263
Founding of El Paso and Establishment of Missions
Spanish settlement. "In order to settle us, Don Antonio de Otermin, who was then our governor, went out [to look for a suitable site] in person, accompanied by some members of the Cabildo and men of rank. From a point called Estero Largo on the road to New Mexico to La Toma del Rio del Norte, [where there is] a conversion of Zuma Indians, [they explored] both banks of the river and found no site more suitable to establish our settlement than the said Real de San Lorenzo. [This was chosen] not because it was good or convenient for permanent occupation, but as the best in which to wait until your Lordship's decision arrived. For three and a half years we have lived there." From this statement, which we find repeated in various representations made by the Cabildo, it is evident that the settlement was established in the winter of 1681, probably shortly before Otermin wrote his letter of February 11, 1682, in which he asked for permission to go to Parral for treatment, his health having been impaired by the privations of the recent campaign in New Mexico. The Real de San Lorenzo was a league and a half from the Mission of San Francisco de los Zumas and about twelve leagues from El Paso, according to Governor Petris de Cruzate, who says: "And the said settlers are twelve leagues distant from this pueblo of El Paso." 36 Unfortunately the contemporary documents now available give no detailed information as to the location of the three Indian pueblos, which were established between the years 1681 and 1682 with the Christian Indians, who accompanied the Spaniards in the first retreat in 1680, and those who were brought back by Otermin in 1682. According to Escalante, writing almost a century later, but evidently with some docu- mentary sources before him, the Indian pueblos were founded by Otermin shortly after his return from New Mexico. Speaking of their establish- ment he says: "They [Otermin and his men] arrived on their return to El Paso in 1682. The governor decided to choose sites for the Indians, which, on this occasion and the previous one, he brought from New Mexico. He established the following towns: Two leagues below that of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe del Paso, with Piro and Tompiro Indians [he placed] the pueblo of Senecu; one and a half leagues to the east from this [he founded] the pueblo of Corpus Christi de la Isleta with Tigua Indians; [and] twelve leagues from El Paso or seven and a half 36 The Cabildo to the Viceroy, Autos sobre los Socorros, A. G. M., Provincias lnternas, Vol. 37, f. 149; Auto of Governor Petris de Cruzate, in Ibid., f. 37. For the distance between San Lorenzo and Mission San Francisco see Vetancourt, C/rronica (Mexico, 1697), 98.
Powered by FlippingBook