This Spanish-led expedition included the first people of European descent known to visit Utah. In a six-month journey, they traveled all the way from Santa Fe to Utah Lake, then to southern Utah, and back to New Mexico.
In short
On July 29, 1776, a ten-man team of explorers left Santa Fe, New Mexico, and headed north. They were trying to find a route to the Spanish missions in Monterey, California, that would connect these distant parts of the Spanish Empire.
Two Franciscan (Catholic) priests led the expedition. Father Francisco Atanasio Domínguez, who was from Mexico City, and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, who was from Spain. Their 1,700-mile journey is known as the Domínguez and Escalante Expedition.
Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence, and the American Revolution began.
More of the story
A multicultural team
The expedition reflected the different cultures that came together in New Spain. It included men who were born in Spain, Mexico, New Mexico, and Utah. Three Utes who knew the country served as guides and translators. The party traveled through Ute, Paiute, Navajo, and other Native American homelands that Spanish officials hoped to colonize, and where Catholic priests hoped to start religious missions.
At a Ute village in Colorado, the priests met a 12-year-old Timpanogot Ute boy who had been born in Utah Valley. He joined the expedition as a guide. Domínguez and Escalante gave him the Spanish name Joaquin (pronounced “wah-keen”), but did not record his Ute name. Joaquin traveled with the expedition to Utah Valley, and then stayed with the expedition for the rest of their journey back to Santa Fe.
Utah’s first published documents
We know a lot about the expedition because the travelers kept careful records that still survive today.
Bernardo de Miera y Pacheco, who was from Cantabria, Spain, was a cartographer (map maker). He made the first map of this area. It was later shared with people from New Spain and America.Father Escalante kept a detailed diary during the trip. He wrote descriptions of the Ute, Paiute, and other Native people that they met as their small group traveled through their lands and visited their villages. Escalante was the first European to describe Paiute people in a document that was shared with other people from Europe and America.
New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah
From Escalante’s journal and Miera’s map, we know a lot about the route that the group took.
After traveling north through Colorado for about six weeks, they entered Utah near present-day Dinosaur National Monument around September 11, 1776. They turned westward and crossed the Wasatch Mountains through Diamond Fork and Spanish Fork canyons. They arrived in Utah Valley on September 22, 1776.
Father Escalante wrote down information about the deserts, mountains, and canyon country that the party traveled through. He noted water sources, plants, and animals. Utah Valley, with its large freshwater lake, river, streams, and rich soils, impressed them.
Meeting the Timpanogots Utes
In Utah Valley, the expedition met the Timpanogots Utes who lived there. The fertile valley had many water sources and wetlands, which provided rich resources for food, shelter, and other needs. The Utes harvested plentiful fish, game, and many types of plants to eat.
Thanks to the three Utes who were part of the expedition, the Timpanogots welcomed the group. The priests taught them about Christianity. They said they would return to the Timpanogots, but never did make another journey to Utah Valley.
Change of plans
From Utah Lake, the group headed south along where I-15 is today. In October, they camped in Iron County, in a place that is now called Escalante Valley. The weather was getting colder. They decided they could not reach Monterey with winter coming. So they turned south and headed back toward Santa Fe.
When they reached the Colorado River and the steep rock walls of Glen Canyon, they searched for twelve days for a way to cross the river. They finally made a difficult crossing on November 7, 1776. This spot is now called Crossing of the Fathers, but they called the canyon Sal Si Puede—it means “get out if you can.”
They traveled through northern Arizona and finally arrived back in Santa Fe on January 2, 1777. They had been gone for just over five months!
Lasting changes
Even though they didn’t find a route to California on their trip, Miera’s map and Escalante’s diary played an important role in shaping change over the next 75 years. By mapping and describing the lands, trails, and peoples of this region, the expedition paved the way for traders, immigrants, and settlers to come to Utah from Mexico and America.
Over the next 250 years, the Native people in this region faced many challenges as they adapted to the changes these newcomers brought. Settlers took land and vital food sources from Native people whose homes had been here for thousands of years. Settlers also carried diseases that killed a great many Native people. But Native Americans faced these challenges, and their communities survived. Today, people from Utah’s eight Tribal nations live across the state in cities, towns, and reservations.
The Domínguez and Escalante Expedition is also an important event in Utah’s Latino history. Many Spanish names and places in Utah are connected to the expedition and the alliances that developed between Utes and New Mexican traders over the next 75 years.