Cosmas. From the high hill which they ascended before reaching LTintah river, the guide showed them the point where the Green river was joined by the White, which latter they had previously named tho San Clement. Following, up the Du Chesne river, sometimes wading in the river bed and again climbing the hills along its borders, they named the streams as they, crossed them, still maintaining that painstaking pains-taking and minute description of the country which alone makes possible the accurate tracing of their route. Entering a narrow canyon, the trail became hard to follow, and as they advance their progress is seriously impeded by the, more rugged nature of the country until they reached the mouth of Strawberry Straw-berry creek, where they turned to the northwest and made their camp for the night on the banks of Currant creek. The day had been a most trying one and the country, at times all but impassable presenting a most formidable appearance as they entered the foothills of the Wasatch mountains-at mountains-at times they were compelled to turn back and retrace re-trace their steps, tor to advance seemed inipo i-ble. i-ble. The indomitable will and untiring patience which carried them through this region, and y which they surmounted greater hardship- encountered encoun-tered later on. are summed up in K-enlante's journal, jour-nal, where, after completing the record for the day. he adds the uncomplaining entry. "We arrived ar-rived very tired because the road was ditKcult." Leaving the camp on Currant creek, where misfortune mis-fortune had again visited, them in the death ot one of their horses, they veered to the southwest. I'.gaif crossed Strawberry creek, and, ascending the divide between the drainage of that stream and Soldiei Fork creek, they camped for the night. The' following day they crossed Soldier berk, and still moving to the southwest, climbed the mountain and made camp on the divide which separates sep-arates the waters of the Great Uasin from tin drainage which finally reaches the Gulf of .Mexico through the Colorado river. When they drew near to Utah lake and the homo of their Laguna guide, the hitter's desire to see bi i people was so great that he so much increased his pace as to make it impossible for the party to follow fol-low him. and they suffered very much in tracing their way over the rocks. Leaving their camp on the divide, and still going go-ing to the southwest over difficult and dangerous' ground, they came to Thistle creek, which they named Kfo San Leno. and camped the night of Sept. 22 upon ground which is almost the present site of the little town of Indianola. and which camp they named San Leno. |