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THE EARLY HISTORY, 1776 - 1870 The Domínguez-Escalante Expedition The recorded history of Glen Canyon opens in 1776 when the Spanish exploring party, headed by two Franciscan friars, Francisco Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Velez de Escalante, crossed the Colorado River at the place later known as El Vado de los Padres, or as the Crossing of the Fathers, its present designation. Documentary research in Spanish records, particularly those pertaining to New Mexico, whence the approach most probably would have been made, may uncover earlier references to the canyon but it seems unlikely. Once New Mexico was firmly established, by 1610, Spain was sorely pressed much of the time thereafter to preserve the province from attack by the Indian tribes surrounding it and within it. Control of northern New Mexico was lost altogether when the Pueblos revolted in 1680 and it was not regained for another seventeen years. Spain had little time or treasure to extend the earlier explorations of Coronado, Espejo, and Oñate, however strong the attractions of the unexplored country northwest of New Mexico may have been. Once Alta, California was successfully occupied by Spain in 1769 some attempts were made to connect it with New Mexico. The Domínguez-Escalante expedition is the most noteworthy of those ventures. No attempt is made here to follow the route of those Spanish pioneers on their great circle of exploration which began and ended at Santa Fe and carried them through the four modern states of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona. This has been done a number of times and it is beyond the scope of this report. It is enough to say, that, although they did not reach their goal in California, the Spaniards added immensely to the knowledge of the vast area they explored; it is highly probably that they discovered Glen Canyon as they worked their way back to Santa Fe from the point of returning near Cedar City, Utah. Domínguez and Escalante first reached the Colorado River at the location where nearly a hundred years later John D. Lee established a ferry (Historical site 19). They were probably the first white men to visit the place where they camped from October 26 through November 1 at the base of the gray ledges of rock on the left bank of the Paria River at its mouth, called by them the Rio Santa Teresa (Historical site 20). 1Epson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 14,145,536 byte