Research Catalog

Escalante's dream : on the trail of the Spanish discovery of the Southwest

Title
Escalante's dream : on the trail of the Spanish discovery of the Southwest / David Roberts.
Author
Roberts, David, 1943-2021
Publication
  • New York : W. W. Norton & Company, [2019]
  • ©2019

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Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person.

TextUse in library JFE 19-8636Schwarzman Building - Milstein Division Room 121

Details

Description
337 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps; 25 cm
Summary
In July 1776 a pair of Franciscan friars, Francisco Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, were charged by the governor of New Mexico with discovering a route across the unknown Southwest to the new Spanish colony in California. They had other goals as well, some of them secret: converting the indigenous natives along the way to the true faith, discovering a semi-mythical paradise known as Teguayó, hunting for sources of gold and silver, and paving the way for Spanish settlements from Santa Fe to Monterey. In strict terms, the expedition failed. Running out of food and beset by an early winter, the twelve-man team gave up in what is now western Utah. The retreat to Santa Fe became an ordeal of survival. The men were reduced to eating their own horses while they searched for a crossing of the raging Colorado River in Glen Canyon. Seven months after setting out, Domínguez and Escalante staggered back to Santa Fe. Yet in the course of their 1,700-mile voyage, the explorers discovered more land unknown to Europeans than Lewis and Clark would encounter a quarter-century later. Other writers, using Escalante's brilliant and quirky diary as a guide, have retraced the expedition route, but David Roberts is the first to dig beneath its pages to question and ponder every turn of the team's decision-making and motivation. Roberts weaves the personal and the historical narratives into a gripping journey of discovery through the magnificent American Southwest. --Publisher
Subject
  • Roberts, David, 1943-2021 > Travel > Southwest, New
  • Domínguez, Francisco Atanasio, active 1776
  • Vélez de Escalante, Silvestre, -1792
  • Roberts, David, 1943-2021
  • Franciscans > Southwest, New > Biography
  • Franciscans
  • Domínguez-Escalante Expedition (1776)
  • Domínguez-Escalante Expedition
  • Explorers > Southwest, New > Biography
  • Explorers > Spain > Biography
  • Discovery and exploration, Spanish
  • Explorers
  • Travel
  • Southwest, New > Description and travel
  • Four Corners Region > Description and travel
  • Southwest, New > Discovery and exploration > Spanish
  • New Southwest
  • Spain
  • United States > Four Corners Region
Genre/Form
Biographies.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (pages [309]-312) and index.
Contents
Abiquiu and beyond -- Where are the Indians? -- Escalante slept here -- Searching for Yutas -- Finding the Río Tizón -- Teguayó and the Lost Spaniards -- Decision -- The crossing of the fathers -- Hopi and beyond -- Epilogue: the legacy.
Call Number
JFE 19-8636
ISBN
  • 9780393652062
  • 0393652068
LCCN
2019006079
OCLC
1053997444
Author
Roberts, David, 1943-2021, author.
Title
Escalante's dream : on the trail of the Spanish discovery of the Southwest / David Roberts.
Publisher
New York : W. W. Norton & Company, [2019]
Copyright Date
©2019
Edition
First edition.
Type of Content
text
still image
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages [309]-312) and index.
Research Call Number
JFE 19-8636
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