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<br />Francisco Antanasio Vominquez and Fray Silvestre Velez de Escalante, from <br /> <br />Sante Fe, New Mexico, northward through western Colorado, across northern <br /> <br />Utah, southward through western Utah, and across Arizona back to Sante Fe. <br /> <br />The expedition was intended to discover an overland route between Spanish <br /> <br />missions in Sante Fe, New Mexico and Monterey, California. Although <br /> <br />unsuccessful in its objective, the exploration made a major contribution to <br /> <br />geographic and cultural knowledge of the Southwest and led to development of <br /> <br />the Spanish trails between settlements. There is no physical evidence of <br /> <br />the trail itself; its location has been interpreted primarily from a diary <br /> <br />kept by Escalante during the Expediton ,1/ <br /> <br />Big Bend, the first settlement on the Dolores River is another site of <br /> <br />local historical interest. Established in about 1880 it was 2 miles west of <br /> <br />the present town of Dolores. The town was named for its location on a broad <br /> <br />plain where the river changes its course from west to north. Containing a <br /> <br />bank, a blacksmith shop, stores, and other businesses, the town was the <br /> <br />population and commercial center of the area until 1891 when the Denver and <br /> <br />Rio Grande Railroad entered the Dolores River Valley going upstream to the <br /> <br />mining town of Rico. The present town of Dolores was laid out where the <br /> <br />railroad entered the valley, and several buildings, businesses, and the post <br /> <br />office were moved from Big Bend to the new townsite. Eventually the town <br /> <br />was removed, the land was cultivated, and now is used as pastureland. The <br /> <br />State Historic Preservation Office has evaluated the old town site, <br /> <br />concluding that it does not meet criteria for eligibility to the National <br /> <br />Register of Historic Places. 2/ <br /> <br />1/ Bolton, Herbert E., 1972, Pageant in the Wilderness: The Story of the <br />Excalante Expedition to the Interior Basin, 1776 Utah State Historical <br />Society, pp. 29-33. <br />2/ Correspondence from the State Historcial Society of Colorado to the <br />Bureau of Reclamation dated July 7, October 7, and November 21, 1975. <br /> <br />III-5 <br /> <br />001841 <br />