The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 63, July 1959 - April, 1960 Page: 193

Coronado: From the Rio Grande to the Concho

seven days these Spaniards moved eastward (or southeastward)
until they reached the above mentioned large ravine. The dis-
tance was 250 leagues or 6571/2 miles.*1 Eyebrows may be raised
at any attempt to rely on these figures-but it should be remem-
bered that one man counted his steps5 and that his count of
leagues, wherever it can be checked, will stand the test of modern
scientific measurements.
One example of his accuracy is his reported distance from
Tiguex (twenty miles north of Albuquerque) to the Pecos pueblo.
This Spaniard who counted his steps measured the distance be-
tween those two known points and found it to be twenty-five
leagues.'8 If one struggles with that same problem on a modern
map, he must reach the same conclusion.17
Applying the distance of 250 leagues to the present Texas-New
Mexico map, one finds that a straight line of 250 leagues eastward
from the Rio Grande near Albuquerque would reach Dallas or
Waco. But admittedly the Coronado Expedition did not follow a
straight line on the trip into Texas. The account of the army on
its return to New Mexico reveals, however, that a straight course
was followed as nearly as topography would permit. The return
trip required only twenty-five days.8 At the same rate as the east-
ward journey, therefore, these twenty-five days of travel amounted
to only 444 miles.
Next measure 444 miles eastward from the Rio Grande near
Albuquerque. From Albuquerque to Farwell, Texas, the distance
is 234 miles by the nearest highway. Add a few miles and call it
244 miles from Tiguex on the Rio Grande (near Albuquerque)
traveled in leagues and the number of days of travel. Thus a daily rate of travel
(17.77 miles per day) may be arrived at. The number of days required for the
army to return to New Mexico (actually it was twenty-five days) multiplied by
this rate gives a total of 444 miles from the Rio Grande to the end of Coronado's
journey in Texas. As shown later in this presentation, Coronado reached the pecan
country in Texas which at its nearest points was some 440 to 450 miles from the
Rio Grande near Albuquerque.
14Bureau of Ethnology Report, 507-508.
15Ibid., 508.
16Ibid., 503.
17Frederick W. Hodge and Theodore J. Lewis (eds.), Spanish Explorers in
Southern United States, 1528-1543 (New York, 19go7), 329n.
18Bureau of Ethnology Report, 507-508.

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