The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 1, July 1897 - April, 1898 Page: 185
334 p. : ill., ports., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca.
185
Pecos to the mouth of the Conchos and up that river is en-
tirely untenable, as it would keep them out of the pifion region.30
Both routes are also too far south to agree with Castafieda's state-
ment that Coronado crossed Cabeza's path in New Mexico.
We have already shown that Bandelier blundered in making
Sabine bay the meeting place of the Spaniards. We believe that
in his suggestion of the latter part of the route he has settled upon
the impossible. He states that the Spaniards crossed the Trinity
not far from the coast, thence westward to, the Brazos, and up that
stream for a considerable distance. Crossing this, they journeyed
to the neighborhood of San Saba, where they crossed the Colorado.
Then turning southwestward, he believes they crossed the Rio
Grande near its junction with the Pecos. The line of march from
here follows the bend of the Rio Grande to the mouth of the Con-
chos, thence to the mountain region westward and southward to
San Miguel.31
As we have said, there are well-founded objections to this route.
First, he excludes the Spaniards from the great prickly pear re-
gion. This plant is not to be found along the route thus marked
out in sufficient quantities to serve as a food supply.
Second, if Cabeza's route lay so far to the south, Coronado would
probably never have heard of him on his journey.
Third, the passage along the bend of the Rio Grande was an ab-
solute impossibility. From the Conchos to the Pecos, the Rio
Grande does not receive a single tributary, and flows through a
series of rocky cafions, often as deep as two. thousand feet.32 When
the boundary line between Mexico and the United States was
first surveyed, long detours were made to avoid the difficulties of
this route.33 It is hardly probable that Cabeza, without any means
of transportation, should have attempted this route, where not a
drop of water was to be had.
80 See note 27, p. 183.
81 A. F. Bandelier, Contributions, etc., map.
3 This statement is made on the authority of Robert T. Hill of the
United States Geological Survey.
a In following the course of the river "we had frequently to make de-
tours of twenty-five and thirty miles, in order to advance our work a
few hundred feet. " Report on the United States and Mexican Boundary
Survey, Washington, 1857, vol. I, p. 76.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 1, July 1897 - April, 1898, periodical, 1897/1898; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101009/m1/207/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.