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Between 1776 and 1821, when sovereignty over Spain's dominions in North America fell to Mexico, there was some Spanish trading in the regions discovered by Dominguez and Escalante, but it was probably not until later, as the caravan trade developed between New Mexico and California, that the Glen Canyon region was again visited. The so-called Spanish Trail between Santa Fe and San Gabriel, which crossed the Colorado at Moab and the Green at Green River and headed the river canyons of southern Utah, was opened during the Mexican period and Mexican as well as American traders traveled it. Before 1848, when American rule began, there is at least one recorded crossing of Glen Canyon, this at the Crossing of the Fathers by the Antonio Armijo party in 1829. There were probably others. An enterprising French fur trader. Denis Julien, even attempted to navigate Cataract Canyon, where he carved his name in 1836. The date 1837 in Glen Canyon (site 101) may have been made by his party. New Mexican traders dealing in Indian slaves and active in central Utah as late as 1852, and Indian slavers operating for another eight years at least, quite probably crossed Glen Canyon, but they have left no known traces. The difficult crossings at Spanish Bottom, or at the Crossing of the Fathers, or the easy one at Dandy Crossing (site 75) or elsewhere, would have served their purposes better perhaps than the well traveled Spanish Trail. Bibliographical notes: Spanish-Mexican Background, 1776-1848 There is an abundant literature on the Colorado River, much of it technical in scope, treating of subjects like water use, flood control, reclamation, and geology. When it comes to history most of the writers have fallen victim to the charms of the Grand Canyon and the lower basin. The upper basin as a unity scarcely exists in historiography; the Glen Canyon country has no entity at all. Even the river runners from Powell onward have generally rested their pens as they have their oars in Glen Canyon in preparation for the Grand Canyon conquest. In his selective bibliography, Farquhar (1953) can find few titles descriptive of the entire river. Dellenbaugh's work (1902) carries the history of the river through the Brown-Stanton exploration. Freeman's work (1923) brings the story of river exploration up to that date. Waters (1946) and Corle (1951) focus on the Grand Canyon but they do have material of value for the upper basin. Peattie, ed., (1948) has some good chapters on history -2-Epson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 14,270,464 byte