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EIGHT The Mystery of Coronado’s Route from the Pecos River to the Llano Estacado HARRY C. MYERS IN THE SPRING OF , Francisco Vázquez de Coronado and his expedition of close to , people and animals (approximately  Spaniards, , Indians, , horses,  cows, and , rams) made the journey from the valley of the Rio Grande near present-day Bernalillo, New Mexico, to Pecos Pueblo and from there to the Llano Estacado in the Panhandle of Texas. The expeditionaries crossed the Llano in a southeasterly direction, through herds of bison, until they made at least one camp on the eastern edge of the Llano Estacado in Blanco Canyon, Texas. Much speculation surrounds the route they took from Pecos Pueblo to the Llano. The only places in which archeological indicators of the route have been found are Pecos Pueblo, New Mexico, and Blanco Canyon, near Floydada, Texas. And although the river that the party bridged is now generally accepted as having been the Pecos, researchers have also speculated that it was the Canadian River that posed an obstacle to the expedition. Additionally, a captured Plains Indian called “the Turk,” who had been living at Pecos, was supposed to have been Coronado’s guide to the plains and the riches that Coronado believed were there. It has been thought that for much of Coronado’s journey, the party followed existing Indian trails, and this makes good sense. In a land where water could not be taken for granted, the trails and roads of the Indian people followed springs, creeks, and rivers where water flowed clear and cool. Indeed, the latterday Santa Fe Trail and all other routes of travel did the same, until modern-day auto travel. Route segments without water were described as such—the jornado del muerto, or dead man’s journey, on the Camino Real in southern New Mexico is a prime example. That appellation both warned that water was unavailable and advertised what would happen if you did not carry your own water.  Another consideration of traveling was the terrain and the mode of travel being used. A person afoot can go places that a dog travois cannot. A person on horseback can go places that a wagon or cart cannot. And even people walking will avoid gullies and canyons and sharp slopes if they can go around these obstacles and still reach their destination without too great a detour, and if they can find fresh water along the route. Long before Coronado or any other European set foot on the continent, trade was taking place between the people who lived on the Llano Estacado in the general vicinity of Amarillo, Texas, and the Pueblo people of the Rio Grande Valley, with the pueblo of Pecos serving as a way station and trade broker. It was probably no coincidence that Pecos sat out on the edge of the Pueblo world and was both a broker in trade and the strongest Pueblo, with the ability to defend itself against the people of the plains. The Plains people brought products of the bison (meat, hides, sinew, etc.) to trade for the agricultural products that the Pueblo people grew with irrigation along the Rio Grande. The route between the plains and the pueblos had to provide regular water, a reasonable topography for the dog travois, and a fairly direct route into the interior of the Pueblo world. And indeed, two very old and historic routes to the Llano Estacado have recently been delineated. They were used long after the Coronado expedition passed through, and probably long before. One route ran from Pecos Pueblo via Bernal, the other from Galisteo, New Mexico, via Cañon Blanco (not the same place as Blanco Canyon, Texas). They joined at Chupains (Chupaines, Chupinas) Spring, east of Anton Chico, and tracked together east about ten miles to Gallinas Spring (Park Spring) on the Gallinas River (see map .). There, what could be called the “upper” route headed a little bit north of east via Conchas Spring and the Angosturas (the Narrows), to the plains. Meanwhile, what could be called the “lower” route headed southeast past Cuervo Hill and Tucumcari Mountain to the plains. Both are old, and both were heavily used over the years. The Upper Route In July , don Juan de Oñate brought permanent European settlement to New Mexico. Having to finance this project himself and not finding immediate riches, he, like Vázquez de Coronado, planned a journey to the Great Plains and Quivira in search of...

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