01'r Catholic Heritage in T e:xas
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realizing the justness of the petition [of his men] made in His Majesty's name, he granted it ." Ofiate and his men now retraced their steps, but when they arrived near the camp pitched by their allies, the Escanjaques at the river San Francisco (Beaver Creek perhaps), they were treacherously attacked. Only the coolness of the courageous and capable lieutenant, Captain Zaldivar, saved the members of the expedition from being annihilated in the same city where Humana and his unfortunate companions met their untimely death. With about thirty men wounded, although not seriously, the march was continued and San Gabriel was reached on November 24, 1601, five months after their departure. They had traveled two hundred and twenty leagues before they turned back, or approximately some six hundred miles. The farthest point reached, contrary to the general belief, could not have been beyond the northern Canadian in the vicinity of Beaver County, Oklahoma, at the edge of the great plains. Nothing proves this more conclusively than Martinez's map, which is a remarkably accurate one, drawn faithfully by a member of the expedition, and perfectly coordinated with the detailed narrative of the events and the minu.te description of the country traversed. On the return march they traveled the entire distance in fifty-nine days, averaging ten miles a day. This is significant. It shows that the average rate of travel over a known route and with a greatly reduced baggage and supply train was only ten miles a day. On the outward journey, when the supplies were more abundant and the droves driven were more numerous, and the route unknown, the rate could hardly have been more. Since the entire trip consumed five months, the outward march took about ninety days. A part of this time, of course, was spent in camp, waiting for advance scouts and guides to report on the best route and giving the animals time to rest. But the most impressive result of the Ofiate expedition is that it proved that Quivira was not a city but a province of many pueblos, the first of which were in the region of present Wolf Creek in Ochiltree County, Texas, extending from this stream to the northern Canadian, the end of the province, coinciding with the end of the flat plains at or near the North Canadian and its tributaries in Beaver County, Oklahoma. 72 7%Cf. Bolton, op. cit., 2 50-265, and Donoghue, "Coronado, Ofiate, and Quivira," in M;d-Amnica.
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