So Bold, So Beautiful a Land

So Bold, So Beautiful a Land. . It took bold men to ride into a bold land, a land of raging rivers, burning deserts, towering mountains, and rugged canyons. The land of the Southwest through which Dominguez and Escalante travelled in 1776 was awesome in beauty and harsh in physical challenges. During the course of their 2,000-mile journey of exploration, the padres travelled through many different geographic environments, a fact which frequently dictated their route. , Once Dominguez and Escalante left the trails of northern New Mexico, their route followed Indian trails, which in turn followed game trails. Fearing a lack of water and forage for their livestock, the padres abandoned the most direct route west from Dove Creek and returned to the Dolores River. When confronted with the obstacle of the Dolores Canyon, they turned east, seeking a guide from the Ute Indians. Water influenced their direction again in northwestern Colorado when their Ute guide, Sylvestre, led the expedition far to the north to one of the few safe crossings of the Green River. , Although dependent on Indian guides, Dominguez and Escalante were fortunate to have in their company Don Bernardo Miera y Pacheco, a retired captain of the Santa Fe militia and an accomplished cartographer, artist, engineer, and explorer. For thirty years Miera had lived on the Spanish frontier for the personal glory of exploring and mapping new lands for his King's empire. Throughout the expedition Miera measured the latitude with an astrolabe, a primitive forerunner of the sextant. On his return to Santa Fe, he prepared the first comprehensive map of the Four Corners region for Charles II of Spain. , The varied terrain of the American southwest passed beneath the hooves of the priests' horses, from the lush alpine forests of the Uncompahgre Plateau and Grand Mesa to the arid desert country of central Utah. Indeed, theirs was a journey through a vast and exciting land , the American southwest!