The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1909-01-09
CATHOLIC CHURCH IN UTAH.
CONTINUED from page ~

! plored, mapped and described the region Beyon
the explored land there lay, late even in the eigl
teenth century, an unknown wilderness. From tn
genesis of the French Canadian trapper and til
establishment of the far-reaching fur companie
these parched deserts of sage brush and alkali an
these tremendous mountains extending from ives
Colorado to southeastern California and frol
the British possessions to the boundary of Me-
leo, were known as the great American desert
Over this unexplored territory of let US sa,
10 degrees of latitude and Is of longitude, roame
wild horses and enormous herds of buffalo; her
the coyote, the mountain lion. the panther and til
dreaded grissly bear prowled and the wild sheep Q
the Rockies sought its food.
Within this tremendous desoation of solitud
! tribes and bands of a sun-scorched and wind-tane
race hunted the wild beast and wared upon eac
other. Raw meat eaters and human flesh devom
they were who had descended to the loves
barbarism and many of them to savagery Thei
habitations were wind-breaks novels or tents o
| skin within which grizzled warriors hideous an
shriveed old women, young boys aspiring to be
come braves and girls ripening into maturity
noisy children and dogs mingled indiscriminatl7
together There was no modesty to be shocked NJ
decency to be insuted, no refinement of feeling t.
be wounded, for modesty, decency and refinement
dead centuries before the Spanish priest lifted
the cross in the new world. They were naked anc
not ashamed anamalised in their instincts anC
beastly in their lusts.
They had never seen a man of winter color than
their own, they knew nothing of world beyond
their hunting grounds; they had their own Ian
guages, their own customs, and supersti-
tious rites to which they were fanatcally at
tached and which they were prepared to defend
even unto death. They had never heard of chaste
wife, of pure maiden, their language could not
give expression to modesty and carried no word for
chastity. Into their villages a stranger entered at
his peril for among Them as among the Nasamon-
ian tribes mentioned by Heroditus stranger meant
an enemy, an alien was foe
To the men and women of the same race dwell
ling on the fringes of the Great Basin the great
est civilizing power the world has ever nown or
ever will now-the Catholic church-had early in
the seventeenth century carried the light of civil
lization. This wonderful church was now, 1774
preparing to march to the redemption of the wan
dering hordes within the Basin. Already, 1770 its
southern rim had been crossed by Fray Juripero
Sierra, that extraordinary priest, who opened mis-
sion to the Deguens at San Diego and established
the presidios of San Gabriel and Monterey, South
ern California. Monterey now became a port of
entry for goods shipped from Spain and southern
Mexico, and if road could be found from Mon
terey to Santa Fe, n. NJ, it would be of incalcu-
liable assistance to the Spanish government in
transporting troops and supplies to the New Mex
lean capital
The Franciscan missionaries laboring with the
tribes of the Rio Grande were at once seized of the
advantage such highway would be to them in the
conversion to Christianity of the roaming hordes
and sedentary clans to the north and east of New
Mexico. To provide clothing for themselves to
furnish their churches becomingly, and house lib
eral supply of gifts for the Indians who were raw
enous for presents, and between whom and the
priests there could be no friendly parley till the
chiefs, sub-chiefs and fighters were placated with
gifts, taxed the ingenuity of the fathers and ex-
hausted their slender resources.
The expense of shipping supplies from Spain
to Vera Cruz the Caribbean sea and thence by
burro train to Mexico City, and from there through
FL Paso to Santa Fe was disheartenng, but now
that Monterey was founded it would be of meal
culable benefit to the Franciscans to open a road
to the coast.
When Father Jmipero Terra, head of the Cali
fornia missions, was in Mexico City in 1913 he adj
vised the viceroy to send out two surveys. one to
search for route from Sonora to Monterey and
the other to explore the territory and open trail
between Santa Fe and the sea.
The suggestion of Terra acted upon and
in 1774 an exploring party under Captain ANA.
started from Sonora for the coast. In the same
year Father Francis Garces, the resident mission
airy among the Papagoes at San Xavier del Bac
Ariz. was written to for his opinion the pros
poets of opening commercial highway from
Santa Fe to the Bay of Monterey.
At about the same time Father Yeez Escalante,
who had returned from a visit to the Moqui towns
and was now with the Zunis, was also consulted
Escalante replied that he almost certain way
to Monterey could be discovered by passing west
by northwest through the lands of the Yutas. This
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