Silvestre Vélez de Escalante
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Silvestre Vélez de Escalante was a Franciscan missionary and explorer of the Southwest United States during the late 18th century. He is known for his journal, in which he described the expeditions he went on. These included a failed overland expedition in 1776. He, his superior Francisco Atanasio Domínguez, cartographer Don Bernardo Miera y Pacheco, and eight others left from Santa Fe, New Mexico trying to reach Monterey, California (they were joined soon after by 2 more), during which they passed through what is now southwest Colorado, Utah—where they were the first white men to travel—[1]returning to Santa Fe by way of Arizona, skirting the eastern portion of the Grand Canyon, and passing through the badlands of western New Mexico. This exploration is referred to as the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition. The Escalante River, the town of Escalante, Utah, Escalante Elementary School and Escalante High School in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, which lies on the expedition's route, were all named after Escalante.
[edit] See also
- Dolores County, Colorado
- Escalante Desert
- Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
- Green River (Utah)
- Padre Bay
- Southern Paiute
- Spanish Fork, Utah
[edit] Notes
- ^ Katieri Treimer, Site research report, site no. 916, Southwest Colorado, Earth Metrics Inc. and SRI International for Contel Systems and the U.S. Air Force 1989
