The Franciscan missionaries Escalante and Dominguez

Franciscan missionaries Francisco Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante unsuccessfully attempted the trip to California, leaving Santa Fe in 1776, making it all the way to the Great Basin, Utah Lake before returning via the AZ Strip.

Paria Plateau where the Dominguez - Escalante Expedition traveled past here. They crossed the Grand Canyon.

Vermillion Cliffs

The Spanish authorities in New Mexico wanted to establish an overland route to Monterey, California, both to tie the northern and western parts of the Spanish Empire together and to bring Indians in these areas under Spanish control. To avoid the deserts and hostile Indians to the west, Father Francisco Atanasio Domínguez, proposed a northwestern route through the little-known territory of the Ute Indians. On July 29, 1776, the expedition left Santa Fe, traveling through northern New Mexico, southwestern Colorado and into Utah.   americanjourneys.org/aj-106/    Home