Our CatlJOlic Heritage in T e:xas
Spaniards. With the reduced number of soldiers, the exhausted condition of the horses after their long journey, and the small supply of ammuni- tion, it was not safe to attempt to march back by way of the Rio Grande. The expedition, therefore, followed the. Conchos for several days and finally turned due north. On July 18, 1684, after stopping on several occasions for two, three, and even six days to rest the horses, they finally arrived at San Lorenza and went from there to the Presidio del Paso del Norte. Mendoza and his men, accompanied by three Franciscans, had traveled over six hundred leagues during this important expedition. They had explored the west side of the Rio Grande from El Paso dcl Norte to within eighty or ninety miles of present day Ojinaga, had crossed the river somewhere in the vicinity of present Ruidosa, and following the river for fifty or sixty miles to the neighborhood of Presidio, had turned northeast and traveled across the great plains as far as the juncture of the Concho and the Colorado, well beyond San Angelo. They had explored about eighteen hundred miles of new territory, eight hundred of which were in West Texas. They had come into contact with over sixty different nations, and they had succeeded in returning without the loss of a single man and carrying a load of over four thousand skins of buffalo. Such was the accomplishment of Captain Juan Dominguez de Mendoza and Fathers Fray Nicolas Lopez, Custodio of New Mexico, Fray Juan de Zavaleta, Commissary of the Inquisition, and Fray Antonio Acevedo. The expedition of Mendoza was followed by the establishment of six missions among the various tribes of Indians that inhabited the region in the vicinity of the Junta de los Rios, but since most of these were on the west side of the Rio Grande, they form no part of our history. Interest in tlee Big Bend Country. Viceregal officials, however, were seriously interested in the entire area watered by the Rio Grande from El Paso del Norte to San Juan Bautista. When arrangements for the inspection of all the frontier establishments were being made and the instructions for Don Pedro de Rivera had been prepared, these were referred to A ,uiitor Olivan Rebolledo. Among other things, he suggested that special orders be given to the inspector to make a careful exploration of the Rio Grande. Rebolledo declared that as far as known, this river formed a great chasm from El Paso del Norte to San Juan Bautista, which divided the unconquered Indians of the Province of New Mexico from those of Nueva Vizcaya and Coahuila. He pointed out that the last
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