Arizona weekly citizen., 1884-05-17
ANTONIO DE ESPEJO.
The First White Man Who I. Sapp,sed to
 Have Discovered Ore in Arizona.

or St. rranclS. lie was d the -sn-.
 Barbara mines, some 4j0 miles south O
 the city of Chihuahua. He he learned ? from the Ipdians living ou the Conch, , river of the richness of the northern interior, and of it's dense population Thinking this must be a good fed , wherein to increase the church rcII
 Ruyz started in 15SI on an explorine
 expedition. He was accompanied by two other priests of the same orier. and
 eight soldiers. They left Saala Barbara
 and journey d north. At one of the
 IIguas t WIS, near the Rio Grande. one
 of the priests was killed by tho Indians.
 Frightened by this murder, the eight
 soldiers returned to Santa Barbara, and
 left Ruyz and Lopez, the two surviving
 priests, to 5ravely pursue their explora-
 tions alone.
 i EspsiJ v,.a Lv.ng O. St. Barsl l1,rlew
 a missionary station near the Santa
 Barbara mines. lie was spanish gen
 tieman of some means. He heard the story of the Spanish soldiers cowardly | desertion of the brave priests and or ! gGniztd relief party. EsoeJO had a | caravan Of 1lj horses aui mules and some Indian guides From careful | count through different pages. there
 seems tO have been over tFeuty-0re per- sons m the company, and there ma,
 have been fifty.
 They left St Bartholomew in NOvem- | Der, lJS2, and travelled uOrthward to rba COnchO river. which Is branch of the Rio Grande. Among the Indians living on tht5 river they found traces of a knowledge of symbols of the ChriEti.u faith. The Indians sad they learned
 this of three white men and negro. EspeIO knew that Cabeza de Vaca. Do
 rantes, Castillo and Estevau. the ue.rn.
 had been cdptives in this region about
 fifty years before, and naturally. and
 perhaps rightly, supposed them to be
 the parties referred to by the Indians.
 lt ls uncertain whether EspeJO followed
 the river down tO iis junction with the RiO Grande, and then Rscended the Iat- ter river, or whether he went directly north and found the Ri Grande near the present site of Fl Pas0. A- any rate hIs gem ral direction was north through ! the Rio GIande valley. hey heard from passing Indians Cf large towns c. the west, but their object was the rsscug ! ct the two lost priests, aui they kep; o1 | northwarl.
 For fifteen days they travelled ! through a forest of pine. such gs men !
 co m Castile. The county seemed Go 1 ue without population. AGsr leaving ! this pIne forest some 2iD miles they 1 came to a village of natives who were l tanners. A two days journey brought ! them :o a city of 10000 people. with 1 houses four stories hIgh, aud having | fire places. E~peiO Gayetle country the | name or NOyum Mexicum.
 The liguas country with it's iG cities were next reaciei 1t on. uf the towns named PaOiH they heard Ot the | assassination of Ruyz and Lopez, iLc i two priests. Their curiosity was now thoroughly arOusei Co explore tue couu- try. So they went on. Two dHys further 't'e. N''-..T e. "sVtiivt country or pro vince with II towns. The L,d;,r enumeration of 4OsO0 population wa- accepted by EspelO. Hsre tLsy first saw some pieces Ot silver. The Quires cOuu- try of towns and lj,OJu people was next visited. EspeJo was somewhat Uf @ scientist, and by observation found Quires Co be in latitude 3l degrees. j0 minutes north and IS mIies from the Rio GrBnde river. on the west riie presumably. This would locate QuI Cs near the present ste Of the town of AntOuItO in Southern COlr radp. Finer, Is an evident error in either EsFCjO's calculations or hIs trauscrI 0e-s' figures, l fir the towns of AcGma and Zuui, since identified, which he says were Co the westward of QuiTes. would place tue latter in about 8 q grees north. This Is most probably correct as the navi gators of EspejO's days generally erred a few degrees m their calculations.
 From Quires Espsio pushed bl5 ex- p!CratiOrs westward. FOrty-twO miles further were the Cuuamgs, who had , towns and 200O0 people. The Ameje- followed with 5000 souls. FOrty-tive miles further was the town of Acoma with 5000 people. This town exists to. day on the top of 70 hill $50 feet high. with the same name. as it had then, }lO years ago. Seveuty-twO mIle5 further west was the town Of Zuui. Here EsprjO | fOnnd the crosses erected by kd>quez de Coronado nearly fifty years before, and three converted Indiaus, who were use ful as interpreters. Zuli :s in latitude 8 degrees north and longitude l0J degrees west This proves that Espejo was wrong two degrsCs in hi, calcula- tiOns about the location Of QulTes.
 At Zuni ali but nine soldiers refused to accompany Espeio my further. With this small number he iOurneyet si mIles to the city of LaEuato. "Un- fortunately the account does not tell in what direction Espeio travelled from the site of ZuuI," says Bryant. but lt IS presumably in the same general dlrec- ton he had travelled since leaving Quires, and that was westward And Bryant admits that "the nterestn tribe of MOquis are now at about that | distance tO the Northwest or tAe Lum-
 ZagUatO was probably Nuqm town 1 and Olo of the seven c,ti's oi c" ia- Here E~peio fDund 1-fs vl-cl c'-.l ned considerable silver This ls ttc-hIs' known prospecting la>'l w''Ii1 iaH present. territory ot Auz. Ug. .. La-uat vas within the present iLli- ci the Ger Tis1Ty.
 The author of the "Bs-oC.cgs at Arr zona," page II. without Civ rS ris authority, says rha, l. pej1 1nUuel cd oI 4J leagues southwest 1' Mcq-i, and from th description probably found eilver in'the Black Hills uea- the Verde FiFtr. lf NbutO tc lHtt-.7.t'- w Ht'''f . the authority upon which tlis tat-men k based.
 From Zlgusto, Espojo returned Co Quires. The greater p.r; oi his com pany decided Go return home direct and started accordingly, but l. pelo Eisuet to explore still further. IhIr;y-slx miles ". st of OuiIes Ee vi-itri tle Huhaie7 g who numbered 2j,.0O people. laeir ; neiyhbOrs. the TamCs were uufrieudly, and to avoid them EsQeio went down Fl Rio de las Nacas, stated by the . author of the "ResOurc5s ot Arizona. Co be the PecOs rIvcr, aE taer Ioint, which it vOull tc pleas -ut Co have ! proved. The Cow rIver brought EspeJo to the Coucho, by which he returned Co St Bartholomew. He had passed through , a country of over li6oJD popu'ail"n. The trIp was nearly 2.O0Omiles io leDgth. Espeio was in X Izons, # Zaguato was in Arizona. What arcEeologist will identify its site a- those of ZCnl and Acoma have been.
 The narrative Of Espe!o vas printed 2 at Madrid .hortly after bis return lt I was translated hy Hakluyt, an English