Palo Duro Canyon and Coronado, 7 / 22 / 2009

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As I was doing this painting of The Palo Duro Canyon, I was thinking about a day long ago, May 23, 1541, when something happened at this canyon. What happened here at this canyon was that a young Spanish Conquistador and Explorer, who was only thirty one years old, had a celebration dinner here with his army. I don’t know much about the reasons why they were celebrating and had the dinner, but it happened here. That young man’s name was Francisco Vasquez de Coronado y Lujan. Now nearly all Americans know him now simply as Coronado .
 
To put in perspective just how long ago this day was, it was sixty seven years (two generations) before the first English settlers stepped on to land on May 13, 1607, on the eastern coast of North America.
 
Being a second son to a wealthy family in Spain , he was excluded from any of the family’s inheritance. So to be somebody, he had to go somewhere to make his fortune. When he was twenty five years old, he chose to go to The New World that had been discovered only 42 years before. Arriving in Mexico , he soon married a girl, Beatriz de Estrada, from a very wealthy and prominent family. He soon became the Governor of the Kingdon of Nueva Galicia in western Mexico .
 
Spain , involved in expensive European wars, needed gold. They had already conquered and looted the gold from the Aztec Empire in Mexico and the Inca Empire in Peru .
 
There was great speculation among the Spanish aristocracy in Mexico that perhaps another Indian Empire with more ship-loads of gold was somewhere north of Mexico in the vast unknown wilderness. In 1539, Governor Coronado sent Friar Marcos de Niza and Estevanico on an expedition to the north to see if they could locate the Indian Empire. Friar Marcos returned with great news, he had seen a large city on a hill named Cibola that was made of solid gold. Governor Coronado got the gold fever and immediately started making plans to find and conquer the city of gold.
 
As the plans were made, the cost of the expedition grew and grew. Govenor Coronado invests everything he owns, including the vast wealth of his wife, in the expedition. Viceroy Antonio De Mendoza of Mexico also becomes a major investor, however he wants verification that there is really a city of gold to the north. He sends a smaller expedition northward under the command of Melchor Diaz.
 
On February 23, 1540, Governor Coronado departs Compostela in Western Mexico leading an army of 335 Spaniards, 1300 Indians, four monks, an unknown number of Indian and black slaves and camp followers. They also had 1500 horses, several cannons, an unknown number of supply and camp gear carts and camp followers. The expeditionary force stretched for miles down the narrow trails. Also, ships, full of supplies, were sent northward up the Gulf of California to find a river to hopefully supply the army when they got further inland.
 
On the way, they met the small force returning from their exploration, sent by the viceroy to confirm whether or not there was actually a city of gold, and the commander, Melchor Diaz, reported to Coronado that they did not found any such city or any gold. Coronado ordered him not to discuss this with his soldiers. So from this point forward, Coronado knew, but his army did not know, there may not be any city of gold. I am sure that he agonized over what to do.
 
They would be gone for two years and would travel nearly two thousand miles northward through present day northern Mexico , Arizona , New Mexico , Texas , Oklahoma and Kansas . In New Mexico , they had given up on finding the golden city, Cibolo, however they had met an Indian that said there were seven cities of gold further to the north. They nicknamed the Indian, “The Turk”, brought him along as a guide and continued northward. They crossed the great grassy plains and named it The Llano Estacado. They found Palo Duro Canyon and had the celebration dinner. They continued on, but by the time they reached the Kansas River in present day State of Kansas , Cornado had lost faith. He had The Turk” tortured and he confessed there were no seven cities of gold. For this, he lost his life, he was executed. Devastated, Coronado gave up his dream of fame and riches and started the two thousand miles back down their trail.  Coronado and only one hundred of his army would live to return to Compostela.
 
Coronado had lost his entire investment and was soon in bankruptcy. Then to make matters worse, he was accused of and found guilty of atrocities against the Indians and was removed from office.
 
Defeated and broke, he moved his family to Mexico City and held a minor position until his health failed and he died in 1554. He was just forty four years old.