Juan Rivera's Colorado, 1765:

by Baker, Steven G.

tapestry of one of the American West’s least understood Spanish expeditions. Rivera was sent northward from New Mexico to explore for silver and to locate and explore the mighty Colorado River. He was also charged with investigating accounts of strange heavily bearded men who looked like Europeans and were said to live along the river in the legendary province of Teguayo. Although he only got as far as the Gunnison River near Delta, Colorado, Rivera set the stage for the better-known 1776 journey of Fathers Domínguez and Vélez de Escalante. Baker demonstrates how the trip of these regional historical icons was in very large measure intended to complete Rivera’s failed mission to find the bearded men, which they succeeded in doing. In addition to proving the strong connections between Rivera’s and the Franciscans’ expeditions, Baker solves a major historical puzzle that has defied

Published

2015

Pages

404

Place

Gunnison

Listed at

$69.95

Publication details from Open Library. The price shown is the last one on record and is historic, not a current offer.