Because of European colonialism, Utah was once part of New Spain and later Mexico after Mexico declared its independence. Trade between New Mexico and California was sometimes conducted using the Old Spanish Trail which went through Utah. Two Catholic Priests, Father Dominguez and Father Escalante used part of the Old Spanish Trail to enter and leave Utah. The journal and map of their expedition (the Miera Map) serve as an early record of Utah’s geography and native people.
Dominguez Archaeology – Rock Pestle
The photograph shows archeology, a rock and mortar pestle, from the Dominguez Exploration period. The handiwork of early Spanish explorers who were evidently the first to discover gold-bearing deposits in the Henry Mountains. It was found near Straight Creek on the east flank of Mt. Pennell, Two miles above the gold mine operated early in … Continue reading Dominguez Archaeology – Rock Pestle
Dominguez Butte, Gunsight Butte, and Navajo Mountain
The photograph shows an area soon to be flooded by Lake Powell, with Gunsight Butte on left, Navajo Mountain in distance, Dominguez Butte at the right.
The Settlement of Bear Valley
According to John C. Fremont, a scientifically-trained government explorer, the old Santa Fe Trail on which the large Spanish caravans or pack trains traveled from San Pedro to Santa Fe in May and October of each year, came across the Mojave Desert to Las Vegas, then to Virgin and Santa Clara Rivers and up to … Continue reading The Settlement of Bear Valley
Dominguez-Escalante Party – Route Map
This is a copy of a Spanish map showing the route of the Dominguez-Escalante party through the American Southwest in 1776, the area later surveyed by the Herbert Gregory expeditions in the early 20th centuries.
Catholic Missionaries and Explorers
Photograph of an illustration in an unidentified publication, artist’s rendition of a party of Spanish explorers in the American Southwest (probably the Dominguez-Escalante expedition of 1776). The art piece shows a Native American man guiding a White, Catholic priest of some sort through a mountain region.
Escalante Crossing Monument
This is a 1976 Bicentennial Commission Monument. On 13 September 1776 Fray Francisco Atanasio Dominguez and Fray Silvestre de Escalante crossed the Green River at about the location of this marker in Jensen, Utah. See also Historical Markers and Monuments: www.uintahbasintah.org.
Escalante Crossing Monument
This is a 1976 Bicentennial Commission Monument. On 13 September 1776 Fray Francisco Atanasio Dominguez and Fray Silvestre de Escalante crossed the Green River at about the location of this marker in Jensen, Utah