Dominguez and Escalante Trail
Posted by: 
brwhiz
N 38° 58.759 W 112° 19.396
12S E 385380 N 4315314
The Dominguez y Escalante expedition of 1776-1777 ranks as one of the most daring journeys of discovery in the American Southwest.
Waymark Code: WMB5ZN
Location: Utah, United States
Date Posted: 04/09/2011
Views: 8
The written history of the Intermountain Region begins in 1776 with the remarkably accurate diary of Father Escalante, a Spanish Franciscan priest. He and Father Dominguez, together with eight companions, were the first white men known to have been here.
On a futile journey, trying to locate a direct route between Santa Fe, New Mexico, center of Catholic Missionary acitivities, and Monterey, California, recently re-established Port of Entry for goods from Spain and southern Mexico, they traversed most of Utah, east and south of the Salt Lake Valley. On the return journey to Santa Fe, they crossed this divide in October, 1776.
The history of their wanderings over strange trails, and their missionary work among Indian tribes, furnishes one of the most impressive accounts of exploration and heroism of the history of the West. Their travels extended more than 600 miles over mountains and deserts, without competent guides or a knowledge of the country before them, and depending only upon information and assistance from the Indians, they endured untold hardship and privation, finally reaching Santa Fe on January 2, 1777.
Dominguez Escalante
Trail
1776 - 1777